So, we just wrapped up everything in San Francisco, and wow... SaaStr, then Dreamforce, then OpsStars? What a ride!
Also: What a ride 😎...
Aside from being, ya know... drained beyond belief... we're also legitimately bursting with stuff to talk about (though, we also just had one last Mission burrito so it could be that too).
The big headline is this: the future is looking all sorts of weird and exciting.
After syncing up our team in the SFO airport and hashing out all the convos we had, here are our top three "aha! moments" that I'm writing on the terribly slow free WiFi.
🚀 Automation: Doing More with... Well, Less Effort (and Resources)
Let's face it; customers want a lot (and fast!). But then, as we all know, the selling environment is getting tougher and tougher.
If you're in the B2B space, you can blame consumer products and tastes for this impatience. Everybody is expecting quick responses, tailored experiences, and all that jazz — and nobody seems to realize that we're still dealing with inflation, a mercurial job market, and a lot of other economic headwinds.
And it's not just customers! It's employees, too!
There seemed like there's been a major POV change: leaders are realizing that their ground-level troops expect the same ease and speed of tech at work as they get at home. "They're not dumb," said one VP where (I swear I wrote down his name and but maybe had a few too many Shirley Temples and misplaced it): "They see how easy everything else in their lives is. So why are we forcing them to do things the old way?"
It's true. A lot of the issues we're having with operationalizing process (no matter if you're a CRO or a CTO) isn't on humans — it's on software to get better, more intuitive, faster
So we're all trying to work smart, not hard.
Enter: Automation.
Humans to do the stuff humans like to do. Robots to do everything else.
If you're aiming to up your game without burning out or breaking the bank, automation is indeed your new best friend. (It's not about replacing the human touch – it's about giving us all more time for the parts of work that feel actually meaningful).
🚂 A.I.: It's Not Just a Hype Train, It's THE Train
Alright, so A.I.
You may have heard of it.
It's been the talk of the town for... ya know, a bit. But after these events? It's patently evident that A.I. is on everybody's minds.
The conversations that, for the last few years, used to be centered around the blockchain and Web3 were absolutely eclipsed by Gen A.I. chit-chat. (I was asked at least six times "What's your p(doom) number?") (It's ~4% for me). There was absolutely no room for the other "hot topics," and maybe we're naive but that honestly shocked us.
Three of the more interesting bits around A.I. we couldn't help but notice:
1) Not a lot of people felt super-confident they were using it in its current form to their fullest potential — mainly because "It's impossible to stay on top of everything A.I. It literally changes every day. Sometimes even THAT DAY," a woman at a mixer downtown said on condition of anonymity because I didn't get her name.
2) We heard a similar undercurrent of anxiety around Salesforce's upgrades in terms of learnings and adoptions — ops and sales leaders are worried similarly about the speed of technology outpacing their teams' ability to keep up. Still, it's also clear to everybody that from smarter decision-making to mind-blowing insights, this kind of A.I. is here to literally change everything about the game. Most people are excited, they just want their hands held a little bit more. (Present company included.)
3) There's a ton of talk about gen A.I. — having it create a stern-but-fair email to your landlord, e.g. — but not about the evaluative side of A.I. That is: giving the bot a POV (our guide to that here) and then asking it questions to get feedback on whatever it is you need. This evaluative side of A.I. is every bit as important, in our estimation, of the generative side — and we preached that gospel enough that we even overheard somebody relay "evaluative A.I. is every bit as important" with another person they were chatting with after they talked to us. (Big moment for us.)
🏎️ RevOps is Moving from the Backseat to the Driver’s Seat
Now of course, we're Rattle and a lot of people know us as the Chops Behind RevOps — so maybe they just wanted to tell us what they thought we wanted to hear — but in good news for both our ICP and us, we had a ton of conversations with non-RevOps people and it seems as though teams are finally (FINALLY) appreciating the strategic value that RevOps can bring.
Yes of course RevOps used to be that behind-the-scenes magic. But this year, it’s was crystal clear: RevOps is ready for a big-time close-up. It's not just about crunching numbers and syncing teams; it’s about setting the vibe and steering the ship, becoming the right-hand person for the CRO.
Looking ahead, a lot of folks told us that they were looking for RevOps who are less about smacking the hands of wayward reps and more about predicting trends, getting deeper into customer concerns, and leading the charge.
And, for us, seeing this massive perspective change made this entire (kinda exhausting) two weeks totally worth it.
