Issue #1, May 2024

After a decade of leading revenue teams and 1.5 more years at Flowla ?? — as a CRO and co-founder building a tool for revenue teams — I'm excited to start documenting my journey.?

Think of this newsletter as a cozy corner of the internet where I share everything that helped me become an elite seller as well as the tips I've picked up from other great leaders I meet every day.?

Join me on my journey and let’s build a community to support fellow revenue warriors, or maybe even save you from making a few of the same blunders I did (trust me, I've got stories).

1. Sales leader turned first-time founder ??

Let’s start with the updates on my journey as a co-founder and what our team at Flowla has been up to/plans to do next.?

Despite some headwinds, Q1 was the best one so far with all indicators signaling upward momentum:

1?? Our ARR grew by 167% in Q1. We keep churn at bay at under 5% focusing on expansion.?

2?? Focusing on team memberships with larger accounts (10-20+ seats). I won’t say it’s all rainbows but we’re growing steadily despite the hardest SaaS market in a decade.

3?? Average sales cycle is just under 3 months, while we’re increasing our scrutiny over the post-discovery process.?

Our current focus is on:

1?? Shift from full PLG to sales-assisted g2m motion. Mid-quarter we turned to “book a demo” as a test (although we still get a lot of free sign-ups due to flows circulating all over the place).

2?? Switch to all-bound demand generation and ABM. Last quarter was very much about awareness, now we focus on conversion.

3?? Customer success and onboarding as a main use case after deal closing. Buyers love receiving an "uninterrupted flow" from first contact to implementation and we’re happy to play along.?

What’s next:

1?? Major product MOVE coming soon: Workflow automation! I’m talking about putting deals on auto-pilot, from closing to onboarding.

2?? Planning to hire our first founding AE (if you know someone who's up for the adventure, please let me know).

3?? Expanding our global advisor network, expect to see some major names joining forces to help us build our vision of pain-free deal closing & onboarding.

Now, let’s get hands-on with some tips and resources to acquire and retain your customers.

2. Let’s talk new business: Engage and acquire ??

Ever felt like your sales discovery calls were turning into FBI interrogations? I hear you! It's easy to get caught up in a checklist of questions, leaving both you and your prospect feeling more like suspects than collaborators.?

Today, I want to talk about how to transform your discovery calls into engaging conversations that lead to real connections and opportunities.

?? Building bridges, not walls

First things first, let's set the record straight. A discovery call isn't about grilling your prospects or overwhelming them with a barrage of questions. Instead, it's a golden opportunity to:

• Build trust: Lay the foundation for a relationship based on trust and mutual understanding.
• Advise and understand: Help your buyer delve deeper into their challenges and offer valuable insights.
• Assess opportunities: Evaluate the potential of working together and how it aligns with their needs.

? Crafting a stellar discovery

So, how do you ace your discovery calls?

1. Authenticity: Be yourself and let the conversation flow naturally.
2. Conversational flow: Keep it casual yet focused, like chatting with an old friend.
3. Clear decision points: Aim for clarity on whether to proceed or not.
4. Actionable next steps: Wrap up with concrete next steps, like timelines and opportunity sizes.

?? Steal and adapt

???More tips from around LinkedIn

• 21 questions I use to qualify my prospects in under 30 min by Arnaud Renoux
• Alternative Solutions approach by Hannah Ajikawo
• 6 discovery call mistakes that will kill your deal before it starts by Alan Ruchtein

???Podcast spotlight

• How to turn Discovery Calls into Customers with Chris Orlob
• Sales Therapy: Championing Sales Enablement with Todd Busler

3. Your favorite CS bits: Retain and expand ??

What's the biggest issue in customer success right now? Is it churn? Onboarding? Adoption? All of the above?

Time and time again, I hear the same story from CS leaders. Poor onboarding leads to poor adoption, no value -> churn!

Here are 5 observations that can be helpful if you're struggling to keep churn at bay because your users are losing their way to your product:

1?? Customers want a simple linear process where their input is guided and minimal, feeling handheld as they walk towards success with you rather than dealing with 20 different documents, channels, etc.

2?? Onboarding is not a one-off experience. It's a process. A process of learning, adoption, and building routines. This requires education, collaboration, and most of the time, doing things outside the product.?

3?? Everyone produces articles, content, and videos, but few manage to deliver them in an engaging way. Spreadsheets and Slack channels are the default. But they are not "human" or friendly enough!

4?? People buy a product hoping it’ll magically solve a problem, only to discover a) it won’t b) it needs their time and effort to get to value. So they default to their own process, rather than following yours.

5?? Onboarding has two main elements: 1 - education (info sharing) and 2 - completing milestones.?

Observing 220+ different flows created by our users from CS teams, we saw this clear pattern.?

All of the above led us to build Flowla Onboard to help CS teams turn a messy onboarding process into a linear, step-by-step journey. Easy to follow for the customers, easy to track for the vendors.

?? Flowla Onboard — Help customers fall in love with your product

?? Learn & get inspired

??More tips from around LinkedIn

• 5-step framework on how to get rid of churn by Markus Rentsch
• Customer Success plan template by Sumi Jaiswal
• Customer success leaders to follow in 2024 by yours truly ??

???Podcast spotlight

• [Un]churned podcast: Customer-Centric Operations at the Heart of Customer Delight ft. Jonathan Corbin
• Sales Therapy: Capturing the Definition of Customer Successwith Kristi Faltorusso

If you found these insights helpful, don't forget to bookmark this post for future reference. And if you think your fellow sales & CS enthusiasts could benefit, feel free to share the wisdom!