Missing the Mark

One of the most memorable meetings I ever had during my tenure with the first software company I worked for was with my boss, the president of our division.  I remember walking into his office, and before I could sit down, he handed me a brochure and asked somewhat accusingly, “Did your team produce this?”  Luckily, I was able to answer, “No”, to which he replied, “Good, because if you had I was going to fire you.  This brochure is ugly and even if it wasn’t, it’s a waste of money because it’s not delivering leads or having an impact on revenue.”  With that the meeting was over.

Although I remember feeling great about not being fired, I also remember having a tremendous sense of affirmation because my boss and I were on the same page.  We both agreed that my job as the director of our marketing team was not about making pretty collateral pieces.  It was to focus on generating revenue!

Unfortunately, most marketers today are missing this point, and missing it by a long shot.  Consider these statistics that were recently published by the Fournaise Group:

• 73% of CEOs think Marketers lack business credibility and are not the business growth generators they should be.

• 77% of CEO’s are frustrated that their marketers keep on talking about brand, brand values, brand equity and other similar parameters that  management has difficulty linking back to results that really matter: revenue, sales, EBIT or even market valuation.

• 73% of CEO’s say that when they ask their marketing teams to increase their Marketing ROI, they tend to understand it as cost cutting through better economies of scale or negotiations with their third-party partners and agencies, instead of top-line growth generation (more revenue, more sales, more prospects, more buyers) – translation, most marketers don’t truly understand ROI and can’t track it.

• 72% of CEO’s state that marketing is always asking for more money, but can rarely explain how much incremental business this money will generate.

• 70% of CEO’s stated that marketers bombard their stakeholders with marketing data that hardly relate to or mean anything for the company’s P&L.

And the list goes on. In short, the majority of marketers are missing the mark. Despite their feelings that they are making an impact (69% think they do), without the numbers to prove it, management will not listen to them.

Within this dynamic, the common approach for marketers is to get defensive, explain the nuances of marketing, the science behind brand and to bemoan the fact that the rest of the organization does not get marketing.  But the problem is not with the rest of the organization. It’s with marketing!  If the rest of the organization is focused on revenue, then marketing should align its vision with theirs.

To that end here are 5 quick tips marketers can adopt do to begin shifting their focus to revenue:

1.  Make business decisions based on results
This means you must measure your outcomes.  If you are using your metrics simply to show opens, clicks and response rates, they you’re missing the point.  Add opportunity and sales outcomes to your metrics mix. Then, use that data to determine which marketing activity produces the best outcome and replicate it.

2.  Develop your processes
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know about our focus on lead management process.  This is a must. Putting in the proper process will enable you to align with sales, ultimately leading to an improved impact on revenue.  Lack of process leads to a lack of visibility and revenue left on the table.

3.  Think Like a Business
Like many C-level executives, my former boss was not interested in the “art” behind marketing.  He wanted qualified leads to be sent to sales. He wanted revenue.  His objectives became mine. This pushed me and my team to think about the business as a whole, which helped us from becoming sidetracked with the “marketing fluff”.

4. Determine What Your Customer Wants
Too many companies are marketing and selling in a way that bypasses the customer.  If you do not know your buyer you will have a hard time engaging with them and convincing them to spend their money on your product or service.  Get to know your buyer by studying them and listening to them.  This is a continual process that will help you adapt your marketing approach to regularly engage them.

5.  Commit and Compensate
If revenue is the goal (and it is), then marketers should be measured and compensated by it.  This scares most marketers to death, but it’s the way you will shift focus and behavior in the organization. Marketers need to step up and commit to quotas in terms of qualified leads and revenue contribution. Those quotas should be tied to a portion of the marketing teams’ compensation.

For years marketers have tried to make a case for their relevance within their companies.  Despite their best efforts, they have not been convincing.  The only way win over the doubters is for marketers to change their way of thinking.  In short, set your sights on revenue.  Marketers who focused on ROI delivered 24% incremental customer demand in 2010 and generated business growth for their organizations.  Stats like this will make marketing relevant.

