GTM 108: From CPA to CRO – Lessons from a 25-Year Software Sales Career with Matt Breslin

As Upland’s Chief Revenue Officer, Matt Breslin oversees customer success, demand generation and communications, sales, revenue enablement, and revenue analysis, supporting our Shared Services Organization. Matt has 25 years of experience in the software industry, most recently leading a $700 million business at Infor. Prior to that, he held senior leadership positions at SAP and Oracle, driving incredible results across the board. Matt started his career as a Certified Public Accountant for Price Waterhouse and Kraft Foods.

Discussed in this Episode:

  • The importance of avoiding blind spots in the sales process and aligning the sales process with the customer’s business pains and processes.
  • Lessons learned from closing a multi-million dollar deal early in his career, including the value of attention to detail and building strong customer relationships.
  • The benefits of focusing sales teams on specific sales motions, such as new logo acquisition or account expansion.

Highlights:

(14:10) Challenging the belief that 3-5X pipeline coverage is the answer to sales problems.

(18:44) The story of driving to a customer’s child’s soccer game to close a multi-million dollar deal.

(26:01) The biggest surprise when transitioning from an individual contributor to a leader.

(41:06) The importance of aligning sales teams to the right motions.

(44:16) One thing revenue leaders believe to be true that Matt thinks is bull$***.

(45:23) One thing that is working for Matt in go-to-market right now.

Guest Speaker (Matt Breslin):
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-breslin-09a4354/

Sponsors:

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Before helping found GTMfund, Scott spent 4 years at Outreach as Director of Strategic Engagement. He was in charge of aligning key relationships with VCs, BoDs, ecosystem partners and community members to drive revenue and strategic initiatives across Outreach. Scott initially ran revenue/partnerships for Sales Hacker (which was acquired by Outreach in 2018). Prior to Sales Hacker, he led and built outbound Business Development teams at Payfirma and MediaValet. Scott also advises for a number of high growth start-ups and is the host/author of The GTM Podcast and The GTM Newsletter. At GTMfund, Scott leads all fundraising efforts and runs the media arm of the firm. He’s also responsible for assessing investments, team management, LP/community relationships and GTM support for founders.

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