Author: Larry Stein at TechMarketingStrategies

For the last 20 years, I have led demand generation teams supporting high growth technology companies. Now working as an independent consultant, my responsibility is to apply best practices in the creation of these programs. My goal is to enable marketing teams to become self sufficient with a data driven culture of KPI's, test and measurement in service of achieving company revenue targets. My approach is to work with senior management identifying objectives and wildly important goals. With these in mind, we work together to build programs, processes and systems that will reach these goals along with the measurement KPI's to evaluate progress. Along the way we will enable the team to manage and maintain these systems so achieving these goals becomes a natural cadence of the marketing organization.

Can Early Stage B2B SaaS Companies use ChatGPT to Run Demand Gen?

With all the hype on ChatGPT many people are worried that their jobs could be replaced by AI. I have been managing demand generation programs and teams for a long time – so I wondered: could it replace me? It is true that demand generation professionals are still in high demand, so it could be that ChatGPT fills in the gap when companies are unable to find/hire the right demand gen pro. Let’s put it to the test!

With all the hype on ChatGPT many people are worried that their jobs could be replaced by AI. I have been managing demand generation programs and teams for a long time – so I wondered: could it replace me? It is true that demand generation professionals are still in high demand, so it could be that ChatGPT fills in the gap when companies are unable to find/hire the right demand gen pro. Let’s put it to the test!

Here is the scenario I imagined. We have a series B funded startup that is starting to see early signs of product-market fit and they want to start testing a variety of demand generation programs. Could this company have someone on their leadership team, guided by ChatGPT, to build out a set of programs and measure the results. 

Here are the questions and answers from ChatGPT. I then assigned a grade along with a brief reasoning for my assessment. See if you agree.

Question: By percentage, how should a series B, B2B SaaS company with an average selling price of $40,000 allocate its demand generation budget across program channels in under 100 words?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to how a B2B SaaS company should allocate its demand generation budget across program channels, as it can vary based on various factors such as the target audience, competition, and the company’s specific goals. However, as a general guideline, the company could consider allocating the budget based on a mix of channels that have proven to be effective in generating leads and conversions, such as digital advertising (25-35%), content marketing (20-30%), email marketing (10-20%), social media marketing (10-15%), events/webinars (10-15%), and other channels as appropriate. The specific allocation percentages will depend on the company’s unique situation and testing the mix to find out what works best.

ChatGPT

GRADE: B Without knowing more, I would generally assign 25%-35% to events and webinars as these have frequently been solid pipeline generators for me in the past. Otherwise, the ratios were pretty in line. 

Question: How should a series B, B2B SaaS company set up CRM and marketing automation systems to track the effectiveness of demand generation programs in under 100 words? 

To track the effectiveness of demand generation programs, a Series B B2B SaaS company should set up a CRM and marketing automation system that allows for easy tracking and analysis of key metrics, such as lead source, lead status, conversion rates, and revenue attribution. The CRM should be integrated with the company’s marketing automation platform to enable lead scoring, lead nurturing, and targeted campaigns based on user behavior. Regular reporting and analysis of these metrics will provide insights into the effectiveness of demand generation programs, allowing for optimization and improvement over time.

ChatGPT

GRADE: C I would have hoped for more detail on using SFDC campaigns and look at key metrics like click rates, conversion rates, cost per lead and cost per opportunity. 

Question: How should a series B, B2B SaaS company set up its initial LinkedIn and Google AdWords programs in under 100 words?

For LinkedIn, start by defining your target audience and creating a company page with a clear value proposition. Use sponsored content to promote your brand and thought leadership content to generate interest. For AdWords, choose keywords relevant to your target audience and create targeted ads with clear messaging and calls-to-action. Use conversion tracking to measure performance and adjust bids and targeting as needed.

ChatGPT

GRADE: NA I fault the question here. I should have asked for more specifics to define the audience, select the assets to offer and align the content along the value chain from ad thru to conversion.

