Welcome to the world of RevOps After Dark, where we get STRAIGHT to the revenue news you (hopefully, probably) wanna know, adding in just a smack of that Rattle-brand knack.
This week, we dive into:
- A.I.
- A.I.
- A.I. (yeah... I know, I'm sorry but this is the news this week okay) and
- Could you be the problem behind a lack of process adherence? And not... gasp... your sellers' laziness?
Let’s talk Ops!
Tools & Software News
📻 When your (language) model is lookin’ fine (tuned)
Fine-tuning, a process in the A.I. world that refers to tweaking the parameters of a pre-trained model to perform better on a specific task, is an important next step for many businesses looking to bathe in the benefits of LLMs without exposing themselves to hallucinations, outright wrong info, etc. This week, MonsterAPI announced they’ve created a no-code platform for fine-tuning open-source LLMs, lowering the previously pretty high technical barrier for folks — yes, just like RevOps — to get sh*t done (and for the sentient robots who will no doubt be performing the task by Q3 2024). One idea: use MonsterAPI to fine-tune an LLM to automate analysis of customer data and aid in more precise forecasting. It's possible now even if you're not a code master!
🍰 Cool New Tool: FunnelStory, or a story as told by your funnel
It’s not often you assume a company’s name has something to do with a funnel cake, learn it’s not related at all, and then are somehow NOT disappointed when you find out what it actually does. But this was indeed the case this week, when we ran into FunnelStory. They recently launched their calorie-free A.I.-powered treat, a Product Funnel Intelligence Platform, basically enabling revenue teams to prioritize leads and improve their sales forecasts through product-based intent data. The platform apparently ingests customer data — again, not confectioner’s sugar — and outputs what we in the biz ( 😎) call revenue intelligence, streamlining the process for sales and marketing teams to extract insights in about the time it takes for the Pepto to start working.
🤔 Make that a double: Outset looks good from the start
Is there anything more brutally soul-sucking than trying to quickly and affordably get qualitative feedback? (Wait. That’s me asking for your feedback…. Don’t answer that). Well, THE POINT IS, now there’s an A.I.-based solution after all. Outset, founded by ex-Deloitte strategist, recently received a near-$4M investment to build out their platform that autonomously runs and syncs up qualitative interviews with the help of Chat GPT4 — basically turning it into a survey experience for you. Seems like far less soul-sucking to us.
Strategy & Tactics
⚙️ Are you over-engineering your SFDC? (Granted, it’s easy to do)
This week, Max Maeder, CEO of FoundHQ, had an interesting point that we wanted to call out regarding setting up your Salesforce. According to Maeder, cybersec darling Splunk has a ratio of 1 Salesforce admin to 7 Salesforce Engineers and suggests a great deal of accumulated tech debt within their SFDC setups. Why does this happen? Well, it often stems from excessive custom code usage and inadequate quality assurance, which leads to a cycle of increasing technical debt making feature deployment cumbersome. To mitigate such issues, Maeder so eloquently puts it, you should prioritize proper structuring of the Salesforce team and early investment in both QA and release management.
🫵 It's you. You're the problem. (Maybe? Probably? Sorry they're making me use that title)
This week, our very own head of content decided for whatever reason to crack some skulls and shed some light (because light is on the inside of skulls?) on the well-documented animus that exists between RevOps and sales teams. Often, he argues, this whole thing is rooted in unrealistic processes rather than the assumed laziness of the sales team. In fact, ironically enough, it’s the lazy assumption that laziness is the issue that’s the real issue. For those who don’t mind getting a big, bitter spoonful of tough love, it’s a still a good read.
A Good Read
🧘 “Feedforward”: The “Radical Candor” of 2023
Reframing "feedback" as "feedforward" can shift the focus from past mistakes to future improvements, writes Stephanie Vozza over at Fast Company. The shift can foster a more positive and proactive interaction between spouses, employees and managers, and even yes sellers and RevOps. Now obviously, this is woo woo and every bit as hip as Radical Candor was a few years ago — but it does have the added benefit of asking folks to provide constructive, forward-looking guidance — since you can’t go back in time. But it also nurtures a culture of open communication and continuous growth. Or at least *Rodney Dangerfield voice* so I keep telling my wife!
The Ad-hoc
👩🏫 What’s your Zoom background say about you?
A study by Durham University explored how gender, facial expressions, and Zoom backgrounds affect those still all-important digital first impressions. In the end, they found that backgrounds with books or plants were deemed most trustworthy (nerds!), while regular living room and novelty backgrounds scored the lowest. Happy expressions and women were also rated as more trustworthy (although worth noting the faces weren't pre-screened for attractiveness which, as the Halo Effect teaches us, could significantly impact trustworthiness).
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And that's it for this week!
We'll be back next Thursday night with more news, tips, and dad jokes about treats.
Thanks for reading — remember you can always reach out to us at hello@gorattle.com for any questions, comments, concerns, or a detailed list on why you shouldn't write on an empty stomach.
