Rapid growth is good, but only if you can also build your revenue team rapidly. Otherwise, you can blow a lot of capital.
“Companies that rapidly scale before having repeatable marketing and sales processes often hit a wall,” says Theresa Smith, CRO at Level Data. “They onboard lots of new people who have no idea what they are doing.”
For many companies, the challenge lies in building a scalable team that can handle both growth and the operational complexity that comes with it.
Over the past six months, Theresa has successfully onboarded 20 new team members across marketing, sales development representatives (SDRs), and sales teams at Level Data, setting the stage for sustained revenue acceleration.
I recently had the chance to catch up with Theresa to dive deeper into the five strategies she employs to build a high-performance revenue team. Here is what she shared.
Start with ICPs
Theresa’s growth strategy starts by “aligning marketing with an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), until you have the ICP nailed you can never get to the right messaging.”
For Theresa, ICP is a bit of a misnomer because you need to think first about ideal buyers first and then about the ideal customer accounts to find these buyers.
Historically, Level Data’s buyers have been technology and data management focused on real-time data validation, error correction, and minimizing the negative effects of inaccurate data on student outcomes.
Now, the company’s customer base has expanded to include Curriculum, Academic, and Federal Program Directors, State Reporting teams, and Superintendents who prioritize academic outcomes. That’s why it’s key that Level Data’s message speaks to both state and district-level buyers.
Right buyer, right message
With the ideal buyers and customers identified, driving the right messaging to the right buyers is important to succeed. As Theresa highlights, “Storytelling is a powerful marketing and sales tool, and when personalized, it can significantly boost engagement and conversions.”
For tech and data management teams the focus of storytelling has to be how Level Data enhances data quality and automates processes for efficiency.
Meanwhile, curriculum and reporting teams need to hear stories about how data insights help optimize resources and support proactive interventions for students. Personalizing the message to each buyer ensures the best marketing and sales results.
Align Sales Messaging
Next, it’s crucial to get your sales and SDR teams on the same messaging approach as marketing.
Theresa thinks about “helping both teams practice and perfect their approach with shared playbooks and continuous learning. It is the only way SDRS, sales teams, and technical sales teams can stay focused on the buyer and communicate the product’s value effectively.
SDR teams, in particular, often in entry-level roles, make hundreds of daily touchpoints. While they typically practice role-playing objection handling, exposing them to playbooks and coaching similar to the sales team accelerates their development and improves their approach.
Build content streams
In addition to continuous skills development, Theresa’s other key to messaging alignment is content and stories across marketing and sales. She notes that “content plays a key role in ensuring that messaging evolves as the buyer moves through the funnel, from marketing to sales.”
For Top of Funnel (TOFU), assets like blogs, customer stories, and infographics quickly present value and generate engagement. Middle of Funnel (MOFU) assets, such as eBooks, diagnostics, and ROI worksheets, focus on the financial impact of automation and improving member experiences.
At the Bottom of Funnel (BOFU), customer stories, testimonial infographics, and demo trials help buyers dive deeper, supported by slideware with storytelling for sales calls to facilitate self-solutioning.
Measure Funnel KPIs
Finally, Theresa emphasizes the importance of “end-to-end linkage of funnel KPIs—such as MQLs, SQLs to Closed Won – ARR— to ensure a smooth transition from website engagement and demand generation to sales.”
Sales teams want more than just leads; they need a comprehensive view of the prospect’s journey. This includes details like company size, website visits, time on site, and content consumption. Ideally, high interaction levels come from multiple parts of the organization, suggesting deeper engagement.
By measuring these interactions, teams can focus on hand-raisers—prospects who demonstrate real interest and are ready to move into an intentional sales conversation.
In a rapidly growing company, there can be a temptation to scale by hiring fast. Instead, focus first on your ideal buyers and customers, personalizing messaging and content for buyers, and a process of enabling new hires to bring that messaging effectively to the marketplace.