SetSail

Work with a world-class team of marketers and revenue experts to deliver SetSail's AI-powered sales solution. Partner with the marketing organization, executives, and external agencies to:

* Craft messaging strategy to focus on industry-first Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities with a video-first approach to content
* Reposition brand from a technical story to a mission-critical business pitch focused on our true budget owner
* Implement an ABM approach that tripled SQLs in our target market

21Senses

Supporting 21Senses as they build their vision for multi-gas sensing solutions that support the Hydrogen economy.

Advisory Board, Marketing

Spreedly

I hired and partnered with a professional, dedicated, and innovative group of content, events, digital, and sales development professionals that have:
* Built a comprehensive, full-lifecycle marketing strategy -- from brand development through demand generation and customer marketing -- including deep partner and ecosystem marketing.
* Led and executed marketing programs that drive 85%+ of pipeline; significantly increased overall revenue; 45% increase in GMV YoY for 4 years in a row
* Developed customer journey and messaging framework, including full brand management refresh and revamp of messaging to an enterprise focus
* Established our position as market pioneer and clear industry leader through market research, content, awareness programs, Search Engine Optimization, online marketing, and a massive industry community -- including an annual conference with over 1,450 registrants in 2020 and 2,500 in 2021 with speakers from Netflix, Disney, Uber, Groupon, Walmart, HBO, and more.
* Leveraged Social Media Marketing, Marketing Communications, and Email Marketing to deliver a constant drumbeat of visibility in the e-commerce / payments space

Senior Vice President Marketing

Vice President of Marketing

SAVO Group

* Retained post acquisition to manage transition of KnowledgeTree’s go-to-market; supported unified messaging of newly expanded product portfolio

Vice President of Marketing (via acquisition)

KnowledgeTree Inc.

* First marketing hire; built marketing organization from ground-up into a high-functioning team of inbound, digital, and outbound professionals
* Executed marketing programs as “player-coach”, tripling volume of inbound leads and delivering high quality pipeline via content, press, and analyst programs
* Built, trained, and managed outbound team of 6 SDRs and ISRs with strong esprit de corps; generated consistently high volume of quality opportunities
* Led product marketing and supported fundraising; transforming niche player to recognized market leader; pivoted and grew from $0 to acquisition

Vice President of Marketing and interim Vice President of Sales

Micro Focus

* Retained post-acquisition to lead product marketing for acquired product
* Promoted to manage six senior product marketers; managed product marketing across $200M+ business unit
* Focused positioning of diverse, acquired product lines in complex, mature market 
* Pioneered “sales-first” enablement, consistently sought out by global sales teams

Head of Product Marketing, AMQ

I led product marketing for Application Portfolio Management solution area.  Positioned and promoted product line as key enabler of all application modernization and development activities.  This includes a broad range of analyst, pipeline development, press, and thought leadership activities.

Director of Product Marketing (via acquisition)

Relativity Technologies

* Hired as first and only full-time marketer 
* Developed a portfolio of low/no cost marketing programs that were a core reason for acquisition; acquiring company described Relativity as “punching above its weight” in the market
* Led content and awareness strategy that massively increased company exposure
* Built sales enablement assets, identified as sales team’s “best friend”

Director of Marketing

Togethersoft

* Coordinated competitive take-out program

Product Marketing Consultant

HAHT Commerce

* Created and executed multiple integrated marketing campaigns 
* Developed a broad range of sales-centric white papers and content

Marketing Manager (via acquisition)

iMediation

* Built a pan-European series of physical and online events that brought hundreds of high-quality leads 
* Executed content marketing strategy and general demand generation programs
* Drove pipeline generation programs to support global sales teams 
* Acquired by HAHT Commerce; only marketer retained

Senior Marketing Manager

CMO @ SetSail | AI that Helps Sales Get on Track

As the CMO at SetSail, I support a world-class team of marketers and revenue experts to continue SetSail's growth. 

SetSail is the AI analyst for revenue teams. Built on your sales data and tuned to your sales process, SetSail delivers timely, actionable insights that help go-to-market teams sell smarter.

With over 25 years of experience as a marketing leader, I have a proven track record of building and executing full-lifecycle marketing strategies that drive revenue, brand awareness, and customer loyalty.

If you can write about the financial services business, I'm hiring. 

Peter Mollins

I need a sharp mind to help us avoid the potholes in the GTM Journey.

This hero/heroine will work with Chris Logan to build out our future bookings engine, bookings-to-cash metrics and help us understand what/where/when we should be investing in out GTM funnel. This is a role for someone who understands both the Revenue and FP&A lense. 

We're building the future of Open Payments at Spreedly, don't get left behind. 📈 

Great to get a tour of Sales HQ from the great Vince Beese. It’s a coworking environment built for sellers — with a terrific vibe. If you’re a seller in the Raleigh-Durham area you need to get a spot here. 

