Lesley Ronaldson
Appearances
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
there's probably a couple of things we do here, probably, you know, four or five, but the first one is a clear vision, right? Clear vision from the top down. As I said, one of our Gong principles is to create raving fans and we have clear measurables for all employees. So retention metrics, et cetera. And our CRO actually has customers as one of our pillars, which many, many companies do.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
We touch on this every month globally in a team review. And we ensure that every single person knows why we do what we do. I think as well, if you want to remain customer centric, it has to go across all departments, right? You are all responsible for your customer. It does not end with the order form getting signed.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I think back in my old, old sale days, I would have just closed a deal and moved on to the next. That doesn't happen now. I think when I hand a customer over to the customer success team, I still want to stay close to that. And it's really important. Luckily with Gong, and this isn't a plug,
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
We have the full gamut of from the SDR outreach email or call that was sent through to the full close of the deal, to the negotiation, to who the key players were within the deal and why they bought the product. And we hand that to the customer success team and our professional services team for the implementation. And we all understand why the customer bought.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
So I think it's really important to kind of have everybody bought in. I think as well from a cross collaboration with the team to voice of the customer is so, so important. So wherever we get customer feedback on a sales call, after the sales call, the rep can just go into Gong, tag the product team and give them visibility of what the customer said.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
As much as I trust salespeople, if you were to say something to me now about the product and then I was to go then and tell Johnny maybe two hours later, there'll be elements, but I may miss a trick. So for us, once a customer gives us product feedback, we'll absolutely tag our product team and also our product marketing team.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And then there's a couple of other ways as well, which it's important to have customer communities, etc. When I think about feedback loops, you have to listen to your customers. You can't say the product is brilliant. We use it here. Isn't it amazing? Like you can sometimes drink your own champagne and get a little drunk. So you have to be open to feedback. Like feedback is a gift.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
So for us, unlike many, many customers, we have voice of the customer. So again, the customer feedback that we get. We do customer advisory forums like many other companies. So again, we love feedback. And then finally, customer communities is an amazing way to do this. So if I think about someone who does it really well in the market, it's HubSpot. They do an incredible job.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
They've built out a membership base where you share ideas and tips and tricks. And actually, if you think about when someone goes to buy, they've already made their mind up. I mean, I don't go and book a holiday or book a hotel without going on TripAdvisor. I don't book an Airbnb without reading a review.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
So it's your customers that are actually going to be your advocates and your evangelists, so to speak. So I think communities are really, really important. And then I think the last two things is when it comes to customers, like you need to empower your employees. You need to give them the right tech stack and tools and training to do this.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
You know, you can't say, you know, sell to your customer, then fill in this spreadsheet, which I've seen in other companies. Fill in this spreadsheet and then send it to the customer success person and then make sure that you, you know, you schedule a call and then scheduling your QBRs. I think, you know, there's a lot of software out there like prolific for account plans, you know, Gong.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I think it's important that you have a really clear, we call them swim lanes, like really clear swim lanes of a customer journey. I think everybody should have roles or responsibilities. We did two-day training. We took the whole company off-site globally to talk about roles and responsibilities.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
So there's none of this, it's not my job or, hey, that doesn't feel like it's my job, but I know whose job it is. So everybody owns the customer. And then lastly, data. I haven't talked about it all but I love data.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I'm numbers driven I really am but like data can tell any story so you need to be really careful I can mold data to tell a great story or a bad story but we do need to look at performance metrics like you do have to define and track indicators related to the customer satisfaction and engagement and really ensure those behaviors are being measured you know whether it's an OKR or KPI and here at Gong we are maniacal about this so we track our numbers weekly in fact
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I am on a call every Monday for one hour with our head of customer success for all our renewals, two quarters out, two quarters out. And every customer success manager who owns those renewals saying, here's where we are. Here is the risk. Here's what we need. There's a flag on the product and we are we are selling impacts.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Congratulations. And also, I love that I think work-life balance is gone now. We call it work-life harmony here.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
