Redefining the PIP & Smarketing

I joined Tom Burton, Brandon Lee, and Carson Heady on Mastering Modern Selling to uncover the traps of revenue leadership. Great leaders must shift from the "super-salesman" founder model to a repeatable, data-driven engine.

We explored how companies graduating from venture-backed infancy to private equity maturity must prioritize systems over individual heroics to achieve the "Rule of 40" by balancing aggressive growth with operational profitability.

​Our conversation also explored "Smarketing." In an era where buyers require 17 touches before engagement, sales and marketing can no longer operate in silos.

Success requires a unified view of sales velocity metrics where every touchpoint—from LinkedIn content to BDR outreach—is synchronized.

We also redefined the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). Rather than a precursor to termination, a PIP should be a continuous development loop. I shared my perspective on why every team member deserves a structured 90-day growth roadmap, ensuring that the bottom 50% of sellers—who currently contribute a disproportionately low percentage of revenue—are either coached to excellence or strategically managed out of the business.

This alignment is covererd in depth in The CRO’s Guide to Winning in Private Equity, which we also discussed in the show.