Now off to more sessions at Raleigh-Durham Startup Week

Three keys to a productive marketing/sales partnership around ABM:

1. Alignment on what is the ICP and target persona. And share the same list. Marketing's list might be bigger but it's the same criteria
2. Shared definition of terminology in the buyer journey. Agree on exit/entry criteria first -- then agree on your commitments for each stage 
3. Sign up for the revenue number. Not a contribution, the revenue number. You're generating more than leads. You're creating the product-market dynamic that creates revenue. Own it.

I had a great time chatting this through with GURU Media Hub and 🔶🔸Mason Cosby🔸🔶 on Scrappy ABM. Here's a short clip and take a listen to the full recording via a link in the comments. 


Thanks, Raleigh-Durham Startup Week for a great first day of sessions. The panel of VC funding trends was gold... "don't just AI-wash your pitch, we keep your past presentations in a file".
Also, I've greatly admired Jud Bowman's ability to build phenomenal businesses for years, but never heard his story before... he truly lives his Radical Transparency credo. 

Sabyasachi (Sachi) Pradhan and Watrice Woodridge -- so good to run into you both. 

See you all on Friday. Watch for the shoes. 

Ok, so you say you're data-driven.

I do too. But as I was researching a few different metrics for marketing, sales, and GTM in general, I couldn't find a standalone source of truth for what a Win Rate, Ramp Time, ACV, or whatever SaaS metric means. 

There are lots of vendors that are producing good content on various measures. But there's a lot of disagreement across these sites and they're seldom comprehensive. I wanted one place to go to figure out the metrics that matter and how to use/calculate them that the community could help with. 

So, I took up a hobby. 

I'm going to compile metrics definitions across all business functions at https://metrics.blog. A place you can go to to figure out how to use LTV or CAC or any other measure. Is it going to be right 100% of the time... Not yet, but I want the feedback to make them right. Take a look and let me know your thoughts.

Also, I want to interview people that use metrics. I'm looking at you, #marketing  #sales and #revops folks. If you love to use a particular metric, let me know. I'd like to talk to you about how you use it. 

I hope this grows into a useful resource for all. #metrics

I am frequently asked about how I managed to reach where I am today in my career. It was a winding path, but all those early experiences have turned out to be the foundation for what I believe has been a successful career so far.

We currently have a vacant position in the marketing team at Adwerx, which is quite similar to the one I held about two decades ago. That job provided me with the necessary marketing experience that paved the way for me to become a CMO.

If you have the required skills and a drive to advance your career, please submit your application.

adwerx.breezy.hr • 1 min read

Performance Marketing Manager (Durham, NC) at Adwerx

* Semi-regular Outbound Call Commentary (strapline ideas at the bottom)

A little walkthrough of an outbound call I received yesterday and why I think it was successful. I won’t mention who the person was, but they likely can guess themselves and are welcome to comment if they want to.

So, here's a play-by-play of the cold call I received. 

1. They established an easy connection (we live in the same general area) and then a better connection because they are quite active on my LinkedIn with good value-add.

2. They then linked to the value-add of a senior leader at their company, who themself has developed a significant personal brand. 

3. They made a connection between a single pain (reporting) that I was likely having and the request (getting input from the senior leader; known expert => value-add on the follow-up call). 

4. A quick pitch on the product that was more about the previous pain than the product. 

5. On to closing with a request for putting a time on the calendar. Sufficiently far out that it didn’t seem like a burden to me, but not so far that it was to be forgotten. 

6. Made a connection between the future call and value-add that would come from speaking with the known leader. And asked for permission to follow up to confirm when that time approached whether it would still work. 

7. They promised to see me on Linkedin with a follow-up.

Social interaction matters, and their personal brand gives a big boost. Plus, they focused on ensuring the meeting felt like it would be a valuable use of my time. 

Callmentary? Outbound shout-out? Shout-out-bound? Callkudos? #outbound #sales

Hey Durham friends -- I'll be at Raleigh-Durham Startup Week next Tuesday. DM me if you will be there so we can catch up!

Which team speaks to more potential customers than any other? Which group generates a ton of valuable GTM metrics and insights -- plus new pipeline? Which team should you interview and track to learn how to position and sell your product?

It's the sales development team. And they are as important as ever... when managed and equipped effectively.

I spoke to Cynthia H. from Simera, who has a thoughtful, proven approach to sales development. She's seen a lot of career success from her methods. In this chat, we look at the metric that she recommends other sales development leaders focus on. 

Link to the full video is in the comments. 

#salesdevelopment #SDR #metrics

The ROI is positive, so why wouldn’t your buyer just buy?

As sellers and marketers, we’ve all asked ourselves this question about our buyers. It’s like free money, why would you turn down a positive ROI purchase?

Here are three reasons why a positive ROI calculation isn’t enough... and what to do about it. 

