Welcome to the first episode of Train to Gain! Meet your hosts Erin Raitt and Katie Merrill, who combine their passions for education, sales enablement, and product adoption to deliver actionable insights in every episode.

In today’s kickoff, Erin and Katie discuss a critical business challenge: breaking down organizational silos. Learn why aligning sales enablement, marketing, and customer experience teams can significantly boost revenue and customer retention. Plus, hear personal stories—including Katie’s farm-inspired take on silos and Erin’s amusing parenting hacks to manage remote work during summer!

Join us every other week for short, fun, and strategy-filled episodes. Don't forget to subscribe on Spotify, follow us on LinkedIn, and visit our website for more resources!

Hi, everyone! Welcome to our very first episode of the Train to Gain podcast. My name is Erin Raitt, and I'm joined by Katie Merrill. We'll be your co-hosts on this journey.

We are with a company called B-Lynk, which has been around for 15 years. We specialize in content development and strategy that aligns sales enablement, partner enablement, product adoption, and onboarding. We know that's quite a mouthful, so in each episode, we'll break it down into actionable insights to help you drive revenue.

Thanks, Erin! I’m Katie Merrill, CEO and founder of B-Lynk. I started the company 15 years ago. Prior to B-Lynk, I was in sales at a UC startup, which sparked my passion for sales enablement and revenue generation. Train to Gain is exciting because it aligns perfectly with my dedication to helping our clients boost their top line.

Erin, why don't you share your background as well?

Sure! I have an eclectic background, from being a seventh-grade teacher to a CrossFit instructor—really focused on empowering people to achieve their best through education. That's how I came to B-Lynk, starting as a trainer. Katie and I felt our combined passions would lead to engaging conversations for this podcast.

Katie made an insightful LinkedIn post recently that inspired today's episode. It focused on the concept of "silos" in business. Katie, could you tell us more?

Absolutely. I grew up on a real farm in northwest Iowa, so whenever I hear the term "silo," I visualize an actual grain silo. It’s an image I've always associated with isolated teams within a company.

Specifically, there are often silos between sales enablement, go-to-market strategies, and product adoption or customer onboarding. Breaking these silos and aligning these functions strategically can significantly impact revenue and customer retention. Leveraging content across these areas prevents duplication of efforts and ensures consistency and efficiency.

In our work within the UCaaS and CCaaS industry, we frequently hear about teams doing fantastic work individually—whether it's sales enablement, customer experience, or marketing. However, the real opportunity lies in aligning these efforts more closely to enhance overall success. Breaking down silos allows teams to leverage shared resources strategically.

Exactly. For instance, the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Customer Experience (CX) leaders often have overlapping content needs. Aligning these resources not only saves time and effort but also ensures consistency and quality across customer and internal communications.

Well, we promised this would be short and sweet—just around 10 minutes—so we'll wrap it up here. Before we go, a quick shout-out to all the parents navigating summer with kids at home! We're based in Tampa, where school is officially out. Between Katie and myself, we have five kids.

Here's a quick parenting hack: filming your kids and threatening to post it on social media can clear your workspace pretty quickly!

Thanks so much for joining us today. We'll be releasing episodes every other week, so please follow us on Spotify, LinkedIn, and check out episodes posted on our website. We appreciate your support and hope you'll tune in again!