Inside The Pipeline: B2B Sales and GTM
00:09:38 · Tris Tusa, Nick Casale
[00:09:38] S0: of your numbers when you were working at at Sendoso? Because I know that that business grew rapidly Mhmm. Whilst you were there. Maybe you could talk about some of the highlights in terms of the deals that you that you won and the the logos that you brought on board? [00:09:51] S1: You know, it's... I'll I'll... Like, yes, you know, going... I remember going on-site at at, like, Google, and that felt like a big moment in the career and and in the business. There... There's these... There's moments for sure. But the cliche that I always that I always kind of remind my team now as we're on this incredible journey is, like, the numbers and the accolades really, really do fade. Right? And it's like there's deals that I remember so vividly because, like, if I if I if I pull the thread, it's just still there because you just... I don't think you lose it when you're that invested in something. But it's not the first thing that comes to mind when I, like, remember back on that on that phase. It's really, like, it's the people and it's the relationships. And I think that's what I always remind young sellers is, like, when you're... Really, I would I would tell anyone this. But I think, like, when you're evaluating an opportunity, I think people over index aggressively on the numbers. [00:10:50] S0: Really? [00:10:50] S1: You know, it's like it has to have the measurables, but every place... Every every job I've taken, the deal... Like if you were like, oh, what's your ACV? What's your win rate? Like, they sucked always. [00:11:03] S0: Yeah.
00:11:03 · Tris Tusa, Nick Casale
[00:11:03] S0: Yeah. [00:11:04] S1: Right? It's like it's super early stage. [00:11:06] S0: Yeah. Yeah. [00:11:06] S1: Yeah. But I think you kinda gotta believe... If you believe in the people and if you can sort of see the vision, then you... Then you're betting on yourself to be able to improve the numbers and make the deals work. So I probably didn't answer your question at all there. [00:11:17] S0: No. I like that. It's a it's a it's a professional avoid of the question, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so do you feel that that same growth here [00:11:24] S1: at AirOps? From what standpoint? [00:11:27] S0: Just in terms of that feeling, I think you were saying, like, when you were over at Google, you felt like you were part of something that was growing fast, and and so you weren't latching on to the numbers. It was more about this sort of vibe of the growth. And is that something that you feel in the space that you're in right now? [00:11:43] S1: Yes. I think it feels... It's definitely with a a more aggressive tilt. [00:11:49] S0: Like Yeah. [00:11:49] S1: Sort of throws your head back in the chair a little bit. Like, the the car is moving. The the the ship is going faster for sure. I think that's, like, the standard. Right? It's like we're with AI and, you know, in in 2026 versus whatever it was, you know, 2020. Mhmm. It's like, you know, you're driving on on the Autobahn versus the Highway 1. Yeah. Everyone is moving faster. [00:12:12] S0: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:12 · Tris Tusa, Nick Casale
[00:12:12] S0: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [00:12:13] S1: So you do have to, like... The the pattern recognition has to has to get... You've gotta be quicker with it. The the rate of of change, your ability to to pick up when something's shifting in the market. Mhmm. Like, I I really used to tell my first time front line leaders at Sendoso. I would be like, hey. Look. Pick one initiative a quarter to go to go focus on. Right? Like, make sure that, you know, find the biggest problem that quarter and sort of hang your hat on being like, I'm gonna fix it, or else you'll sort of just, like, run around solving insignificant problems all the time. You know, and then the intention was to get them to to sort of focus. Right? Yeah. To just train that muscle. [00:12:50] S0: What sort of initiatives would you guys be focusing on? [00:12:54] S1: I think it... It'll be different for any given business. You could definitely pick, like... It could be win rate. Right? It could be win rate. It could be AE generated pipeline. It could be, like, I think that the way we run our first calls could be better. Yeah. I'm gonna, like, figure out what it should look like. I'm gonna overhaul it. It could be, you our know, expansion motion. Like, you could pick anything. Think it'll be specific to the business. [00:13:18] S0: But you give that a whole quarter to to see how it works and then measure it. [00:13:21] S1: No. No. [00:13:22] S0: No. Okay. So that's changed now. [00:13:23] S1: Have to do that, like, on a... A monthly would even be a stretch. Like, I think it's genuinely weekly now.