Question: What type of events should a series B, B2B SaaS company consider to most cost effectively drive new pipeline in under 100 words?

A series B, B2B SaaS company should consider attending industry conferences, hosting webinars, and participating in targeted account-based marketing campaigns to cost-effectively drive new pipeline. These events allow for networking and exposure to potential customers, while also providing opportunities to showcase the company’s expertise and offerings. Additionally, leveraging social media and digital advertising can help reach a wider audience and generate interest in the company’s products or services.

ChatGPT

GRADE: C The answer lists some of the types of events but misses field marketing events completely. While social media can be a key part of event strategy, it does not tie this tactic in well. And it misses the cost per lead of various categories completely.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT: ChatGPT can provide a quick primer on key areas for those not steeped in demand generation but it is not a solid replacement for a demand gen professional. If I allowed for longer answers with more focused questions, the results likely would have been better. But, that depends on the user knowing the right questions to ask. So I am not worried about being replaced by ChatGPT today. However, the technology is going to only get better – so it’s only a matter of time!

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Investing Strategically for Marketing Performance in 2021

In 2021 as we return to a new normal, how do we strategically invest to maximize pipeline creation and close?

Challenge: In 2021 as we return to a new normal, how do we strategically invest to maximize pipeline creation and close?

With vaccine shots going into arms around the world, we can see a return to ‘normal’ in the coming months and years ahead. But what will this new normal look like and how do we prepare best for it? Many trends were accelerated with the pandemic: work-from-home and online shopping to name a few. But I believe the buyer’s journey has also changed fundamentally which, in turn, requires us to change how we prioritize our investments. 

For many years, we have talked about the customer journey – and even recognized that 70% of this journey happens before a prospect ever engages with our brand. So we responded by creating early, mid and late stage content to make relevant offers building awareness and engagement. 

However, in the years before the pandemic, consumer application technologies have increased expectations of the buying process. With a few clicks on your phone, you can get a ride (Uber/Lyft), get food delivered (Postmates/Grubhub), transfer money (Venmo/Paypal), buy groceries (instacart/Amazon Fresh), and more. The most precious thing our prospects have is their time — and they have less of this than ever as their job responsibilities have expanded. And the pandemic has only accelerated both their expectations with these services and the demands on their time (going from Zoom meeting to meeting). 

This is the new normal environment that will be slowly returning over the coming year. So how do we meet these new demands from our prospects?  I believe there are four key areas for investment in 2021: Deep and Relevant Content, Smart Sales Outreach, Multiple Product Demo Options, Improved Product Experience.  

Deep and Relevant Content:

As B2B marketers, we know that we need early, mid and late stage content: infographics, explainer videos, blogs, case studies, whitepapers, eBooks, analyst reports, ROI calculators, and more. All too often, this content is written by marketing people who don’t live the experience of the prospect – whether they be a security engineer, data analyst, software engineer, CFO, supply chain director, etc.  

What our prospects really need is useful content that teaches them something and not a 10 page graphical eBook that barely scratches the surface of the topic at hand. Imagine content that actually educates them about the challenges they face with relevant information. This could take the form of code snippet samples, security breach mitigation recommendations, tips and tricks for handling month-end close, excel pivot recommendations to cleanse data, etc…  

We expect the prospect to ‘tune-in’ to our channel of communication — but why would they do so unless there is something in it for them? I realize that this advice might mean making their life easier with their current solution — but it builds awareness and trust of our brand. Isn’t that what we wanted after all? Certainly it’s OK to insert content that shows the benefit of our solution, but if we only insert promotional content — we should only expect engagement at the very end of the buyer’s journey when they are really considering alternatives. Therefore we need to invest in deeply relevant content that builds engagement earlier with our prospects.

The challenge here is to create more deeply meaningful content which likely requires our internal subject matter experts to write or create content. Therein lies the challenge. We can’t have people who are removed from our prospect experience to write insightful and enlightening content. They can assist our subject matter experts (likely who are not writers) but the source material must come from a subject matter expert. Getting these SME’s to create this deeply relevant content should be part of your 2021 plan.

