Join me for a Free Webinar on Alignment

Posted by Christine on August 15, 2011 under Uncategorized | Read the First Comment

BrightTalk has invited me to shared best practices, real life case examples and a road map for how to align Sales and Marketing.  This free webinar will be held on October 19th at 10:00am pacific time. 

From the prospect to up-sell stages, organizations have a great opportunity to accelerate their revenue cycles by enabling marketing and sales to function as a unified team.  Aligned Sales and Marketing teams are more efficient, close more sales and have happier customers. Attend this webinar to find out the seven steps you can take to accomplish this, complete with supporting case studies. 

 Topics Covered:

·         Understanding why aligning to the Buyers Journey drives faster revenue

·         Determining the stage of Alignment your company is in

.         Deriving best practices from case study examples

.         Starting the Alignment discussion with Sales and Marketing

This is a free webinar – I hope you and your colleagues will participate.  To register just click on the BrightTalk link below. 

Tipping Business (and our Economy) toward Growth

Posted by Christine on August 10, 2011 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

Tipping Point

The market’s response to the S&P downgrade of American debt was panic.  The ‘Great American Downgrade’ is what I’m hearing it being referred to.  While the pundits argue over whether it was a ‘crash’ or a ‘correction’, the Senate, ironically, debates opening an investigation into S&P’s “irresponsible” act.  The looming question of whether this will trigger a double dip recession depends on how we look at the future.

A glass can be either half full or half empty; it all depends on your perspective.  In the frenetic world of 7×24 news, social media, always-connected jobs and maxi-multi-tasking lives we often lose perspective.   It is as if we’re racing through a forest as fast as we can, seeing only the blur of the trees and believing we’re on the right trail.

Our economic situation is a sum total of all the activities and perspectives of businesses, citizens, investors, and governments.   What plagues our economy is the same thing that hampers growth in our companies – doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting different results.   Marshal Goldsmith said it well in his quote “What got you to here won’t get you there” and it is rather appropriate for our current situation.  It would do us, and the economy, well if we gained some perspective for we are at a tipping point.

The USA economy can tip into a pattern that resembles Japanese style stagnation or it can redefine and reinvent itself.  The same goes for businesses; they can hunker down and experience limited growth in their traditional markets with current products or they can re-evaluate and redefine their value in light of global trends and offshore markets that are growing.  We all need to look at growth from a different perspective; one that is rooted in thinking outside the box about how to deliver meaningful value.

For most companies that means tackling the lack of confidence in their Sales and Marketing organizations.  We all know Sales and Marketing are broken and it’s time to publicly admit it.  The ‘broken-ness’ is evidenced by B2B Marketing struggling to demonstrate its value in terms it has historically never had to.  B2B Sales is increasingly becoming marginalized and struggling to meet revenue targets in a world where no one “really” wants to talk to them.   One reason we’re in the current situation is because companies (and governments) have been inwardly focused for too long.  The quest for great efficiency, effectiveness and productivity has been sought within and between departments; not at the organization’s boundaries between it and its markets and constituents.  Protracted inward alignment results in myopia and the general drinking of one’s own whiskey.

Fixing Sales and Marketing begins with dropping the classic definitions of what Sales and Marketing are suppose to do along with the internal tug-of-war associated the zero-sum game mentality. Replace that with a culture and roles obsessed with aligning to the expectations of your prospects, lost accounts, current customers, and target markets. In other words, align to your Buyer.

Begin the alignment process by intimately understanding where Buyers go and what they do on their purchase journey.  It takes some elbow grease and tenacity but every company can achieve understand the Journey by  interviewing the economic buyer, influencers, evaluators and users of every won and lost account to understand the ‘who, what, where, how and why’ of their Buyers Journey.  While the B2B Buyers Journey has three overall stages comprised of ten steps, each role (or persona) follows a slightly different journey path.   To align to your Buyer, organizations need to know all the various paths and the destinations along the way, in detail.  A high level or generic view of the Buyer’s Journey obscures the actionable information; the data that enables you to deliver a valuable experience made up of meaningful content presented to the right persona at key junctures on their buying paths.

