Harshal is running a Million-dollar startup to help companies improve their Sales, Customer Acquisition & Marketing with over 560 clients with partner companies in USA, UK, India & UAE. His marketing solutions are a unique blend of sales-driven strategies that are based on the foundation of real facts and figures of the market. After working for two tech companies, including Wipro & one successful Startup exit, Harshal is now CEO of BTB Venture Group with a vision to foster revenue for the companies (a group consisting of 6 companies SalesWater, MetaFilms, Invest-In-India, FuelFunds, RevOps Forum & ExpPro). Harshal is an experienced CEO with a demonstrated history of working in the RevOps (Revenue operations), Customer Acquisition & Marketing Industry. Harshal has been showcased as one of the “Most Inspiring Marketing Guru of 2020” by one of the reputed magazines. In the World Marketing Conference in 2019, he has been recognized as Asia’s & Europe’s Top Marketing Leader. In Expo2020, Dubai, he was invited to address CEOs & thought leaders of Slovenia, San Marino, Ukraine, Brazil & UK.

Recently we have got a chance to interact with Harshal Patil and get some clear insights on how his company has evolved to be one of the top marketing companies under his guidance.

What have been the most significant challenges your clients had to overcome?

Our clients struggled with growing revenue faster than the competition by considering the competitive landscape. It was difficult for them to develop and commit to the optimal revenue growth strategy for three areas – 1. Market share gains 2. Net Market Entry. 3. Market Growth. Flawless execution with minimum CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) & dynamic revenue planning is also a key challenge as sales are all about the continuous adaption of the strategy in an agile manner to changes in industry dynamics. A few of our clients struggled with Marketing Analytics, Sales Enablement, Branding, Digitization & Community Building.

We noticed your association with a few reputed startups & fortune 1000 companies. What style did you adopt as an Entrepreneur?

I think I belong to the ‘Opportunistic entrepreneurship style’ and it’s all about making an entry into an industry at a reasonable time where win rate is comparatively guaranteed compared to other styles & my objective is to capitalize on business opportunities and strategically look to profit on both short-term and long-term performances for all involved stakeholders.

Sales & Marketing is the most critical aspect of an Entrepreneur. How well do startups manage their sales force? What new trends do you see this year in this category?

Over a while, I realized the battle between Marketing & Sales is reducing as Revenue/brand impact is the only KPI, and that’s RevOps. A lot of the companies hire leaders who are very smart but with very little selling experience. And then they focus on doing everything at the speed of light & if it doesn’t work, they fix it later & it’s challenging to do well. If a startup wants to lead a Salesforce, it requires understanding the sales system. Salespeople need to work hard to ensure their business stays afloat. After changing landscapes, it’s risky business to rely on chance. Markets have become more and more crowded. It’s time to adjust the strategies to represent your business most creatively.

Due to the constantly changing business landscape, Marketing & Sales in each category are changing dramatically. Micro-Influencers are increasing more than a celebrity endorsement; video marketers are keeping content short but soon companies will go with permanent content than ephemeral content; Experiential marketing is all set to evolve to attract consumers using digital simulation. More importantly, to have effortless sales, brand development will play a pivotal role at each sales funnel stage.

When it comes to the company, what are you most proud of?

We’re always proud of our stellar leadership team including Customer Success, Presales, Recruitment, Legal & partners. Our leaders have the decision-making authority they need to make clear-cut decisions. And we always foster a climate that encourages partners & employees to continuously improve the quality of the work, improving customer satisfaction.

What are the most important decisions & choices you make as a leader of your organization?

As a leader, there is no doubt what your number one priority is: it is to build a high-performing team & stellar partnerships. The primary mission of our business is to be long-term, sustained profitability not just revenue growth. Profitability is a real measurement of efficiency.

How do you encourage creative thinking within your organization?

I think creativity builds up when there’s clarity hence, I always ask for what I want & always stress the importance of creativity. We always have a problem-solving session to innovate what we do & we always respond enthusiastically to all ideas.

What are some of your future endeavors?

BTB Venture Group is fully committed to bringing Revenue Generation as a holistic approach to companies that bring people, processes, and technology into alignment to deliver your business’s results. We’ll bring several pieces together for companies like Investment Optimization, Demand Generation, Customer Lifecycle Management & related brand development, Marketing Tech Stack to name a few.

What is the best advice you can give to our readers?

Defining your skills and weaknesses, what you offer, how it’s unique, and how you plan on growing your offering. Try to prepare yourself mentally and practically for anything that could go wrong and how you would deal with it. Cheers.

Entrepreneur Insights