Be the GM, Not the Player: A Story on Creating Leverage in Marketing (Micro-Lesson) - The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five)

Summary of "Be the GM, Not the Player: A Story on Creating Leverage in Marketing"

Podcast: B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt
Host: Dave Gerhardt
Episode Release Date: December 18, 2024

Introduction

In the episode titled "Be the GM, Not the Player: A Story on Creating Leverage in Marketing," Dave Gerhardt delves into the essential mindset shift marketers need to adopt to maximize their impact within their organizations. Through a personal narrative and strategic analogies, Gerhardt emphasizes the importance of thinking like a General Manager (GM) rather than just being a player in the marketing team.

The Challenge with LinkedIn Paid Ads

Gerhardt begins by sharing his experience with Exit Five's marketing strategies, particularly their organic success on LinkedIn. Recognizing the potential to expand reach, the team decided to experiment with LinkedIn paid ads. However, despite initial enthusiasm, Gerhardt encountered significant obstacles:

"I raised my hand and said, you know, I'll take the first stab at it... what I found was that I wasn't able to fully commit because I didn't have the bandwidth to do so."
[01:35]

The primary issue was the lack of resources and time to effectively manage and optimize paid ad campaigns alongside other pressing marketing responsibilities.

The Player vs. GM Mental Model

Frustrated by the stagnation, Gerhardt recounts a pivotal conversation with Dave Gerhardt, where he was introduced to a transformative mental model:

"He gave me this mental model that changed my entire outlook on strategy and prioritization. He said, what you need to do is start acting like the GM and not the player."
[03:10]

Understanding the GM Role

Gerhardt explains the distinction between being a player and a GM. While a player focuses on executing specific tasks or campaigns, a GM oversees the broader strategy, resource allocation, and team management to drive sustained growth.

"It's not about making the play or making the shot... It's about finding the person or resource that can do it for us and do it well because we know and believe that this is going to be a big growth lever for us."
[04:20]

Leveraging Resources for Greater Impact

Adopting the GM mindset involves identifying high-impact opportunities and securing the necessary resources to pursue them without overextending oneself. This approach allows marketers to create leverage, enabling the team to achieve more significant results without being bogged down by operational tasks.

"In sports, the general manager gets to select all the different players on the team... They have a lot more leverage and a lot more budget and resources to make the dream of winning come true."
[05:45]

Shifting Focus: From Execution to Leadership

Gerhardt emphasizes that transitioning to a GM role means prioritizing strategic initiatives over individual contributions. This shift not only enhances personal career growth but also drives the company's success by ensuring that key projects receive the attention and resources they deserve.

"It's great to be the player. Nothing wrong with that. But the GM is the equivalent of the leader in the company who is calling the shots... They look good in the end of the day when all the right decisions are made and things start to work out."
[06:30]

Actionable Takeaways

Adopt the GM Mindset: Focus on strategic planning and resource allocation rather than getting entangled in every execution detail.
Advocate for Resources: When identifying high-impact opportunities, proactively seek the necessary support and resources from leadership.
Create Leverage: By acting as a GM, marketers can maximize their impact, driving significant growth without being constrained by limited bandwidth.

Conclusion

"Be the GM, Not the Player" serves as a compelling lesson for marketers aiming to elevate their roles within their organizations. By embracing the GM mentality, marketers can create substantial leverage, leading to both personal advancement and organizational success. Gerhardt's insights provide a clear roadmap for shifting from tactical execution to strategic leadership, encouraging listeners to prioritize impactful initiatives and secure the resources needed to drive meaningful growth.

Note: This summary excludes the advertisements present in the transcript, focusing solely on the core content of the episode.

Transcript

A (0:02)

This episode is brought to you by Revenue Hero. Our friends at Revenue Hero recently did a lead response test of over a thousand B2B sales teams. And this is crazy to me still. I did a study like this seven, eight years ago when I was working at Drift. It's taking too long still to this day to follow up with leads. On average, it took one day, five hours and 17 minutes to hear back from those companies on the website. It's 2024. Look, your buyer has probably already moved on to an alternative. A few minutes of not hearing from you, let alone 29 hours. What those companies need is automated scheduling for qualified leads. And that's where Revenue Hero comes in. Their platform is the fastest way for qualified leads to schedule a meeting with your sales team. Plus, they have the most sophisticated matching algorithm, so all of your leads get booked with the right rep. Whether they're a new account or already a customer, hundreds of businesses automate their request. A demo workflow today with revenue hero, including Freshworks, Nooks, Sendoso, Seamless AI and and Customer IO. If you're in B2B marketing with an inbound sales motion, Revenue Hero is a must have tool. You can check out this full lead response report, the latest version of it, which has plenty of other takeaways you should really know about so you can help your team drive more revenue with the people that are already visiting your website, the most valuable audience that you have. Go check it out. It's RevenueHero IO Exit 5. You can find the report and learn more about Revenue Hero there. It's RevenueHero IO exit 5.

