Welcome to the world of #RevOps After Dark, where we get straight to the revenue news you (hopefully, probably) wanna know, adding just a bit of that Rattle-brand hit.
This week we've got a special edition!
Now. This week:
- Clari publicly names the folks they're trying to flatter into the funnel slash keep from churning — I mean "The 2024 RevOps Awards;"
- Netflix cleverly euphemisms their way into shareholder confidence with the idea of "paid sharing;" and
- Google's search results have been getting a lot of heat lately. What's the reason for that? (Pst the answer is revenue teams.)
Alright, let's get to business!
Business, Tools & Software News
🏁 The good, the bad, and the tech-lead rally
The S&P 500 reached a record high this past week (that's good!) driven primarily by tech stock rally (also good!). The milestone comes after a period of let's just call it "market volatility," (that's bad!) particularly around uncertainty in the Fed's interest rate policy (also bad!) The gains signal a result of investor optimism (that's good!), mostly in the face of interest-rate-lowering will-they-won't-lower uncertainty (that's bad!). Obviously, while the market has been buoyed by large tech companies (that's good!), there's a cautious outlook due to the narrow focus of the rally around what amounts to about 20 logos in all (that's bad!)
🏆 Clari grants RevOps Awards w/o any known way to actually validate how good they are at their jobs
In their first-ever annual #RevOps awards, everybody's favorite Revenue Intelligence Platform, Clari, named about two dozen RevOps all-stars (most of whom I already followed on LinkedIn and I can attest: are legitimately good at least talking about RevOps). The award-bestowers did neglect to go into any detail as to the rubric they used to decide who got the award(s), or how they could even go about something like that. Hopefully, these folks got something nice out of this other than a 5-email nurture campaign from Clari's SDRs. In any case, it's all enough to give you a case of the Revenue Leakage (real revenue OGs will know).
🤞 Netflix says it found a silver bullet for password sharing
From leakage to streaming: Netflix's co-CEO Greg Peters said this week that their new "paid sharing" initiative, not aimed at splitting the bill at restaruants but rather the scourge of password sharing, will drive substantial growth for the company in the coming years. This strategy, along with new content offerings and live events like their deal with WWE (to which, Peters said: "oh yeahhhhh brotheerrrrrrrr"), is expected to convert far more of their addressable market into cold hard moolah, finally giving them back some of their position at the top of streaming landscape and easing tensions from shareholders.
🤖 Your Weekly A.I. in Revenue Breakdown
- 🙈 Benioff: Everything’s gucci in robotland. A.I. won't steal jobs but will enhance the skills of retail workers, Salesforce CEO and future Montana governor Marc Benioff told Walmart U.S. CEO, John Furner, this week at a conference for retail workers. Marky B cited an example of Gucci's customer service agents using SFDC's A.I., which led to a 30% increase in revenue and improved job performance, contrary to fears of the tool displacing workers. Glad we can put that to bed!
- 🐰 Robot girlfriends invade OpenAI GPT store. In what can only be described as "Obviously Inevitable" and "Not Good for Humanity's Prospects Generally," reports are coming in that everybody's favorite LLM-maker is having trouble moderating their new tool platform because they're spending a great deal of time finding and deleting GPTs that are set up to act like a doting lover (who, now, you should not share a Netflix password with — for many reasons).
- ⚙️ You don’t say? Google's throwing its weight behind “conversational search.” Perhaps to counter the groundswell around Perplexity's increasingly popular AI search product, Google is expanding its use of Gemini to bolster its "conversational" advertising tools, allowing advertisers in the U.S. and U.K. (and soon globally) to create A.I.-generated search campaigns using just a URL. This approach, while hoping to foster greater efficiency, certainly does reaise concerns about trust in A.I.-generated content more broadly, especially in the context of misinformation (and, no doubt, the not-so-reliable reliability of A.I. watermarking). (More here from Digiday )
Strategy & Tactic News
🌽 Meader: Why you need an architect
Having a team of Salesforce admins and devs without an architect can lead to serious inefficiencies and challenges as a business grows, Max Maeder wrote this week. Initially, the focus might be on immediate needs with some short-term planning, but as GTM strategies pick up steam and systems become more complex, the lack of proper architecture becomes almost an insurmountable technical hurdle. According to Maeder, the situation requires proactive planning, scalable features, rigorous documentation, and investment in appropriate middleware and data warehousing to avoid costly rebuilds and consultant fees. Prioritizing Salesforce architecture is crucial from the start to ensure a solid foundation for all internal tools.
A Good Read
👀 Is Google getting worse? In a word? Duh.
The popular subject of Google recent search quality's decline now has some scientific weight behind it. HubSpot recently wrote this piece about a study suggesting that affiliate marketing and SEO spam are becoming increasingly prevalent in the giant's 10 blue links, leading to a decrease in content quality (and, no doubt, user satisfaction).
The Ad Hoc
🦖 It's gotta be ‘manual’
Jacki Leahy ✨ of Activate the Magic had our favorite funny post of the week: Trigger a RevOps in one word. The comments are indeed a goldmine of comedy and truth (and — NGL — legitimate frustrations).
Alright, that's it for this week!
We'll be back next Thursnight with more business news to keep your tactical chops sharp and your strategic mind on literal fire.
Remember you can always reach out to us at hello@gorattle.com for any questions, concerns, or cease and desist letters.
