“I would have died by spreadsheets.”
Christmas Eve, 2017. Rachel (Rae) Roberts had been in her role as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of Cisco AppDynamics for a matter of days. With her whole team already out for the holidays, no one was available to bring her up to speed on the data.
And Cisco’s leadership asked her for an accurate forecast of where the current quarter was going to land.
A big ask for even a seasoned revenue executive. Rae’s secret to getting smart on a new business fast? Predictive forecasting views:
In a recent conversation at Charge: The Revenue Summit — our event for revenue leaders who want to capture more revenue and stay ahead of the competition - with Ben Fiechtner, President, Americas at UiPath and former CRO at Clari, Rae shared:
- Real-world insights for identifying and eliminating revenue process breakdowns
- Strategies your company can use to build a high-performing, predictable revenue engine
Here are more key takeaways from their conversation.
Run your business “through the windshield” with predictive analytics
As CRO of AppDynamics since its acquisition by Cisco in 2017, Rae has two key responsibilities:
- Provide forecasting and guidance to Cisco
- Have a deep understanding of the business she is managing
“Mission-critical” for Rae as a sales leader?
Predictive analytics as part of a forward-looking view.
Without that, she’d be relying on gut decisions for revenue forecasting accuracy and adjustments. With it, she’s stopping Revenue Leaks before they even occur:
Rae and her revenue team use Clari to “run the business in the windshield,” looking ahead to the next quarter.
Here’s one example. Using Clari’s waterfall module, Rae creates a few predictive scoring mechanisms. She uses these to:
- Double-check her leaders’ forecasts
- Understand the forecast for the next month, quarter - or even half-year
Revenue Leaks destroy 26% of global revenue, according to Clari Labs data. So stopping them before they even start puts significant value back into Cisco AppDynamics’ bottom line.
From “I’ve got a feeling” to the truth (using data)
One in two CROs report ineffective pipeline generation as a key factor causing Revenue Leak in their organization, according to Clari Labs’ research.
Here’s what that can look like: manually pulling a salesperson’s pipeline, reviewing the number, and asking about their confidence level. And these “feelings games,” as Rae calls them, aren’t just time-consuming. They’re also not data-driven.
Instead, Cisco AppDynamics uses visualizations so sales leaders can work with reps to figure out which deals at what stage are at risk - and which might not even be real opportunities:
With Clari, the team looks at the visualization to spot possible areas of Revenue Leak. That includes specific deals that might have some issues based on the sales stage, and the overall “shape and velocity” of the Cisco AppDynamics pipeline as they move throughout the quarter.
Sales leaders can then investigate further to understand what's happening and why. Even better, Cisco AppDynamics empowers its first and second-line leaders to perform more self-inspections — uncovering potential Revenue Leak without C-suite guidance.
Pre-Clari, the gap between getting to that truth and making a strategic or tactical decision to mitigate Revenue Leak may have taken a few weeks. Now, it’s a matter of minutes — more time back to building pipeline.
AI for CROs and sales leaders today- and tomorrow
Rae says Cisco AppDynamics has a dedicated AI development and governance team looking at intelligent AI that’s both safe and secure. AI is being incorporated into the product stack across the board.
“It's all really, really exciting,” says Rae, “and super scary at the same time. I'm equally frightened for my existence as a human and super excited about what it can do for us as a sales organization.”
Rae leans on smart humans and even smarter tech to guide her on where to focus her time and energy. AI within Clari — say, the opportunity scoring (red vs. green) — helps to instantly understand whether an opportunity is on track.
And Rae knows Clari’s AI will only improve over time...helping coach her team, and informing her where to expend energy.
Ultimately, this helps Rae spot — and squash — potential Revenue Leak.
Working with Clari’s AI, Rae saves time and avoids being caught off guard.
“Surprises are for birthdays, not for business. I don't like being surprised at work.”
Avoid Revenue Leak Surprises: Watch Charge 2024 On Demand
Learn more about how to proactively foresee issues and stop Revenue Leak- watch the full event from Charge 2024 on demand.