Unlocking Success: Crafting a Compelling Business Case for Growth Investment

Transforming Commercial Strategies for Success

Meet Kristen Carloni. She leads the Business Proposal Strategy team at BlackRock’s Aladdin Sales and Marketing. Her role? To create a powerful and efficient business proposal process. This is crucial because her team influences most of the company’s revenue. Kristen explains, “If we don’t do our job, the firm won’t see that revenue—it just dies.”

But her job is more than just proposals. Kristen connects marketing, product, IT, and sales teams to incorporate technology and AI for faster, more profitable growth. She exemplifies the modern growth leader—a Revenue Operations executive. This role spans various departments to:

• Enhance consistent and profitable revenue growth
• Boost returns on investments in sales and marketing
• Maximize the value of commercial assets

With a tight-knit team of fewer than twelve, Kristen’s influence touches over 90% of the company’s revenue. She’s also helping others in different roles become more effective. A key part of her success is the adoption of Strategic Response Management (SRM). This system helps unlock organizational knowledge for profit growth.

Kristen’s work offers valuable lessons for sales, marketing, and operations teams. She leverages Revenue Operations principles to tap into her company’s growth investments. Despite being positioned in what seems like a back-office role, her influence on revenue is significant.

Building a Strong Case for Change

Kristen’s team directly impacts top-line revenue, unlike average sales and marketing groups. This unique position allows her team to lead commercial transformations effectively. According to APMP benchmarks, response teams typically influence nearly half (48%) of revenue through customer acquisitions and loyalty efforts.

In the last year, Kristen’s team raised their revenue impact from 70% to an impressive 92%. They’ve increased productivity and performance while keeping costs down. Their experiences and data from thousands of customer interactions inform the entire revenue process, from identifying customer preferences to predicting demand.

Here’s how they’re doing it:

• Boosting efficiency: Five years ago, her team adopted new proposal technology. This allowed them to manage a higher volume of proposals without increasing staff. “We doubled our volumes and our revenue impact without hiring anyone,” Kristen notes.
• Saving time: An AI-enabled content database has freed up thousands of hours for sales experts. Their content has been used over 10,000 times, saving significant time for those involved.
• Improving win rates: Their response management system increased win rates to 95%, proving that data-driven approaches lead to better performance.

Maximizing Growth Investments

Many sales leaders mistakenly view sales productivity as a simple problem. Bob Kelly, CEO of the Sales Management Association, suggests it’s more complex and involves balancing multiple factors. Kristen demonstrates that balance at BlackRock. “Our impact on sales rates is just part of our broader financial strategy,” she says.

Here are some key areas where her team creates value:

• Smart resource allocation: Kristen’s team analyzes whether time and resources are being spent wisely, improving overall performance.
• Supporting sales staff: Enhancing the seller experience simplifies the process, leading to better ramp-up times and retained talent.
• Enhancing customer responses: Their focus on quality responses improves customer experiences and speeds up communication across teams.
• Managing risks: Their systems help standardize communications, ensuring that all responses are compliant and accurate.

Unlocking Commercial Value

Kristen understands that the true value of a company lies in its intangible assets—like brand reputation and knowledge. These assets can make up to 80% of a company’s value.

• Building a knowledge hub: Kristen’s team has created a centralized database of selling content available to 600 sales reps. This database improves efficiency and compliance.
• Harnessing data: Their systems capture extensive go-to-market data, making it easier for analysts to dive into performance insights.
• Leveraging AI: Kristen encourages her team to embrace AI, believing it can significantly improve efficiency and future-proof careers. Her team is exploring how AI can help create and manage content effectively.

In summary, Kristen Carloni’s innovative approach to commercial transformation emphasizes the importance of integrating technology, strategic resource allocation, and fostering collaboration. Her insights reveal that effective revenue management can create significant value for companies. Through a blend of strategic thinking and operational efficiency, Kristin is paving the way for future growth in her organization.