We're pulling all people in and that's to ensure that they have a good experience. Then we do monthly reviews. And then we also showcase these in QBR. So there's definitely, there's a cadence and a process to being customer centric. And as I'm listening to myself, it sounds like a heavy lift and you know something. Yeah, it is.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
But if you get it wrong, you've got the sales team doing amazing, selling all these deals. It's pointless. Like you're not profitable. You're not growing. And your folks won't stay. Like you'll have a nutrition problem as well.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I think it is. I had something this morning. There was a customer issue and they went to support and the customer support person was like, hey, that's actually not my gig. That belongs to customer success manager. However, he walked over and we're lucky we're in the office to the customer success manager said, hey, I just had this feedback. Let's jump on the call together.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
There's nothing in it for that part. The customer success, you know, he's busy, but we sell as a team. We sell in packs. and a customer lost, we're all shareholders as well, right? We are all on this journey together. You kind of have to hire people that will go the extra mile for you and care. You'll not hear someone on Salesforce say, my accounts, they're Gong's accounts.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
It's not a balance anymore. I mean, sometimes it's just it is what it is. There's days where I leave at three o'clock to go to maybe a school show. And there's days where I maybe have to work till nine or ten at night and I make it work. It's the nine to five is out.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
My book of business, it's Gong's book of business. That's not your account, it's Gong's accounts. You just happen to be allowed prospect into it. So I do think it starts from the top down, whether, you know, from leaders, directors to managers.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And when I think about potential customers, I will use Gong and look at every single open deal in my pipeline and I can see which deals have a VP of sales as a persona, a part of the decision maker. then I will reach out to that VP of sales and I will do a peer-to-peer demo. I don't use Gong the same way an AE uses Gong. And straight away, I'm locked into that customer. We have a relationship.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
When it comes to negotiation, I'm not just coming in from stage left to give the best and final. Me and that person already know each other. And that's been really helpful for me. I probably do demos of the product three to four times a week, which is really important because you've got to lead by example.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Listen, I just want to win and no AE can close it alone. Not one. Yes, you can close a 20, 30K deal, but I'm talking about the six figure deals. Let's all get in. Let's all get around it. What do you need? We do a light linearity where we should be towards the end of the month. So we have a 72 inch screen, a live gong deal board open. We go, right, 92K deal. Bobby, where are we?
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And this is in front of 80 people and it's uncomfortable at the start and it's uncomfortable for new people. But Bobby's like, here's where I am. I'm bum, bum, bum. I'm at Red Lions. And someone said, hey, is it a German customer? Oh, I've had one of them. I'll drop by your desk afterwards and we can have a chat. And I'm watching this magic.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I'm watching this tribal knowledge, this peer-to-peer selling. And I actually did do a VP demo. So I said, hey, Bobby, I've done the VP demo. That's going to close on Friday. Call it. Commit it. So there's a little bit of peer pressure there and I welcome that.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
You hit the nail on the head. It is magic. And of course, we have a huge gong on the sales floor. And when that deal comes in, we celebrate as a team. And then people go back to their desk, a little spring in their step. It wasn't their win. But again, I want to bring that whole floor on a journey.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I thought you were going in one direction, you went in the other. So the first direction I thought you were going in is selling without integrity. There is absolute cases where we're speaking to a customer saying, we can't do that. What you want our product to do, we cannot do that. And in fact, if they sell the product...
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And I had an expression in another company, the refs were selling the dream and leaving the nightmare with the customer success team. If you oversell, you will be caught out. So what I have done in previous companies is if that happens, you'll lose the commission. So there's a bit of a slap on the wrist. If we can't do what the customer needs, you cannot sell the product.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
You can't sell a motorbike to somebody who needs a car. It doesn't work. That's the first thing. The second thing, if we feel a competitor can do it better, maybe. And yes, there are cases, but I would ensure, and I've done this in every role, that there is a competitive analysis done for every AE knows what the landscape looks like. There is a battle card for every single competitor.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And I actually can click a top spot and I can go to every single one now. And you need to say to the customer, hey, what you're looking to do, we do it. X may do it better. However, here's where we beat X. And it's da, da, da, and da. You are being honest, but you're gently leading them away from where they were kind of going and saying, it won't do that. Does it really matter?