Next align organizational roles to enable, engage and deliver value to the Buyer.  The experience a Buyer wants as a customer is often more important in the purchase decision than the actual product they are buying.  Structure your organization’s roles into value chains (instead of departments and organization charts) from initial market sensing, Buyer experience crafting, and product development/manufacturing through to market listening, Customer/Buyer success and service.  Measure how the Buyer rates their experience along the Journey and set role-based metrics.

The key to growth is two-fold: Accelerate revenue cycles by delivering the experience buyers value and have a company culture focused on continually earn your customers’ business every single day.  The bottom-line is we need a fresh perspective on how to do business differently if our economy is to ‘tip’ in the right direction.

Time to Pull Up Our Socks

Posted by Christine on July 17, 2011 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

Like most people, I have one eye on the debt ceiling and unemployment debate.  Sorting reality from spin and the juvenile drama reminds me of decades ago university student government meetings.  It’s also reminiscent of some management team meetings where one spends enormous energy sorting the facts from all the hooey.

What strikes me as troublesome is the colossal disconnect between the perspectives of government, companies and the general public. Their focus is telling of the disconnect: The next election cycle, next financial earnings report, and when the next set of bills are due.  The lack of common ground or shared goals between these three perspectives is undermining our future.

Admittedly I’m not an economist, and am wise enough to not play one on TV, but nowhere in all these discussions is an acknowledgement that the collective “we” are in new territory.   Old rules don’t apply – this is not Paul Volker’s 1980s crisis nor is it like post-Great Recession.  While the raging debate about Keynes vs. Friedman is always interesting; it doesn’t apply.

Instead of trying to hold on to the ‘normal’ of yesteryear while singing,  teary eyed, Barbara Streisand’s  ’The Way We Were’, we should let go and embrace what can be.  That doesn’t mean I’m advocating not increasing the debt ceiling.  The potential I see, and am focused on, is a unique opportunity we have to shape a new global economy that leverages our collective strengths in new ways.

The strengths as I see them are:

1. A highly skilled workforce with fresh thinking on how to deliver value.  The generation entering the workforce hold radically different ideas on what defines value and the relationship businesses should have with the environment and society. Partner these workers with baby boomers who are not retiring and you have a marriage of fresh thinking with wisdom.
2. Entrepreneurial employment models.  The model of hiring scores of full-time employees has proven to hamper company agility and growth. The examples are everywhere – Nokia, RIM, HP.  It is like putting blinders on a prize race horse that knows how to run one course – a loop. Companies that hire only key employees in strategic core competencies and employ teams of contract, part-time, consultants, contingent workers for other roles and activities find they are better able to be market-responsive, nimble, and stay on top of emerging trends; the blinders come off.
3. Building value based on the community level needs.  Whether its social entrepreneur-ism, green energy, water management, new models of agribusiness, travel or healthcare there is tremendous opportunity (and profit) in meeting the needs of the global community.  Granted these aren’t easy problems to solve but neither was the invention of the light bulb or the telephone; therein lies the opportunity to innovate and invent the next economic cycle.
4. Global communities and tribes.   We are as intricately interwoven in the economies of other countries as they are interwoven with us.  Customers with needs are everywhere and it doesn’t matter whether they are in Brazil, Russia or in Des Moines.  Social media has made the world smaller, more intimate, and customers more accessible.  Understand the global customer and deliver meaningful value by serving them with the best resources, regardless of where they are located.  There is a lot of opportunity for growth in markets around the world, if we just look at them through different lens.
5. Renaissance of leadership and self actualization.   The Dark Ages of leadership has led to a Renaissance of the Aware Leader.  The rise in coaching – both leadership and life – points to the realization that emotional intelligence and compassionate leadership results in stronger, more profitable companies. Employees, be they permanent and contingent, who are following their bliss are more productive, innovative and efficient.  And a new level of leadership is a core requirement to creatively building companies that leverage new business models rooted in new forms of value delivery.

The opportunity I see to drive economic growth is tremendous.  Granted it’s scary but the alternative is even more frightful.  As my dad used to say, “time to pull up your socks and get moving.”

