how to slay your number in 2016 - sales benchmark index · 2017-11-08 · sales approaches and...

M A G A Z I N E

HOW TO SLAY YOUR NUMBER IN 2016

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Mark Ellis, SVP of Corporate Sales at Time, Inc.

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SBI MAGAZINE

“I WORK FOR THE WORLD’S LARGEST

MAGAZINE COMPANY, AND YET I STILL FIND

TIME TO READ THE SBI MAGAZINE.”

—MARK ELLIS


YOU GOT YOUR

HANDS ON THE REPORT.

NOW GET HANDS-ON

INSTRUCTION ON

HOW TO APPLY IT.

Contact us at www.SalesBenchmarkIndex.com/2016Workshopto set up a SBI session for your team.

2016 STRATEGY WORKSHOP


Are you going to make your number in 2016? If you are not sure but would really like to know, turn to page 46 and read our feature titled

“How to Make Your Number in 2016.” Here, we summarize the primary findings from SBI’s ninth-annual research project, which captures what the best of the best are doing to exceed their revenue targets. Assess yourself against the Revenue Growth Maturity Model. This will tell you if, in 2016, you will “die slowly, die quickly, survive, or thrive.” And here’s the best part: If you don’t like your results, it offers you a six-step process to improve.

In this issue of SBI Magazine, we are doing things a little differently, with four sections dedicated to the issues you face day in and day out. We lead off with our Prospects section, page 7, where you’ll find insights and tips to help you make your number. Street Smarts, page 15, covers the information you need to tackle tough decisions. We collected proven sales approaches and placed them in Best Practices, page 25. And in Ideal Life, page 57, you’ll find stories on how to achieve your goals inside and outside the office.

Additionally, Massachusetts-based Iron Mountain boasts a world-class sales-enablement organization with over 25 people and six unique teams. Learn how its approach shortens sales cycles, closes deals, and adds revenue. Finally, we take a look at crafting the perfect campaign. Turn to page 38 to discover why it has nothing to do with luck.

Please enjoy this magazine with our compliments. We’re here to help you make your number in 2016.

Sincerely,

Greg Alexander CEO

SUMMER 2015 3

MAKE YOUR NUMBER IN 2016

LETTER

ISSUENUMBERS

DOCUMENTSANALYZED:

1,000EXECUTIVE INTERVIEWS:

900CORPORATE STRATEGIES EXAMINED:

300

TOC

46HOW TO MAKE YOUR NUMBER IN 2016You already know that great enterprises do things differently.

Through real-life research, SBI unearthed the consistent best

practices of companies that excel year after year. Dive into this

in-depth look to discover what your company can do to make

meeting and exceeding quotas a reality.

38THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CAMPAIGN PLANNINGIt isn’t a matter of luck

or magic. Executing

the perfect marketing

campaign comes down

to planning, executing,

adjusting, and iterating.

Here’s how.

42THE IRON MOUNTAIN WAYWith one of the most

developed and largest

sales-enablement

teams in the world, this

Massachusetts-based

company is leading the

industry in innovative

approaches.

F E A T U R E S

4 SBI MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2015 5

CEO & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Greg Alexander

[email protected]

PARTNER – NEW BUSINESS

Matt Sharrers

[email protected]

PRINCIPAL – TALENT MANAGEMENT

Dan Perry

[email protected]

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

Christina Dieckmeyer

[email protected]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

7–13

The ultimate phone-screen question ...

Capital One’s product-development team ...

refreshing your org chart ... the hype behind

predictive analytics ... are you underpaid? ...

and setting quotas.

10

Campaign of the Quarter: Phillips 66

25–36

Your org chart doesn’t work ... SBI events ...

Autodesk’s content-marketing turnaround

... fill your team with A players ... plan your

sales tech stack ... social selling ... and CMO

archetypes

36

A Better Way To Develop The Sales Plan

15–23

Agreeing on what to measure ... are you an

empty suit? ... Masergy’s successful CRM

rescue project ... why you need marketing ops

... and balancing cutting costs and heads.

16

Personnel Problems: How Talend’s SVP Made

Talent Calls

57–59

Eating well and working out on the road ... and

making your number while being an involved

parent.

60

How I Did It: Intel Security Senior Vice

President Christopher Bray

D E P A R T M E N T S

10 15

36 58

PROSPECTSSALES TIPS AND TRENDS FOR MAKING YOUR NUMBER

STREET SMARTSTHE INFO YOU NEED TO MAKE TOUGH DECISIONS

BEST PRACTICESSUCCESSFUL SALES APPROACHES PROVEN BY SBI RESEARCH

IDEAL LIFE ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICE

Contact Dan directly at 818.749.4139, or [email protected]

DAN PERRY, SBI TALENT PRACTICE LEAD

LOOKING FOR “A” PLAYERS?

IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE.

ASK DAN PERRY

TO HELP YOU FILL YOUR ORG CHART WITH “A” PLAYERS.


SUMMER 2015 7

Phone screening has the potential to reduce your interview

time by 62 percent and identify better

candidates for your position. Your goal

should be to discover whether this

person has potential to be successful.

The better the questions you ask, the

sooner you’ll get that information.

No set of generic questions is best.

Rather there are the best questions for

each job. For a field salesperson, key

questions include: What’s your territory

like? How have you maximized your

productivity? How do you build your

pipeline? How do you better yourself?

You’ll ask the most efficient questions

by keeping in mind the nature of the

position. The screening is just a gate to

the next interview, but if you are able to

weed out just a few candidates, you’ll

be saving hours worth of time.

