B2B Marketing and Sales Archives

Changing Business Models Means Changing Revenue Architecture

Account-Based Marketing, B2B Marketing and Sales, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Strategy, Sales Enablement, Sales Excellence

A Revenue Architecture defines the building blocks for Revenue growth. You can think of the Revenue Architecture as a Sales and Marketing Operating Model. It is critical that the revenue architecture is designed and deployed to directly align with the business strategy and business model.

Business Models Change Along A Continuum

In pursuit of greater margins (by moving to higher value products and services) or greater scale (by moving toward a more standardized products and bigger markets) a businesses will adjust strategy and business models. The diagram below depicts a simple set of axis that firms generally move along in their go-to-market approach.

Business Model Continuum

May 3, 2016/0 Comments/by Sherwin Uretsky

Choosing Sales and Marketing Metrics

Account-Based Marketing, B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Measurement and Analytics, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Systems

Use Your Revenue Funnel to Select the Right Metrics

Your revenue funnel dictates which metrics are best to use and a range of factors including size and scale, complexity, volumes, revenue per client, account-based vs. lead based focus will suggest different ways to measure your revenue impact.

Your Revenue Architecture – and revenue funnel – should dictate the metrics you use.

Marketers often seek to understand ‘campaign attribution’ to prioritize investments – yet, in complex multi-stage, multi-touch customer journeys, the impact of any one campaign or touch is difficult to define precisely. Should you attribute to the first campaign touch….to the last touch? The truth is that multiple influences and touches combine to contribute to the sale. As an example, if you are using an account-based marketing approach, you will focus more on account-level metrics like account awareness and penetration instead of just lead volume.

April 19, 2016/0 Comments/by John Stone

Account Based Marketing vs Inbound Marketing

Account-Based Marketing, B2B Marketing and Sales, Inbound Marketing, Revenue Growth, Revenue Systems, Sales Enablement

Recent focus on #ABM – Account Based Marketing – has spurred a lot of conversation about how ABM differs from Inbound Marketing. Our view is that these descriptive labels essentially are all attacking the same challenge of driving sustainable revenue growth. ABM is more focused on engaging, converting and expanding an account – a typical B2B sales and marketing challenge. Inbound Marketing is a more generic process of lead generation and lead conversion though an attraction principle – using content and permission marketing to attract leads (people) to your brand or website for nurture and sales conversion.

We focus on the concept of Revenue Architecture – a customized approach to align your business model with your revenue generation model and to unify the sales and marketing process.

Here are some ways that account based marketing and inbound marketing are different.

March 30, 2016/0 Comments/by John Stone

10 Attributes of Services and Solution Selling

Account-Based Marketing, B2B Marketing and Sales, Revenue Growth, Sales Enablement, Sales Excellence

There is a spectrum of selling from “brains for hire” to “commodity product”. “Brains for hire” requires the “seller-doer” model where the selling professional has both subject matter expertise and services delivery expertise. A typical example of this is the consulting partner at a management consulting firm. Solution selling is in the middle of this spectrum and requires consultative selling, yet not necessarily a “seller-doer” model. In this post, we explore 10 attributes of services and solution selling.

February 26, 2016/0 Comments/by John Stone

Do you have a Revenue Growth Plan, A Revenue Architecture?

B2B Marketing and Sales, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Marketing, Revenue Programs, Revenue Strategy

A Revenue Architecture is a process for accelerating revenue growth.

Rev-en-ue noun: the return or yield from any kind of property, patent, service, etc.; income. Ar-chi-tec-ture noun: the process and product of planning, design and construction. “Revenue Architecture” is the process and product of planning, designing and constructing the capabilities for sustainable revenue performance. A Revenue Architecture helps businesses of any size align marketing and sales and engage the market to generate demand and convert sales.

There are three dimensions of a Revenue Architecture:

Strategy: Defining the innovative strategies and prioritized initiatives that will help you differentiate in the market.
Systems: The integrated platform of brand, channels, people, process and technology forming your revenue engine.
Programs: Creative and predictive marketing and sales campaigns that engage audience, drive demand and convert sales.

