Sales
Predictable Revenue
Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler
2011
Summary
Predictable Revenue describes the "Cold Calling 2.0" system Aaron Ross built at Salesforce that generated $100M in new revenue. The key insight is to separate the three revenue roles — prospectors, closers, and farmers — rather than having salespeople do everything. The book explains how to build a repeatable, measurable outbound prospecting function using targeted cold emails, lead qualification, and specialized sales roles.
Key Takeaways
- 1Separate prospecting from closing — having AEs do cold outreach is inefficient and demoralizing
- 2Cold email beats cold calling: targeted, short, value-focused emails get responses
- 3Build three specialized roles: SDRs (outbound), AEs (closing), CSMs (customer success)
- 4Seed, net, and spear: three types of lead generation, each needing different processes
- 5A predictable revenue machine requires clear metrics, processes, and role separation
- 6Focus on ideal customer profile (ICP) — targeting the wrong companies wastes everyone's time