PROSPECTS

SEPARATING THE GREAT FROM THE AVERAGEThe Myth of the Ultimate Phone-

Screen Question by DAN PERRY

S A L E S

T R E N D S A N D

T I P S F O R

M A K I N G Y O U R

N U M B E R

AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS NEW EMPLOYEES SPEND IN TRAINING

AV E R AG E C O ST * P E R H I R E BY C O M PA N Y S I Z E

of potential earnings lost through each bad hire

30%500 or less $7,645.26

500–1000 $6,634.85

2501–5000 $11,365,3732 *cost of hiring process and onboarding

8 SBI MAGAZINE

PROSPECTS

If you had to guess how a sophisticated financial services company like Capital One developed its products, you very well might picture a genius product team behind locked doors wrestling with complicated algorithms. But the reality of how Capital One comes up with products like Spark Pay — a card reader and app that allows small businesses to accept mobile payments, track sales, and offer special deals to loyal customers — is far more personal and collaborative.

Indeed, Capital One’s product teams are engaged in a continual conversation with the company’s customers to ensure that new products solve real problems.

“The best research is to visit the merchants,” says Chris Wuhrer, senior director of digital product management at Capital One. “Customer-driven product development is the singular most effective approach to understanding real business needs. True product developers have to be client-centric or they will inevitably fail.”

Nor is it the duty of the product teams alone to gauge customer needs. The Capital One sales associates who interact on a daily basis with customers also play an important role in both identifying new opportunities and also evaluating existing products. Such information can lead to new products such as the Capital One Wallet

app, which allows cardholders to monitor purchases and rewards straight from their phones.

“These direct interactions with our sales and service groups fulfill multiple purposes from concept ideation and prioritization to constant monitoring of the existing services portfolio,” says Wuhrer. “Much like the eyes and ears of the product organization.”

After launching products like Capital One Wallet or Spark Pay, Capital One also uses a Net Promoter Score, which measures the likelihood that a client would recommend the product to a friend or colleague. This is done both to analyze how well customer needs are being met and to inspire innovation. “The Net Promoter Score is configured to make achieving a positive score more difficult, and [it] constantly motivates the product team to deliver an intuitive and innovative solution.”

Because the needs of customers change so often, Capital One reviews its product strategy every six to eight weeks. Importantly, Wuhrer notes that this review is always a collaborative effort, involving marketing, sales, and research and development. And part of the discussion is how they can align their collective work in order to further the overall corporate vision. This means involving business analysts and individual product owners who can provide insight and data about the economics of a new product — a process that is continued after a new product is launched.

It’s instructive that Capital One’s product strategy precedes the formulation of marketing and sales strategy — ensuring customer needs remain central to all that the company does.

“Product strategy is always at the core of the sales and marketing plans,” says Wuhrer.

PRODUCTS THAT SELL THEMSELVESHow Capital One Develops Products Customers Want to Purchaseby CHRIS WARREN

BY THE NUMBERS

FOUNDED:

19942014 REVENUE: (IN BILLIONS)

$23.87HEADQUARTERS:

McClean, Virginia

Contact Vince Koehler at 770.241.1803 or [email protected]

CAMPAIGN PLANNING

HERE’S TO A WELL-OILED

MARKETING MACHINE.

CONGRATS TO OUR LONG-TIME CLIENT, PHILLIPS 66

NAMED AMA 2014 MARKETER OF THE YEAR.


10 SBI MAGAZINE

PROSPECTS

IS YOUR COMPANY EASY TO DO BUSINESS WITH?

Today’s digital environment demands new strategies for B2B marketers. Their customers now actively tap online resources throughout the buying process. So much so, they progress through 57 percent of the purchase cycle before ever engaging a sales representative, according to the Corporate Executive Board. Today’s B2B companies must invest in innovative content that flows through digital channels. Just ask Phillips 66, a company that managed to drive exponential B2B results through a successful and engaging content marketing campaign that we named SBI’s Campaign of the Quarter.

THE PRICE OF DISENGAGEMENTThe fuel provider found it

wasn’t connecting early enough in the purchase cycle with gas stations and convenience stores. It wanted them to join the Convenience Store Alliance (CSA), a buying group that provides members access to lower supply costs. Across the industry, owners were heading online to research purchasing options before engaging with providers. And Phillips 66 was letting customers slip through its fingers. To answer this challenge,

the company had to develop and execute a compelling and revenue-generating B2B content-marketing campaign — from scratch.

Phillips 66 lacked a B2B marketing team with content creation, digital engagement, and lead-generation capabilities. So they built a team with just that, acquiring best practices from outside the industry. The company knew its customers were skeptical of buyer programs such as the CSA, so they developed a campaign focused on demonstrating compelling value up front and addressing concerns to spur customer action.

The company launched a website — CStoreAlliance.com — focused on helping retailers understand the program and how it could drive successful operations. The site highlights how group buying power leads to high-volume pricing on low-volume purchases. The platform includes tools for each phase of the process, including testimonials, case studies, webinars, a benefits quiz, and an interactive service map.

The site features a two-pronged strategy: providing potential customers with useful, engaging

content and generating leads through new tools. A new demand-generation team helped Phillips 66 intercept prospects early in the decision process.

CAMPAIGN OF THE QUARTER: PHILLIPS 66Generating Success and Fueling Growth with Contentby MARK STUERTZ

The customer is ready to buy; don’t let these obstacles get in the way. by AARON BARTELS

DYNAMIC COMPONENTS DRIVE VALUE

The strategy incorporated a wide variety of marketing channels with aligned messaging,

Pricing strategy A complicated pricing structure makes it difficult for a buyer to easily comparison shop — and can slow down or even scuttle a sale.

Price approval The answer may not be yes — but the answer does have to arrive quickly and with an explanation that is reasonable and understandable.

Contract review You’re going to lose a lot of sales if contracts get dissected for weeks by legal or if your lawyers insist on winning every contractual point.

Having a compelling product gets you 80 to 90 percent there. The rest comes down to how easy it is to say yes. Examine our checklist to see if you’re killing deals everyone wants to make.

