SBI BlogRevenue Growth Insights

Customer Success

How Leading Customer Success Teams are Becoming Strategic and Revenue Driven

In this episode of The Sales Readiness Podcast, Ray Makela, Managing Director of Talent Development at SBI, is joined ag...

16 Jun 25

2 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

AI-Driven Insights

The 6 Cs of Future-Proof AEs: Why The Human Element Matters More In The Age of AI

AI is moving fast—faster than most sales teams are ready for. Tools that summarize calls, write emails and surface insig...

9 Jun 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

CEO/Board/Executive Leadership

How CEOs Are Shifting Gears Amid Ongoing Uncertainty

SBI’s May 2025 edition of the CEO Value Creation Pulse Report reflects a shift in how CEOs are responding to a more comp...

5 Jun 25

2 min read

By Bryan Kurey Read More

Pricing

Don't Waste Your AI Features. Pricing Insights to Maximize Adoption

AI is now central to your SaaS product strategy, even if you’re not an AI-first company. From analytics and automation t...

4 Jun 25

3 min read

By Patrick Doran Read More

Customer Success

Customer Success: An Underutilized Growth Lever

Customer Success (CS) has long been misunderstood as a reactive support function. But as Annie Stefano and Ray Makela di...

2 Jun 25

2 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Why Manager Playbooks Miss the Mark and What Enablement Needs to Be Doing Differently

Sales managers are at the center of sales execution, yet too often, they are expected to lead without being led. Recent ...

26 May 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

RevOps & RevTech

Insights from RevOps Leaders: Aligning AI with Strategy from the Start

At SBI’s 2025 Spring Regional Summit, a select group of revenue operations leaders gathered for a focused Growth Forum h...

22 May 25

1 min read

By Seamus Ruiz-Earle Read More

Coaching & Training

It's Time to Lead the Leaders: Closing the Sales Manager Training Gap

Enablement leaders agree: if you want to improve frontline performance, you need to start with the people leading the fr...

22 May 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Rethinking Role Clarity: Sales vs. Account Management

On the latest episode of the Sales Readiness Podcast, Ray Makela, Managing Director of Talent Development, was joined by...

19 May 25

2 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Pricing

Don't Settle for Pricing Mediocrity: 8 Insights to Revamp Your Pricing Strategy in 2025

Think having an internal pricing function makes you stand out? Think again. In 2025, 98% of SaaS companies designate res...

16 May 25

3 min read

By Patrick Doran Read More

Coaching & Training

7 Different Roles of a Successful Sales Manager

Managing a high-performance sales team can be challenging. One of the main challenges is that the job requires sales man...

14 May 25

2 min read

By David Jacoby Read More

Coaching & Training

Hire Sales STARs by Asking Behavior-Based Interview Questions

If you follow professional football, then you know that Shedeur Sanders was the big story of the 2025 NFL draft. For you...

12 May 25

4 min read

By David Jacoby Read More

Coaching & Training

Why Traditional Sales Training Fails and How Collaborative, Ongoing Learning Drives Real Results

Sales organizations are investing heavily in sales training, yet the results tell a concerning story. Between 2021 and 2...

5 May 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

GTM Design & Structure

CEOs Are Asking The Wrong Questions About AI

At both the World50 Connect and Recognize CEO Innovation Network events, artificial intelligence and tariffs were the do...

1 May 25

2 min read

By Mike Hoffman Read More

GTM Design & Structure

Navigating Unprecedented Levels of Uncertainty: What CEOs Need to Know

Two themes, both riddled with uncertainty, dominated the conversations at the World50 Connect and Recognize CEO Innovati...

1 May 25

2 min read

By Mike Hoffman Read More

Coaching & Training

Sales Manager Training is Getting Left Behind and It's Hurting Performance

Sales manager training is widely recognized as a key performance driver, yet many companies fail to invest in and delive...

28 Apr 25

2 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

GTM Design & Structure

Tariff Turbulence and Economic Uncertainty - How GTM Leaders Can Win

As companies prepare for the second half of 2025, growth-minded leaders are facing a commercial landscape dominated by r...

24 Apr 25

3 min read

By Anthony Erickson Read More

Pricing

5 Steps to Build a Profitable Pricing Strategy

67% of SaaS companies ignore value-based pricing, according to our latest 2024 State of SaaS report and research. They i...

23 Apr 25

4 min read

By Patrick Doran Read More

Coaching & Training

The Value of Building Strong Relationships and Rapport in Sales

A foundational yet often overlooked element of successful selling is relationship building and rapport. In the latest ep...

21 Apr 25

2 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

5 Actions to Close the Sales Training Gap

Modern sales organizations are more complex than ever. Teams are dispersed over states or countries, buying motions are ...