1. There are other things on my to-do list. Every vendor that approaches me promises big gains. And most of those claims are probably somewhat true. But I have to stack them up against the 15 other problems I could be fixing. I have to prioritize, and the other 15 might just matter more now. 

Solution: focus on why now. Show that this challenge is strategically linked to what I care most about. 

2. ROI is not the whole calculation. When I think about a purchase, I look to see if Value > Cost + Risk + Effort. The cost is more than the sticker price, it’s the cost of managing, the cost of training, and more. Risk comes into play around whether the project might fail, or distract from more important things. Effort is again around how much focus is pulled away from the things that matter most.

Solution: Identify the “other” elements of the buyer’s calculus. There are probably a lot of unspoken factors other than cost. I.e., don’t start discounting when it’s a concern that could be solved by showing your ease of implementation, for example. 

3. It’s not believable. We’ve all seen crazy high ROI numbers from a vendor’s spreadsheet. Why would you trust them? Yes, you could do a proof of concept or a trial, but your GTM needs to support these motions. And you need to avoid inserting unnecessary friction into your process.

Solution: Start with case studies, which showcase value without attaching unbelievable numbers. And if you do use a proof of concept or trial, make sure that a key part of that process is to report on the value you generated during that period. Showcase the value using the prospect’s results. 

What else?

The algorithm that generates your feed is much different than 6 months ago. Engagement for many people who depend on LinkedIn for their livelihood is down significantly. How much does the algorithm affect what's in your feed? Try this little experiment. 

From the LinkedIn menu, go to Me > Settings and Privacy > Account Preferences > Feed Preferences and switch to chronological. 

🌪 🏚 If you're like me, you'll get A LOT of dull corporate blog reposts and a tidal wave of random spam posts to groups you forgot you joined. It's not pretty. There's no value in the chronological feed whatsoever. 

The algorithm matters. Let's make how it works and changes as transparent as possible. 


What will AI do for marketing?

Let's find out! Next month at the SAS Campus I'll have the good luck to moderate a panel on the future of AI and marketing. Hosted by the AMA Triangle, with an incredible line-up of panelists: Jennifer Chase CMO at SAS, Greg Hedgepeth from #NCstate, Julie Bryce, a fractional CMO whom I am constantly learning from, Jennifer Downes CMO, Global eCommerce at Lenovo, and Linh Calhoun, MBA CMO at Replacements, Ltd.  

I'm building the question list for the panel. What should I ask? Comment!

Registration in the comments.

amatriangle.org • 1 min read

AMA Triangle Annual CMO Panel: AI and The Future of Marketing - AMA Triangle

Are you running ABM programs? Look at your target account list. Do you know why those companies were chosen? And why you prioritized your top accounts?

I think account prioritization consists of scoring built on:
- Firmographic data, like ‘Industry’, ‘Geography’, and ‘Employee Count’. 
- Technographic data, like ‘Uses Salesforce’. 
- And Behavioral data, like ‘Someone from CompanyX is on my website”.

But I’d suggest expanding the notion of firmographic data to focus on the idea that your targets are collections of people. Make sure to consider people-related firmographic attributes like:

- How large is the department you target? If it’s larger, there might be more pain. 
- Are they hiring in that department? Changes in staffing can alter how you position your solution. Maybe focus on efficiency gains when the department is shrinking.
- Is there an employee with a very particular title onboard? E.g. if there is a “Payments Manager” they likely care about optimizing credit card success rates.
- Have they recently hired staff from a customer? Great introduction and familiarity possibilities. 

The EdTech space is a rewarding one to be in and Jonathan Palm is one of the good ones. Corp Dev folks, here's a great opp.

Join us for an insightful exploration of how local CMOs are addressing the challenges of digital transformation and integrating AI into their marketing strategies. Whether you are just starting out or already deeply involved, gain valuable insights on AI adoption, staying innovative, and optimizing ROI. You can also network with industry peers who are leading the way in marketing's AI integration. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from leaders who are shaping the future of marketing through AI innovation.

Our panel of marketing experts includes:
🤖 Jennifer Chase, CMO and Executive Vice President at SAS
🤖 Julie Bryce, Fractional CMO at JulieBryce.com
🤖 Linh Calhoun, MBA, CMO at Replacements, Ltd.
🤖 Jennifer Downes, CMO, Global eCommerce at Lenovo
🤖 Greg Hedgepeth, CEO/CMO at Substantial Media LLC and Director of Marketing and Communications at North Carolina State University
🤖 The panel will be moderated by Peter Mollins, CMO at SetSail

Register now to join us at https://loom.ly/GQCJRCs 

#AIinMarketing #CMOInsights #MarketingTech #IndustryLeaders

New Year's resolution that I'm starting today.

When writing marketing messaging, I will never (again) use the structure:

"Z provides value from A to B and C to D." 

As in,
Spinach makes every meal better: from omelets and protein shakes to salads and stir-fry. 

Oof. 🍃 

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