10weeks runtime for

campaign

246BY THE NUMBERS - Phillips 66 Convenience Store Alliance Campaign

9.5million impressions

generatedpercent increase in

existing customer CSA participation

SUMMER 2015 11

As the prospect of planning for next year approaches, many execs entertain the idea of marketing reorganization, which can energize a team and fix structural shortcomings, but it also carries opportunities for missteps. Major mistakes include:

Increasing head count too much. Organizations don’t have a minimum or maximum number of people. They have the optimal number required to execute the marketing strategy — so long as all are filled with high-performers.

Employing an outdated structure. Legacy org charts commonly silo staff by role such as communications, product marketing, and field marketing. Modern structures model according to areas such as vertical industry specialization, content marketing, and marketing ops.

Changing too quickly. A reorg inevitably disrupts productivity. That can impact revenue, increase costs, and drive away customers and top performers. So don’t drop a big reorg on your team all at once. Roll it out slowly and carefully, communicating copiously and minimizing impact on productivity.

A reorg can be an effective way to spur a lackluster department while it prepares the marketing function for upcoming challenges. Before jumping in, however, think it through carefully and make sure the new org chart will match the needs of the new sales and marketing world.

MIXING IT UP Revitalize Your Marketing Team with a Refreshed Org Chart by GEORGE DE LOS REYES

including emails, direct mail, and an additional microsite called 100PercentCSA. The microsite featured videos and an interactive calculator that instantly provided customers with estimated savings figures. An email campaign generating close to 2,500 unique site visits within an eight-week period. To boost website traffic, Phillips 66 — for the first time — leveraged paid media through industry outlets.

Field support Don’t refuse to discuss support, services, and account management before a sale is complete — give the buyer as much information as needed to feel secure in the purchase.

Order management Quotes should not require a translation key for buyers to understand jargon or product codes, and customers should receive what they expect when it’s promised.

Rules of engagement Multiple salespeople and channel partners pitching different solutions to a customer is counterproductive. Pick one voice to offer a single solution to a pressing problem.

Quotas Systems should not incentivize sales reps putting their own needs above those of the customer, such as quarterly numbers that must be met prompting sweetheart deals meant to close fast.

Special programs You can tell sales reps are solving their own problems when you hear them pushing a product they know a buyer doesn’t urgently need.

Demo approval One sure way to alienate a potential customer is to force him to write a letter outlining how he’ll use your product before you’ll even let him demo it.

These efforts generated 9.5 million impressions.

In 10 short weeks, the company designed, launched, and drove a campaign that propelled a 246 percent increase in existing customer CSA participation over the same period in 2013. They were successful in proving that savvy content-marketing campaigns can generate new customers and add thrust to revenue streams.

12 SBI MAGAZINE

PROSPECTS

It’s one of the most buzzed about topics in sales, and it isn’t difficult to see why. Companies such as Citrix, VMware, and EMC have leveraged predictive analytics to spectacular results. Many smaller agile enterprises have done the same.

But does it translate to the sales pipeline? With the right data — digital body language, behaviors, sales stages, actions and responses, and models based on past quarter performance — it’s possible to make powerful predictions. Ideally, predictive analytics reveal which existing deals are likely to close, when they will close, and what specific actions can be taken to successfully realize the expectations. Follow the script, execute, and keep the salespeople from shooting themselves in the foot. That’s the dream.

But the reality is that the right data is nearly impossible to come by. So while you might be able to generate accurate guesses on a macro level, specific forecasts when it comes to micro-level events, such as individual buyer behavior, are rarely accurate.

THE GAMEPredictive analytics assumes you can map out the sales process like a chess match. If

you make this move, I’ll make that move, you’ll respond thusly, and on and on until I win. Yet the sales process is complicated and littered with unstructured and subjective data. Often there are multiple buyers, and buyers tend to give misleading cues. It isn’t as linear and deterministic as a game of chess on a structured board.

There are other challenges. Common definitions are often lacking, and the risk of bad data is high. For example, are the terms describing progress based on buyer behavior-oriented definitions or seller-manipulated definitions? If stage four of the buying process is a proposal submission, a seller could submit a proposal and mark the process in stage

four. But if the buyer hasn’t asked for a proposal and isn’t reviewing and responding to one, that data point is useless. Attempting to remedy these problems is extraordinarily difficult.

Markets are constantly in flux. Buyer behaviors perpetually shift. Algorithms must continuously be adjusted. When you start to factor in all of the details that constitute the buyer’s journey, the permutations can get unwieldy. It becomes extremely difficult to turn the information into something actionable. Sales teams rarely have the data, scientists, and bandwidth to make the necessary refinements to generate accurate predictions and successful actions.

PREDICTIVE HITS

Predictive analytics is not good at simply measuring the success probability of a specific deal or providing guidance on how to close specific transactions.

What it can do, though, is predict sales performance in the aggregate. Predictive analytics can give you the capability to model a quarter’s results based on prior performance, wins accumulated thus far, and what is in the pipeline. It can tell you that out of six pending deals, you will probably win three, but it won’t tell you which three you will win.

The essential value of predictive analytics is focus. It can help you discover prospects not already in your database and zero in on those prospects most likely to buy. It can alert you to existing customers likely to buy more and flag those likely to churn. With the right data, predictive analytics can help you generate higher win rates, greater customer retention, faster sales cycles, and lower selling costs.

Like most things, predictive analytics adheres to the 80/20 rule: 80 percent hype, 20 percent reality. That 20 percent, properly leveraged, can generate big gains.

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICSSizzle or Steak?by AARON BARTELS

80/20 Rule80 percent hype, 20 percent reality. But that 20 percent, properly leveraged, can generate big gains.

REALITY

HYPE

SUMMER 2015 13

Are you handing over the management of your sales force to your reps? That’s what happens when you fail to scientifically assess your reps’ capacities and the potential of their territories. Science applied to the art of quota setting can convert an underperforming sales force into an over-performing sales force. You must logically determine what each rep can do and evaluate territories based on concrete, identifiable factors. 1. Assess Workload: Different accounts require different amounts of time, and each rep’s customer-facing capacity must also be

determined. After that the math is straightforward: If a rep has time to close three deals with a close rate of 30 percent, they need a territory with nine potential deals. 2. Determine Territory Potential: How big are the accounts? And what’s their potential next year? Since every account has some complicating aspects, the only way to complete the picture is by interacting with them. It’s also crucial to understand consumption patterns. This year’s mega customer may be next year’s micro customer and vice versa.