00:13:23 · Nick Casale, Tris Tusa
[00:13:23] S1: Have to do that, like, on a... A monthly would even be a stretch. Like, I think it's genuinely weekly now. [00:13:29] S0: Yeah. Yeah. [00:13:30] S1: Yeah. Like, your feedback loops, I think that's the biggest change from when I think Sendoso to now, which is is really, like, five, six years ago, I'd say. I think that's what AI, which... And and I'm not saying it's like... I don't think it's necessarily even harder because you do have such incredible technology at your at your disposal to go and do that, which is... Like, especially for me, like, I I I can't focus on... Like, I would just lose track of shit all the time and now Yeah. [00:13:58] S0: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [00:13:59] S1: Like, claw just does it for me. [00:14:00] S0: Yeah. But do you think now with how fast everything moves that there's enough time to to measure to see what what's working [00:14:08] S1: and what's not? I think you have to pick the... You have to find the leading indicator of what's working. It's kind of like the old, like, Dropbox thing where it's like you don't know if a customer is gonna renew until they renew or don't renew, but they realize that if you, you know, if the person adds... Like, what are the early indicators that tell you it's working? [00:14:28] S0: Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:28 · Tris Tusa, Nick Casale
[00:14:28] S0: Yeah. Yeah. [00:14:28] S1: Yeah. Right? And I think AI can definitely help you pick those, track them, like the measuring of it, pulling the signals together. Like, I can just you know, like, Acronym is a tool that we use. They're great. I can go into Acronym and be like, hey. In the last week across these calls, you know, that... This talk track that we just implemented, can you tell me if we're getting positive or negative reactions on it? And I can get that feedback in real time as opposed to having to go back and just, like, you know, either asking people and people are inherently biased or [00:14:59] S0: you're Yeah. Yeah. [00:15:00] S1: Just listening to call after call after call. [00:15:03] S0: What are some of the initiatives right now that are working really well for your team? [00:15:07] S1: I always go back to... And and, I mean, this is still, I think, back to Talkdesk. Like, one of the first things I learned there being an SDR, and I'd like... I owe it to people smarter than me who taught me this, but, like, you just aren't gonna go wrong spending more time like really trying to understand the business that you're selling into. Yeah. I think that... And I think the reps are so quick to jump to to second and third and fourth order research. And it's like such fast... It's like such incredible research and AI makes it so good. But I think it's easy to lose that like, okay, you've done you've done some high level research now, like, what do you think What do you really think a day in the life sort of looks like? Right?
00:15:07 · Nick Casale, Tris Tusa
[00:15:07] S1: I always go back to... And and, I mean, this is still, I think, back to Talkdesk. Like, one of the first things I learned there being an SDR, and I'd like... I owe it to people smarter than me who taught me this, but, like, you just aren't gonna go wrong spending more time like really trying to understand the business that you're selling into. Yeah. I think that... And I think the reps are so quick to jump to to second and third and fourth order research. And it's like such fast... It's like such incredible research and AI makes it so good. But I think it's easy to lose that like, okay, you've done you've done some high level research now, like, what do you think What do you really think a day in the life sort of looks like? Right? [00:15:49] S0: I I could not agree more. And also, I think physically coming into someone's office and seeing the team and seeing how it's set up and... Oh, okay. So Nick sits here and Freddie's over here from London, and they're going out for dinner tonight to talk about this and this. And he's sitting next to the person in marketing and actually getting that sort of perspective into the business. You then understand what are people's targets? How is it genuinely affecting them? Whereas I feel at the moment, you know, you do an initial half an hour call, and in that call, you have to try and identify the pain points. It's a lot more difficult. 100%. Is is in person interaction something that you guys focus on here? Is that something you're suggesting your team does a lot of?