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THE ROI FROM B2B SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENTAND WHAT BEST PRACTICE LOOKS LIKEBy Andrew HausseggerManaging Director - Green HatBrand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGYBrand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY2In this e-book, Andrew Haussegger opens up the discussion on Sales and Marketing Alignment in B2B firms and provides a guideline to turning these two often disparate functions into a unified fighting force.There is still a chasm between most B2B Marketing and Sales teams.I spoke recently at a B2B Marketers Forum on Sales and Marketing (SaMa) Alignment. As part of my preparation, I referred to available market research as well as the Green Hat/ADMA annual B2B marketing research. I sought out the views of some leading CMOs to see how they felt about the state of their alignment. The one-line summary is there has not been much improvement over recent years. ANDREW HAUSSEGGERCo-founder and Managing Director at Green HatBrand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY3Is that surprising? Yes and No.Yes because alignment is something internal to an organisation that the CXOs can actually control and it can have significant impact on financial performance. More on that below.No because B2B firms are sales-driven, not marketing-driven (like B2C). They tend to invest more in the sales function than the marketing function, and often are not aware of the revenue and pipeline benefits the Marketing team can deliver with a strategic approach.The CMO can be leading the way by educating the CEO and Head of Sales on the opportunities presented by modern data-driven marketing, and aligning these to financial objectives. The Head of Sales needs to recognise that the ways buyers buy has changed and ideally is open to customer engagement strategies coming from Marketing.Brand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY4What is Sales and Marketing (SaMa) Alignment?I define it as: “Joining Sales and Marketing at the hip with shared goals, KPIs and pipeline development processes to grow revenue”.The keywords are goals and KPIs. The CEO who assigns shared targets to the CMO/Head of Sales, with a strong recommendation to align, provides the impetus for success. These targets can cover a range of areas but ultimately pipeline metrics are key. Aligned SaMa executives share middle funnel and bottom funnel metrics. Usually the CMO will carry responsibility for upper funnel such as contact database quality and growth, website visitors and content engagement.What might shared targets look like? CMO is accountable for generating leads for X% of revenue Both the Head of Sales and the CMO share the MQL-to-SQL conversion target (marketing qualified lead to sales qualified lead) Both share the total revenue result DEFINING SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENT Brand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY5Shared goals will drive behaviours you would expect from a high-performance SaMa team. In this years B2B research report we found that only 44% of B2B marketers are getting satisfactory lead follow-up by sales. An aligned SaMa team will have an established lead management process with a closed loop reporting and feedback mechanism.Just as the Head of Sales carries a revenue target, the CMO may carry a MQL quota. A useful shared metric is the percentage of MQLs that become Sales Accepted Leads (SAL), being the stage the lead baton is passed from Marketing to Sales.VISITORSDATA QUALITYVISITORSMQL QUOTAOPPORTUNITY (SQL) QUOTAREVENUEKNOWN CONTACTSMQLSALSQLWINBrand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY6REALISING ROI FOR SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENTWell-aligned teams are more strategic and organised around the generation and management of better quality lead and revenue outcomes. Research (and common sense) tells us that the more effective this is, the less wastage and the greater the ROI.SiriusDecisions in their 2016 Sales Effectiveness research found that aligned firms had 19% faster revenue growth and 15% more profit, and noted that those firms better aligned have significant competitive advantage over those who are not.Alignment% Revenue GrowthCompetitiveSolution/Market DriveMisalignedJust Beginning,Scaling or StalledAligned: Profit15% More ProfitAligned:Growth19% FasterRevenue GrowthSource: SiriusDecisions 2016Brand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY7REALISING ROI FOR SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENTAberdeens 2016 research report Marketing and Sales Alignment: Who is Agile Enough To Win? stated that, from their survey across 322 end-user firms, those that optimised their sales and marketing relationship grew revenue at a rate of 38% faster than those who did not double that reported by SiriusDecisions. Regardless of the size of the number, this is a significant impact.Another important point to highlight here is how misalignment may be experienced by your customers and prospects. Its an area harder to measure than pipeline and financial outcomes but clearly it will impact both. Aligned Sales and Marketing teams are more likely to: Effectively engage the buyer, with no overlap or conflict across communications and messaging from both teams Provide the right insight content at the right time with the right offers through the end-to-end buying process Have more consultative and advisory Sales teams Provide thought leadership and insights personalised for the buyer segments Enable Sales to drive a consultative discussion when the time comes for face-to-face engagement.A case study example of an effective SaMa team play is a global HR services provider who produces regular content on the issues that keep their target customer up at night. We refer to this as early-stage nurture content. Marketing curates and distributes the content using personalised email nurture streams and social channels, and transitions the type of content to position the capability of the firm as the buyer engages more deeply. Importantly, Sales is educated on the content themes so that, when the buyer is ready to engage in-person, Sales can continue the theme of conversation. This enables consultative selling on business issues and impact.Brand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY8A DEEP DIVE WITH FIVE CMOS ON ALIGNMENTWe had deep-dive interviews with five experienced CMOs and asked them six key questions about their maturity of alignment with their Sales function. The firms represented were mid-large enterprises from the telecoms, financial services, professional services and IT sectors.The table below shows the averaged responses with ratings out of 10.Do your Marketing and Sales teams have shared KPIs for revenue growth?0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Is there a clear definition of a marketing lead that is passed to Sales for follow-up? Have they worked together on defining a lead management flow into your CRM for Sales to follow up)?Is the lead flow process systematic and working to your satisfaction?Are you satisfied with Sales follow-up of marketing leads? Alignment Ef_fectiveness (1-10)Sales & Marketing Alignment ScoreSource: Green Hat CMO Snapshot Survey, 2017Brand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY9So whilst this small sample was more satisfied with marketing lead follow-up than the broader research group referred to above (44%), this CMO group did not rate their alignment with Sales as effective. Some takeaways from the discussions were: Surprisingly only one CMO has a mutually-agreed definition of an MQL with the Sales team On shared goals for revenue growth, there was clearly some work to be done one CMO stated Marketing has a revenue achievement target but there is no real alignment with Sales. For example, we dont meet with them to review progress against these goals. One CMO had impressive targets in place such as 15% of revenue being marketing-sourced and 50% being marketing-influenced, but still struggled to get the Sales team to embrace the lead management process within the CRM.Brand strategy53%Content Marketing strategyLead Generation & Lead Nurturing strategySocial Media strategyCustomer Experience strategySales Enablement strategyNone50%49%45%28%24%15%For which of the following do you have a documented strategy?MARKETING STRATEGY10FIVE STEPS TO GETTING ALIGNMENT RIGHTMarketing does not work for Sales nor does Sales for Marketing. We now operate in a B2B environment where the buying process has changed (thanks to digital) and the buyer has the balance of power over the seller. So, the SaMa team must respond as a collective. The digital-savvy Marketing team has great value to add to the Sales team, and the Sales teams knowledge about the buyer and the buying process is invaluable for the marketer. From our experience and research, we see five key steps for best practice SaMa alignment.1. SHARED GOALS & KPIsIf goals, recognition and bonuses are aligned between the Head of Sales and CMO, both executives will be focussed on joint planning and structures to optimise their mutual success. Best practice teams will push these objectives downwards and promote cross-function planning to drive the right operational behaviour.2. BI-DIRECTIONAL SLAsThere needs to be a contract between both teams to commit to certain actions. Marketing needs to commit to metrics such as lead volume, quality and frequency, new contact acquisition rates and content assets. Sales needs to commit to metrics such as lead acceptance timeframes and lead outcome feedback.
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