Edition 6: How Do You Measure Success?

The new focus for us revenue leaders is how to grow and maximize your go-to-market team’s efficiency.

As revenue leaders, we have more access to data and performance metrics than ever before. Yet, with significant shifts in measuring an organization’s success and previous GTM strategies no longer effective, many are wondering what to do and what is to come. 

GTM as you know it is broken

I understand this may be a hot take, but many GTM strategies are not working anymore. It’s easy to pin the blame on internal teams. 

It’s not a sales problem. Your reps are undoubtedly capable of closing deals and selling. 

It’s not a marketing problem. It’s not that your team is inefficient and can’t generate demand.

It’s not a customer success problem. Your CS managers are trained well and able to retain customers. 

The reality is that you have a go-to-market problem. Most of the challenges you likely face cannot be solved by a singular function. There are many ways to look at and solve issues that may not be apparent. You may need to dig a little deeper to uncover the root causes and then work to resolve them across departments. 

Your GTM strategy should not be the sole responsibility of a single department. While many companies pin GTM on their CMO/Marketing team, the most successful companies have the CEO heavily involved in their strategy and execution. Many GTM decisions cannot be made in isolation, and the person with a view and hand in all departments is typically the CEO. 

Where do we go from here?

Over the last couple of decades, GTM had to evolve. From a marketing-centric demand waterfall, to a combined sales and marketing flipped funnel, to a double funnel – they’re no longer feasible. Successful GTM strategies must function as an ecosystem, combining marketing, sales, customer, and product teams as we advance. 

But how do you measure your success? I recently collaborated with B2B practitioner and GTM expert, Sangram Vajre, at the Empower: SalesIntel Annual Summit for his insight on this topic. 

Marketing, sales, customer success, and product all rely on different metrics. When you are all tracking different metrics, you may be growing, albeit inefficiently. Even when there’s success, departments can struggle to be on the same page, creating an environment of chaos. Departments may be moving forward at different rates, and even if you’re doing well, you could still be leaving cash on the table. 

In speaking with my colleagues that I would declare as “GTM experts,” it appears that the best way to measure your GTM strategy is to track NRR – net revenue retention. NRR is one of the most essential performance and success metrics because it helps you understand your business’s growth trajectory. 

For those unfamiliar, let’s define what NRR truly is.

Your NRR encompasses your Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) rate plus your upsell. In layperson’s terms, you’re tracking if you’ll generate more revenue from existing customers this year than last year. 

How can you get your existing customers to buy even more from you? Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot, said, “By obsessing over revenue retention and solving for your customers, you can build a lasting business.” If you have a product customers love and you are a trusted partner for your customers, chances are they are willing to spend more of their wallet on new products from your company. 

“NRR is one of the most essential performance and success metrics because it helps you to understand the growth trajectory of your business.” 

The key is to focus on the metrics that matter most for your business and align your teams around those metrics. If you concentrate on NRR and your innovation correctly, new ARR automatically starts creating a wave effect on the path to efficient growth. You’ll see the transition from chaos to clarity as product, marketing, sales, CS, and AM teams will be aligned to grow your business. 

When everyone is focused on revenue growth – sharing decisions and conversations – a culture of transparency and accountability is created. Once everything is aligned, your revenue is likely to increase.