Posted in Industry News, Marketing Data | 1 Comment

An Interview with Jonathan Block from SiriusDecisions

This week, we are pleased to have Jonathan Block from SiriusDecisions joining us to discuss marketing automation, lead management and B2B marketing.

Jonathan in his role as Vice President and Service Director of SiriusDecisions is no stranger those of us in B2B marketing. He has worked for more than 20 years in a variety of marketing roles and as an industry analyst. While at SiriusDecisions, he has helped many B2B organizations expand their traditional reputation management initiatives with the integration of social media strategies and tactics into the communications mix, as well as advised clients on evaluating and choosing appropriate marketing technology and services providers.
We would like to thank Jonathan for taking the time to speak to us and appreciate his candor and sharing his insights with our readers.

TAG: Recent studies at the end of last year showed that B2B marketers are challenged to produce quality leads, measure ROI and generate enough leads.  Many of these issues are the same ones marketers struggled with 10 years ago.  Why do these issues continue to persist despite the focus on new technologies and process?

JB: The simple answer is because a focus on new technologies and processes alone is not enough. Organizations also need to evaluate and elevate their marketing skills to be able to take advantage of such advances. Marketers must have a fair level of campaign management skill (particularly in the area of portfolio/multi-touch campaigns) to leverage a useful measure of a technology’s effectiveness. Take a look back at the not-too-distant past of field marketing in the lion’s share of companies and you will see a world dominated by a single goal: Quantity.

The thought was to create as many outbound programs as possible in a given time frame, gather all the hand-raisers you could, dump them into sales and repeat as much as your budget would allow. Today, the field marketing mantra has changed to one of quality, embracing the concept that better leads will be worked more reliably by sales, lead to opportunity and closed business more often, and consequently improve marketing’s measurable contribution to the business. However, making the move from quantity to quality isn’t just like flipping a switch. With all of this change and a major shift in expectations, one would assume that companies have stepped forward to re-train not only marketing managers, but the directors and above that oversee them. However, just 5 percent of B2B organizations have a formal, systematic marketing training program; in 75 percent of companies, the only way that marketers learn is through trial and error.

TAG: You recently wrote a piece about calculating the ROI of marketing automation platforms.  With companies struggling to measure campaign ROI, how can they go about measuring the ROI of their automation solution?

JB: On the surface it would be easy to compare the performance of your campaigns before and after using a marketing automation solution. However, few organizations have a reliable benchmark of their campaign performance or how that compares to their peers. One of the roadblocks to establishing technological ROI is the lack of an agreed-upon framework that will be used to measure performance. The SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall model is a multistage, end-to-end view of an organization’s new business health shared by marketing and sales. We use this model as a beachhead for measuring processes, metrics and strategy — assuming that the worth of specific demand creation-related moves that an organization makes must manifest themselves in waterfall performance improvement. This assumption certainly doesn’t change when it comes to enabling technologies, and comparing changes in conversion rates between waterfall stages — both an organization’s and industry benchmarks — is an effective way to determine the impact of a marketing automation solution. Unfortunately, we still see organizations purchase a marketing automation solution in an attempt to automate processes that don’t exist; in instances where this has occurred, the technology has struggled to demonstrate results.

TAG: In the same research you compare three scenarios: a) companies with no automation or process; b) companies with automation and weak or no process; and c) companies with automation and average process.  In the end, the companies with both automation and process showed a dramatic advantage in both conversions and revenues. Given automation plus process provides such a huge advantage, why don’t more companies adopt this approach?

JB: One aspect is that many organizations still subscribe to the notion that the technology itself will transform how they do marketing rather than viewing it as an enabler. Remember, the key word here is “automation.” The marketing automation platform doesn’t care whether your processes and skills are optimized or not, it will automate them either way. Just as important is change management. While overcoming organizational inertia to transform marketing is challenging enough, it’s equally difficult to come to terms with the fact that not all staff members are willing (or able) to buy into a new way of marketing or have the expertise to develop new processes.