B (1:35)

All right, so I want to tell you guys a story. As you know, Exit 5 performs really well on LinkedIn organic. It's really our bread and butter channel, at least from an awareness standpoint. So earlier in the year, we decided to experiment with LinkedIn paid ads, which only made sense right now. You can use thought leadership ads. You can boost your organic content to audiences that you select. So it only made sense for us to try and run some paid. And being the general marketer that I am, especially with experience in growth, I'd run some campaigns in the past. So I raised my hand and said, you know, I'll take the first stab at it. So I created a couple different campaigns, ran a couple tests, but what I found was that I wasn't able to fully commit because I didn't have the bandwidth to do so. I was focused on other things that were more urgent to me. And since LinkedIn ads were a bet and a bit of a nice to have for us. I didn't prioritize it. And since I didn't prioritize it and I wasn't all in, I wasn't comfortable spending a lot of company money every month to see and to try and push on that channel. So in team meetings a couple of times I brought up the fact that LinkedIn paid is going to be big for us, but I can only tackle it when I have the bandwidth. And I kept pushing it off month after month until Dave stopped me and he gave me this mental model that changed my entire outlook on strategy and prioritization. He knows I'm a big sports guy, so he made a sports reference which is called the player versus the general manager or in short, the player versus the gm. So he said, what you need to do is start acting like the GM and not the player. Meaning that if we have something that we think is going to make a big impact on the business, then we need to hire someone or acquire a resource that's going to help us with this thing. It's not about making the play or making the shot or doing the thing. It's about finding the person or resource that can do it for us and do it well because we know and we believe that this is going to be a big growth lever for us. And that mental model has really stuck with me. It's totally reframed how I've thought about my work and strategy. And another part of it is this is slightly ego driven, right? It's like, you know, I want the recognition for doing the thing. I want to look like the star, you know, when we launched the big campaign and it drives in a bunch of revenue, I want to look like it was me who started that thing from scratch and now it's killing it. But it's really not about that. It's just about how can I get the results and how can I be part of those results in some way, but not necessarily the doer of the thing. Because if I am committing to only being the doer, my time is limited, so I'll never be able to do all the things I want to do. In sports, the general manager has a lot more leverage than the individual player, although it may not always seem like it. The general manager gets to select all the different players on the team. Things like how much you're going to pay them, who to trade, they get to select who the main coaches, who the offensive coaches, the defensive coach, all the coaches, who coordinates with the coaches, who the trainers are, doctors, etc. So they get to actually select all the different pieces so they have a lot more leverage and a lot more budget and resources to make the dream of winning come true. And in sports, it's often the player themselves that gets the recognition because they're the ones that are making the big shots and making all the plays. But it's the GM in the background who's pulling all the strings and making it happen. And when it comes to business, I think it's actually the opposite. It's great to be the player. Nothing wrong with that. But the GM is the equivalent of the leader in the company who is calling the shots, and they're the one who looks good in the end of the day, when all the right decisions are made and when things start to work out. So if there's something that you as a marketer have been waiting on, something that you know could deliver a lot of value to the business, but you're putting it on the back burner because you don't have the bandwidth or, you know, you need to work on it, and it's going to create a lot of leverage for the marketing team. What you should do instead, instead of waiting until you have the bandwidth or trying to be the hero, you should go to your manager and say, hey, here's this thing that I think is going to have a big impact for us. Here's how much we need to spend to make it happen. I don't have the bandwidth, but I think we need to jump on this right away. It's going to change things in a big way for us. So we need to hire someone. Here's how much they're going to cost, and here's what I think we're going to get from it. So if you're a marketer in that situation today and you have that thing in the top of your mind, maybe this podcast made you think of it, or maybe you're going to run into it in the future. Go make that pitch to your manager, to the boss, or to yourself. If you're a business owner, be the gm, not the player. That's how you move up. That's how you create leverage and success for the company. So if you needed to hear this, go do that thing today.