CRO Insights with Ken Laversin: How to Drive Business Outcomes with AI

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Ken Laversin, a veteran sales executive. We were interested in learning about Ken’s career trajectory as well as his unique experience with using advanced technologies like Auto-Machine Learning in the sales field. Formerly CRO at Silver Peak and Global Head of IoT Sales at Cisco, Ken brings a seasoned perspective to the table when dealing with all things sales, revenue, and internet technology. Below, you’ll find snippets of our conversation with Mr. Laversin as he delves into the importance of digital transformation to achieve revenue success.How can AI like Aviso help close more deals and give guidance on deals?In this video, Ken discusses how Managers can guide Sales Reps with strategies from AI insights. Such strategies include analyzing reps activity on CRM, email, calendar, and phone to optimize performance. This type of AI will help sales leaders better predict revenue as well as to better coach their teams to get deals closed sooner.

 What did Aviso do better to stand out and meet your needs at Silver Peak?When buying mission critical software, it’s key that the team you’re purchasing from tailors the platform to your requirements. In this clip, Ken discussed how Aviso met the needs of Silver Peak’s specific business requirements when being on-boarded and throughout the whole process. This was very important at Silver Peak due to their unique revenue stream model, which is very different from your standard software company.

 How does Aviso help CROs like you attain predictable business outcomes?Ken wasn’t initially a true believer that AI technology would be able to accurately forecast revenue. But over time, he realized that Aviso's predictive forecasting was consistently within 3-4% of where they ended up at EOQ. Hear from Ken on how predictive forecasting enabled ultimate visibility into his channel-partner revenue model at Silver Peak.

 Can you share your sales journey from inside sales rep to successful CRO?In this video, Ken talks about how he worked way up from being an SDR at Siebel to CRO at Silver Peak. Learn about his career journey here.

 What is your advice for sales reps just starting their career journey?In this clip, hear about Ken’s life mantra and his advice to young sales professionals. Ken's advice is to the point: if you're a sales rep just starting off, it's imperative to know that nobody’s going to give you a list of leads that are going to turn into pure gold revenue. You need to get out there and hustle, work hard, network, and build your personal brand.

 At Silver Peak, how did you manage your day with Aviso and other tools?As CRO, Ken started every morning looking at sales forecasts on Aviso AI. He asks himself key questions like: Has revenue prediction gone up or down? Which deals have moved? Which deal probabilities have changed? Ken advises using this critical information to get your team moving in the right direction for the day. Learn more about this and how revenue is a lagging indicator of sales success in this video.

  Aside from his experience managing large revenue teams and scaling sales at various organizations, Ken most recently find himself as a member of the Aviso Advisory Board. Connect with himhere. Interested in having a daily workstream like Ken's? Sign up for ourfree trialof Aviso AI.