17 Apr 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Selling to the Enterprise Customer vs. the SMB Market: 3 Key Skills

One of the biggest challenges for a sales organization is moving upmarket. For example, if you target the small- and med...

14 Apr 25

2 min read

By David Jacoby Read More

GTM Design & Structure

Inside ChiliPalooza: AI, Brand Identity, and Real Conversations

Cliff Simon, CRO of Carabiner Group, a part of SBI, represented SBI at ChiliPalooza, a dynamic, workshop-driven conferen...

10 Apr 25

2 min read

By Cliff Simon Read More

Pricing

A Poor Pricing Strategy is Driving Your Customers Away

If you’re not pricing correctly, you’re driving customers away. In an uncertain economy, your pricing strategy has a gre...

9 Apr 25

3 min read

By Patrick Doran Read More

Coaching & Training

Before You Invest in a New Sales Enablement Technology, Ask Yourself These Questions

Sales enablement has boomed. The State of Sales Enablement Report for 2023 found that the number of businesses with a de...

7 Apr 25

2 min read

By David Jacoby Read More

GTM Design & Structure

How Women in Leadership Are Mastering Influence, Credibility, and Tough Conversations

The path to leadership is more than climbing the corporate ladder. True leadership comes with overcoming obstacles, crea...

3 Apr 25

3 min read

By SBI Team Read More

Sales

Evolving Sales Forecasting: From Factored Pipelines to Commit/Upside

Companies selling into a complex B2B sales environment are shifting away from traditional, stage-based forecasting model...

31 Mar 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

A Note to CEOs: Your Current Enablement Strategy is Holding Back Growth

Historically, CEOs have treated enablement as a tactical function and support system for sellers rather than a strategic...

27 Mar 25

2 min read

By Dave Lingebach Read More

Pricing

Don't Leave Money on the Table: Localize SaaS Pricing Internationally

What is the most impactful yet underutilized growth lever for SaaS companies? Pricing. Research shows that every 1% incr...

26 Mar 25

3 min read

By Patrick Doran Read More

Coaching & Training

Ask for Referrals Using These 6 Tactics

Last weekend, a strange man knocked at my front door. He introduced himself as a painter named Steve with a unique speci...

25 Mar 25

5 min read

By David Jacoby Read More

Coaching & Training

Stop Undervaluing the Impact of Training Your Frontline Managers—Your Revenue Growth Depends On It

Sales leaders prioritize seller training, but they often overlook training for frontline sales managers, one of the most...

20 Mar 25

3 min read

By Dave Lingebach Read More

C-Suite Selling

Delivering Value to Executives: Avoiding Pitfalls and Driving Business Outcomes

Transitioning from traditional sales to enterprise sales can be a major shift, as SBI Executive Consultant, Sarah Bedwel...

17 Mar 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Commercial Productivity

Commercial Efficiency is the CEO's Greatest Growth Lever

As CEOs move through 2025, understanding how to drive sustainable revenue growth while navigating declining go-to-market...

13 Mar 25

2 min read

By Bryan Kurey Read More

Enablement & Training

Unlocking Enablement Success in 2025

Sales enablement leaders are facing an increasingly complex and evolving landscape. The modern buyer’s journey has evolv...

10 Mar 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

CEO/Board/Executive Leadership

Executives Trust Their GTM Strategy, But Not Their Data

In a rapidly evolving commercial landscape, executives express confidence in their go-to-market (GTM) strategies, yet ma...

6 Mar 25

2 min read

By Anthony Erickson Read More

Coaching & Training

4 Elements to Gauge the Health of Your Sales Pipeline

As a sales leader, there’s nothing worse than getting to the end of the quarter and realizing your team will miss their ...

3 Mar 25

3 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Coaching & Training

Are You Measuring Enablement Success or Just Checking the Boxes?

Sales enablement teams recognize the need to track and measure sales performance indicators, yet few feel confident in t...

27 Feb 25

2 min read

By Dave Lingebach Read More

Coaching & Training

How to Choose the Best Sales Training Partner for Your Business

Most companies don’t go through the process of hiring a sales training partner very often. When they do, they’re often l...

24 Feb 25

4 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Research Report

Stop Experimenting, Start Executing: How CEOs are Using AI to Accelerate Growth

CEOs are entering 2025 with cautious optimism. While many saw strong growth in 2024, they recognize that ongoing challen...

20 Feb 25

2 min read

By Bryan Kurey Read More

Coaching & Training

Get Inside the Mind of Your Sellers: Harnessing Motivation

Motivating sellers is a common challenge for frontline sales managers. Just as your sales team is comprised of unique in...

17 Feb 25

2 min read

By Ray Makela Read More

Sales

Turning Uncertainty into Predictability: Driving Consistency and Growth

In the fast paced world of private equity, predictability is one of the most critical attributes a CRO can cultivate. In...

13 Feb 25

2 min read

By Anthony Erickson Read More