How to Build a Growth Machine

Note: This article is for people who want to go deep and are familiar with modern tech stacks including LLMs and AI-enabled systems. If you want something more lightweight, check out how to go from gut feel to data-driven revenue growth.

“This AI tool will 10x your growth”

You've probably seen the headlines and other similar claims. Maybe you've even tried a few of those tools yourself, and felt let down by the results. You are not alone. But what if I told you that there is a way? A way to make sense of all the noise, and turn your sales data into a revenue growth engine?

This article isn't just another piece of marketing fluff. We're going to get real about building a system to transform your sales process and drive revenue. It’s not just about the tech; it's about understanding how to use all the pieces to create something powerful.

Think of this as a cook show: We're not just showing you the finished dish; we’re walking you through the ingredients, tools, and techniques to make it yourself. Whether you're in sales, RevOps, or a founder, you’ll walk away with an understanding of how to build a system that delivers real results. Feel free to copy to create your own!

Last remark before we go deep: We exclude marketing/prospecting and customer success on purpose. While equally important functions, the early funnel is typically more scalable, and later stages depend on effective sales. Companies would readily scale marketing and CS if sales wasn't a bottleneck for growth. Additionally, efficient sales operations inform marketing, CS, and product strategies.

The Problem: Data Overload, Action Underwhelm

You're likely swimming in data: CRM dashboards, spreadsheets, call transcripts, emails, and notes. But are you actually using that data to drive growth? Most companies well into the scaling stages struggle with similar things:

Poor Data Quality: Information is scattered, incomplete, or just plain wrong.
Lack of Actionable Insights: You have data, but it’s hard to see the real, impactful insights that will help your team take day-to-day decisions.
Over-Reliance on Manual Processes: Reps spend too much time on admin and not enough time selling.
Unfulfilled Promises of AI: LLMs have their uses, but often fail to live up to the hype.
Poorly Set Up CRMs: CRMs often lack the correct structure, are not fully utilized, or are too complex.

The result? A frustrating cycle of missed opportunities, wasted time, and a lack of trust in your own data. You want to feel confident that you are making data-driven decisions. You need to have clarity on where to focus your growth efforts. You're looking to get results, not just analysis.

The Solution: A Growth Machine Built for Action

So how do you break free from this cycle? You build a growth machine that does the heavy lifting for you when people get personally involved. And here's how:

Data Integration: First, you need to bring your data together. This means structured data from your CRM (like Salesforce or Hubspot) and unstructured data (like emails, call transcripts, and notes). The data can be messy but it has to be there for any more reasonable analysis. You can always cut corners, e.g. by leaving out transcripts. But prepare to take the leap eventually – after all, it's about accessing the complete picture, not just a fraction of it.
Dynamic Properties: Next, the system needs to be able to create new information on the fly as new information enters the picture. Instead of being stuck with existing and static fields, you need to be able to build custom properties as you need them, in order to answer specific questions. Think of it dynamically generating new table columns on your main data objects – e.g. contacts, companies, deals – as new data arrives.
Compound Knowledge: Your system should help you to get compound interest on all of your activities, knowledge, and strategies. Your company's knowledge and experience are valuable resources, and it's crucial to make sure they keep growing, every day. Time spent in meetings should add to your organizational wealth, regardless of the short-term outcome.
Expert System: Your system should come with built-in expert knowledge to make judgements based on the best available assessment, which is what currently separates our system from off-the-shelf AI systems. Practically speaking, feed the beast with the best resources you can find – think Jacco van der Kooij, Y Combinator, and strategies from your best performing sellers.
Built-In Sales Frameworks: Your system should be able to adapt to your existing processes and frameworks, not the other way around. It should be able to handle your preferred methodologies, like MEDDIC, BANT, SPICED, or Challenger, and it should be fully customizable in that you can narrowly define how to assess each of the “letters”.
Actionable Insights: Finally, and most importantly, the system needs to provide immediately actionable insights. The term is terribly overused but for good reason: This is not about pretty charts; it's about clear, specific steps your team can take to move the needle.
- Priorities: What deals need your immediate attention?
- Risk Assessments: Which deals are at risk, and why?
- Next Steps: What's the best action for each rep, in each situation?
- Best Practices: Identify and spread the strategies that are working best for your top performers.
- Strategic Insights: Uncover hidden trends and opportunities that you may not have seen before.

The Getmomo Case: Seeing is Believing

Let's look at a real-world example: GetMomo, a successful B2B Fintech company. They were struggling with the same challenges we just mentioned: scattered data, missed opportunities, inefficient processes, and a lack of clarity.

Using a system like the one we've described, here's what they were able to accomplish:

Complete Customer Overview: The system summarized the relationship with each client, surfacing key interactions, pain points, and opportunities.
Hidden Opportunities: The system identified which leads had the highest potential but were being overlooked.
Prioritized Actions: The system showed each rep the next best action to take in each situation based on what worked best in the past.

The result? GetMomo saw a significant jump in pipeline conversion rates and an increase in sales activity. Read their full case study here →

How it Works: The Technical Details (Simplified)

Okay, let’s pull back the curtain a bit. This system will have to use a combination of techniques, including:

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation): This allows the system to pull information from large amounts of text and structured data. This is used to pull the right sources to do your analysis on. (For the AI nerds: Sure, bigger LLM context windows help, but you'll get cost-conscious real quick after pushing thousands of sales calls through just to get a yes/no answer. RAG still makes sense for now and probably will for a while.)
LLMs (Large Language Models): These are used to process and understand the data, including unstructured data like emails, call transcripts, and notes. Effectively, you use it to extract structured information from these sources. If this is old stuff for you, you are in luck: It’s amazing how few people actually leverage these capabilities in a live system.
Data Mapping: The system automatically maps your data to the relevant fields, so you don't have to do it manually.

But here's the key: it’s not about the tech itself. It's about how you use it to solve real problems and drive real results.

It’s All About the "Aha" Moment

The goal is to get you to that "aha" moment, quickly. Not just with the product your company is offering but also with your growth machine. You need to see how the system can transform your workflow and make it easier for your team to sell. You need to experience that moment where the pieces finally come together and the path forward is clear. And getting to that point takes time, which is the tricky part.

What’s next?

Building a growth machine is never one-time project. It's a continuous process of iteration and improvement. You need a system that learns, adapts, and provides increasing value over time.

Here’s the key takeaway: Stop trying to manage your sales process with broken tools and start building a system that actually works for you. You already have all the ingredients, and the tools are out there for you to use. It's time to put them together, and start seeing the results you know you're capable of.

This is about using your data and making a real difference. Not just for you and your team, but for your customers as well.