TAG: In addition to a solid business process, what else should organizations consider when looking to adopt marketing automation?

JB: I’ve talked above about the importance of skills, so providing the time and resources to evolve your marketing staff’s skills is invaluable. It’s also imperative to see where marketing automation fits not just within marketing but also as part of an overall enterprise technology ecosystem. Integration with other marketing and enterprise systems continues to plague over 80 percent of marketing automation adopters according to our SiriusDecisions research. And this isn’t just integration with CRM systems, but the ability of marketing automation platforms to share and receive data with other applications, such as social media monitoring tools, ERP systems or business intelligence solutions. For instance, it is necessary for a marketing automation solution to feed broader dashboards and reporting; the more integrated the data from the automation solution, the easier it will be to deliver accurate “big picture” visibility into the entire marketing organization and beyond.

TAG: The name “marketing automation” would assume it is solely a marketing discipline.  However that is far from accurate.  What role do you see sales playing in the success of marketing automation?

JB: If an organization wishes to begin taking advantage of the functionality of a marketing automation platform – including lead scoring and lead routing – it must involve sales and build simple service-level agreements to construct more of a closed loop. Broader lead scoring, lead routing, lead handoff and nurturing processes must be forged with the sales function, requiring a greater level of sales/marketing cooperation than ever before. The reason? For many organizations “sales fatigue” sets in over time in terms of leads that come from marketing. If sales comes to find out these leads are of low quality, reps will turn to cold calling, preferring to control the quality of their lead destiny themselves and will likely ignore marketing’s output even more. If marketing raises expectations through a marketing automation platform purchase that lead quality will increase without building joint processes and alignment with sales, a situation where negative return and even greater friction between the two functions is bound to occur.

TAG: If you could provide one piece of advice to an organization looking to adopt marketing automation, what would you tell them?

JB: Two words: data quality. A database is the fuel that powers every marketing function. Maintaining quality data and applying it analytically to define patterns that lead to better responses, higher qualification/conversions and ultimately closed business form the foundation of marketing success and can make or break any marketing automation initiative. If I can point to one positive effect of the recent economic downturn, it is that marketers have learned the importance of focusing on data quality and the advantages such an enterprise mindset can bring. Achieving this means that marketing must align with an enterprise-wide data policy that stresses data maintenance (ongoing policies and procedures to maintain data quality) vs. data cleansing (disconnected projects with a set completion date that must be executed over and over).

Posted in Industry News, Lead Management Process, Marketing Automation, Marketing Data | 1 Comment

The Benefits of Data Management

Last month, DemandGen Report ran a cover story titled “Data Tops List of Tactics & Technologies that Marketers Can’t Afford to Live Without.” The article went onto discuss the importance of having reliable data in order to ensure campaigns are successfully executed via marketing automation platforms.

This issue of data management is not new.  For years, marketers have wrestled with keeping their data clean.   However, with the rise of marketing automation, keeping data clean is now at the top of marketers’ list of challenges.  This view of data underscores how valuable clean and relevant data is to marketing and sales success.  But maintaining solid data isn’t something that just happens. It requires a process and constant attention.

Here are a few things you can do to ensure that you have a marketing data that serves as a powerful asset rather than a detriment to reaching your objectives.

1.  Establish Controls

A few years ago we conducted a discovery exercise with a client to determine the gaps in their lead management process.  As we began to look at their data and the process by which it was managed, the Director of Marketing Operations confessed that their “data was a mess”.  We discovered one reason for the “mess” was the lack of any data control policies.  And when I say “none”, I mean “none!”  They had allowed any sales person to access or modify any opportunity, contact, list or lead regardless of whose territory in which it resided.  Even the office administrator had full authority to access, change, or add to the data structure. It was truly a Wild, Wild West approach to managing data with each person managing it the way they thought best.  The result was indeed a mess.

