Revenue Growth is Never Just Sales

A monthly spotlight on the overlooked teams and systems that actually make it happen

Think of Revenue Growth, who jumps to mind?

Is it the sales team? These guys right here?

I’ve led sales teams, those folks work hard and deserve to celebrate their wins. And in general, boy, do they!

But here’s the thing, nothing happens in a vacuum.

• How was the lead generated? Did the buyer ever visit the website or consume any content such as blog or case study?

• Was a demo conducted before they bought?

• And how about after the sale? Onboarding, service/delivery, bug fixes, keeping the team staffed and trained.

I can say this confidently because I’ve seen my share of turn-around stories - the sales team does not win deals if there’s no marketing support, the product sucks, or the service team is a revolving door.

I’ve also worked in service, client success, and as a solutions engineer. As a solutions engineer, I did the demos, custom pricing, and contract terms for all the largest deals. And when they landed? Crickets. Not even from the salesperson or leader.

I know personally how it feels to work hard only to have someone else get the accolades. So when I moved to sales I vowed to do things differently.

But I also know that while the sales team wants to jump and shout, high-five, and go out for drinks - that approach is a bit extra in the eyes of other teams.

The “you made this possible” messages to other teams have to be quieter and more private or they just look like sales showboating again.

And that’s what this newsletter series is about.

Celebrating the operators who don’t take victory laps drape in a flag, but who are just as important to the success of your org.

Why does it matter?

Aligned organizations grow revenue and profitability faster than their peers. And in an aligned organization, everyone pulls in the same direction fighting for complimentary goals, and when there’s a win, we recognize the contributions of every team.

What we're doing

On my podcast I’ve been featuring founders and revenue leaders and we’ve talked alignment a lot. But there’s been something missing. Other functions!

Heads of finance, human resources, product, and service/delivery - all of them are responsible for a piece of growth. And they have valuable perspectives that founders and revenue leaders need to hear.

But here’s the thing, they don’t want to get on camera.

So that’s what the newsletter series is all about. Featuring insights and perspectives from the quiet operators who would prefer to fill out a form and be on their way.

We’re going to surface gems from people more likely to go nose-down in their work than do the podcast circuit.

And, in the patented Summer Poletti fashion, we’re taking contrarian angles such as “What Sales Leaders Get Wrong About Revenue Leaks”

A sales leader inviting CFOs and COOs to call sales leaders to the mat? You bet!

Here’s the structure:

• One topic per month

• Async interview

• Edited and published by me on my channels and through my email list

• With a press kit for you so you can easily distribute

• One helpful tool each month, straight from my client playbooks

Sound like you or anyone you know? Here’s the sign-up form.

This isn’t thought leadership fluff, this is real operators highlighting the realties of growing businesses in the 21st century.

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Rise of Us is a revenue-architecture practice led by Summer Poletti. We help $2MM - $30MM ARR fintech and SaaS companies build buyer-first GTM systems that scale. Through our Revenue RISE™ framework we align sales, partnerships, marketing, and success, coach the people who run them, and deliver early wins that compound into predictable growth. We train an AI-powered Smart Sales Playbook to keep the momentum running long after the engagement concludes.