Professional Development

Session #5Sessions 1 - 4: Background, Implications and

Lessons 1 - 12

Session 5: Lessons 13 – 20

The New Buyer

More ??

More connected

More ??

More ??

More ??

More ??

More abundant

The sales processNew structure full of twists and ‘bounces’ – XX machine

Marketing has a growing role in revenue generation

This first 57% is marketing!

The remaining

43% is sales & marketing

Lessons 1 - 12

Get Support From The Top• If you don’t, marketing is not likely to succeed in mid-market B2B companies • Lots of skepticism and lack of experience – requires senior buy-in to

overcome• How to get that support:

1. Secure a marketing ?? for year one2. Get leadership ?? for marketing (weekly meeting with senior exec for first

3 - 4 months)3. Be on the executive committee4. Have ?? own marketing initiatives internally

Set Realistic Expectations• Everyone thinks marketing is easy, that anyone can do it, and that

results will happen in a month or two • Because the purchasing cycle in B2B is long, marketing takes just as

long to have an impact • Not a 3 or 6 month process• Reality: ?? – ?? months to see consistent pipeline

growth from marketing, and real impact is in years ?? and ??

Don’t be the Art Department• Everyone thinks marketing = ‘what color is the logo’ in B2B

companies• Have to dispel this myth hard and fast • Take a calculator to meetings• Talk about ROI• Don’t just do brochures

The Right Attitude• Marketers take responsibility for ?? generation• Role up your sleeves• Be resourceful• Sharing expertise = marketing

Business Acumen• Strategic thinkers – is the company differentiated, is the value

proposition clear and compelling, is the position sustainable • How does the business make ?? • What marketing drives ROI (most ??

customers, least cost) • B2B marketers need to focus on ‘hard side’

(financials and data) and ‘soft-side’ (creative and communications)

Know your target market• Can’t be all things to all people. • Target your customers:

• Use the company data, if there is sufficient

• Talk with sales people • Use personas

Be heard from all directions• There is no silver bullet in B2B marketing

• buyers want to know the company from many angles (it’s how they build trust)

• 5 – 7 touch points (11 – 13 in some)• Some marketers know how many touches

it takes to get to a deal

Be a resource allocation wizard• Prioritize activities in the face of limited resources

1. Target markets2. Roles / decision makers3. Objectives – what’s the biggest problem:

• Strategy• Awareness• Lead Generation• Sales Team Support• Retention / Share of Wallet

4. Tactics, tools and campaigns (avoid ‘shiny marketing syndrome’)

Deliver quick wins• Stave off the skepticism; small

businesses won’t wait a year for results

• Use a ‘First 100 Days’ approach (activities, then results)

• Possible F100 activities: • Strategy• Brand update• Website overhaul• Sales collateral • Others based on company needs

Pick your battles and communicate your choices

• Everyone wants you to do it all, yesterday • Announce your priorities and your timelines• But everyone will forget what you’ve

planned – so communicate and re-communicate the plan and milestones

• Become the Department of Redundancy Department

a lot

Get aligned on goals• Sales thinks marketers are ‘academics’ and ‘irrelevant’• Marketing thinks salespeople are ‘simple-minded’ and

‘cowboys’• They’re the same team – the revenue generation team• To get aligned:

1. Establish a revenue goal 2. Define the buying process3. Figure out the revenue generation math 4. Feedback (closed-loop process) 5. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just start

Success starts at the top 1. Understand the sales leader’s mindset (what do they expect from marketing)2. Create shared definitions (eg qualified lead)3. Try things out – don’t shut every sales idea down4. Be the head of Sales and Marketing

Oblique reference contest: Why did I choose this picture?

Lesson 13

Communicating with sales

Communicating with sales1. Weekly meetings – 60 – 90 minutes2. Training Sessions and memos3. Have marketing go on sales calls4. Use data 5. Sit together6. Don’t stop at the leaders

Lesson 14

How to structure inside

sales

How to structure inside sales1. More companies are moving to inside sales and way from outside sales forces (46%

vs 21%)2. Most important in mature and tight-margin industries3. There are many ways to structure and focus an inside sales force:

• Lead generation• Account management• Sales support• Territory management• Transaction

4. Easier to have 1 – 2 people involved in the sales process rather than one person do the whole process.

5. But inside sales isn’t right for every business – it often doesn’t work in extremely complex businesses

Lesson 15

Balance sales and marketing

Balance sales and marketing1. Sales and marketing efforts need to be in relative balance2. Don’t overdo your marketing if you have operational issues (lipstick on a pig problem)3. Clarify what sales is handling and what marketing is handling 4. Make sure you have the right skills in the sales team – sufficient expertise

Lesson 16

It takes time

It takes time 1. First 100 days: confirm strategy, build foundation, set benchmarks for performance2. Day 101 – 365: pipeline growth3. Year Two: standardize marketing operations, fine-tune performance, measurable

revenue increase4. Year Three: solid pipeline, known

performance on KPIs, accelerate results

Lesson 17

Some important

things are hard to measure

Some important things are hard to measure 1. ‘Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be

counted.’2. Campaigns vs overall marketing performance (attribution problem)3. Leads vs awareness4. Branding

Lesson 18

Don’t report on marketing metrics

outside the marketing

department

Don’t report marketing metrics outside the mktg dept1. There are many kinds of marketing metrics2. Marketers have to understand the results of granular marketing activities3. Problems happen if they report results of

activities to non-marketers: non-marketers think that this is how marketersmeasure overall performance

Lesson 19

Test and refine, evolve over

time

Test and refine, evolve over time1. Change your strategy when:

• there’s a change in external conditions• new company situation / position

2. Change your tactics when:• Change in strategy• Change in marketing capacity

• Always be testing: spend 10 – 15% of budget on unproven tactics

Lesson 20

Marketers have to pay for

themselves

Marketers have to pay for themselves 1. How much does marketing cost, and how much profit does it generate? 2. ROI Calculation: 3. Cost benchmarks: 1 – 4% of gross target revenue 4. Variables

1. Industry2. Stage of growth3. Geographic scope4. Growth ambitions 5. Chosen strategy6. Amount of past marketing

The book launch!