SalesTechStar Interview with Shannon Jessup, Chief Revenue Officer at tvScientific

Shannon Jessup, Chief Revenue Officer at tvScientific highlights the importance of having a good inter-team collaboration and structure in place in order to drive better business output and Sales-Marketing ROI; catch the complete Q&A:

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Hi Shannon, we’d love to hear about your journey through the years…tell us more about your biggest learnings as CRO? 

In my experience leading sales organizations, I’ve learned that building cross-company relationships is crucial for alignment, collaboration and creativity. By working together as true partners across sales, marketing, product and customer support the organization achieves business goals in a way that is smarter, faster and ultimately more creative. Teams that work as a united whole are far stronger than those who work in silos.

For example, the journey typically starts with a potential customer showing interest in learning more, and when the customer connects with a sales team that is supported by and intelligently aligned with their marketing efforts, that consistency resonates with the customer. It continues with every touch point along the way, including product and customer support. If all those moments are connected and aligned, the entire process is more efficient. The right technology and process is key to making it all work.

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Tell us about some of the key sales strategies and sales technologies that you’ve relied on through the years to drive sales and revenue success?

My most successful sales strategies all relied on the ability to manage activity and measure outcomes. If team members are engaged, it shows. If we can see how we’re gaining on our goals, we feel motivated to do more or change course if needed. I’ve found that having a properly integrated CRM solution is essential as it empowers the sales team to collaborate and stay informed.

CRM solutions can also pull in data and information from the marketing team that helps sales do their job, like following up on leads in a timely and appropriate way. Solutions I’ve relied on include Salesforce, Outreach and Hubspot.

In what ways do you feel sales and revenue of tech startups need to align their teams-technology and multiple processes (sales/marketing) keeping budget and other startup challenges in mind?

Having those cross-company relationships we spoke about before really drives the right outcomes. This is no different in a startup. Budget and resources are precious with every startup. Fortunately, one of the blessings of the startup environment is it’s much easier to evaluate what’s working and what’s not and then reallocate your resources accordingly. This effort can be much more challenging in larger organizations where competing stakeholders often inhibit the optimization of resources. Again, this underscores how important it is for teams to partner and be aligned so they can work together to achieve company goals.

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What are some top tips / best practices for startups and revenue leaders you’d like to talk about?

The advice I give to other startup leaders is that you should look to be the Chief Problem Solver. That means be scrappy and get in the weeds. This will help you understand the challenges your team faces and will put you in a position to address those challenges quickly. If you’ve come from a larger organization with multiple layers of staff this may be uncomfortable but you should be ready to roll up your sleeves and embrace some of the dirty work. You won’t regret it and your team will respect you for it.

As salestech evolves, how do you feel revenue and sales teams need to keep up to optimize how they use automation and new salestech innovations to further their progress and growth?

Any given technology a company invests in should contribute to making the company more efficient and effective. Try to be shrewd about the technologies you choose to implement. What might be appropriate for a larger organization might not be the best solution in a startup environment. It’s important to have a good understanding of your team’s pain points with the intention of solving them in the near term but with an eye towards needs that will come with growth. This goes back to the point I made earlier about getting in the weeds.

A few thoughts on what you feel today’s sales and marketing leaders need to do differently (and suggestions on martech / salestech) to help them stand out from the crowd and create a better buying experience for their prospects and customers.

The buying experience should be the foremost consideration. Employing an army of Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) and technologies to spam potential customers with calls, emails, etc. is not necessarily the best way to engage.

Focus on nurturing and building relationships and the rewards will follow.

There’s nothing more satisfying than having a customer move companies and call you to offer a new opportunity. When that happens, you know you’re doing things right.

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