MarTech360 Interview With Randy Littleson, Chief Marketing Officer At Salesloft

“Seeing the best in people can be difficult, especially when the essential human connection isn’t there in this highly remote world. I encourage leaders to schedule one-on-one meetings with employees to cultivate honest and open relationships.”

Randy, what strategies have you employed as a senior executive to effectively lead cross- functional teams and drive execution in various areas such as marketing, business development, software development, professional services, and product management, while ensuring alignment with overarching business objectives?

The key to managing cross-functional teams is alignment on goals. The overarching objective –whether that’s boosting sales, improving the product, or anything else – must be the same acrossthe board. This alignment helps employees understand the big picture and how each person’s work contributes to the team’s success. For me, that means encouraging communication. Each team must feel empowered to ask questions, explain their needs, and share their ideas so the whole group clearly understands not just what coworkers’ priorities are but why those things are a priority. Though it may not help individuals understand the work of the person sitting next to them, it helps everyone better understand their teammate’s motivations. It reinforces the idea that we’re all working toward the same goal.

What does Salesloft do, and how does it differentiate itself from other companies in thesame space?

Salesloft helps revenue teams take the right actions to close every deal with the only platform built around the sellers’ workflow. As a Revenue Orchestration Platform, Salesloft aligns revenue teams so they can prioritize and execute all their actions to improve buyer and customer engagement throughout the entire buyer journey, which drives improved productivity, and better pipeline efficiency and revenue outcomes.

Randy, can you tell us about your professional background and your current role at Salesloft.

Currently I lead the marketing team at Salesloft. Our charge is to accelerate the company’s global expansion and further cement Salesloft as the category leader. My job is to strategically position Salesloft as the first mover and innovator in Revenue Orchestration Platforms so the market understands exactly who we are, what we do, and how we can help them get to better revenue outcomes faster. I have over 30 years of strategic marketing and corporate experience. I previously served as the chief marketing officer at Conga, a $450 million software company. I also spent time at NICE inContact, a leader in the cloud call center market, where I helped grow the company’s revenue
from $260 million to more than $800 million.

What are the key features and benefits of Salesloft’s software, and how does it streamline processes for sales teams compared to traditional methods?

Salesloft’s software should be table stakes for revenue teams today. For starters, it automates administrative tasks, like updating the CRM, so sellers can spend more time focusing on the important activities that get deals done. But perhaps the most distinctive and differentiated capability of Salesloft is Rhythm, an AI- powered workflow engine. Powered by our purpose-built Conductor AI, Rhythm translates buyer behavior into the most immediate and impactful actions a seller should take in a single prioritized workflow customized to each seller. That means at any given time, a seller using Salesloft knows what to do, when to do it, who to do it for, and why to do it. Account Executives using Salesloft Rhythm have seen big results like a 25% increase in closing rates, a 2x increase in average contract value (ACV), a 30% increase in meetings booked, and a 39% decrease in activities needed to book a meeting, B2B selling is hard. Very hard. We leverage the power of AI to help a seller prioritize the right actions to take at any given point in managing a deal to a successful outcome. Until recently, none of this was possible. The technology just didn’t even exist.

Could you elaborate on the significant enhancements introduced by Salesloft’s latest Integration partners, highlighting the key features and advantages it offers to partners users, and how these improvements effectively address their needs?

We let user needs guide our integration strategies. Each partner integration is intended to give revenue teams a deeper understanding of their targets so they can execute the right actions at the right time. It makes sales more predictable and consistent. Our partnership with IBM’s watsonx is a perfect example of this. The collaboration supports Salesloft Rhythm. Our shared customers will be able to use AI to get insight into, prioritize, and conceptualize their workload—and do it in a single pane of glass—helping them to close deals more effectively and efficiently. We’re currently working to embed IBM watsonx AI into Salesloft Conversations, Deals, Action Items, and Conversations Summary to help sales teams unlock seller productivity, identify risks in the pipeline, validate sales forecasts, and boost revenue. IBM is also using Salesloft to enable all of their sellers globally.

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How can the integration of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and AI marketingautomation empower brands to become formidable digital marketing powerhouses in the future of intelligent marketing?

AI is all about insights that can drive actions. It gives us access to information about habits, preferences, and trends previously imperceptible to the human eye. For marketers, that means better targeting, for one. AI solutions can interpret buyer signals in new ways, so we know not just that someone is a potential buyer but where they are in their journey and what they are looking for. Essentially, Salesloft’s a force multiplier, giving you access to personalized data points that lead you toward a sale.

What advice would you give to other leaders which helped you personally?

At a previous company, after an acquisition, the CEO gathered all the employees and gave these few words of encouragement that have stuck with me ever since: “Every day, you will work alongside people you’ve not worked with before. When you show up, you can only assume the other person is doing the same thing you are: Putting their best foot forward.” Seeing the best in people can be difficult, especially when the essential human connection isn’t there in this highly remote world. I encourage leaders to schedule one-on-one meetings with employees to cultivate honest and open relationships. The more you learn about who your employees are—how they feel day-to-day – the easier it is to stay open to their input and have them stay open to yours. When a relationship is positive, this will make them feel encouraged to garner results for the team.

What is the biggest problem you or your team solving this year?

Salesloft recently became the first and only AI-powered Revenue Orchestration Platform, and – believe it or not – being first is a challenge. It means we are responsible for landing the narrative in the marketplace and educating the world about not just our platform, but the value we can deliver. Salesloft has been around since 2011, and since then, company messaging, and business objectives have evolved dramatically to keep up with our platform’s advancements. This year, my team will be devoted to educating the market on the capabilities of a Revenue Orchestration Platform for B2B revenue generation and positioning ourselves as the industry leader.

Thanks, Randy!