In this episode, host Dan Sixsmith interviews Marilee Bear the CRO at Gainsight. Marilee reflects on her first year at the helm, discussing the company’s impressive growth trajectory, recent strategic acquisitions, and the challenges and opportunities presented by a major leadership transition.

Marilee shares actionable strategies for improving net revenue retention, such as leveraging data-driven insights, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and investing in customer education.

The conversation also explores the impact of AI on sales processes.

Marilee offers candid leadership insights, discussing the importance of transparency, adaptability, and building a culture of continuous learning. She also recounts her career journey, from her early ambitions and formative experiences to the pivotal moments that led her to lead a major SaaS company, offering advice for aspiring leaders in the tech industry.

Timestamps:

Welcome and Introductions (00:00:01) Dan welcomes Marilee Bear who reflects on her first year at Gainsight, company growth, and recent leadership changes.

Company Growth, Acquisitions, and Leadership Transition (00:00:30) Marilee discusses acquisitions, repositioning Gainsight for growth, and the CEO transition from Nick Mehta to Chuck Apathy.

Team Structure and Business Unit Model (00:02:04) Explanation of new hires, business unit model, and leadership structure within product and customer success teams.

Integrating Customer Success into Revenue Organization (00:03:21) Describes shifting customer success under the revenue team and the industry trend of CS as a revenue driver.

Defining Roles and Realigning the Revenue Team (00:05:25) Outlines the jobs-to-be-done exercise, clarifying roles across sales, CS, and other go-to-market functions.

Customer Success as a Pipeline Engine (00:06:24) Details how CS now contributes to pipeline generation and the metrics used to measure CSM impact.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) Challenges (00:07:29) Discussion of industry-wide NRR declines and the need for strategic retention and value delivery.

Retention Strategies and Multi-threading (00:08:21) Emphasizes proactive retention, business value demonstration, and multi-threading within customer organizations.

Competitive Landscape and Expansion Focus (00:12:29) Explains how competition now includes internal build vs. buy, and the importance of expansion within existing customers.

Convergence of Sales and Customer Success Roles (00:13:53) Observes the merging responsibilities of CS and sales, with CS teams adopting more sales-like approaches.

State of B2B Sales and Impact of AI (00:14:25) Explores ongoing challenges in B2B sales, the impact of generative AI, and the need for business acumen.

Reaching C-level Executives and Sales Best Practices (00:17:00) Shares the difficulty of accessing executives, the importance of detective work, and value-driven outreach.

Effective Sales Outreach to Executives (00:19:12) Marilee describes what makes sales outreach compelling: offering choices, concise meetings, and understanding executive preferences.

Marilee’s Career Journey (00:21:31) Covers her early ambitions, work history from restaurants to Oracle, Akamai, Zendesk, and her path to Gainsight.

Retention and Customer Success Experience (00:25:54) Highlights her experience with retention at Akamai, building CS teams, and her initial exposure to Gainsight.

Key Career Lessons and Leadership Growth (00:28:54) Shares lessons on authenticity, operational rigor, and the importance of direct feedback and self-improvement.

Leadership Philosophy and Team Management (00:33:58) Discusses leading diverse teams, empathy, balancing encouragement with accountability, and fostering a feedback culture.

Definition of Success (00:36:00) Marilee defines success as delivering the best outcomes for customers, company, and self, in that order.

Closing Remarks (00:36:43) Dan thanks Marilee, wraps up the episode, and previews future collaborations.