Mi6 and I talk Alignment

Posted by Christine on July 1, 2011 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

In this episode of the the B2B Specialists podcast Chris Herbert of Mi6 interviews me.   Get yourself a cup of coffee, tea or something stronger and enjoy the interview.

NOTE: There may be a 30-60 second commercial that precedes the interview

00:01 We learn a bit about Christine’s experience, background and her research and successes on sales and marketing alignment. Christine believes that B2B marketing is at a key junction in its evolution within companies.

02:40 Christine identifies key symptoms and causes of misalignment. They include: lack of understanding of how customers buy and want to be marketed to, obsession with internal alignment of functional groups and internal conflict caused by zero sum game budgets.

6:45 We turn the conversation to the role CEOs have to play to ensure sales and marketing alignment can be achieved. It’s a combination of past experience, culture and accountability. (For a post on this topic see below)

10:45 Christine describes the three stages companies go through in the journey to marketing and sales alignment. Knowing what stage a company is in helps determine what they need to do in order to move the needle to alignment. She uses “all hands meetings” as an example activity and when it’s best used in the alignment process. (For a post on this topic see below)

16:46 We move the conversation metrics. This was very interesting because Christine talks about what an aligned organization should be measuring. She talks about measuring end-to-end conversions, revenue diversity and outcome profitability (versus product profitability). Marketing needs to promote, communicate and position brands and solutions to specific outcomes. I’d like to explore this with Christine in another podcast because it’s very interesting. Marketing is at an important crossroad in today’s B2B organizations.

22:25 We talk about what Christine has planned next for her sales and marketing alignment research and how’s she is helping companies achieve alignment.

Related Posts:
Why CEOs Can’t Blame Marketing or Sales for Lack of Alignment
The 3 steps to marketing and sales alignment
Three Metrics to Measure Sales and Marketing Alignment
Marketing, Lead Generation and Selling to CIOs
Inside the Mind of the B2B Tech Buyer

Chris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 is a B2B (Business to Business) marketing and business development agency dedicated to helping companies build their brands and develop commercial relationships. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the Hi-tech community Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.

Customer Acquisition is a Myth

Posted by Christine on June 4, 2011 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

The economy is working on rebounding and companies are gearing up.  Pipelines and revenues are heading north and hiring along with it.  But something in this rebound is different.

For new sales hires, the expectation is that they join with a solid book of business and a pipeline already in hand; even for companies where the ramp time for sales people to achieve repeatable revenue productivity is six to nine months.  Same goes for marketers. Regardless of the market’s or company’s maturity or readiness the expectation of newly hired marketing leaders is that they produce a significant uptick in pipelines in 60 to 90 days, regardless of the capabilities or competence of marketing or sales.   For many new hires, these are unrealistic and unachievable expectations.  Nevertheless, the message is loud and clear – growth comes only from net new customer acquisition.

Have CEOs finally ‘had enough’ of sales and marketing mis-alignment?  Or has the uncertainty of the rebound resulted in a laser focus on priorities?  What’s really happening is that customer acquisition is dead.  The irony is that customer acquisition always was a myth.

Companies do not acquire customers; it’s actually the other way around.  But for decades companies, and their marketers, held a myth that they controlled how and when customers purchased their products.   With better marketing, snappier messaging, the right sales approach, better sales people, and more features the customer will “have” to buy the product if they want to successfully address their challenges.

By the end of the Great Recession, the buyer took control and began to mandate how companies will sell to them. If companies want a sale, they need to follow the buyer’s rules which can be somewhat unforgiving.  And these rules are not obvious since buyers never told vendors what the new rules were.  Except that the buying process is now social.

The statistics point to the sea change that has happened and the ensuing chaos within the vendor community.  Only 3% of all sales interactions are considered worthwhile by prospects.  On average only 50% of sales people make quota.  A buyer spends 2.7 seconds reading an email before deciding to delete it.   A voicemail is only slightly better at 5 seconds before the buyer hits the delete button.  Ask for more than 5 pieces of information on a web form and conversion statistics plummet.  And don’t even think of asking for a phone number.

The myth of customer acquisition is dead.

The new rules are for vendors to invest in a deep, intimate understanding of the buyer – their business, challenges, desired outcomes, definitions of value, and how they go about solving problems.   Only by understanding the buyer’s journey and how value is defined can companies begin to compete and win new business.

