Because the founder, chair, and CEO of the Distinctive Girls Alliance, I’m lucky to be surrounded by extraordinary feminine enterprise leaders. Our function is to empower one another by way of peer mentorship that gives private {and professional} achievement inside this distinctive sisterhood.
This month, I’m happy to introduce Sammie Dabbs. Sammie is keen about constructing and scaling high-performing industrial organizations. As chief industrial officer, she oversees income technique, gross sales, and advertising and marketing alignment—driving progress by way of a mixture of operational rigor and customer-centric innovation. With a confirmed monitor document of main groups, coming into new markets, and unlocking sustainable income, Sammie brings a front-line perspective on how firms can thrive in an more and more aggressive and sophisticated enterprise panorama.
Q: As a chief industrial officer, how do you outline your core mandate?
Dabbs: My mandate is to be the architect of progress. Which means aligning gross sales, advertising and marketing, buyer success, and income operations into one unified technique. I don’t see these as separate capabilities—they’re totally different components of the identical engine. My job is to make sure that engine runs easily, effectively, and with clear path. Finally, a CCO has to ship constant income efficiency, however the path there requires technique, executional self-discipline, and a relentless concentrate on the shopper.
Q: Why is gross sales and advertising and marketing alignment such a problem for a lot of organizations?
Dabbs: Gross sales and advertising and marketing usually develop up in silos—totally different metrics, totally different budgets, totally different views. Advertising says, “We delivered leads.” Gross sales says, “These leads aren’t certified.” It’s a cycle of finger-pointing that hurts the enterprise. Alignment requires shared possession of pipeline, shared KPIs, and fixed communication. In my function, I set a single industrial goal, so everyone seems to be working towards the identical quantity. When gross sales and advertising and marketing win collectively, the shopper feels it.
Q: What have you ever discovered to be the largest barrier to progress?
Dabbs: Complexity. Firms layer on too many instruments, too many initiatives, too many priorities—and within the course of, they lose focus. The actual barrier isn’t the market; it’s inner misalignment. I’ve seen groups hit their stride after we strip away the noise, concentrate on splendid prospects, and empower reps with clear messaging and assist. Simplicity and executional self-discipline will beat complexity each time.
Q: What’s your method to main a industrial group?
Dabbs: I consider in readability and accountability. Groups must know the technique, their function in it, and the way success can be measured. Then it’s about teaching for execution and celebrating wins alongside the best way. I’m very data-driven, however knowledge is barely helpful if it drives motion. I set targets, monitor outcomes, and make changes in actual time. On the identical time, I would like groups to really feel empowered to carry ahead concepts from the sphere—we be taught probably the most from our prospects.
Q: How do you consider the function of promoting in driving income?
Dabbs: Advertising is not only a model perform—it’s a income driver. A robust advertising and marketing group generates demand, accelerates pipeline, and positions gross sales to succeed. However that solely occurs when advertising and marketing is tied on to industrial technique and accountable for pipeline contribution alongside gross sales. When advertising and marketing owns income, they create campaigns that resonate with patrons, not simply campaigns that look good on paper.
Q: Expertise is altering the industrial perform quickly. What’s your philosophy on instruments like AI and automation?
Dabbs: Expertise is crucial, but it surely’s not the technique—it’s the amplifier. AI and automation could make gross sales and advertising and marketing sooner and smarter, however they don’t substitute human judgment or relationships. My philosophy is: Get the basics proper first. When you don’t have clear positioning, a disciplined course of, and robust groups, no device will prevent. However for those who do, then expertise means that you can scale, personalize, and optimize in highly effective methods.
Q: Are you able to share an instance of a industrial pivot that made a significant affect?
Dabbs: One instance is after we restructured our go-to-market mannequin to concentrate on fewer, higher-value buyer segments. As a substitute of spreading sources skinny throughout too many markets, we doubled down on accounts the place we might ship outsized worth. That shift required advertising and marketing to retool messaging and gross sales to alter their concentrating on, however the outcomes have been dramatic—greater win charges, shorter gross sales cycles, and higher buyer retention. Generally progress is about addition, however extra usually it’s about focus.
Q: When you needed to give one piece of recommendation to different executives main industrial groups, what wouldn’t it be?
Dabbs: Deal with progress as a company-wide accountability, not only a gross sales quantity. Each perform—product, finance, operations—contributes to the shopper expertise. As CCOs, we now have to be the integrators, ensuring all the enterprise is aligned round delivering worth to prospects. While you break down silos and construct a tradition of accountability, progress turns into sustainable.
Larraine Segil is founder, chair, and CEO of The Distinctive Girls Alliance.
