Tag Archives: lead nurturing

Close Deals Faster with Marketing and Sales Alignment

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Learn how process automation and other techniques address the popular analogy: “Marketing is from Venus, and Sales is from Mars”

One of the most pressing issues for marketing and sales executives is how to align their Marketing and Sales departments.  Winning companies are experiencing top line revenue growth and faster sales velocity within their pipelines – deals are closing faster. According to a 2011 research study by the Aberdeen Group, “best-in-class” companies exhibiting Marketing and Sales alignment showed an astounding  31.6% average year-over-year annual revenue growth versus a 6.7% average decrease in revenues for “laggard” organizations.  Top companies display a number of key attributes: process and message alignment, common lead definitions, marketing-to-sales cycle unity, and shared Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

For the vast majority of companies there is a long-standing departmental disconnect commonly described as: “Marketing is from Venus, and Sales is from Mars.” What are the reasons for this? For one, Marketing sees the world with broader brush strokes, generally at the market segment level. Sales want to focus on the individual customer value proposition.  Branding and awareness building campaigns are customary functions for Marketers and have longer time horizons, compared to the short-term quarterly quotas of Sales. Continue reading →

Optimize Sales with Marketing Automation

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According to Forrester Research, one in five B2B organizations are planning to implement marketing automation in 2012, and a similar number are expanding their usage.

Many marketers are facing increasing pressure by senior management to demonstrate marketing’s contribution to the sales pipeline and are turning to more comprehensive marketing automation solutions.

Forrester Research also reports that some companies believe their sales force automation (CRM) initiatives have maxed out and are seeking additional value by integrating them with marketing automation. Marketers can achieve better lead management and nurturing capabilities, along with improvements in the marketing-to-sales funnel process.

Some additional benefits of marketing automation include:

  • More qualified sales-ready leads
  • Faster sales velocity (close deals faster)
  • Better marketing and sales alignment
  • Maximizing Marketing ROI
  • A metrics oriented culture
  • Better insight into campaigns and budgets
  • Flexibility to adjust marketing plans as needed

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Why Marketing Matters?

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Welcome to my first post. I hope this blog inspires, engages, and creates a journey of personal discovery and Kaizen – a Japanese philosophy of “continuous improvement.”

I believe that marketing is part art and science, reflecting creativity and the need to deliver desired results.  This blog will focus on a wide variety of topics, indicative of the wide domain and skill sets of my fellow marketers.  Areas of interest include marketing automation, branding, inbound marketing, social media, search, blogs, sales alignment, content marketing, and digital marketing. I know it’s a long list!

So why another blog on B2B marketing?  Irving Frydman is a marketing communications professional with more than 20 years of experience in corporate marketing.   At times, called the “branding guy,” “the PR guy,” or simply “marketing.”  I’ve watched marketing evolve into a science, with more sophisticated analysis and the tools to drive accountability across the marketing organization.  As a former marketing operations manager, I can add the “Marketing ROI” perspective for my readers.

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