If you want to avoid this type of scenario, consider the following:

• Establish a set of business rules that will determine who has access to your data.  You can even assign controls based on function.  For example, marketing operations may only have administrative access to marketing data, sales operations has administrative access to sales data, etc.
• Determine what changes/additions/actions can be taken by which personnel.  Will you allow sales to delete, or create a record? Will you allow marketing managers to upload new lists on their own?  What are your data export rules?  These are rules that you will need to establish and enforce in order to ensure proper control
• If you have multiple databases, determine which one will serve as the master database.  Too many times marketing and sales share data, but do not take the time to determine which one will serve as the master.  This leads to chaos and perpetuates duplicate, inconsistent data.

2.   Develop a Data Map

One of the keys to a healthy database is knowing what you are going to put in it.  It seems simple, but many companies are stuck with a database that has too many fields and partial data. When asked, “Why is this here?” the answer is often “We don’t know.” The best thing a company can do is to create a data map. A data map shows the “flow” of data from intake to output, shows how the various systems (marketing, sales, etc.) integrate, and defines the uses for each field.

It’s important to understand that data mapping is not just a one-time exercise. The data map should be reviewed and updated at regular intervals to keep your data fresh.  For example, if your company acquires another, it may be necessary to add data fields that denote a record was a customer from the acquired company.  In this case, it would also be important to note that these are static fields, not applicable to new records.

The data mapping process can be tedious. But if done right, and monitored regularly, it will go a long way to supporting the controls that have been established, and will ensure better data consistency.

3.  Segment Your Data

Companies spend a lot of time obsessing about the number of names they have in their database. It seems that “trying to increase the number of names” is a key objective.  While a large database can certainly pay dividends, it’s vital to have the right names in your database.  Correctly segmenting your database will help you identify them.

Segmentation is the process of “sectioning” your data so that you can use it more efficiently to qualify your prospects.  Segmentation allows you to more effectively gain their attention with your outbound messages, and maintain engagement.  One of the best places to begin the segmentation process is your existing customer base.  By taking a look at the demographics and other characteristics of your customer base, you’ll be able to develop a profile (or persona) of your target organization and audience.  Also, don’t forget to connect with your customers and gather their input.  They’ll provide information that you cannot acquire anywhere, information that will be vital to building an accurate profile.

In reality, you’ll most likely build several profiles depending on the product or service you offer. Once the segmentation profiles are complete, you’ll have a framework for whom you should target and a better understanding of the key messages to send them, leading to better engagement.

As with the other components of data management, this is not a one-time exercise.  Revisiting your segmentation strategy and adjusting to keep pace with your buyers will be key to success.

4. Establish a Regular Data Hygiene Process

Many studies have shown just how fast data can decay. Many campaigns fail due to the simple fact that the data is old and hasn’t been updated.  Keeping data updated and clean (known as data hygiene) should be one of the key budgetary considerations for every organization.  Determine how frequently you will conduct  data hygiene, and how data will be appended from outside sources.  There are a variety of data service companies that can assist in developing a consistent hygiene process.

The importance of good data cannot be overstated.  No matter how relevant the  message, how robust the marketing technology, how great looking campaign; if it’s not sent to the right person, it won’t succeed.  Take the time and effort to develop your data management processes.  It’s one of the most vital activities an organization can complete to increase the value of their marketing and sales investments.

Posted in Industry News, Lead Management Process, Marketing Data | 1 Comment

Metrics – Tying it all Together

When speaking to our clients on issues of lead management, the one topic that seems to get the most attention is metrics.  As marketers, it seems that we are programmed to measure.  We want to know the return on our marketing spends. We want to quantify the impact of our lead generation programs. We want to prove numerically that we are having a significant contribution to the bottom line.  Some of us measure clicks, opens, conversions, leads, and almost anything else we can think of. Measurement is in our DNA. It’s inherent in what we do. So, it’s no wonder there are so many questions revolving around this very important area. 

In this, another post in ourLead Management Process Framwork TM  series, we’ll take a look at the area of metrics and its significance within the framework.