Executive and sales compensation is a realm of apples and oranges. If you’re in the process of evaluating your employees’ compensation packages, here are a few pitfalls to avoid:

MISJUDGING QUOTA TO COMPENSATION LEVEL

The first element you need to consider is the quota to compensation level, because it helps you understand whether or not it’s sustainable. Say you pay a sales professional a base of $200,000 per year plus a variable. The compensation level is within the average range for similar roles in the industry, but the sales quota is $1 million, yielding a quota-to-compensation ratio of 5 to 1. That’s a terrible margin where costs can’t be sustained by revenue. Ideally the ratio should be 10 or 12 to 1.

BEWARE OF COMPLEX INCENTIVESSometimes management

takes a balanced compensation plan and loads on three or four incentive metrics, adding layers of complexity to compensation calculations.

Any incentive plan that reeks of

complexity will result in paralysis and nonincentivized behavior. When it becomes too complex to perform the right activities, people get frustrated and leave. The purpose of incentive compensation is to incentivize one, or at most, two behaviors. The key is to determine what one or two incentives align best with your overall business objectives.

DON’T FALL INTO A BENCHMARKING SURVEY TRAP

When planning compensation, make sure it’s the norm for the role (and its activities), the geography, and the industry. But beware of making comparisons against data generated by compensation benchmarking surveys. Oftentimes, there are no systems in place to ensure survey data is accurate or applicable. And many respondents misreport numbers — what competitive sales professional wants to admit that his or her compensation might be less than the next rep?

The most useful compensation data is generated through competitive intelligence. The process involves hiring a firm to

BETTER SELLING THROUGH SCIENCEA New Approach to Setting Quotasby MIKE DRAPEAU

acquire the compensation plans of whomever you compete with for talent. Through competitive intelligence, you generate highly valuable, useful planning data rather than the random, unreliable sales comp data points benchmarking firms provide.

Compensation planning is shy of rocket science, but not too shy. It requires compensation and performance management systems with relevant data and effective coaching at the center. These systems provide deep, meaningful insights into how people are recruited, compensated, and placed within territories. It’s an often-overlooked strategy that heightens your competitive edge.

SALES COMPENSATION: ARE YOU IN LINE OR OFF THE RAILS?by MIKE DRAPEAU

TAKE AWAY

10 to 1Ideal quota to compensation level

COMPENSATION PLANNING IS SHY OF ROCKET SCIENCE, BUT NOT TOO SHY. IT REQUIRES COMPENSATION AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS WITH RELEVANT DATA AND EFFECTIVE COACHING AT THE CENTER.


VINCE KOEHLER, SBI MARKETING PRACTICE LEAD

WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT MARKETING

COULD FILL A PIPELINE WITH LEADS.

LET VINCE HELP YOU TURN YOUR BUDGET INTO REVENUE.


SUMMER 2015 15

STREET SMARTS T H E I N F O

Y O U N E E D T O

M A K E T O U G H

D E C I S I O N S

5-6%

WHAT SHALL WE MEASURE? Getting Executives to Agree on Metricsby AARON BARTELS

In the rush to procure data and mine value, sales-operations

leaders are often reduced to the role of tactical-reporting

administrators. Executives can’t agree on what to measure.

Directives are constantly altered and sales ops get sidetracked

fulfilling ad-hoc requests for new reports, diverting attention

from strategy development.

What drives this lack of focus? There are two primary

factors. First, executives often don’t know what they need.

Sales-ops leaders and executives can decide which metrics

are valuable by answering a few questions. Drilling down to the

essential dynamics of the business should reveal only a handful

of things executives need to keep tabs on.

What are the drivers of the business? How does the

enterprise make money? What are the key performance

indicators (KPI) that will show if the business is on track or not?

Second, leaders often don’t give much thought to reporting

acquisition costs or what they intend to do with the information

once it’s generated. But they can gauge requests by asking a

few simple questions:

Why do I need this? What strategies will it facilitate? What is

the cost in terms of disruption and resources? How will I hold

myself accountable for this information?

It’s fairly easy to make data requests and never think

through the business case for the action. And executives are

often shielded from any organizational disarray wrought from

what they perceive as simple requests. The key is to apply a

cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to report generation, just as the

organization would with a technology investment. By keeping requests simple, actionable, and justified, you’ll ensure the business remains aligned toward your objectives.

15-20%BOOST IN PRODUCTIVITY RATES AND PROFITABILITY

COMPANIES THAT PLACE BIG DATA AT THE CORE OF THEIR MARKETING AND SALES STRATEGIES SEE:

IMPROVEMENT ON MARKETING ROI

16 SBI MAGAZINE

STREET SMARTS

Be quick, but don’t hurry. Those words might best sum up Brad Stratton’s strategy when replacing talent. The senior vice president of worldwide sales for Talend says he believes in acting swiftly when seeing a problem because the longer the wait, “it’s only going to make your life tougher.”

That’s the mentality he relied upon during his first six months with the open-source integration software company. He had to part ways with two sales leaders — the first within his first month. The staff member often conflicted with the marketing side of the business. Stratton did some research and found that the individual’s goals didn’t match the business plan of the company.

“Every interaction I have for the first two or three months on the job, I’m essentially doing a competency interview in my head,” Stratton says.

The second sales leader took a little longer to figure out. This employee worked remotely, which meant fewer interactions. But at a meeting, Stratton probed the staffer on why he was 25 percent short of forecast sales numbers. Typically, if sales leaders miss, it’s by 5 to 10 percent, Stratton says. When the employee struggled to answer, it raised some red flags. Stratton, though, displayed some caution.