Smart Sales Outreach:

Who likes getting an unsolicited call? Anyone? These calls are an interruption of your day — and we must remember this as we make our outbound call plans. To make matters worse, often B2B BDRs are calling on sophisticated prospects with little more than scripts, qualifying questions and a request to set up an appointment. No wonder we get a bad reputation here. 

Imagine if the callers were more deeply educated on the buyer persona, the challenges and the solutions faced by their prospects. If they can ask smart questions, provide relevant information and actually help the prospect in some way, the call becomes actually more interesting.  As a demand marketer receiving unsolicited calls, when a BDR called me with an understanding of the challenges I face, asked smart questions, listened and offered relevant solutions, then I would gladly set an appointment. But they only had 30 seconds to earn my trust and two minutes to prove they could help me. If they just wanted to set an appointment – b’ bye. 

This takes ongoing training to raise the level of our BDRs or AE’s to make smart calls. This is a significant investment in training by internal subject matter experts and the creation of supporting materials for the BDRs. We can hire BDRs for critical communication skills and process, but we need to enrich them with the detailed knowledge that will be useful to our prospects. [As a side note, some organizations actually hire target personas to become BDRs or AE’s – preferring to then train them on sales and communication skills.] So investing in your BDR skills to truly understand the challenges and issues faced by your prospects should be a key investment area for 2021.

Multiple Product Demo Options:

Full disclosure – I am a fan of product led growth. If we claim our product is better than the prospect’s status quo — let’s show them directly. Now some products lend themselves more easily to a freemium experience than others. For larger, integrated solutions requiring significant deployment services, it may be impossible to provide freemium or similar experience. However, there are many different options to consider because customers expect the ability to explore on their own – especially if they are not ready to speak to a sales person. 

I advocate creating a number of different experiences to drive early engagement with your product:

  • Recorded product demonstrations 
  • Turning ‘features’ of a solution platform into freemium products of their own
  • Screenshot demo as step-by-step, guided tour
  • Short-lived, virtual instance of your fully deployed product for exploration
  • Customer webinar recording of their deployment and benefits
  • Weekly live demo webinar one-to-many

Most products have different use cases which then would require different versions of these product experiences above. Well, that is the hard work that needs to be done in 2021. Identify these use cases and the best options to display this to your prospects and get to work on creating this extremely helpful content. No doubt it will take time from systems engineers and product marketing, but the resulting assets can be used repeatedly at various stages of the customer journey.

I encourage you to be creative in thinking about how you can create various types of product experiences. Prospects today want the ability to explore on their own and ‘see’ your product in action. The real challenge is for us to consider how we create these compelling experiences as part of the revised journey.  These experiences need to create a ‘goose-bump moment’ — that moment where the prospect clearly sees how your product fixes their challenges. If you can deliver this — you will drive further consideration and likely some direct engagement with sales. Invest in 2021 in creating new and compelling product experiences appropriate for various stages of your customer journey.

Improved Product Experience:

The product engagements defined above assume that the prospect’s product experience is compelling. Sometimes we need to look critically at our own solution, compare it to alternatives and be honest with our assessment. I recommend you go through the complete onboarding and usage process to really understand what your prospects will see as they become customers or as they trial your product.  You do not want to accelerate prospect engagement with your product if this demonstrates that your solution is non-intuitive, clunky, hard to use, etc…

So, spending time to identify and improve the product experience is worthy of marketing effort. If these experiences are not compelling, I would rather take marketing headcount and/or funds to accelerate remediating these issues. It may be time to slow down demand generation to fund key improvements before stepping on the accelerator. So my recommendation for 2021 here is to have an honest assessment of the product relative to both the prospects current solutions and to your competitors.

So There you have it — four strategic recommendations for guiding 2021 investments that will take advantage of the new normal. Give your prospects more of what they want as part of their buying journey. These tips should help your content, communications and engagement have greater impact — all while helping you scale.

