Why is it that CEOs rarely invite the VP of Sales to strategic planning sessions? The most common reason is the fear that the session would distract them from their primary job, sales. I think this is very shortsighted. I ran a strategy session this week with a CEO and his whole staff including the VP of Sales. At the end of the day the CEO told me how valuable it was to have the VP of Sales bring his experience to the table. Here are reasons why you might have the sales executive join your next strategy meeting:
* Spends more time with customers than any other executive, and will hear about emerging market opportunities first.
* Understands better than anyone else the customers’ buying process, decision-makers, and stakeholders.
* Conveys customer pain points most accurately rather than being colored by what the company’s solutions can do.
* Acutely aware of competitors’ strengths and weaknesses based on win/loss data, and can ground VP of Marketing claims of differentiators.
* Balances the VP of Marketing when it comes to discussing competitive pricing.
* Questions the validity of value propositions created in an exuberant executive planning session.
* Understands best the customer adoption rates based on “bottom up” understanding of customer potential not “tops down” forecasts based on spreadsheet calisthenics; questions the critical assumptions.
* Knows best what the sales channel can and cannot do; most forecasts make far too unrealistic assumptions on what VARs, resellers, distributors, etc can do to drive sales.
If you’re the VP of Marketing perhaps you might feel a little intimidated to have your peer voice opinions on the very topics for which you are the presumed authority. I would say to you that it’s better to debate all the topics above openly rather than having to deal with a VP of Sales later who is clearly not bought in on the strategy session outputs.
If you’re the CEO, I hope you found the reasons above to be compelling enough for you to invite your VP of Sales to the next planning session. You’ll be glad you did.
And if you’re the VP of Sales, do what you do best. Sell. Sell your CEO on how your experience in the strategy session is far more valuable in the long run than a day or two in the trenches selling.
April 27, 2009
Social Media and the Cult of Marketing ROI
Over the past few years, I’ve had a lot of opportunity to write about marketing finance and metrics. Like many marketers of my generation, my understanding of marketing performance metrics was transformed by the 2000 recession. At the time I was president of a marketing agency in San Francisco, and as the economy plunged, I watched as clients mercilessly slashed marketing teams and budgets. When the economy bottomed out, Marketing ROI became an obligatory mantra recited in every new business meeting.
Marketers got swept up in the cult of ROI, accepting an unassailable truth that dictated their behavior, without question or true belief. Few marketers had the training to put ROI in a real financial context–our business schools don’t like to worry creative minds with accounting requirements–so Marketing ROI was interpreted in myriad ways, which often meant little more than a vague definition of “success”.
With a vacuum of financial acumen among marketers and a rising imperative for accountability, CFOs gained ever greater dominion over marketing programs by holding tighter purse strings. Marketing gurus responded with all kinds of new marketing formulas featuring pseudo-financial concepts–Return on [Your Concept Here]–instead of promoting basic financial fundamentals so marketers could connect with the CFO on common ground. This only distanced marketers further from the boardroom, as I wrote a couple of years ago:
“Marketing loses all credibility with the board room suite when it twists and bends financial metrics designed to measure value creation into concepts that skirt the issue of accountability for actually creating value.”Even before the new financial crisis hit, I could see the ROI shackles hobbling marketing organization’s and their ability to innovate. It wasn’t the concept of measuring peformance that was the problem, but the inability of marketers to effectively argue a compelling business case that challenged whatever rigid ROI framework they felt imposed on them by the CFO. As social media surged, I sat in many dozens of new business meetings where marketing executives stalled out in their enthusiasm for innovation when it came to justifying any new program without a proven ROI. The irony was stunning: on the one hand, businesses and board rooms were buzzing with the new wisdom of Innovation, and yet they couldn’t execute anything innovative because there was no appetite for risk–and this was when times were good:
“I don’t want to be flippant about this, but I think marketers need to bring a little balance to the justifiable demand for performance accountability. We do need to be accountable, and we do need to show that we’ve thoroughly vetted the investments we’re making. But when you’re in a competitive market that demands innovation, you have to get in the trenches to help innovation along, instead of just throwing up knee-jerk stop signs to every project that doesn’t come with a business case tied up in a neat bow. It makes me think of a prehistoric fish in a receding inland sea saying to an amphibian “so, what’s the business case for legs?”
