Revenue Growth vs Cost Containment

Welcome to episode 3 of What's Broken in GTM and How to Fix It with Louis Fernandes and Simon Daniels. Each week, together with occasional guests, we explore the challenges that face go-to-market leaders in SaaS scale-up businesses and suggest solutions to common issues.

Louis recaps his time at the CRO Connected Summit in East Sussex, including a nice walk in the countryside not ruined by having to play golf! More seriously,  Louis found the talk on seller productivity by Gerry Hill very valuable and recommends following him for more insight. Moving on to this week’s discussion on revenue growth versus cost containment, we discuss how to balance these opposing forces to ensure success.

Here’s the TL;DL ( “too long, didn’t listen”) in case you don’t have time for the whole episode: Revenue growth at all costs isn't viable anymore and while revenue growth is important, it must be combined with ensuring against spending too much on it. Equally, aggressive cost cutting must also be avoided, as that will also hurt long-term success.

Listen on as we discuss the importance of balancing revenue growth with cost containment, especially in the face of economic challenges like inflation and geopolitical events. We highlight the role of generative AI in improving efficiency and productivity, suggesting that investments should focus on enhancing these areas rather than aggressive cost-cutting. Targeted spending in sales and marketing, are recommended for better results. Additionally, we advocate strategies such as optimising headcount, rationalising tools, focusing on expansion revenue, and implementing effective Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to strike the right balance. And avoid falling into the trap of sacrificing long-term brand development for short term sales activation. Louis recommends The Long and the Short of it: Balancing Short and Long-Term Marketing Strategies by Les Binet and Peter Field for anyone who wants to go deeper.

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