Counter to marketing’s traditional integrated marketing approach (a.k.a., cover all the mediums in case buyers show up at one of them), marketers need to first invest in understanding the buyer’s journey.  How do the various buyer roles acknowledge they have problem, commit the organization to solving the problem, understand the root causes of the problem, investigate best practices and alternatives to solving the problem, explore available solutions, develop a criteria to screen potential solutions, and validate shortlisted solutions?

Marketing needs to accept that much of the journey happens without their knowledge.  For companies the first inkling of a buy cycle is when buyers download multiple pieces of information from corporate websites or click thru on adwords.  At that stage the buyer is already 50% into the buy cycle with well formed impressions of what constitutes a successful solution (and vendor).   Marketing and sales is too late to dramatically influence the buyer’s process or their definition of an optimal solution.

The new rules require that marketing map the buyer’s journey by stage and document where they go (medium), what they look for (content), and the actions taken.  To win, marketing needs to be where the buyer goes at each stage of the journey.  If the buyer turns to industry analysts to ‘understand causes of the problem’ make sure the analysts are well briefed on the vendor’s capabilities and their reports mention the buyer.  If the buyer looks to social communities for suggestions on available solutions, make sure vendor evangelists and customers are regular, credible contributors.  If buyers explore and evaluate potential solutions by downloading or accessing free versions, offer freemium versions.  Then engage them through ‘tips, tricks, and best practices’ drip campaigns integrated into the product.

The key is to first understand the buyer’s journey and secondly, to purposely participate in the journey by offering the sought content in the right mediums for each stage of the journey.  Done right the buyer will engage with the company early on and subsequent conversations will be more meaningful for both parties.

Think of it as sales enablement for the buyer.

The Egoist, Strategist, and Tactician

Posted by Christine on March 5, 2011 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

Sales and marketing leaders come in all types of personalities and leadership styles.  Figuring out what ‘makes them tick’ and how to get them to effectively work together is critical.  The reality is that sales and marketing disciplines are very different –  Sales is focused on the ‘now’, whereas marketing is concerned with shaping the ‘to be’. And the leadership types for each group are equally different.  

Archetype is a useful technique to understand and describe different types of personalities based on their behavior.   Understanding someone’s archetype not only helps to explain their perspectives but also their motivations and drivers.   In the conundrum of sales and marketing alignment, understanding the archetype of both leaders is a critical first step in figuring out to get the two leaders to work better together.

 Much has been written about different types of sales leaders and they can be summarized into the three archetypes:  Thinker, Blamer and Junkie.  Less has been written about marketing leader archetypes.  Based on my interviews and decades of experience I came up with three leadership archetypes:  Egoist, Strategist and Tactician.

The Egoist’s focus and core competence is branding and shaping mindshare.  Their belief is that the more a market knows about the company and its value proposition, the greater the interest in what the company has to offer.   A master storyteller, the Egoist has the unique capability to make the story relevant to just about anyone they meet.  Charismatic, well spoken, persuasive, and visionary, this marketing leader excels at communicating the vision orally and visually. 

As a leader, however, this archetype is often not detailed or process oriented. They delegate management of key marketing activities like demand generation, marketing operations, sales enablement, product marketing and management to subordinates.   In the right environment and with a strong team, an Egoist can motivate and galvanize a company to achieve significant things like shaping a new market category, launching a company or product, or being an industry thought leader.  Their lack of interest in the details of driving demand or enabling sales becomes a significant barrier in achieving sales and marketing alignment; often to the ire of sales leadership.

The Tactician is directly opposite of the Egoist.  This leader is adept at the detailed direction, implementation and control of plans to achieve specific milestones.  Every company needs a tactician for without one, or a team of them, marketing doesn’t get done.  The Tactician’s focus is primarily on building the ‘marketing engine’ and making sure that all the parts and programs are functioning optimally, in terms of speed and results.  With an innate ability to understand all the process steps, status and what the results are, the Tactician is able to spot and quickly correct a program or campaign that is not performing.