Lesson: With prospect demands to get relevant information when and how they want it, in 2021 you can provide: Deep and Relevant Content, Smart Sales Outreach, Multiple Product Demo Options, and Improved Product Experience.  

Churn Avoidance and Customer Programs

Challenge: The Hard Dollar ROI for Customer Programs

Certainly in the early stages of growth for SaaS companies, acquiring new customers is the primary focus. However, a hidden value remains with your existing customers. ‘Land and Expand’ growth models fuel growth rates of the most successful B2B SaaS companies. But there is a hidden gem lurking within your customer base – churn avoidance. 

As we know, long term success is based on a negative net churn rate — which shows that the amount of revenue from existing customers grew, even with some customer revenue that churned. Here is a simple example.  Lets say a company has a negative net churn rate of 115%. At face value, this could mean that some customers expanded their revenues by 30% but another 15% of customer revenue was lost due to churn — leaving the total negative net churn rate of 115%.  While a very simple analysis, this shows the ‘tax’ that churn places on growth – namely 15%. Improving net retention improves company valuation in two ways – both in growth rate and net retention which are often multiplied to calculate company valuation. 

So it’s clear that if a company avoided churn, the growth rate would be higher. But how much can or should a company invest in churn avoidance? Well, here is some simple math.  If a growing company has 100 customers with a $40K ARR, they might experience a total customer churn of 10% of accounts annually (10 accounts churn completely for $400K in total ARR churn).  If 25% of this churn was avoidable through interventions, this would save $100K ARR annually.  If we think of investments with a 1 year payback or CAC, then we would be willing to spend another $100K on annual programs to avoid this unnecessary churn. Voila – budget for the programs! And these programs might help promote customer expand plays — so you could see a return even greater than just churn avoidance.

OK – so it’s clear that companies should invest in resources to avoid unnecessary churn. But where to place these investments? According to Carl Gold, Chief Data Scientist with Zuora, programs addressing customer churn fall into four categories:

  • Customer Marketing
  • Product Enhancement
  • Customer Success
  • Pricing & Packaging

More specifically, from my experience there are a number of more specific programs you might consider in each of these areas (there are likely many more):

  • Customer Data Analytics — Identify and measure key predictors of customer success and churn
  • Customer Conference — Great way to provide training and share success stories
  • Customer Workshops — Training for existing and new users
  • Product Features — Accelerate development of key features to prevent churn
  • Customer Success People & Tools – More resources for front line CSRs
  • Customer Community – Create a place for customers to answer questions and share success
  • Product Value Packaging – enrich value for customers most like to churn

Every company will have a unique product and market situation to guide their customer program investment decisions. This analysis is merely to draw awareness to the ROI of these programs, as I believe they are under-invested in the majority of companies. Strategically selecting customer program investments can improve your growth rates by both reducing churn and increasing expansion rates. 

Many of these programs require tight integration between marketing, sales, product and customer success. Creating cross-functional teams to identify, select and run these programs is likely the hardest part of the process. But for those companies who embed these programs from the start, they can increase growth rates and company valuation.

Lesson: Identifying and remediating avoidable churn can pay significant dividends in terms of company growth rates but requires careful cross-functional planning.

Churn Avoidance and Customer Programs

How you can justify investments in customer programs.

Challenge: Justify Investments in Customer Programs

Certainly in the early stages of growth for SaaS companies, acquiring new customers is the primary focus. However, a hidden value remains with your existing customers. ‘Land and Expand’ growth models fuel growth rates of the most successful B2B SaaS companies. But there is a hidden gem lurking within your customer base – churn avoidance. 

