The Financial Impact of Breaking Down Your Revenue Organization Silos

We all know that breaking down the silos between marketing, outbound sales, and customer success results in greater collaboration. What’s less talked about are the financial benefits of breaking down those barriers.

Tayler Barron is a high-performing go-to-market leader with 10+ years of experience in SaaS and enterprise technology. Tayler joined the Predictable Revenue podcast to discuss the financial impact of breaking down silos in your revenue organization and the role a great Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) plays in dismantling that separation. 

Why outbound sales can’t remain separate

When Tayler first moved from outbound sales into his current position as CRO, there was quite a learning curve. Having worked in sales for so long, he wasn’t aware of how challenging marketing and customer success could be. In order to manage everything under the go-to-market strategy, he needed to understand the other functions as well as he understood sales.

These functions used to operate independently in their own silos. But in the modern customer journey, things are more complicated. There’s too much overlap between inbound marketing and outbound sales, while customer success has become a large revenue driver for most organizations.

To thrive in this new environment, great salespeople must also be great marketers and vice versa. And everyone in the organization needs to understand the importance of customer relationships.

Efficient and sustainable revenue growth

Tayler’s priority was to increase revenue in the most capital-efficient way possible. To do so, he had to pull marketing, customer success, and outbound sales under one umbrella so that every function was aligned with this common goal. Now he shares his best tips to help your company do the same.

The first step is to set KPIs across the entire organization. Instead of having disparate systems, each function should operate together and share data. The next step is to remove labels. Instead of holding an “outbound sales meeting,” have revenue meetings with an open invitation to other functions. 

One mistake Tayler sees is organizations that pit marketing and outbound sales against one another by measuring how many leads come from each function. In reality, most leads will interact with all three functions at some point. 

Everyone contributes to revenue growth, and therefore everyone should be on a commission plan similar to outbound sales. This increases motivation and ensures that each function works toward a common goal of growing annual recurring revenue (ARR).

How to prevent silos from forming

The easiest way to prevent this competitive environment from forming is to hire with intention. Look for collaborative, open-minded people in your hiring process. Make sure they’ve reached a stage in their career where they’re more interested in progress than gossip and drama.

Consider asking candidates, “Are you ready to do something really challenging?”. If they’re excited about the possibility of a challenge, that’s a good sign. If not, they may not be the right fit. 

How to scale more efficiently

Most outbound sales leaders approach their go-to-market plan from a place of revenue growth at all costs. They hire quickly and spend a lot of capital to grow faster. Instead, Tayler recommends building as lean a plan as possible. Being fiscally responsible allows you to make more strategic decisions because you have more options.

Start by looking at your go-to-market plan, then consider where you want to be in terms of cash burn and capital. How can you be a good steward of the capital you already have? If you master capital efficiency early on, you’ll build a much more sustainable business.

The downside of this approach is that it doesn’t leave much room for error. You need to get really good at executing, and it becomes even more crucial that you hire the right people on the first go.

If you need help with your sales hiring process, click here to book a free discovery call. Our coaches can help you identify, hire, and onboard the right people for your outbound sales team. 

Don’t rush the hiring process

One of the most common mistakes in outbound sales is the temptation to hire as many reps as quickly as possible. But if you take the right time to find the right people, your patience will be rewarded with more sustainable, efficient growth.

If you want to connect with Tayler to learn more about capital efficiency and the role of CRO, reach out via LinkedIn. 

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