Making a change to a sales leader can cause issues beyond the numbers, impacting the culture and the team. Stratton, new to Talend, wanted to make sure he had read the situation correctly. He asked others how they felt about the employee. It became clear that the sales leader’s peers liked him as a person but felt he lacked success and the skills to take the growth to the next level.

To move fast, Stratton turned to his deep network. Using these connections as a “talent bench” to tap when a position opens ensures he has quality candidates

at his disposal. The simple task of keeping up with LinkedIn connections and reaching out to past colleagues from time to time gave Stratton a list of sales leaders he knew he could interview as soon as he could make the change.

For the position, he spoke to several people from his past, as well as some new candidates. To ensure the applicants were the right cultural fit, Stratton also met them off-site in an informal setting in order to get a sense of “what motivates someone,” he says. “If someone tells stories about his or her experience and success with passion, it establishes authenticity.”

Stratton also relied upon Talend’s extensive “Topgrading” hiring process for all his sales leaders. In fact, he set aside two days prior to the company’s sales kickoff to train the entire team on the methodology. It includes seven different stages, including an all-day final interview with the six top executives and a presentation related to a case study.

Through his resources and Talend’s process, Stratton was able to hire a new sales leader a month after realizing he needed to make a change. The first new hire increased results by 300 percent in the first five months on the job. And the second new hire who started recently? “I guarantee you in five months, I’m going to be very happy about it,” Stratton says. “Why didn’t I make the decision sooner?” To consistently drive over 40 percent growth, Stratton says, “You must hire well by leading from the front, so all the leaders in the organization understand that hiring the right people is the most important strategy to establishing a culture of exponential growth.”

By maintaining a bench of contacts and candidates and utilizing a robust hiring process, he was able “to move quickly,” he says, and to bring about better results for his company.

MAKING TOUGH TALENT CALLSLessons Born Out of Experience from Talend’s Brad Strattonby RYAN DEROUSSEAU

TALEND HEADQUARTERS

Redwood City, California

YEAR OF FOUNDING

2006EMPLOYEES

450+GROWTH

40%+OFFICES

10COUNTRIES

7

BY THE NUMBERS

YOUR PEERS ARE PLUGGED IN.

SHOULDN’T YOU BE, TOO?Subscribe to our blog and get words of wisdom from top sales

and marketing leaders delivered to your mobile device every day.

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SBI BLOG


18 SBI MAGAZINE

STREET SMARTS

$450 BILLION-$550 BILLION

ARE YOU AN EMPTY SUIT? When someone masquerades in business attire without the ability or desire to actually succeed in the role, the whole business suffers. Known as an empty suit, this business-killing person can take many different forms. After all, there’s a talent shortage in the U.S. We don’t have enough leaders to fill every role, so your company probably has some positions that lack true direction. But what if you’re that executive filling out an empty suit and you don’t even realize it? You’re likely costing your company millions. Change your ways by first recognizing your faults. Here, Matt Sharrers, partner at SBI, walks us through how to know if you’re the CEO, CMO, or CSO simply filling the void within your company, much to your coworkers’ chagrin.

CEO: MAKE SURE YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE ENGAGEDBoth CEOs and workers agree that motivating and inspiring employees should be the most important parts of the

top executive’s job. But then the two opinions diverge.

amount lost per year by U.S. businesses due to unengaged employees.

42%of companies’ best

employees feel disengaged.

These unengaged superstars cost American businesses billions.

What CEOs think the most important part of

their job is:

5 Recognizing and rewarding achievements

5 Seeking ideas from employees 5 Caring about employee welfare

What employees think CEOs should focus on:

5 Transparency and information sharing 5 Recognizing and rewarding

achievements 5 Giving as much autonomy as possible

HERE’S WHY: What CEOs must first do to ensure the rest of the organization follows his or her lead is to understand the company’s core strategy. If you know where your company shines, “all decisions will focus on executing the strategy,” Sharrers says. “This will flow through your other leaders as well.”

D O YO U K N O W W H AT YO U R C O R E S T R AT E GY F O C U S E S O N ? P I C K O N E :

4% of companies say the U.S. has a sufficient amount of leaders.

PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION

CUSTOMER INTIMACY

PRICE LEADERSHIP

SUMMER 2015 19

. . . AND AVOIDS THESE TENDENCIES . . .

5 Worries about control

5 Wants to do things the way he has always done them

5 Focuses on the short term

5 Has no strategy

5 Works on securing clients instead of empowering team

5 Is always looking for an exit plan

CMO: ANSWER THESE THREE QUESTIONS

CSO: HAVE A STRATEGY IN PLACE

14% 47%34%of B2B marketing budgets will go toward trade shows, conferences, or events in 2015.

Search-engine marketing will account for 47% of digital spending or 14% of total marketing budgets in 2015.

Only 34% of CMOs have proven that their marketing strategies work long term with the support of analytics.

MOST CMOS ARE PRETTY GOOD AT ANSWERING THE LAGGING-INDICATORS QUESTION. WHERE PEOPLE REALLY STRUGGLE ARE ON THE TOP TWO.” — MATT SHARRERS

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW:

Where do you spend your time?

What leading indicators do you use to drive investment?

What are the lagging indicators that prove your strategy worked?

1

2

3

RE ASONS FOR FAULT Y MARKETING STR ATEGIES:

52%Tactics masquerading as strategy

49%Same as competitors 44%

Not aligned with buyer needs

41%Not aligned with corporate strategy

33%Not aligned with product strategy

26%No strategy

54% of sales leaders say accurate forecasting needs to improve, which has grown from 46% in 2014. That’s hard to do when fewer than 20% of sales leaders have a strategy in place.

Yet, it’s easy to tell if the CSO is accurately predicting and planning to reach the number by whether they “actually get the number,” says Sharrers.