As we know, long term success is based on a negative net churn rate — which shows that the amount of revenue from existing customers grew, even with some customer revenue that churned. Here is a simple example.  Lets say a company has a negative net churn rate of 115%. At face value, this could mean that some customers expanded their revenues by 30% but another 15% of customer revenue was lost due to churn — leaving the total negative net churn rate of 115%.  While a very simple analysis, this shows the ‘tax’ that churn places on growth – namely 15%. Improving net retention improves company valuation in two ways – both in growth rate and net retention which are often multiplied to calculate company valuation. 

So it’s clear that if a company avoided churn, the growth rate would be higher. But how much can or should a company invest in churn avoidance? Well, here is some simple math.  If a growing company has 100 customers with a $40K ARR, they might experience a total customer churn of 10% of accounts annually (10 accounts churn completely for $400K in total ARR churn).  If 25% of this churn was avoidable through interventions, this would save $100K ARR annually.  If we think of investments with a 1 year payback or CAC, then we would be willing to spend another $100K on annual programs to avoid this unnecessary churn. Voila – budget for the programs! And these programs might help promote customer expand plays — so you could see a return even greater than just churn avoidance.

OK – so it’s clear that companies should invest in resources to avoid unnecessary churn. But where to place these investments? According to Carl Gold, Chief Data Scientist with Zuora, programs addressing customer churn fall into four categories:

  • Customer Marketing
  • Product Enhancement
  • Customer Success
  • Pricing & Packaging

More specifically, from my experience there are a number of more specific programs you might consider in each of these areas (there are likely many more):

  • Customer Data Analytics: Identify and measure key predictors of customer success and churn
  • Customer Conference: Great way to provide training and share success stories
  • Customer Workshops: Training for existing and new users
  • Product Features: Accelerate development of key features to prevent churn
  • Customer Success People & Tools: More resources for front line CSRs
  • Customer Community: Create a place for customers to answer questions and share success
  • Product Value Packaging: enrich value for customers most like to churn

Every company will have a unique product and market situation to guide their customer program investment decisions. This analysis is merely to draw awareness to the ROI of these programs, as I believe they are under-invested in the majority of companies. Strategically selecting customer program investments can improve your growth rates by both reducing churn and increasing expansion rates. 

Many of these programs require tight integration between marketing, sales, product and customer success. Creating cross-functional teams to identify, select and run these programs is likely the hardest part of the process. But for those companies who embed these programs from the start, they can increase growth rates and company valuation.


Lesson: Identifying and remediating avoidable churn can pay significant dividends in terms of company growth rates but requires careful cross-functional planning.

B2B SaaS Marketing in a Time of COVID

Challenge: With our new ‘COVID normal,’ how do we deliver against our increasing pipeline requirements?

[First, let me say that my heart goes out to all those impacted by the COVID pandemic. It impacts everyone in different ways – and to some whose lives have been tragically disrupted.]

OK – the pandemic has been with us for seven plus months. We have executed our initial fire-drill response programs to show our customers and prospects that ‘we are in this with you.’ We have adjusted our team operations to work remotely and be sensitive to the varying needs of our team members. We now have back to back Zoom calls that suck up all the time ‘gained’ from no commute. And we have even figured out how to manage our hair with little or no external help. Yes – we are now operating at our ‘new normal.’

But more importantly, we changed our marketing go-to-market. Let’s summarize these top level changes:

  • Shifted from in-person events to online events
  • Re-allocated funds to digital marketing
  • Optimized our landing pages for conversion
  • Improved our nurture programs

OK – now what? Quarterly revenue targets are increasing for sales and therefore so are our targets for marketing sourced pipeline. Unfortunately, reaching buyers on the phone is more difficult than ever because no one is in the office, which also makes mailing packages and ABM programs more difficult. So where do we turn next? How do we convert more MQL into Opportunities?