This archetype, however, lacks the ability to see the ‘bigger’ picture, spot new emerging trends and rapidly adjust the marketing strategy accordingly.  Tacticians can be so focused on perfecting their operations that they are unable to ‘think outside the box’.   Unlike the Egoist, the Tactician’s strength is not in evangelizing a new value proposition.  Marketing leaders that recognize their tactician tendencies achieve the right balance by retaining strategy consultants or hire these skills to help them identify new trends and threats and develop effective marketing strategies in response.   Tacticians are natural partners in sales and marketing alignment as it fits their desire to optimize processes and results.  That being said, with this archetype some sales leaders will co-opt marketing to provide the strategic direction that they feel is lacking in Marketing.

The third marketing archetype is the Strategist.  This leader effectively balances strategy with tactics.  They have a natural ability to look for and at the larger market to understand the dynamics at play and how the company can and does fit in.   They are adept at continually evaluating company and market strategy, aligning the two and then actualizing the strategy.   Operationalizing market strategy frequently involves other functional groups such as support, operations and sales.  The archetype’s view of marketing is distinctly different from that of the Egoist and the Tactician.  To them it is not about perfecting the external image of the company or internal programs; rather it is about influencing external market dynamics to position the company for unique opportunities and drive the company to capitalize on them.  Their perspective is holistic and decisions are often made in context of external dynamics, company competencies and longer term opportunities.

The Strategist archetype is representative of the new breed of CMOs that are being sought by B2B companies today.  To maintain their outside-in, strategic perspective, this archetype delegates program execution to cross functional teams and relies on metrics to manage the results; with the metrics often spanning a company’s demand chain.  A challenge of this archetype is maintaining their balanced view of the world.  Often, in response to company situations and culture, the Strategist becomes bogged down in tactics.  In situations where a sophisticated marketing team and processes are in place this archetype may evolve into an Egoist.  The Strategist is a strong proponent of sales and marketing alignment and often a catalyst of alignment.

Which are you?

2011: Redux of 2010

Posted by Christine on January 23, 2011 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

Popular consensus was that 2011 would shape up to be a stronger economic year than 2010.  The rebound would be firmly established and, as a result, everyone had sugar plums of bigger budgets dancing in their heads.  But the facts paint a different story.  

The artifacts of planning invade every nook and cranny of the organization and the resulting 2011 budgets are like ‘gifts’; some things you really want and others you hoped you wouldn’t get. Part of the challenge of the annual planning process is that it curiously resembles the legislative process – a large dose of lobbying based on strongly held personal beliefs about the future and a sprinkling of facts.   Which brings to mind a favorite Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Doyle) quote, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” (http://www.quotiki.com/quotes/14005) 

Marketing is responsible for researching the facts on emerging trends and educating the rest of the management team, well in advance of the formal planning process. By starting out with the facts and having a solid understanding of competitive landscape and company competencies, the company can develop realistic stretch objectives.  A good place to start learning the facts is with economic forecasts from various financial and governmental organizations. Then talk to customers and peers, look at the leading indicators of the pipeline, and talk with the analysts. 

One data point is Andrew Bartel’s   annual tech industry outlook.  ( http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/us_tech_industry_outlook_for_2011/q/id/57258/t/2).  His conclusions mirror what I found across numerous other sources.

“2011 will be more challenging for tech vendors than either 2009 or 2010. … But 2011 will be a year in which (B2B) IT buyers will be torn between the negatives of weak revenue growth and potential for renewed recession versus the positives of good profits, ample cash sitting on balance sheets, and the attractions of new Smart Computing and cloud computing solutions.”  

If you’re in the software business, Andrew forecasts growth to be above 8%.  If one digs into the details by B2B technology and by vertical industry, there are pockets of growth but they need to be carefully chosen.

For B2B marketers, this prognosis mandates a different strategy than many were hoping for.  Instead of investing in awareness building, experimentation with new engagement models and leveraging new frictionless ways of selling, the marketing strategy for 2011 becomes focused on building third party validation of value and credibility.  Companies will only part with their cash if they have assurances from their peer network that the vendor’s solution ‘delivers as advertised’ and other companies, like them, openly confirm this.  Net, net – it’s a safe buy.

