The First Friday ReportTM

Building the Case for Marketing Optimization

Organizations that optimize sales and marketing achieve kickass results by doing just three things well.

Agree

Sounds simple, yes, but most B2B companies are doing just the opposite. Often sales and marketing haven’t collaborated on such fundamental issues as who their audiences are, how to best reach them and once they do, what to say. Without this agreement a company is wasting time and money—and relying on luck to close deals. These three essentials—market, media and message—need to be posted on every screen and wall in the organization, and if anything changes, consensus needs to be achieved. If marketing and sales can’t manage this, it’s up to the c-level to make sure it gets done.

Measure

These same companies are frequently not holding their sales and marketing teams appropriately accountable for the leads they close. They’re measuring how many leads that sales qualifies are closed. The average sales rep closes 1 in 5 leads they qualify—but they’re only qualifying a third of the leads they’re provided. So in actuality, the average sales person is closing less than 10%. Optimized companies, whose reps qualify more of their leads, have close rates 150% higher than average. Again, if top management isn’t making sure this is happening, it’s not.

Deliver

Most marketing people are focused on quantity—generating the highest number of leads for the lowest cost. At the same time, sales folks frequently express frustration at the quality of leads they receive. They clamor for more, but they’re not following up on the ones they’ve got. The solution is to align the thinking. Spend more for fewer leads that are qualified, nurtured and likely to close. This isn’t the area to scrimp on—marketing needs to be responsible for the leads it develops, and sales needs to take action on every lead received. Company leadership must see to it.

No matter where you are now, following these specific steps you can help you emerge from chaos … rise above average … and achieve a fully optimized state of prospect development.

It is possible for your organization to get better ROI on marketing … to keep your sales people focused on what they do best … and to close up to 5 times more deals.