RevSum 2017’s over and by all accounts it was a resounding success, congratulations to the organizers and all the sponsors who made it happen. Perhaps you’re wondering if you or your company should sign up for it next year, perhaps you’re wondering why I did not attend or maybe not at all.

In any case, our intrepid COO, Shayne Barretto, was in the Bay area and he did attend!
Here’s feedback and opinions from summit speaker Cory Munchbach, VP Marketing @BlueConic and attendee Amit Gupta, Founder & CEO @SenderGen whose company had a booth this year.

There’s tidbits of feedback in here for both future attendees and organizers. Hold on to your revenue seat-belts.

What was your impression of the event?

Cory: Great location, both to host and to draw the right kinds of people for the topic. Some of the speakers have been real rockstars in the space that have perfect backgrounds and experiences to talk about different aspects of sales and marketing.

Amit: It was cozy, but not small. Great lineup of speakers and lots of great sponsors. The organizers did a tremendous job of creating such a thought provoking and informative environment.

Would you encourage more Sales and Marketing folks to attend these events together?

Cory: Sure, but the separate sessions make it a little hard to unify everyone. The marketing sessions are pretty focused on ABM while the sales session are focused on scaling and revenue, which almost seems to reinforce the separation of church and state that the summit is designed to overcome!

Amit: Yes. The idea of Sales and Marketing working in greater alignment is not new, but, isn’t always put in practice.  Having events like these that cater to both departments, and further promote alignment is good for the entire ecosystem.

Would you attend next year?

Cory: If my sales and marketing orgs get big enough, then I would definitely attend (not as just a speaker) – but it’s hard to discern what of the topics/tactics are scale-able and when. More info there would be worthwhile.

Amit: It was the first time we have ever gotten a booth for our company. Based on our initial leads, I think we would.  Aside from the value in leads, however, we found this conference to be a tremendous opportunity to have our name become a part of the sales and marketing lexicon. We believe organizations will become more aware of the blind spot in corporate P2P email and find solutions like ours to solve their needs. In two days, we had dozens of conversations with attendees, many of whom were surprised by some of our capabilities.  It was a fantastic experience to have the real-time feedback, particularly in the context of some of the regulars who were sponsoring and presenting.

What’s your biggest challenge adopting ABM?

Cory: N/A – still building this out!

Amit: Identifying the accounts you want to target. Our view on ABM is that it should be a supplement to your Marketing strategy, not necessarily the be-all-end-all.  We believe that your strategy today probably overlaps to some extent with some of the key aspects of ABM.  So, I think it’s less a challenge of adoption, and more a challenge of adaptation.

The session you enjoyed the most/looking forward to?

Cory: Most looking forward to “The Hard Things About Hard Sales: Straight From The Godfather of SaaS Sales”

Amit: N/A (we were working at our booth the entire time so didn’t get a chance to check out the talks)

The chat then dived in to the background of both them and their companies.

It’s probably crucial to note here that SenderGen’s booth had a Corgi that could do tricks and they had treats!

What’s a single everyday productivity hack you’d like to share with our audience?

Cory: Slack reminders and exercise in the morning before your day starts!

Amit: I’m still old school and use the notepad on my iPhone to keep track of important tasks.

What’s a single shining quality that has enabled you to succeed/excel?

Cory: Energy. Lots and lots of energy.

Amit: I’ve been able to enroll highly competent people that share in my vision and persevere through major roadblocks. Each person is a 10xer in their own way.

Cory and Amit’s chat continued in Part Two of this series.