Introduction
In this episode, Ernesto chats with Chris Herring, Senior Director of Growth and Partnerships at Aptivio, a go-to-market execution platform helping businesses focus on pipeline growth and efficiency. Chris shares how Aptivio helps companies identify buying signals at the individual contact level, enabling SDRs to focus on the right accounts at the right time. Learn how Aptivio leverages intent data to deliver custom campaigns and improve deal velocity. If you’re looking to streamline your sales and marketing efforts while boosting revenue, this episode is packed with actionable insights.
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Ernesto: Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Chris from Aptivio. How are you doing today, Chris?
Chris Herring: I’m doing well, Ernesto. Thanks for having me on.
Ernesto: It’s great to have you on. And like I mentioned, our listeners are curious what Aptivio is all about. Let’s kick it off with that. In your own words, can you tell us a little bit more?
Chris Herring: Yeah, without a doubt. Aptivio is a go to market execution platform. And I know that may sound like a few buzzwords, but in short, the market has seen a key challenge in the last few years around capital efficiency, capital efficient growth. We’ve been in the state of growth at all costs while money was easily accessible and businesses were booming until things didn’t work out as well as everyone thought.
What Aptivio is ultimately building is a tool and platform driving pipeline focus and pipeline velocity across your go to market motions. It’s not just a sales tool or a marketing tool or a CS tool. It’s something focused specifically around how we drive revenue across go to market teams in a capital efficient manner.
We do that through custom buying intent signals at the individual contact level, not just the account level. From there, we utilize those signals into relevant messaging, custom campaigns, and triggers specific to buying signals for greater conversions and velocity across deal cycles.
Ernesto: Perfect. And so that way our listeners could get a good understanding, what would be some key problems that you saw for clients?
Chris Herring: One is SDR efficiency. Having led SDRs for many years, one key challenge is understanding your top tier list. Many reps struggle to identify who they should be targeting and why, beyond broad criteria like role or company size.
Aptivio helps narrow that focus down, both from a relevancy perspective and by understanding where people are in the buyer journey, to know what is a timely opportunity and what’s not.
Ernesto: Definitely. And so how does someone typically find out about you? What would you say is your segment or vertical?
Chris Herring: We’ve done incredibly well initially in the business services space, like Capgemini or SEI Partners. But we’ve also seen a large influx in B2B SaaS in the last year. As a Series A startup, we’ve had transitions across our customer base, but that’s helped us narrow our ICP and focus where we see the best win rates.
Today it’s business services and B2B SaaS.
Ernesto: Awesome. What would you say is a top client acquisition channel?
Chris Herring: Definitely outbound. Outbound is the number one way we drive new clients. Number two would be partners. Partner acquisition has been a key channel for us.
Ernesto: I’m here on your website, uptiv.io. What role does a website play for your client acquisition?
Chris Herring: To date, it hasn’t been the primary driver. It’s helpful for education, but it’s a huge part of my focus now. I want our website to be the front door of something great. I’m in the midst of a rebrand—name, logo, messaging—so the website becomes a greater driver of inbound, free trial, and PLG motion alongside sales.
Ernesto: Let’s switch gears and talk about you. As Senior Director of Growth and Partnerships, what tasks do you focus on day to day?
Chris Herring: Growth looks like overseeing content strategy, demand gen, inbound strategy, events, sponsorship strategy, and product strategy. I work closely with our VP of Product to ensure alignment.
My day to day fluctuates across those channels, and then into sales enablement and partner enablement. The goal is greater revenue and impact for customers and partners.
Ernesto: Great. Let’s jump into our rapid fire question round. Ready?
Chris Herring: I’m ready.
Ernesto: What is the last book that you read?
Chris Herring: Either The White Coat Investor or The Psychology of Money. I finished both in the last two weeks.
Ernesto: What is one single thing Aptivio is focused on most right now?
Chris Herring: From a product perspective, a new feature release we’re calling our virtual SDR. Not to replace SDRs, but to enable them by automating inefficient parts of the role.
Ernesto: If there were no boundaries in technology, what’s one thing you’d want fixed for your role as a marketer?
Chris Herring: Storytelling. I’d want better tools or AI to capture the stories of our customers and prospects and their lasting impact.
Ernesto: If there’s one repetitive task you could automate, what would it be?
Chris Herring: CRM workflows and reporting for our executive team, board, and investors.
Ernesto: Lastly, what advice would you give yourself if you restarted your journey as a marketer today?
Chris Herring: Spend more time with your customers. Understand the truth behind their purchase—not just ROI, but what led to that decision. Look for parallels across customers to truly understand why people buy.
Ernesto: That’s really important. Chris, thanks a lot for being on the show. Last word: if someone forgets everything else, what should they remember about Aptivio?
Chris Herring: Aptivio is all about focus—helping you focus on your ICP, personas, and conversions. If you’re looking to increase pipeline revenue, Aptivio is the tool to help.
Ernesto: Awesome. You heard it here. Visit them at Aptiv.io. The most advanced automated network sales platform combined with real buyer intent. Chris, thanks again. And to our listeners, thanks for tuning in. See you next episode at Pathmonk Presents.
Chris Herring: Thanks.