With the new economic crisis deepening, this is going to be a critical test for marketers. A steep recession drives a natural imperative for immediate returns. But we’re not just in a recession. We’re at the apex of a global cycle of creative destruction. GM, CitiGroup, New York Times–representative samples of the titan industries of manufacturing, finance and media–are all on the edge of bankruptcy. The businesses that survive this destruction–and the marketers that support them–have to find new ways to drive returns, and those new methods are not going to come gift wrapped in a mature ROI model. In fact, ROI may be entirely the wrong financial metric. But marketers with no grounding in finance, and with no common ground to share with the CFO, won’t be in a position to make those arguments, or to critically challenge the happy case studies offered by vendors.
Fortunately, there are some ports in this storm. There are a few marketing thought-leaders that can not only bridge the gap between CMOs and CFOs, but they have the talent to make marketing finance accessible to mere mortals. One of my favorite lights in this small pantheon is Jonathan Knowles, a banker by training and a brand consultant by trade. Jonathan has written extensively about marketing finance, including an entertaining book on Marketing ROI. I interviewed Jonathan for BusinessWeek back in 2005 and we’ve maintained a friendship ever since. Jonathan has opened my eyes to a number of financial concepts that illuminate marketing trends, including the critical rise of intangible assets as we’ve shifted away from a manufacturing economy.
I’ll be writing a string of posts in conversation with Jonathan in the next few weeks on marketing finance and social media, focusing on the fundamentals marketers need to understand to escape the Cult of Marketing ROI and develop a strong partnership with their CFO. We’re jointly fielding a survey on Social Media Metrics, which we’ll report on in the coming weeks when we release the report on our survey findings. If you want to participate in the survey and resulting dialog, or just get an update on the report, check back here next month or follow the progress on my blog.
April 23, 2009
On Lead Nurturing - Thinking Beyond the Send
The challenge today is not in generating leads, but truly connecting with them. That's why lead nurturing matters. This is why I found this post by my friend Ardath Albee titled, "Strategy Beyond the Send" helpful. Ardath's post gives some useful ideas on how we can better connect by thinking, "like your prospects do when they set out to solve a problem. One step leads to another...and another..." I agree.
Here's a summary of the process that Ardath uses that can help you start planning a progressive nurturing approach:
1. Think about one problem your products solve that's key to your prospects.
2. Define that problem from your customer's perspective.
3. List the questions they'll have and what they need to know in order to make a decision. (If you can address this to segments, all the better.)
4. Review your options for content that addresses these concerns.
5. Rate the Q&A for priority (take a stab and refine as you go)
6. Create an editorial calendar based on the priority list you just created.
Also, for those who own a copy of my book be sure to check out the "buying process map" (table 5-1) in Chapter or you can search my book for free via Google Books.
Related posts:
5 Lead Nurturing Time Factors to Fine Tune Your Message
Content ideas for lead nurturing and tactics to use
Lead Nurturing - Ripening the Right Bananas
New Research Reveals Marketing Role of White Papers
InformationWeek recently released a report titled, “Tech Marketing: Best Practices Research Series: White Papers: How to Maximize the Use of White Papers in Your B2B Marketing and Sales Process.” Yes, that is a mouthful, but so is the report. It full of great facts about the marketing power of white papers.
Here is my summary:
- Viral nature: 93% of buyers pass‐along up to half of the white papers they read/download
- What folks do AFTER reading: The first thing readers do is go to a search engine for more information (75.8%)
- Can you trust them?: Only 40.7% if all white papers are deemed as trustworthy
- How papers impact sales decisions: The role white papers play in the purchasing decision:
- General education (76.3%)
- Investigate technology in more detail (73.8%)
- Learn about a vendor’s solution (68%)
- Best white papers are here: Where do readers find the best white papers:
- Vendor websites (50.8%)
- Professional organization (43.4%)
- Research firms (38%)
- B2B sites and libraries (32.8%)
- Suggested content: The best white papers should have:
- A tight, to-the-point abstract (80%)
- Minimal marketing (78.6%)
- Use/Case studies (75.6%)
- Other stuff: The perception of white paper content improves based on the reputation of the media source, so reported 78.9% AND if the vendor is known, 68% will trust the content, regardless if it is posted on a trusted media source
Summary: Most of these findings are in line with the other research I have covered. Some real interesting new findings were the fact that folks rush off to search engines after reading white papers. This is why I think it is so important to provide a shopping list of recommendations to readers, to bring them back. In addition, the lack of trust related to so many white papers has much to do with the type of content folks are producing—too sales focused and not enough education.
What say you?