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
But it'll do this, this, this, and this. It's up to the customer to make the decision then. But again, it is starting with integrity. The second part of your question is the SDR and the AE. So the SDR has a role and their role is to prospect into as many accounts as possible, bring them on a journey and get them in front of the AE.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
The skin in the game for the SDR is they maybe do not care as much about the customer, but they care about them as professionals. They're early in seed and career, they want to get to AE. So what we'll do is if they get to AE,
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
eight months or nine months and a good track record then we make them a senior we just promoted someone this morning in the huddle then they unlock what we call the sgr ae academy where they then have access to my meetings ae one-to-ones and then they're allowed sell into our very lower lower lower your customer so they get some access to what the role is going to look like
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
We also sometimes use SDRs to do demos, that selling impacts piece. So do they care about customers? I'm going to say probably not. And I'll say when I was at SDR, I didn't really, I was all about hitting the number. But as they go on the journey and they're selling and they understand it more, they do. The AEs absolutely care about the customer.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
So we have just started a center of excellence here. And again, many other customers have it. And what we've done is we've taken our senior director of product marketing, we've moved him in there. Our EMEA head of RevOps, we've moved him in there. And our head of enablement in the US, we've moved them in there.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Yeah, one of us should have a good time.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
The reason we picked those three is because the three key personas that buy our product is head of sales, head of revenue, head of enablement. So what they do is they are like our A team. So all six figure deals, We do a center of excellence review. So the US team fly here. We sit in a room for three days. It is a long piece, you know, it is a bit of an investment on time.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
But I've never lost a quarter and I do believe it's down to that. So we go in a room, we maybe review 30 to 40 deals over 100K with that center of excellence team. And then they go in and they do the demo. They go on site. They will run the mutual success plan with the AE. It's like a gold standard approach. And then when you move into the customer success item, they become a customer
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
They don't back away like an AE may do. They are still part of the journey and they've been the executive sponsor to that deal.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I'm going to use my favourite three words. Tell me more.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
yes so we've i have examples of that where we say because you're implementing salesforce it's a bit it is a heavy lift to do them both at once so why don't we do salesforce we'll stay aligned check in three months bump bump bump bump bump we also co-sell with hubspot so if hubspot is mentioned we have a joint slash channel with them you like joint lunches with them and we can ping the team there and say hey i'm working with actually we ping their customer success team and say hey
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Where are they on their journey? And HubSpot are brilliant. They'll say, you know something, we're only just starting implementation. Hold fire or hey, we're nearly done. Go for it. And by the way, I think you're going to win this, this and this part of the deal. Just sell with integrity. It'll bite you in the ass.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
You touched on something about the competitive space. So I think it is a competitive space and it can be quite aggressive. So from a customer centric point of view, I think for us, we just need to be really personalised and personalisation at scale is something a lot of people talk about. So, you know, it's obvious account based marketing.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
But making sure customers are getting the best experience and being really innovative. So we need to be five steps ahead of our competitors. I think hence why voice of the customer is key. Those customer advisory forums as well. And also when we launch new products, we love having customers as part of the beta.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
because they're the ones using it I think with anything and often I give you an example I could be creating a deck and I think the deck is amazing and I'll say another one of our principles here is no sugar so I'll say to somebody can you look at my deck no sugar I can't see past it anymore I'm so in it and they'll say oh no no like you spelt that wrong I'm like I don't even see that so with our product because we love our products so much and an engineer it's their baby you
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
It's really brave, but it's important that we let customers into the beta and say, hey, this isn't working or actually that button is annoying. If you can move that button because I could toggle quickly and I wouldn't have to go here and save me a second. But if I do this 14 times a day over the month, it's like three minutes back. So I think that's really important as well.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And then just being responsive and agile. So when we get the feedback from a customer, if they're thinking it, other customers are thinking it. And if it makes sense due to the product and outpace competitors, why wouldn't we listen to them? You'd be a fool not to.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
It could depend on tenure and also how long they're doing their job. But I think listing tours for me are the first thing I do in any job. So I do an internal and an external. So when I joined Gong, I spent two weeks listing. I had one with every single person in this building. Why did you join Gong? What do you like about your business? If you had a magic wand, what would you change?