A world class Revenue Architecture is defined by leading practices across 30 dimensions. We developed a diagnostic tool called Revenue Grader to help business owners and revenue leaders sell-assess their capabilities and prioritize focus.

February 9, 2016/0 Comments/by John Stone

Plan Your Account Based Marketing Strategy

Account-Based Marketing, B2B Marketing and Sales, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Revenue Growth, Revenue Strategy, Sales Enablement

The promise of Account Based Marketing (ABM) is to increase sales success by coordinating marketing and sales efforts for target accounts. The ABM concept is a departure from mass marketing that casts wide nets with generic messages. Instead, with ABM, marketing tailors messages to each targeted prospect account, making marketing activities more efficient to help sales close more business. More tailored experiences mean relevant information for each account and a greater likelihood that potential buyers find the information they’re looking for, speed through the initial stages of the buying cycle, and become ready to be contacted,nurtured, and converted.

February 3, 2016/0 Comments/by nhill

Account Based Marketing and the Closed Loop Marketing Architecture

Account-Based Marketing, B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Content Marketing, CRM, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation, Newsletter, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Marketing, Revenue Systems, Technology & Websites

The focus on Account Based Marketing and it’s requirements has ignited a range of discussions and specialized B2B and ABM technologies and processes. For companies that are selling to accounts, the strategies associated with ABM are well understood, yet the technologies are still evolving. At first blush, you might think that a closed-loop marketing architecture doesn’t apply to B2B and account-based marketing. Closed Loop Marketing is data and insight-driven. It clearly works for B2C and high-volume campaigns. Yet, how does CLM apply to a highly relationship-centric account-based marketing focus?

Actually, closed-loop marketing is a core foundation for effective Account Based Marketing / ABM.

December 8, 2015/0 Comments/by John Stone

Account-Based Marketing Backgrounder

Account-Based Marketing, B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Newsletter, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth

Account based marketing (ABM) is a B2B marketing and sales process that begins with a focus on accounts rather than only ‘leads’ or people. Rather than primarily using the conventional method of casting a wide net to reach potential leads, ABM “flips the funnel” and focuses on specific target companies or accounts, the “business”, instead of only the “lead” or person.

November 17, 2015/0 Comments/by John Stone

Align Marketing and Sales to End 2015 Strong

B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation, Revenue Architecture, Revenue Growth, Revenue Marketing, Revenue Programs, Revenue Strategy, Revenue Systems, Sales Excellence

It’s the middle of Q4 and the end of the year is fast-approaching. For many, it is a time to slow down from work and spend time with family. For sales people, it’s can be a frantic time, as many B2B companies must close sales opportunities to achieve revenue goals.

So, what can the marketing team do to help the sales team and ring in the New Year on a positive note? Here are a few tips to align marketing and sales and help ease the December frenzy and drive some upward momentum into the New Year.

November 6, 2015/0 Comments/by nhill

6 Marketing Automation Myths

B2B Marketing and Sales, Closed-loop Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Automation, Revenue Growth, Revenue Systems

Marketing Automation has been around since the 1990s. Back then, the focus was on automating email marketing— managing the development and delivery of emails to target lists at scheduled times. Over the decades, software developers expanded the capabilities of Marketing Automation to meet the requirements of a variety of marketing functions and users.

Today, Marketing Automation refers to a broad range software technology for marketing and it is an important element of closed loop marketing. Its evolution has raised many questions about what it is, what it does, and whom it benefits.

October 25, 2015/0 Comments/by nhill

Changing Business Models Means Changing Revenue Architecture

Business Models Change Along A Continuum

Choosing Sales and Marketing Metrics

Use Your Revenue Funnel to Select the Right Metrics

Account Based Marketing vs Inbound Marketing

10 Attributes of Services and Solution Selling

Do you have a Revenue Growth Plan, A Revenue Architecture?

Plan Your Account Based Marketing Strategy

Account Based Marketing and the Closed Loop Marketing Architecture

Account-Based Marketing Backgrounder

Align Marketing and Sales to End 2015 Strong

6 Marketing Automation Myths

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