What Not To Do
by Elizabeth Italiano
Missing Revenue Targets? Ready to level up? We’ve got your back.
Get real, no-nonsense revenue and go-to-market strategies, actionable plans, and hands-on support grounded in actual experience.
Welcome to What Not To Do. We’re a team of former marketing, sales, customer success, and revops leaders turned operator consultants. We’re not here to distract you with pretty slides or disappear after a workshop. We dig deep alongside you to uncover the root cause of issues, spot opportunities, and craft strategies that work in the real world—because we’ve been there, done that.
With decades of experience through economic ups and downs and tech disruptions, we know how to deliver results when the stakes are high. We come from a time before “growth at all costs” was a thing, so we know how to navigate rough waters, capitalize on economic opportunities, and execute strategies that actually drive revenue in a sustainable and economically realistic way.
But this site isn’t just about talking about our experience and services – our Founder, Elizabeth Italiano, shares her own tales of triumphs and tragedies, offering tips to help you boost revenue, retain customers, and create sustainable growth. These tips are based on real-life experiences and seeing what works, what doesn’t.
Rooted in reality: If we’re sharing insights, you can bet we’ve lived it—no LinkedIn fluff, fake thought leadership or fictional posts here.
Welcome!
The Why behind What Not To Do.
Meet the team
At What Not To Do, we’re a hands on team of seasoned experts with decades of experience across all of go-to-market: sales, marketing, account management, customer success, and RevOps. From scaling startups to leading initiatives at global giants, we’re here to help you avoid the pitfalls and uncover the strategies that drive sustainable growth and operational excellence.
ELIZABETH ITALIANO
Elizabeth Italiano’s 19-year career spans sales, marketing, and customer success across various company scales, from startups to public enterprises. Notably, she contributed to successful exits, including Radian6’s acquisition by Salesforce. During her career she has scaled teams in her sales and customer success executive roles leading to highly successful revenue and retention results.
Shifting to consulting, she founded What Not To Do. Passionate about Sales and Customer Success strategies that drive revenue, she guides companies in optimizing their commercial teams and go-to-market strategies. As an “operator consultant,” Elizabeth ensures her strategies and execution translates into revenue.
Her personal life embraces dog training, running, cooking, reading historical fiction, and cherishing family visits in Nova Scotia amidst her love for travel.
Elizabeth was listed as a Top 100 Female GTM Leader, and is also an award winning Customer Success expert and was named in the Top 100 Customer Success Thought Leaders for 2023.
INDU SUDHAKAR
Indu has spent over 10 years in the tech industry, including founding her own startup and consulting with Series A to Unicorn tech companies. Her background as an operator and leader in B2B SaaS sales boasts results such as running the most profitable sales team globally at Selligent. As a consultant she’s helped startups more than double their quota attainment. In Indu’s personal time she enjoys finding great hole-in-the-wall restaurants, real estate development, traveling and spending time with her dog Diego
Indu is an award-winning sales and GTM leader, recognized as one of Sales Intel’s Top Female Global B2B SaaS GTM Leaders for 2025.
TIJANA RACKOV
Tijana has 27 years experience holding executive roles in marketing, sales, customer success and RevOps. Her experience includes companies from pre-seed startups to Fortune 5 such as Amazon and IBM. She plays a pivotal role in driving revenue growth and operational efficiencies. Her experience extends to leading operational and data management initiatives during major business transformations, including M&A and divestitures.
Tijana loves engaging with the revenue community: she is a founding member of the Toronto Sales Enablement Society, and a frequent keynote speaker and podcast guest.
In her free time, Tijana loves to spend time with her family, including her two dogs Daisy and Maza. She prioritizes travel, exercise, reading, cooking and exchanging perfume experiences with friends.
A WHAT NOT TO DO TIP
As the Winston Churchill saying goes “Perfection is the enemy of progress.” I fell into this trap during my website relaunch, aiming for a complete vision before the big reveal. The result? Slowed progress and unnecessary delays. I overlooked my own advice on incremental change, roadmap creation, and the “crawl, walk, run” approach. I’ve realized it’s alright if my planned video series isn’t ready from day one. Launching in phases is acceptable. While quality matters, perfection is unattainable. There’s always more to add or edit. My lesson?
What Not To Do
Don’t aim to launch with the final product. Don’t stall progress in pursuit of perfection.
What To Do
Set milestones and goals for each one. Build a road map and put target dates in place for each milestone. Launch when you are providing value and helping to solve a problem. Then build on that.
Join me on my journey of progress over perfection and as I aim to share my knowledge and learnings from my experience. As the site, the market, and I evolve, let’s navigate this together. #WhatNotToDo #ProgressOverPerfection
RESOURCES
The Power of Storytelling for Revenue Roles: Leveraging the PART Framework
In revenue-generating or revenue-enabling roles like sales, marketing, sales enablement, customer success, and account management, data and strategy are crucial. But what often gets overlooked is the power of storytelling—the
SKO Season is Here: How to Maximize the Power of Having Everyone in the Room
Misalignment among go-to-market teams—Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and others—can slow deal velocity, muddle messaging, and jeopardize customer retention. Despite sharing common goals, siloed strategies and disconnected workflows often hinder revenue
Buyer Enablement in B2B: Navigating Like Google Maps
Here’s why I like Google Maps. Even when I know where I’m going, I still use it. Why? Because it reassures me I’m on the best route, helps me dodge
Leveraging Kickoffs for Customer Success
The kickoff meeting is a critical step in transitioning from the sales phase to customer success. It’s the moment when the Customer Success (CS) team formally engages with the customer
Aligning Success Plans with Sales Commitments
When a sale closes, it’s easy to think the hard part is over. But in reality, that’s when the real work begins. The transition from Sales to Customer Success (CS)
Mastering the Modern Sales-to-CS Handoff
The handoff between Sales and Customer Success can be a make-or-break moment in the customer journey. Done well, it sets a strong foundation for customer engagement, adoption, and long-term success.