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And you get a vibe of what's going on in the sales floor. And a lot of it was I wasn't sure of my role's responsibilities. I do this job, she does that job. I'm under pressure for... So you kind of start to hear about maybe the parts of the engine that are a little bit broken internally. And then externally, listening towards your customers.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Well, there's a lot going on. I suppose I'll stick with work for this one. I'm just back from a trip from the US. We had a new CRO join Gong last September, and there's been a couple of changes on the leadership team. And he has a huge belief that sometimes I'll talk about my team and my team is my directs, as in my managers, my directors, my reps.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I think we forgot during COVID how important it is to get in front of somebody. And look them in the whites of their eyes. People do buy from people and we forget that. We buy things online all the time and we just click on apps. So I would say, listen, of your existing customers, look at your existing customer base. So in other companies I've worked for and here, we have our top 100 customers.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Then we have our top 20 execs. So I'm one of them. And all of us have customers that we're aligned to. That is a really tightly run program. And I'm actually, that's one of my OKRs. So I have 10 customers at the moment. That's my focus. How many have I met? When was the last time I met with them? How are they? Have I listened, right? I'm not selling them anything. I'm not here for the upsell.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I'm not here for the renewal. I'm just here. How are you getting on? What's going on? And then the final one, and one I wish I'd known really early on in my career, get friendly with product. You need to get friendly with product. They are just as important as the sellers. They're the ones that control the roadmap.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
They're the ones that are doing all these things in the background and you need to have a two-way communication. So we will do product roadmaps here and also give them feedback. It's a two-way street and of that product roadmap, what's customer facing? What can I share? What do the reps need to know? So you're on a call, hey, your product doesn't do this. No, it doesn't miss your customer.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
However, if that's coming in August, would you like to be part of the beta? That's really important. So product is key. So listen to your customers, use your leadership team to keep those relationships alive with your customers. It's not just trying to sell to them. And then honestly, product are your best friend.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
That was fun. Thank you for having me.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
But he wants us to focus on the first team and my first team should be my peers. So we went to the US for three days and I have to really commend him. He kind of left us to our own devices a lot. There was a lot of downtime, a lot of meals, a lot of activities and sports and quite a loose agenda. So what happened was there was a lot of conversations that weren't about work.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I would say I came back from that trip and there was 10 of us plus him. And I can tell you a personal story about every single one of those leaders. And I had a lot of aha moments of aha. That is why often you come across on a call the way you do or that is why we had maybe that bit of friction last year over an account.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
He also talked about the five dysfunctions of a team, which was really important. And actually, we all read the book before we got there and The biggest one, the foundation is trust. And I left that trip with way more trust, way more understanding. You know, we talked about kids and partners and the age that we're at, the age profile. A lot of us have sick parents.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
So talking about that and kind of where we are in our lives. And honestly, it was a brilliant trip. I love the no agenda piece. And I'm actually going to mirror it here in EMEA because I think although my leaders are close, it's really important to step away from the number, the data and the drive and just breathe and be and let them get to know each other.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Because again, you build that trust, then conflict is easy. You can debate, then commit. And that's what we want to do here.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Three days and actually at the end of the three days, like, you know, there was hugs, personal numbers exchanged and we've all agreed I'm going to go back over it. And usually I wouldn't go to the US more than once a quarter, but we got so much out of it. We now want to go to the next level. We now want to go to kind of commitment, action,
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
results and start to plan for next year usually we have those conversations in October but we want to start them early I mean you know it's a global conversation now as opposed to my region my segment my team they're my first team it was brilliant he's a genius our CRO I'm curious how would you think you'll take your lessons learned from that trip and cascade that into the team is there anything you're thinking that's going to help you
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
There was one thing. So there's these, they're called value cards. You get them on Amazon. So he had 12 decks of those cards and all of us were given the cards and you had to open the value, the deck of values, put them into three piles. Important, middle important, not really important. Then you'd take the ones that were really important and pick the top two and go around the table.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And it was chill. We were eating lunch. It was casual, feet up on desks. It wasn't formal. And then you all had to say why those two values were your top two values. My top two is fairness and commitment. Others were different, but you all had to say why. And I will say there was not one person around that room that didn't talk about their childhood, which was very interesting.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Your family of origin is so, so important. And a lot of aha moments for me, that is why you'll have Sometimes sharp elbows in a conversation because you were perhaps brought up in a different home than I was. A single mom. That's why you're so driven. That's why you will win at all costs. It was really good, really deep.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
A lot of bonds made and he's created a team that will run through walls for him.
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I think some personalities have a work. Like there's a work Leslie and a home Leslie. They're very similar, right? I'm really direct. I'm high energy, high excite, no surprises there. But there's definitely people who I would have, when there's a work version of them and I saw a completely different version of them. They're very polished in work and
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Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to do this podcast.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
They're very driven, but actually when you kind of rip it back, one of them was probably the most entertaining person I've ever met in my life. The stories he told, I was like, what kind of life have you lived? But in work, he's so buttoned up. I never saw that side of him. So yeah, it's super important to focus on your first team.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Yeah, one of our engineers here just opened up a comedy club and he's a stand-up comedian and I was like, what? But you're so quiet. Everybody has lives outside of work. Never, ever, ever judge a book by its cover. Ever.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I'll give you the whistle stop tour. So I've just come into my 101st quarter in sales. So just over 25 years. I started my career in the late 90s in Dell. Bottom of the rung, bottom of the ladder, BDOR, SDR. And I have to say I was absolutely hooked. Dell was a massive multinational in Ireland in those days. And we had one of the manufacturing plants in Limerick.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And they were growing out of a huge team. And I knew I was going to try and go as far as I could there. And I had made a commitment. I did a couple of foreign assignments there. I helped set up the first call centre in India. 2004, I lived in Slovakia for a while in Bratislava where we outsourced our German sales. After about 15, 16 years in Dell, I had a mentor say to me, hey,
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
You've had a great run. You know, I was managing partners at that stage, a senior manager. He said, hey, you've had a great run. But could one say you're a one trick pony? Now, that phrase lives in my head rent free. He said, you know, you've been behind a pretty big logo, pretty deep pockets selling hardware.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I think you may need to start looking at SaaS, looking at software and potentially kind of the startup world. So I was like, oh, yeah. Okay, let me have a look. Now, in Dublin, there is, we were really, really lucky at that time, around 2010, I suppose, there was Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and we called it Silicon, like there's like a Silicon Valley element to Dublin.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And I had a friend who worked in LinkedIn and we had a chat and he said, look, they're starting a new business line on LinkedIn. It's called LinkedIn Sales Solutions and the product is Sales Navigator. And this was 2014. I was like, okay, yeah, you know, I know a bit about LinkedIn. I used to call it the Facebook for work. How wrong was I?