Demand generation will be hard won and mostly through promoting industry analyst coverage, awards, product reviews, customer success studies, and ROI calculators, and building trusted relationships mono-on-mono with prospect decision makers.  Mindshare building activities focus on customer and partner testimonials, engaging target personas in conversations in social communities, highlighting solution capabilities and directly tying them to tangible results. 

 2011 B2B marketing winners will be those that bond with their target markets and deliver tangible value – just like we all had to do in 2010.

When Sales Misses Their Number

Posted by Christine on December 19, 2010 under Uncategorized | Read the First Comment

It’s that time of year for most companies – quarter- and year-end.  I call it the ‘twitchen time’.  The time when sales becomes hyper focused on closing deals, bringing stragglers into this quarter, keeping score of Club eligibility, worrying about making ‘the number’, and if they are on the wrong side of the quota-attainment scale, coming up with a credible CYA story.

In all companies the worry about meeting revenue goals is shared by sales and marketing alike. For aligned and unaligned companies alike missing ‘the number’ often impacts the company’s ability to achieve key growth objectives in the following year.  Missing the number means more than missed bonuses, it can translate into having to rethink next year’s plans, up and down, and dealing with the consequences.

How the miss is handled separates aligned and unaligned companies.

We’ve all seen how it manifests in the unaligned company. Sales begins to ‘signal’ that it’ll miss the quarter and subtle (or not) hints are dropped that marketing or products  is to blame.  If that finger pointing isn’t nipped in the bud by leadership, the vicious cycle of blame begins.   What gets lost in the ‘blame game’ are the answers to key questions, starting with ‘why the miss’?  It’s never just sales’ fault or always marketing’s fault; it’s a combination of factors that are often cross-organizational and reach beyond sales and marketing.  The real reason for what went wrong, and went right, never comes to the surface as marketing and sales square off in their respective corners of the boxing ring.  In unaligned companies, the CEO often plays the semi-interested bystander who’s holding a potentially losing ticket with a big bookie price.  S/he knows the dance – beat on sales for the miss, cut budgets, realign more headcount to sales,  and throw marketing under the bus at the board meeting.  Or replace sales and/or marketing leadership.  Again, the real key questions never get asked or answered.

In aligned companies, both sales and marketing know well in advance of a potential ‘miss’ because they jointly own the pipeline.  Their early warning system is a set of leading indicators including the cadence of qualified leads, time and percentage of qualified leads that transition into the pipeline, size of marketing generated leads, and velocity through the pipeline.  When the trend line changes the first question asked is ‘why’.  Jointly exploring and understanding the root cause of the impending miss (or overachievement) gives leadership the power to know what levers to change.   Knowing ‘why’, helps everyone answer the next question, ‘what needs to change’ and ‘how’.   Ultimately, the CEO asks ‘why’ in a collaborative, coaching mode.  While sales and marketing knows what happened in their shared world, it’s the CEO who understands the bigger picture and can see causal relationships in other functions.  

Don’t interpret what I just said as Marketing or Sales Operations is the magical key to insights into revenue misses.  Yes, these are key enabling functions but automation does not automatically result in sales/marketing alignment.  If the leading indicators are not defined correctly or the only time sales and marketing is motivated to ’talk’ is when a miss is impending – the ‘what’ and ‘how’ will be incorrect.  Alignment is as much about culture and leadership maturity as it is about process.

Chances are marketing knows well ahead of sales of an impending miss.  Take the initiative and start to dig into the root cause.  Come to the table with facts, Marketing’s ‘what’ and ‘how’, and some recommendations on what Sales can do.   Don’t wait for the CEO.

Marketing Operations’ Unlikely Owner

Posted by Christine on November 4, 2010 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

What isn’t measured can’t be managed. 

That is as true for marketing as it is for any operationalization of business strategy.  It’s a sign of maturation in the sales/marketing alignment conversation that so much attention is being focused on the role marketing operations plays.  Marketing operations is all about measuring marketing’s impact and discovering the dials to turn in order to optimize results.

But who owns marketing operations? Well, marketing of course.  Not exactly.