At the risk of stating the obvious, metrics are what determine the success or failure of our marketing and sales activities.  Yet, so many marketing organizations are struggling with determining what to track and how to track it.  As a result, many end up measuring with no clear purpose in mind.  Metrics are generated simply because “that’s what marketers do”.  What’s missing, however, are the answers to questions such as “What should we do with these metrics?”; “Are the right metrics in place?”; or, “How will these metrics be used to shape future marketing efforts?”  As a result, many marketing departments end up in one of two camps:  those who try to measure everything, and those that don’t measure enough. 

If you are looking to effectively use metrics as part of your lead management process, ask the following questions:

• WHY are we performing the campaign or activity?
• Demand Generation?
• Branding?
• Awareness?
• WHAT needs to be measured in order to show the success or failure of the campaign or event?
• WHERE will we obtain the data for the metrics?
• HOW will the business intelligence generated from these metrics be used to shape the future and benchmark against the past?

Let’s look at each of these questions a little more closely.

 

The Why & What?

 

Asking this question before each campaign will be the foundation of how you shape your metrics process.  I have recounted before on this blog how organizations conduct activities with no understanding of the reasoning behind them.  When it comes to metrics, this can lead to measuring the wrong thing leaving you to guess as to the success or failure of your campaign spend.  So, make sure to know why you are running the campaign, event or activity.  Set goals, and then measure against those goals. For example, if you are running a demand generation campaign, measure the following:

 

• Number of valid responses
• Number of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL’s)  (be sure you define an “MQL”, as well as other terms, with sales prior to setting up your metrics – What Do You Mean When You Say That?)
• Number of Sales Accepted Leads (SAL’s) (including conversion metrics)
• Number of Sales Qualified Leads (SQL’s) (including conversion metrics)
• Number of Closed Deals
• Number of leads in the nurturing pipeline

Having the answer to these 6 simple areas will allow you determine success or failure, and give you insight into where you can improve for the next time.

 

The Where?

 

Most organizations have multiple systems involved in a campaign which means the metrics will need to be pulled from those various systems.  Make sure you identify what systems will be used and what reports will come from the various systems.  Marketing automation and CRM systems will be the most common, but don’t forget the information stored in finance systems, ERP or even customer service systems.  The more in-depth you go, the more likely you will need to include various systems and their data.

The How?

Perhaps the biggest gap seen in the area of metrics is the failure of organizations to utilize the business intelligence from the analysis.  Too many organizations pull the metrics, display them in their quarterly reporting to executives and then never look at them again

There is nothing better  than sound analysis of your metrics to help you plan your future marketing and sales activity.  Numbers don’t lie. Organizations that don’t use their metrics as a compass for the future are wasting valuable information and putting their future success at risk. 

Understanding the why, what, where and how of your metrics will enable your organization to improve in all facets of marketing.  It’s your roadmap to success and helps you avoid failure.  Your metrics tell a story, will help you avoid previous mistakes, and show you what is working.  Marketers who understand this and make this part of their overall lead management process will see a much improved return on their marketing and sales activity.

Posted in Lead Management Process, Marketing Data, Metrics | 1 Comment

Data in the Lead Management Equation

A few weeks ago we began the discussion about lead management, what it is and what it is not (See “Much More to It” – October 15th). This is the second post in the series about defining lead management. In this post, we’ll look at the data process that’s needed for successful lead management. 

It should be no secret that the success of any marketing campaign starts with good data.  However many marketers are still struggling with keeping their data up to date.  Two questions that come up over and over again are “Where should I keep my data?” and “What data should I keep?”

Where To Keep The Data – Separating Marketing And Sales Data

Many companies hold to a common practice, using a single database to house customer and prospect data.  Typically, they use the corporate CRM system to do so, allowing both marketing and sales access to the data.  This approach is a poor way for organizations to manage their marketing and sales information.  I allows “too many cooks in the database kitchen”, creating an environment of chaos. 

