While doing some file maintenance this week, I stumbled upon an interesting past performance review from the first year managing a newly consolidated software portfolio. This portfolio had recently expanded into new geographic markets, making for a unique set of challenges and opportunities. I would like to, humbly, share a bit of that review below:
The product portfolio Joel was responsible for saw a 39% year-over-year transactional growth. This was accomplished through his extreme collaboration efforts and by building strong working relationships across the company that enabled him to manage through a set of complex challenges and drive an extraordinarily successful year of revenue performance.
These growth numbers were significant. This portfolio started with a baseline of $850 million in revenue, growing by $335 million to reach $1.185 billion that year (it achieved nearly the same result the following year).
As I reflect on this achievement, it is clear that the success was not solely a result of hard work or happenstance but rather due to the practices we champion here at Mereo — namely the close coordination and strong alignment of sales, product management and marketing teams.
ARE YOUR REVENUE-FOCUSED TEAMS ALIGNED?
The reality is that in many organizations, these key revenue-focused teams operate in silos, missing critical opportunities for growth and efficiency.
Ask yourself:
- Is the product team creating a published strategy and roadmap in close collaboration with input from sales and marketing? This effort should include a commitment to delivering that roadmap on time and with quality.
- Are there shared, transparent metrics for measuring success? Ideally, these should cover revenue, customer acquisition, retention and satisfaction.
- Does marketing have visibility into the roadmap to effectively position the solutions with analysts, customers and prospects? Without this alignment, marketing’s efforts may fall short of driving brand credibility and excitement.
- Are the value propositions that differentiate your solutions clearly communicated and validated by the voice of your customer? Differentiation without validation is simply conjecture.
- Is sales well-prepared with ideal client profiles, trained to engage meaningfully with each buyer role, and equipped to articulate how your solutions uniquely address the buyers’ challenges? Sales teams that lack this depth of understanding risk being outpaced by the competition.
TUNING REVENUE ENGINES FOR THE YEAR AHEAD
With the year-end fast approaching, it is the perfect time to assess whether your investments in sales, product and marketing are truly aligned. Together, these functions likely represent over half of your operational investments. Are you taking steps to tune these individual engines and align their collective performance?
Alignment is not easy, but the results are worth it. A fully integrated approach to revenue performance can yield high returns and lasting customer loyalty. If any of these areas resonate as challenges or opportunities for your organization, consider conducting a deep-dive assessment.
Strategic organizational alignment has transformed our clients’ business too. For Axway, an API management and application integration software-as-a-service (SaaS) leader, we assembled cross-functional teams and helped them build commercial momentum of their subscription business, with 7.5% growth the first year, and 4.4% year-over-year growth. Learn more about Axway’s success with alignment here.
LET’S TALK
I would love to hear your perspectives on this topic: What is preventing alignment in your critical revenue performance teams? What strategies have you implemented that are working well, and how has that benefited your organization?
At Mereo, we do not just advocate for alignment — we live it. If you would like an independent assessment of your revenue performance or are interested in sharing best practices, let’s connect. The best learning often comes from shared experiences. Together, we can drive sustainable revenue growth in the year ahead.
As your leadership is planning for your 2025 revenue kickoff (RKO), infuse your program with opportunities to powerfully align your revenue teams for the year ahead. We have a guidebook that can help.
