8. Panel
Jon Russo
Marketing technology consultant
B2B Fusion
Sal Abramo
Director-marketing operations
Thomson Reuters
John DiStefano
Research Director
BtoB Magazine
11. BtoB magazine
11
Introduction/Methodology
•From the period of April 8 to April 25 the true population of B2B
marketing professionals in the US were researched via a 33 question
online survey.
•A representative sample of the BtoB marketers audience was invited to
participate in the survey via email.
•A sample of 204 completes among marketers who are using marketing
automation was achieved.
•Confidence Interval: 95%
•Margin of Error: +/- 7%
Methods and procedures adhere to the standards and ethics established
by the Market Research Association (MRA-net.org). Individual
participant or participant company names are not disclosed. Results are
reported in aggregate only.
Fair Use Policy
All rights reserved. Crain Communications BtoB magazine. BtoB magazine grants the right to use when attributed to Crain
Communications/BtoB magazine. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.
32. SM
Sal Abramo
Director of Marketing Operations
Thomson Reuters, Inc.
Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/salabramo
Marketing Automation – View From The Front-Line
33. CMO
Dir of Marketing Operations
Global Demand Generation Center Of Excellence
Business
Units
Operations / Execution
•Translate strategic objectives to
measurable demand gen categories,
definitions and execution
•Driving demand gen top-down goals
recommendations
•Planning tools, and waterfall objectives for
efficiency gains
•Definitions and global category alignment
•Driving, lead scoring, SLA development
and process definition
•Best practice, training, documentation and
coaching
•Reporting execution (real-time, weekly,
quarterly, daily) one version of the truth
available to all stakeholders 24/7
•Actions, recommendations on variances to
goal along with plan development and
execution
•Lead /play discussion and evaluation,
scoring, delivery to sales and SLA based
action plans and results analysis
•Play and campaign phasing and
calendaring
•Marketing Automation Platform
management and program execution
including regional support
Central Marketing,
Content & Messaging
Strategy
Regional
Marketing
35. Buyers are more informed
Buyers need more (and earlier) ROI
Buyers are less likely to engage earlier
• Access to Content
• Peer Network
• Access to Data
• Reason to Change
• Peer Examples
• Executive Support
• Self Service
• Network Introduction
• Events Not Working
The sales cycle has changed
The biggest challenge is getting the buyers attention
36. Typical Buying Cycle
Recent research indicates that typically
the first 1/3 of the buying cycle - The Education Phase
does not involve interacting with a sales rep
39. Mission
An mutually agreed to mission understood by sales and marketing
This is achieved via
• Clear roles
• Common definitions
• Assigned and understood partnerships
• Agreement and commitment to a plan
• Shared success benchmarks
• Performance objectives
• SLA’s in place
40. Communications
Written and verbal Communications with agreed upon frequency that supports and maintains an
open dialog at all levels
This is achieved via
• Business partnership
• Cadence calls
• Frequent day to day interaction
• Plans, activities, schedules, campaign
announcements
• Shared dashboards & KPI’s
• Debriefing & celebrating success
41. Process
Development, agreement, communication and commitment to Processes is essential to achieve
business goals
This is achieved via:
• Planning & approval processes
• Operational processes
– Lead scoring & qualification process
– Lead routing process
– Lead action and SLA based processes
• Customer centric sales processes
• Reporting processes
– Commitment to keep data current & updated
– Consistent dashboard metrics
– Closed loop reporting
42. Tools
Seek and deploy tools that demonstrate results, remove ambiguity, facilitate the sharing of
information, and enable teams to replicate success
• CRM tool – Leads, pipeline, revenue, opportunity
management, telemarketing, measurement &
reporting
• Marketing Automation – Campaign management,
lead scoring, tracks program results
• BI & Visualization tools – Model and strategize
campaign execution, advanced list management,
visualize integrated marketing results
• ERP and Web-Based tools – Manage and track orders
and customer activity, execute and leverage web and
social media interactions
43. Sales & Marketing Alignment
Dimensions
• Mutual agreement on:
– Goals and success measures
– Lead scoring, SLA’s, action process…
– Targeted segments, sub-segments, accounts
– Campaign and selling plays and themes
– Budget priorities by region
• Jointly shape strategic account planning
• Foster and strive for an environment
of….Mutual Respect and corporation
44. Measuring Lead Quality Key
• Lead results in closed business!
• Acceptance/rejection rate of leads
• Lead is advanced thru demand funnel and
contributes to active company pipeline
– As documented in sales cycle stage reports
– Lead velocity reporting – speed from inquiry to close
• Lead to opportunity conversion – Target is 25%-
30%
• Leads are BANT qualified
• Regular qualitative feedback from sales team
45. Align Around the Funnel
A great place to start!
•As leads are entered in the system at the
Inquiry or Marketing Qualification stage, it is
processed by the Inside Sales team
•Inside Sales does initial touch qualification
and determines if it is worth further sales
qualification
•Once a lead is assigned to Outside Sales for
further follow up , contact it enters into the
Sales Qualification stage
•The Outside Sales rep can accept, reject,
qualify or designate as an opportunity at this
stage
•Won business
46. Lessons Learned
• Sales and marketing alignment central to success – a shared understanding of the
buying process is critical – establishment of SLA’s great first step
• Marketing automation will not fix broken sales and marketing processes – stuck in
batch and blast, hunch based, outbound only processes …..simply do not work
• Highly targeted, valued content, personalized, right person, right time, right message
is critical……always oriented to a clear call to action
• A healthy, ever-growing and engaged database is core to success – focus on opt-in,
white listed, targeted nurturing with all content sent of high-value
• Customer and prospect engagement happens on many dimensions, face to face with
outside sales, over the web, via social media, telemarketing, physical events…contacts
are not just sitting around waiting for the next email
• Always keep demand type front and center…new concept, new paradigm, focused at
existing customers, established market...etc. Is the task fishing or farming?
• Reduce waste by targeting as tightly as possible ….think personalized and tailored
• Development of personas is key to segment and engage targeted audiences
• Examine and align the sales process to The Buyers Journey – always seek better ways
to engage with targets
47. Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
-Henry Ford