I don’t support the belief that marketing should own their Ops function anymore than I believe that Sales should own their Ops function.   A core premise of sales and marketing alignment is common integrated systems, shared resources and goals.   Having separate operations groups, each doing their own analysis of performance, pipeline impact, root cause, etc. opens the door to  ’my analysis is more correct than yours’ debate.   Two groups battling over whose analysis is correct misses the right conversation that needs to happen – “what is happening to and in the pipeline”.  Only by analyzing the pipeline of marketing leads along the same rules as one manages the sales pipeline can you get the whole picture of what’s happening.  And how to improve the results along the way.  Consolidated operations groups are more effective and cheaper…or maybe I should use the new buzzword…leaner.

I go a step further.  The consolidated Operations group shouldn’t report to Marketing or Sales.  The group should report to an independent third party.  Who? Well, who cares as much if not more about the accuracy of pipeline and performance reporting than Sales  or Marketing?  Finance.   The CFO is responsible for understanding the business and reporting the financial results.  The only thing s/he cares about is accuracy and understanding what’s happening to the business.   Having marketing and sales accountable to the CFO for how their functions are producing fosters the right conversation about the business.  Of course, that assumes your CFO is sales and marketing savvy – most actually are.

Give it a try.

Lessons From The Aligned

Posted by Christine on July 4, 2010 under Uncategorized | 5 Comments to Read

In the quest to find companies that know how to keep sales and marketing aligned, I interviewed a handful for truly remarkable CEOs.  They aren’t gracing the cover of business publications, keynoting conferences or running for government office.  They are remarkable in their achievements and their perspectives are a breath of fresh air. From them I found a consistent pattern in how they kept alignment in place – a clear company strategy, open collaboration and a company-wide implemented (and honored) accountability process.   Interestingly, for them alignment wasn’t just about sales and marketing, it was about aligning all the corners of the business into one cohesive fabric.

The size of the company didn’t matter; what separated this group from the non-aligned companies was the background of the CEO.  They had careers in both marketing and sales, coming up through the ranks in large companies before taking leadership positions with smaller organizations.  They had learned the value of strategy the hard way along with the value of being very disciplined in their roles.   My conversations with them were déjà vue and reminiscent of my days as a strategy consultant.

A few lessons I learned from this handful of unique CEOs are:

• Alignment is like marriage.   Any relationship needs to be constantly invested in and managed.  For it to work you should strive to ‘get back’ what you put into the relationship.  The CEOs had a goal that marketing and sales have a 50/50 relationship.  Give 50 percent into the relationship and get that much back; a persistent imbalance will ultimately lead to non-alignment.
• Attack the process; not the people. Alignment is a process that rapidly acts on the measuring of what you manage.  Each CEO had a sound, complete and proven process for evergreening executable company strategy, clearly defining critical success factors, instituting measurable and time-bound objectives for every role, and acting on monthly metrics-driven dashboards.
• The CMO is a different breed. These CEOs hire a different type of CMO; a keeper of the company’s Intellectual Property, trusted strategy advisor, and germinator of new ideas.  They hire that rare CMO who knows how to balance strategy with execution and understands all the variables of a running a business, and isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty; very dirty.
• Measureable objectives must cascade. It’s all about purposeful execution to a plan that is realistic given the circumstances of the company and environment.  Each objective is clearly defined on a quarterly basis in measurable terms and cascaded fully down the organization.  All these MBOs not only add up to the top-level objectives BUT are publicly shared; as are the monthly results. Transparency drives not only alignment but accountability.
• Communication is beginning of understanding. Marketing’s internal customer is sales and sales have an obligation to tell marketing what it needs, in specifics.  Open lines of communication around resources, priorities, results (good and bad) and desires help to build understanding of what is possible relative to the strategy. Only then can everyone reach a common consensus on what resources to dedicate to which action plans.

For these CEOs, strategy was not lip-service or a consulting project with a head-liner consultant.  It was a roadmap from ‘here to there’ that removes ambiguity but keeps the essence of agility and creativity. Getting everyone on the same page was hard, mostly because the art of strategy has been lost over the years and today’s organizations are commitment-phobic.  Once there, however, each organization gave a sigh of relief – the game, the rules, the prize and the road was clear. And they realized that they actually had more control than before – and the results proved that out.