Call Prep: Zeta Global

🏢 Account Snapshot

Industry	AI Marketing Cloud
HQ	New York City
Employees	1,700+
2025 Revenue	$1.3B (+30% YoY)
2026 Target	$1.73B+ (+35% YoY)
Customers	450+ scaled enterprise
Status	New prospect

💡 The Strategic Angle

The meta-opportunity: Zeta sells AI to enterprise marketers — yet their own sales team may not be fully leveraging AI to close. Frame it as: "You help your customers get more from AI. I make sure your sellers can have those conversations more effectively and close faster."

Steve is targeting 35% revenue growth in 2026. The Marigold acquisition just added 6 acquired brands to an already complex portfolio. His sellers need to be sharper than ever.

👤 Who You're Meeting

Steven Gerber

President & Chief Operating Officer · Zeta Global

Background

At Zeta since 2009. Previously President & COO of Active Response Group (sold). 20+ years in data-driven digital tech.

Scope of Role

Owns day-to-day ops: product, biz dev, customer success, and operations. He can move on this.

Financial Stake
~$46M in ZETA stock (2.9M shares). Deeply aligned with growth outcomes.

Public Profile

LinkedIn ↗ · AdWeek contributor ↗

Talking Point

Zeta just hit its 18th consecutive beat-and-raise quarter. Q1 2026 earnings drop April 30 — he's under pipeline pressure right now. Open with: "You're executing at an incredible clip — what does the sales org need to keep that up?"

📰 Recent News That Matters

Athena by Zeta GA launch — OpenAI partnership (March 2026)

Their marquee AI product just hit general availability. Sellers need to be able to articulate and sell Athena credibly — AI training is directly tied to Athena revenue adoption.

Marigold acquisition completed (late 2025) — 6 brands integrated

Expanded sales org now has more products to sell across Cheetah Digital, Sailthru, Selligent, Liveclicker, and Grow. Perfect moment for sales training alignment.

Q1 2026 earnings on April 30

He's thinking about pipeline and execution right now. Timing your call just before earnings = he's sharp on numbers.

Forrester Leader: Email Marketing Service Providers Q1 2026

Zeta has strong market position and top AI scores. If sellers can't execute against it, the gap is painful and visible.

📋 Suggested Agenda

1

Open with the Athena angle

"You're clearly leaning hard into AI as a competitive moat — how's that translating on the sales floor?"
2

Discover current AI sales usage

Where are sellers using AI today? Where are deals slipping?
3

Drop the peer signal

Mention ~6 other martech/adtech companies in the program. Let him ask who.
4

Frame the value

Faster ramp, higher conversion, better fluency selling AI to CMOs navigating AI themselves.
5

Next steps

Get a second meeting with Steve + whoever runs sales enablement / VP Sales.

❓ Discovery Questions

Q "How are your sellers currently using AI day-to-day — in prospecting, discovery, or the pitch itself?"
Q "With the Marigold integration, you've got a broader portfolio now. How are you ensuring the expanded team sells the full platform?"
Q "When a seller gets in front of a CMO skeptical of AI, what's the playbook today?"
Q "What separates your top performers from the rest — are there patterns?"
Q "Who owns sales enablement and training at Zeta right now?"

🛡️ Potential Objections

Objection	Suggested Response
"We're an AI company — our team already gets it."	Being in AI and selling AI are different skills. Your sellers need to match the sophistication of the CMOs they're pitching — those buyers are getting sharper fast.
"We have internal L&D for this."	Internal programs are great for product knowledge. What I bring is external pattern recognition across multiple sales orgs in your space — what's actually moving deals right now.
"We're heads-down on Q1 / earnings right now."	Totally understand — I'm not asking for a commitment today. Just want to be on your radar for after April 30.
"What's the ROI?"	The companies I'm working with are seeing [specific outcome]. Happy to walk you through the model on a follow-up.