The everyday reality is that sales and marketing each collect and sort information that that the other doesn’t need.   Yet many companies continue to operate by combining all data, which only increases the chances that it will become contaminated with inaccuracies. 

Instead of keeping all marketing and sales data in one place, best in class companies have moved to creating separate yet integrated marketing and sales databases.  Marketing maintains their data in a marketing automation application, and sales keeps theirs in the CRM system.  Keeping data separate but integrated allows each group to manage their information in a more focused way.  Integrating them allows both groups to share just the data that’s necessary for the other to be effective.  For example, marketing doesn’t need to know about every contact made by sales to a customer, and sales shouldn’t be interested in all the contact names from a purchased list.  Yet, when a prospect from a purchased list becomes a lead that sales needs to follow up on, integration can allow marketing to alert sales, and pass on the appropriate information.

Business rules should be put in place for both marketing and sales so that the integrity of the data can be maintained.  For example, rules should be developed to determine…

• Who will be able to change  and append data
• The frequency at which the data will be updated and appended by a third party (data hygiene)
• What fields will be synchronized between the marketing database and sales database

Whatever rules and agreements you develop, it will be vital to your lead management success to have them documented and adhered to by both sales and marketing.

What Data To Keep – Data Profiles

In order to develop communications targeted to your prospects, it’s imperative to have as much data on them as possible. The B2B buyer continues to change and become more complex.  Marketers must understand that communication can no longer be conducted in mass.  Conversations must be in a 1-1 context to effectively build and develop the relationship with the B2B buyer.  The first step in accomplishing this is to begin the data profiling process with the goal of creating an ideal customer/prospect profile.

So, how is this done?  The first step is to make sure that marketing and sales come together to participate in developing the profile.  Then, together, determine exactly what criteria and information will make up the profile.  Find the answer to questions such as, “How do I know if a prospect is good, medium or bad?”  Next, compare your criteria to your current data, looking for similarities and consistent attributes such as revenue range, common verticals, buying patterns, etc.  Build those into your profile.   Also, remember that the profiling process is a continual practice, not a “one and done” endeavor.  As you continue to communicate with your prospects and customers, collect more and more information.   As your profile is built, you’ll be able to use it as your “filter” for targeting prospects, and for marketing to and cross selling your customer base.

Data is the key.  Good data is the key to success; bad data is the key to failure.  Taking these and other steps toward solid data will help you achieve success.

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Customer, Where Art Thou?

In the last two weeks I've met with three different companies in different verticals and of different sizes. As usual, I asked a lot of questions to get a deeper understanding of each company's issues, their various challenges and how we could best address them.  And as usual in such cases, they all had the same lead management challenges.  Specifically, they all had ONE thing in common:  None of them had a clue as to who their customers were!

You see, even though they each had a customer database, and even though they knew the names of the customers in that database, they still had no real understanding or knowledge of their customers' wants, needs, and desires.  They could not effectively profile their customer, or provide a description of the ideal customer.

They say it's easier to sell to a customer then to try and get a new one.  (Don't worry; I'm not advocating avoiding new business development).  If this is true, then wouldn't it behoove companies to know as much as they can about the customers they're selling to?  In each of the engagements I mentioned above, I asked the executives with whom I met what cross-sell/up sell opportunities exist with your products? They all answered the same … "I don't know"!  This is because they don't know what their customers need.

The sad reality is that these companies are not in the minority. Many companies have no clear understanding of their customers, and therefore are leaving huge dollars on the table by not growing their customers.  I once worked for a software company where I managed the SMB Global Team. As part of our growth strategy, we made the decision to market and cross sell back to our customer base.  Before we began contacting customers, we segmented our database and found customers who had purchased only one product. After appropriate research and analysis of the customer segment, we targeted them with information on new additional products. This resulted in $10 million in revenue for that year!  Segmentation. Research. Analysis.  This helped us to better understand our customers, and subsequently meet their needs. 

So get to know your customers. Find out who they are and what they want.  You may find revenue you didn't know existed.

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