Before making recommendations, let’s first recognize that our prospects are facing the same issues we’re facing, namely:

  • A tsunami of Zoom calls
  • Stress about COVID
  • Stress with increased family responsibilities 
  • Feeling isolated

My recommendation – let’s make their life easier. I know this might be radical, but what if we:

  • Provide truly helpful content that helps them do their jobs
  • Educate them about things they don’t know that will actually help them
  • Make it easy for them to learn about how our products and services work
  • Simplify the process to successfully trial our product

Now more than ever our prospects need us to make their lives easier and we can do so by making the process of engaging with us simpler and more satisfying. Let’s give them what they crave most: a bit of time back in their day with informative and easy to consume content. And most importantly, a great experience to trial our product and see for themselves how their life improves with our company’s product.

Lesson: Focusing on our customer’s needs is more important now than ever in every step of the buyer’s journey.

What’s in a Name?: Demand Orchestration vs. Demand Generation

Does the term ‘Demand Generation’ really reflect what we do?

DemandOrchestrationChallenge: Does ‘Demand Generation’ Reflect What We Do?

Over the past 10+ years, my functional marketing role has been called ‘demand generation,’ and certainly in the tech community, this term helps quickly communicate where we fit within the marketing org.  However, recently I was speaking with a prospect the other day about a project, describing my typical engagements, how I work with clients, etc. When I was summarizing the typical activities, I found myself describing what I do as ‘demand orchestration’.

Let’s look at the functional areas managed by the “demand generation” leader:

  • Marketing KPI’s, Dashboards and Attribution
  • Customer Persona and Lifecycle Definition
  • Lead Flows and Processes
  • Marketing-Sales Interface and Handoff
  • Marketing Campaigns, Programs and Themes
  • Third Party Demand Programs
  • Webinars, Field Events & Tradeshows
  • Paid and Organic Search
  • Website Design and Conversion Rates
  • Martech Stack and Team Enablement
  • Lead Nurturing and Qualification
  • Lead Engagement, SLA and Qualification
  • Lead Development Rep Training and Playbooks
  • Account Based Marketing
  • ….and so on…

However, as a demand team leader the most important responsibilities are actually more like this:

  1. Align with Sales on Business Plan Targets & Splits w/ Marketing
  2. Build Forward Looking Demand Model for Opportunity and Lead/Account Targets
  3. Create KPI’s, Dashboards and Measurement Processes
  4. Design Bottom Up Demand Plan Across Various Channels
  5. Build Out Demand Team and Assign Functional Areas
  6. Create Planning Process Leading to Program Execution
  7. Track and Optimize Programs Ongoing
  8. Ongoing optimization of people, process, programs and systems: weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually

So what struck me at that moment in our conversation was that demand gen leadership is really about orchestration. The areas that most frequently rise to the top of my attention are:

  • Do we have the right mix of programs to address top, middle and bottom of funnel?
  • Do we have the right skill sets on our team?
  • Are we optimally executing against our plan?
  • Are there opportunities to optimize demand funnel volumes and conversion rates?
  • What is our prospect/account user experience and how can we improve?
  • How are we assisting with customer lifetime value in retention rates, upsell, and cross sell?

These activities essentially have to do with orchestrating people, process and systems to accelerate growth, therefore the role is more accurately described as orchestration. In my experience, I contribute most to an organization in the orchestration of these resources to ensure the team meets and exceeds pipeline and won business targets.

Should we call the function Demand Orchestration? Does that more accurately describe what we demand leaders do?  Does it even matter what we are called? What probably matters most is that demand generation leaders focus on the people, process and systems to optimize performance and growth. Let me know your thoughts.

Lesson: As demand generation leaders, our focus is to orchestrate people, process, programs, and systems to optimize revenue generation that meets or exceeds business goals

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue Attribution Maturity Assessment: The Journey to Reporting Nirvana

MarketingDashboardChallenge: Accurately Reporting Marketing Contribution Without Over-Investing Time and Budget

For many years marketing teams have aimed to identify their contributions to their companies’ success. Over the last five years, there have been significant advances in the tools available as well as the business processes by which data can be managed to support greater insights and gain competitive advantage. In fact, marketing groups today are frequently responsible for driving a specific percentage of company revenue so identifying revenue sourced by Sales or Marketing is critically important to measuring business performance.