A CSO WHO MAKE S THE NUMBER TENDS TO HAVE THESE TR AIT S . . .

5 Delegates priorities

5 Develops yearly plans (and sticks to them!)

5 Works with product and marketing to build new solutions

5 Helps his team improve sales skills

5 Asks questions

5 Is always looking for solutions

39%No sales strategy

24%Not aligned with product strategy

67%Same as competitors

58%Not aligned with buyer

needs

51%Tactics masquerading

as strategy

16%Not aligned with

corporate strategy

R E A S O N S F O R FA U LT Y S A L E S S T R AT E G I E S :

20 SBI MAGAZINE

STREET SMARTS

What comes first, the chicken or the egg? For Patrick Haley, director of sales operations at Masergy, the largest independent cloud-networking platform in the world, he needed an answer to the riddle.

Executives had recently tasked him with transitioning the company’s 7-year-old customer-relationship management (CRM) system to Salesforce. But the company wasn’t even clear on the processes the system needed to be designed around. Which should come first, formalizing the process or building out the system? Haley wasn’t sure how to answer this chicken-or-egg question.

One thing he did know: Putting the new system in place would be an uphill battle. Masergy’s sales group had gone through this experience before, says Haley, so now, they had one shot to get it right.

“We’ve got a number of people who have been here for a while,” says Haley. “They were resistant, saying ‘Here we go, another change.’ ”

Nearly 75 percent of CRM projects fail, according to research firm Gartner, while 90 percent of the 50 largest CRM-user companies don’t show a positive return on investment from their CRM, according to Meta Group. Ineffective CRM implementations not only cost businesses time and money, but also aggravate a sales team that’s already skeptical of the initiation of another system.

As for Haley’s organization, they had just acquired a company that used a basic implementation of Salesforce for its small sales team. And Masergy saw an

opportunity to roll the CRM out to the entire organization.

The basic Salesforce CRM, however, left much to be desired; it lacked identification through the entire sales process from lead to post-sale. They used it more “as a repository of leads,” rather than a way to track the success of the sales process, Haley says.

Masergy’s own system also lacked the easy measurement tools that the company wanted to install, and a strapped software-engineering team had to come in anytime sales needed a tweak, making quick changes nearly impossible.

And then there was the chicken-or-egg issue around customizing the CRM. Haley and Masergy had to decide if they would first tackle formalizing the processes around which they would build Salesforce, or build the software and then let the processes form around it.

To address this potential hurdle, Haley called in reinforcements. SBI’s Drew Kiran, who has completed over 25 CRM installations throughout his 27-year career, joined the project. And the first question they solved was regarding the chicken or the egg.

Both Kiran and Haley agreed that they needed to develop the correct internal processes, and then engineer the Salesforce solution around Masergy’s needs. However, because the newly acquired sales group already used Salesforce, they didn’t want to interrupt their outbound calling.

They decided Masergy would roll out the updated CRM to a small sales team focused on acquisitions before releasing it to the entire organization.

“We actually had to run both in a parallel process,” says Kiran. “So we didn’t have design, build, run. We had run, design, build, run.”

The focus, though (without interrupting outbound sales) was to design the business processes. Before formalizing these, they

THE ANATOMY OF A SUCCESSFUL CRM PROJECTNearly Three-Quarters of CRM Implementations Fail; Here’s One That Didn’tby RYAN DEROUSSEAU

90 percent of the 50 largest CRM-user companies don’t show a positive return on investment from their CRM according to Meta Group.

BY THE NUMBERS

75%

90%

Amount of CRM projects that fail, according to research firm Gartner.

SUMMER 2015 21

needed to get the marketing and sales teams on the same page in order to define what was important.

Masergy’s marketing and sales teams had few interactions. They worked more in their own silos than with each other. But in order for Masergy to have clear workflow that would track a client’s buying process, the two sides each had to understand what the other needed. That meant getting them in the same room.

“We explained the benefits of working toward common goals,” Kiran says. “Instead of just running your department, are your goals aligning with the other functions of the business?”

Haley set up biweekly meetings between the sales and marketing teams. On whiteboards, the two groups worked together to define how both could benefit with more transparency and automation. The management team supported the effort with a clear message “that this wasn’t going to go away,” Haley says.

“We brought to the table people that had never worked together before,” says Kiran. “They are now speaking the same language.”

Also, Kiran explained the importance of thinking about the client’s journey as opposed to only the sales process when listing their CRM needs. What does a client need to experience in order to agree to purchase the product? It’s an important distinction since it draws out different stages where sales may need to take a step back and marketing may have to step up. Incorporating this into the process, as well as understanding the different buyer personas — CEO, CMO, CSO — who make the final buying decisions, improves the CRM.

Once Masergy understood what it wanted at every stage of the client-buying process, Haley could begin developing the automation tools utilizing Salesforce. That’s

when SBI’s Adam David joined the build. Through his former experience running his own CRM development consultancy and working as a Salesforce global sales manager, David had the technical knowledge to help guide Haley through the software.

“They were finding ways to automate the parts of the process where there’s no value in having someone working on them,” David says. “I knew what the Salesforce limitations were.”

Haley turned to David if he needed extra guidance, which often meant late-night text messages and phone calls. Within six months, the CRM had taken shape — barring one last hurdle.

Top executives at Masergy wanted to incorporate the old sales data from their previous CRM, which included 100,000 leads. But Kiran knew that if “you move bad data in, you could deal with it for the next 10 to 15 years.”

Instead of deleting everything, they compared the new data with the qualified leads from the past, taking the “net new,” Haley says. This ensured that they could still recognize the graveyard leads, while working only with new data.

Now a few months in, the acquisition team has seen its productivity numbers skyrocket. Masergy utilizes a large quantity of cold calls, and measures its salespeople’s performance on the number of calls per day, connections made, advancements in interest, and meetings set with stakeholders. All four parts of the process improved a “very large amount,” says Haley, in part because the team no longer deals with menial tasks.

