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My 2007 B2B Marketing And Sales Wish List
The holiday season and new year is a time to think big and think positively for the future. In that spirit, I updated my wish lists of ways B2B marketing and sales departments could thrive. I hope you can take some of these ideas and make them happen in 2007. Here are a few examples.
For Marketing
- I wish more marketers would start treating the company’s sales people as though they were the customer. (They are the marketer’s customer. The end buyer is the salesperson’s customer.)
- I wish more marketers would make the time to regularly accompany their company’s sales people, reps, dealers or distributors on sales calls. This would give the marketers a better understanding of what the salespeople are up against and what marketing can do to help.
- I wish marketers did the work required to better understand the true value of sales leads to their companies. Track and measure, then show internally how their B2B marketing budget relates directly to the bottom line.
- I wish mailing list and database providers would not call what they sell “sales leads.” The lists or databases they provide may be suspects worth marketing to, but they’re definitely not what your salespeople would define as sales leads.
For Sales
- I wish sales management would pay salespeople for all behaviors that contribute to the success of the company. Commissions are important, but how about also rewarding salespeople for “closed-loop” feedback on sales leads, more accurate forecasts, adding to the sales and marketing database, and other tasks important to the company’s ongoing success?
- I wish salespeople would quit complaining about marketing people and, instead, try to help the company’s marketers understand how they can help find qualified sales opportunities, demonstrate product or service advantages, propose and close sales.
- I wish salespeople would take the time to report back on the results of the B2B sales leads they are provided from B2B marketing. Marketing can cut what doesn’t work and keep and improve what does, resulting in better leads for sales.
For Management
- I wish that CEOs and CFOs would approve B2B marketing budgets based on the forecasted sales revenue rather than last year’s revenue. Marketing is an investment in the company’s future sales. It shouldn’t be based on past results, especially if you want sales and revenue to grow this year. Budget for marketing based on what needs to be accomplished, rather than simply based on a percentage of past or future sales.
Full article: Wish Lists for B2B Marketing and Sales
I totally agree with the management point that Marketing is an investment in the company’s future. It is important to point out that B2B marketers need to do a better job of framing discussions about marketing spending and marketing results in terms of hard metrics like revenue and growth (instead of framing the issue in terms of costs). They can do this by including revenue forecasts in marketing budget proposals by including business cases that show how marketing activities will drive revenue.
Posted by: Jonathan Miller | Dec 21, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Jonathan,
Good point. Using projected contribution to sales revenue and ROI is a sure way to get B2B marketing budgets approved. My clients who do so earn the respect of the company’s c-level executives and get a bigger budgets approved as a result.
Posted by: Mac McIntosh | Dec 21, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Paying sales people what they are worth can transform any business but recognizing their ideas publicaly and in front of their peers and rewarding them for initiative can do so virtually overnight!
So many people go through life with little or no recognition. A little praise works wonders!
Great post!
Posted by: Chris Bloor | Feb 11, 2007 at 2:43 am