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
So I went to the interview and I was one of the first managers hired in and they called it a startup within a startup. So we launched Sales Navigator. LinkedIn absolutely brought me on a journey. I would say the leader I was in Dell would have been, you know, I grew up in a boys club. I grew up surrounded by a lot of men and I definitely had kind of
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
sharp elbows but LinkedIn taught me a lot of things to be an empathetic leader to seek to understand always to you know always lead with my heart and my head but data right data is really important but your people are really important and customer LinkedIn was the first place where I ever heard about value engagement
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
and I had an amazing manager in LinkedIn called Paul Terry and he said Lesley let me finish you like this if you're at a dinner party and the person on your right only talks about themselves and the person on the left asks you lots of questions about you who do you want to sit beside and I said well I want to sit beside the person you know I want to talk to the person on my left and he says why I said well because he's interested in me and it's conversational he goes and that is how we treat our customers no feature blasting no talking at them no talking about the product
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
You want to know about them. And for me, that kind of turned on a light. When I think about the Dell days, we were selling like laptops and desktops and there was an incentive. If you sold a printer, you got like a multiplier. So it's more commission. And I remember sitting beside a guy called Fred, he hung up the phone and he goes, yes, I just sold two printers.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
And I said, oh, we work in consumer sales. So how did you do that? And he goes, oh, you know, this old couple have just bought a desktop, but I sold them two printers. And I said, mate, you've literally just turned our dining room into a WeWork. You know, that's not selling with integrity. Nobody needs two printers. They probably didn't even need a printer. God love them.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
But I just remember thinking, that's not cool. And then I think when I got to LinkedIn, I was definitely brought on an education about it is all about your customer. And SaaS, because the way the SaaS model works, you know, retention and churn, it was an absolute like an overnight haul of how I sold. and how I saw integrity and more integrity and always with customer in mind, never overselling.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
It's not about me. It's not about the sale. It's not about the commission. It's about solving a need or solving a problem. So that was the LinkedIn journey. Then I was approached by a smaller startup, a language translation company. Then Asana, which was project management. I am really organized person. Sometimes it can be crippling.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Sometimes your greatest strength over index can become your greatest weakness. And I am super organized. And Asana was like, I'd come home. It was the mothership
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I use it today actually all of Gong and Mia is run off Asana so shout out to my Asana crew and then I had always known of Gong it had been on my radar since 2017 because they were the new kids on the block they were incredible on social media as I worked in LinkedIn and their profiles were brilliant their marketing was funny spicy direct hit you between the eyes some amazing videos so when they approached me I was so happy in Asana it was a bit of a
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Will I, won't I? And I said, yeah, this is absolutely the world for me. And I will tell you now, I'm never leaving.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
I think as my husband usually says to me, explain it to me like I'm a five-year-old. I think it is what your customers' needs are and their demands are at the focal point of all your decisions. Whether it's delivering a product, a service or an experience, your whole team has to be thinking customer first and customer first mentality. It's bandied around a lot.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
It's a lot of, you know, principles in companies. Our principle is here, create raving fans. So I want our customers to buy, but we want our customers to be obsessed with the product. And often at events, we're very careful where we sit people. We do prospect, customer, prospect, customer, prospect, customer, like a seating plan. And we will match up vertical. and we'll match our persona.
The Growth Workshop Podcast
Episode 6 - Centricity in SaaS: Lesley Ronaldson Keeps the Customer First
Often sit back and watch a VP of RevOps, who's a customer, tell the VP of RevOps, who's a potential client, why he bought Gong. Because it's not me selling, it's someone else selling for you. So for us, our customer, they're king. Our customers are absolutely king.