“Even if you do have somebody technical, engage the business side of it first,” warns Haley. “Believe in the process first. You get that straightened out, then you know where you will want to go technically.”

Marketing technology is a lively realm of frothy innovation, having evolved far beyond simple social-media monitoring. Over the last year, the number of tech vendors has easily doubled. Some of these tools are highly niched and extremely powerful. But which ones should you be using?

Enter the marketing-operations leader. A marketing-ops leader can track the pulse of this landscape and chart a course that can generate greater value from your marketing spend. They can achieve this by:

5 Making sense of the exploding technology landscape and determining which tools align with your business objectives and add the greatest benefit.

5 Analyzing and effectively utilizing data generated from these tools while providing data-driven insights.

5 Providing an objective measure of what works and what doesn’t.

Traditionally not a data-oriented discipline, marketing is often staffed with highly creative professionals. Measurements are generated by tools such as focus groups and surveys, whose precision is limited by the number and accuracy of responses.

A marketing-operations leader injects a layer of objective analysis by rigorously testing messaging and strategies against benchmarks. How does this campaign stack up against that campaign? How does this messaging impact customer behavior? How effectively does this strategy stimulate awareness?

To succeed in today’s enterprise environment, your marketing can’t lean too heavily into the quantitative — but it also can’t be dominated by the qualitative and gut feelings. Quantitative and qualitative muscle must effectively synthesize.

Before investing in a new role, be sure to create a charter clearly defining what role the person will play in the marketing department. What is he or she not responsible for? How can he or she ensure value is delivered?

A skilled marketing-ops leader not only helps you close your technology gap, he or she can also drive greater yield from marketing efforts while providing valuable data-driven insights.

CMO DENIALStop Procrastinating and Hire a Marketing Ops Leader Nowby AARON BARTELS

22 SBI MAGAZINE

STREET SMARTS

How many different ways have you tried to bridge the chasm between sales and marketing? Maybe you haven’t even tried at all, feeling hopeless in the face of departments with different functions and different outlooks. After all, we’ve all heard a sales rep complaining that the product or marketing materials are bad, and we’ve listened to the retort from marketing that the products sell themselves.

For a new product to be successfully launched, we must bridge the divide and unite what we’ve often thought of as opposing forces. Here are the key areas in which they must work together.

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT The most common product-launch error can be found in coming up with

a solution looking for a problem. This problem can be directly and effectively addressed by improving sales-marketing coordination. When it comes to customer insight and understanding customer problems, your sales force can help. Their customer-facing roles give them greater insight, as a rule, into the target audience’s problems and the solutions that might help. By partnering marketing and sales in leveraging customer insight, they can make one plus one add up to more than two.

POSITIONING STATEMENT Once an effective solution to a customer problem has been developed, the team

A SUCCESSFUL LAUNCHBridging the Sales/Marketing Divideby DAN BERNOSKE

can then collaborate on a good positioning statement that will drive marketing materials. Following these rules will lead to effective messaging:

5 Focus on the customer. 5 Clearly express the problem. 5 Explain how the solution fixes the problem.

5 Show how this solution beats the competition.

The positioning statement should not consist of a sales pitch. Instead, it’s all about customer, problem, and solution. Done correctly, these messages will lead the customer to the product without ever making an overt product pitch.

PRICINGThe vital issue of pricing has

to be addressed throughout the product-launch process. Early on, marketing and sales should

Over 65% of new products launched by established blue-chip companies fail* *According to the PDMA

BY THE NUMBERS

65%

SUMMER 2015 23

CFO: We need to reduce expenses by cutting reps. Sales Leader: But feet on the street equals more sales.

It’s a constant battle in every company. Understaffed sales teams fall short of revenue goals, while a bloated sales team increases costs. How can you create equilibrium?

It starts by knowing where to focus the company’s resources. This is done by understanding which markets and accounts have the greatest potential and require the most resources. From there, budgets and resources should be aligned to the highest-potential segments. This is where the sales leader and the CFO must come together to address the equilibrium question.

THE SCIENCE AND ART OF DETERMINING HEAD-COUNT EQUILIBRIUMThere are two distinct components of determining equilibrium — part science and

part art.The science method involves a top-down and bottom-up financial analysis. The bottom-

up perspective looks at how much activity is needed in order to generate a return, while a top-down perspective would look at where you are today, what your goal is going forward, and what the difference is between the two.

The art is introduced when comparing the top-down and bottom-up inputs. Sales leaders and CFOs use their domain knowledge — an art — to determine the right number of heads required.

An example would be a top-down analysis indicating the need for 310 reps and the bottom-up inquiry identifying 420. Sales leaders and CFOs can use those two data points, in addition to their domain knowledge, to determine the right number needed.

Once decided, the sales leader and CFO must ensure they are aligned on how to measure diminishing returns of increased head count going forward.

MEASURING DIMINISHING RETURNSTo measure diminishing returns, look at the trend of gross contribution of each rep. This

is done by looking at three types of metrics — behavioral (i.e., selling time), leading (i.e., pipeline health), and lagging (i.e., quota attainment). With these in hand, you can know when diminishing returns are a risk.

By using this method, you can determine who is right or wrong — the CFO or the sales leader — through a process backed by data and informed by experience, which makes it much easier to come to a solution that pleases everyone.

DO YOU HAVE TOO MANY SALES REPS?Cut Costs or Add Sales Heads? Here’s How to Find the Balanceby DAN KORTEN

confer to decide whether, for instance, to offer a high-priced, high-quality product, or a lower-priced product that will appeal to less-demanding customers. During the product-management and -introduction phases, new information may require pricing adjustment. Feedback from sales is essential to help marketing fine-tune pricing.

While these guidelines should help in creating synergy between departments, there is no one-size-fits-all bridge for the sales and marketing gap. Each product launch plan has to be assessed individually. Every marketing message is different, and so is every campaign. Sales and marketing will never be the same — or have the same outlook — and they shouldn’t. But they can and should work together to make a successful product launch.

