Unlocking Revenue Performance: Focus, Customer Obsession, and Continuous Growth with Karen Dowse of Mintel

In today's rapidly evolving market, revenue leaders face a constant barrage of challenges. From navigating a complex macro environment to ensuring teams stay laser-focused, the pressure is on to deliver results. In the latest episode of the SaaS Sales Performance Podcast, Matt Milligan sits down with Karen Dowse, SVP of EMEA Commercial at Mintel, to dissect these challenges and uncover actionable strategies for success.

Mintel: Leading the Way in Market Intelligence

For those unfamiliar, Mintel is the world's leading market intelligence agency, equipping brands with data, technology, and human expertise to understand consumer wants and market trends. Karen's role puts her on the front lines, speaking with major brands daily and helping them fuel growth through Mintel's insights.

The Journey to Revenue Leadership

Karen's journey to SVP is a testament to the power of hands-on experience and a willingness to embrace new challenges. Starting in marketing and moving through product development, account management, and customer success, she embodies the value of a diverse skill set. Her experience highlights a crucial point for early-career professionals: patience and a dedication to mastering different aspects of the business are invaluable assets.

The Focus Challenge: Managing Distractions in a Dynamic Market

One of the biggest challenges facing revenue leaders today is maintaining focus amidst constant distractions. As Karen puts it, "Every single call I get on internally, it's like, how are you doing? Oh, there's a lot going on." This rings true for many organisations navigating ambitious growth plans and investments.

So, how do you combat this? Karen shares a few key strategies:

• The 13-Week Cadence: Mintel has implemented a new 13-week cadence to provide a structured framework for the commercial team. This helps align priorities with the business cycle, reduce distractions, and ensure everyone focuses on the right things at the right time.
• Clear Swim Lanes: Mintel has invested heavily in delineating distinct roles for account directors and client success managers. By avoiding duplication and ensuring the right people focus on the right areas of client engagement, they maximise their resources.
• Redefining the ICP: The rise of generative AI has broadened Mintel's appeal to new segments and ISPs, including technology teams, enablement teams, analytics teams, and even board and C-level executives.

Customer Obsession: A Company Wide Commitment

Karen emphasises that customer obsession isn't just a commercial team mandate; it's a company-wide value at Mintel. They employ several tactics to foster customer closeness:

• "Through the Clients Eyes" Program: Regular sessions where clients share their roles, pressures, and ambitions with the entire company.
• Monthly Success Story Showcases: Inspiring stories that highlight the impact of Mintel's solutions on client outcomes, creating a tangible connection to the work being done.
• Human Interaction: Getting back on-site with clients and hosting roadshows to build trusted relationships.

The results speak for themselves. According to a Forrester report, B2B buyers are twice as likely to stay with, recommend, and pay a premium for enhancements from businesses they trust.

Career Growth and Skill Development: A Continuous Journey

Mintel places a strong emphasis on continuous growth and skill development. Karen acknowledges the need to show individuals the progress they've made, highlighting the skills and knowledge they've acquired through training.

She also discusses the importance of aligning competencies with company values and using them to inform hiring, onboarding, talent development, and performance appraisals. This creates a red thread that connects all aspects of the employee experience.

Leadership: Removing Barriers and Fostering Growth

As a leader, Karen's role is to foster a culture of continuous growth and enable the success of her teams. She does this by:

• Declaring clear quarterly goals.
• Prioritising "rocks" that take precedence over everything else.
• Removing barriers and managing upwards to shield the team.
• Ensuring teams have the right environment, tools, and support.

Lessons Learned: The Power of Trust

When asked what she learned that day, Karen shared a powerful insight: "To trust means clients are twice as likely to recommend us, twice as likely to stay with us, and twice as likely to pay a premium." This underscores the critical importance of building trusted relationships with clients.

Connect with Karen

Karen's insights offer invaluable guidance for revenue leaders navigating today's complex market. If you'd like to learn more from her, connect with her on LinkedIn and join the conversation!

Discover Your A-Players with Uhubs

Karen shares a ton of great insights in this conversation. Career growth and skill development is crucial to nurture and maintain your A players. But doing so requires an understanding of what separates those top performers from the rest. 

Uhubs helps you visualise the skills, knowledge, behaviours and metrics separating your top performers from the rest, so you can plug the productivity gap and drive revenue growth.