But measuring marketing contribution is time, resource, and budget hungry. So how much should you invest? What tools will contribute to success given the maturity of your organization? In working with many different organizations, I have noticed common themes on the road to attribution maturity. Knowing where you are on this maturity timeline will help you plan for what may come next for your organization. While every company is unique, I believe there are common attribution lifecycle stages – and companies move through them as they need greater detail and insight.

So check out where you in attribution maturity so you can balance investment against the value of increasing visibility.

Stage 1 – Early Startup

  • Definition: Sales and Marketing have agreed upon revenue contribution percentages
  • Typical Revenue: $0-$500K ARR
  • Sales-Marketing Alignment: Handshake agreement on total new account revenue sourced by Marketing vs. Sales
  • CRM Deployment: Early deployment often still optimizing data and reporting process/structure
  • CRM Usage: Consistent campaign association is not yet defined for Leads, Contacts and Opportunities; Marketing automation may not be integrated with CRM
  • Attribution Process: Manual monthly or quarterly update of opportunities as Marketing vs. Sales sourced
  • Primary Challenges: Manual update of opportunities becomes overly time consuming

Stage 2 – Maturing Startup

  • Definition: CRM deployed with basic campaign attribution reporting
  • Revenue: $500K ARR – $5M ARR
  • Sales-Marketing Alignment: Attribution to Marketing or Sales identified and defined by first or last touch for new business; starting discussion on up-sell and cross-sell attribution
  • CRM Deployment: CRM standard utilization enforced, Sales forecast process optimization ongoing, Marketing automation integrated
  • CRM Usage: Both Sales and Marketing have created a data dictionary and have established standard processes for updates that have moderately successful usage
  • Attribution Process: CRM reporting using first or last touch for Marketing vs. Sales attribution
  • Primary Challenges: Both first and last touch neither accurately describe opportunity drivers nor comprehensively reflect Marketing and Sales program impacts

Stage 3 – Growth Startup

  • Definition: Specialized attribution software deployed in first version
  • Revenue: $5M ARR – $50M ARR
  • Sales-Marketing Alignment: Comprehensively defined Sales vs. Marketing source new business, upsell/cross-sell business and optimization of handoff processes
  • CRM Deployment: Utilize industry best practices for data integrity and reporting, generally solid compliance from Sales and Marketing teams, and relatively accurate sales forecasting; Initial deployment of third-party attribution tools
  • CRM Usage: Sales operations focusing on tight rep compliance with CRM, Marketing Operations focused on data quality and completeness
  • Attribution Process: Sales vs. Marketing sourced opportunities identified by campaign touches driving the MQL; utilizing both Sourced and Influenced models to optimize marketing performance
  • Primary Challenges: When sourced and influenced models do not accurately capture full account-based attribution impact or when weighted touch models are required to adjust campaign influence over customer journey

Stage 4 – IPO Readiness and Public Company

  • Definition: Specialized attribution software deployed in second iteration
  • Revenue: $50M ARR – $500M ARR+
  • Sales-Marketing Alignment: Business operations teams fully integrated across Sales and Marketing with BI dashboards/reporting; Monthly/Quarterly attribution reviews for program and process optimization; Early deployment of predictive revenue models
  • CRM Deployment: Sophisticated CRM deployment managed by business operations team with sophisticated reporting (BI tools) and data accuracy for regulatory compliance
  • CRM Usage: Well established guidelines and training; key processes are reinforced with end user compliance
  • Attribution Process: Multiple attribution models including weighted touch attribution and account-based models supported by analytics team to assist in utilization and interpretation of the data
  • Primary Challenges: Managing time, cost and complexity of attribution reporting as well as the ability of most marketing team members to absorb the complexity of these models

What has been your experience? Do these levels ring true? Was this helpful to your planning?

Lesson: As organizations grow, so do their needs for better attribution. It is important to make the right investments at the right time to keep attribution management time and costs in line with overall revenue goals.