WHEN YOU

REACH THE

MOMENT OF TRUTH,

MAKE EVERY

SECOND COUNT.

www.SalesBenchmarkIndex.com/SalesEnablement

SALES ENABLEMENT


SUMMER 2015 25

BEST PRACTICES

Which type of sales force should you have?

Generalist or specialist?

Getting the answer right can

make a dramatic difference

in your topline revenue. It’s

not that one is better than

the other, but having the

wrong type can cost your

organization in wasted

hours, high overhead, and

frustrated customers.

Broadly speaking, a

generalist force sells all

things to all customers,

and a specialist force

is compartmentalized

according to product sold,

type of customer, sales

activity, or industry vertical.

So should you consider

turning your specialist team

into a generalist or vice

versa? Well, let’s consider

some factors.

Does your company have

thin margins? If your margins

won’t support a pricey sale

model, then generalist is

indicated. Specializing is

expensive. Are you selling

a large number of products

or services? With a sizable

menu of offerings, you will

likely want your reps to

specialize by either product

or industry. How young is

your company? Less mature

businesses are often best

served by a specialized

force such as an assembly

line, with distinct groups

for finding and qualifying

opportunities, closing deals,

and customer support. In

older companies, a generalist

model might be best. What

do your customers want? A

specialist force allows your

sales team to develop deep

expertise in the product or

in the industry, which may

be best if customers make

purchase decisions based on

the rep’s knowledge.

Using these indicators,

you can better evaluate your

current structure and decide

if a change is necessary.

YOUR ORG CHART DOESN’T WORK ANYMOREFind Your Ideal Model

by GREG ALEXANDER

S U C C E S S F U L

S A L E S

A P P R O A C H E S

P R O V E N B Y

S B I R E S E A R C H

44% OF EXECUTIVES THINK THEIR COMPANY IS INEFFECTIVE AT PIPELINE MANAGEMENT

FASTER GROWTH IS ACHIEVED BY COMPANIES WITH EFFECTIVE PIPELINE MANAGEMENT OVER THOSE WITHOUT

DOES PIPELINE MANAGEMENT MATTER?

OF REPS THINK THEIR COMPANIES HAVE AN ACCURATE PIPELINE15% 46%

26 SBI MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

Increasing face time with customers was the topic on the table at a recent forum hosted by SBI and led by Stuart Kerst, vice president of sales operations at HP. Sales-operations executives came together to hear how Kerst’s team increased the tech giant’s face time with customers by 5 percent to 10 percent over the course of an intense three-year overhaul. The forum provided a powerful endorsement of the importance of sales operations, says Spencer Hodson, vice president of sales and channel strategy, operations, and enablement at Harmonic.

“I’ve been in sales operations for nine years, and it’s clearly moved from the back office to a strategic role for senior sales leadership,” Hodson says.

Dia Siraki, finance and sales operations leader at TE Connectivity, says the forum was her first time attending an event with peers from other organizations. She was particularly impressed with Kerst’s description of HP’s configure price quote (CPQ) process, especially the sheer volume of quotes the company’s 10,000-person sales organization is able to turn around, and with incredible speed.

“It was staggering,” Siraki says. “Stuart’s team described turning around 700,000 quotes a month, and 65 percent of them in an average of two and a half hours. The ‘no touch revenue’ generated from this process is nothing short of impressive. I brought that back to my sales VP, and his question was, ‘How do we do that? Can we do that?’ ”

Dana Aiken, vice president of global sales operations at ForgeRock, was intrigued

SBI EVENTSSBI Client HP Provides a Forum for Sales-Ops Execs to Share Strategies and Secrets by ETELKA LEHOCZKY

BY THE NUMBERS: HP

by Kerst’s effort to emphasize internally that their customers are the salespeople. Most topical was the discussion of ways to increase customer focus.

“If you look at what’s happening in any industry, understanding the customer and making it easier to do business with them — [that’s] where everyone is trying to move their initiatives,” Aiken says. “Listening to how he tactically brought together different programs around focusing on the customer was really valuable.”

Siraki appreciated an SBI chart Kerst presented, showing how to

move from operational strategy to execution.

“It was very useful to see everything on one page,” she says. “No matter how much organizational turmoil there might be, it is

just critical to have a road map or some sort of outline of where your organization is going before you start execution.”

Hodson was surprised to find himself reconsidering the potential of a basic tool: the call plan. He thought his organization could do a better job pinning down exactly what value each call brought to the customer and then reporting on the outcome for coaching purposes.

“We haven’t applied that, and it’s something I really want to look into,” he says.

Most of all, Aiken says, the round table provided an invaluable occasion for networking.

“You often don’t get an opportunity to meet peers that are strategic in sales operations,” she says. “The position is typically still seen as more tactical, so the fact that SBI was able to bring together a group of individuals [who] were sitting in positions that were strategic — [that] was just fabulous.”

INTERESTED IN ATTENDING AN

SBI ROUND TABLE? Log on to

salesbenchmarkindex.com for more info.

FOUNDED:

19392014 REVENUE: (IN BILLIONS)

$111.45EMPLOYEES:

302,000HEADQUARTERS:

Palo Alto, California

CIO

CFO

CMO

1

2 3

MANUFACTURING

GOVERNMENT

TECHNOLOGY

PHARMA

RETAIL

TOP 1%

DEVELOP

LONG TAIL

HYBRID

VER

TICA

L

PRODUCTBUYER ROLES

GEO

GR

APH

Y

ACTIVITYTIER

THE RIGHT SALES ORG DESIGN

KEEPS CUSTOMERS HAPPY AND

SUPERSTAR REPS EMPLOYED.Which of the models above best fits your organization? If it’s time for a re-org, SBI can help.

www.SalesBenchmarkIndex.com/SalesOrgStructure

SALES ORG STRUCTURE


28 SBI MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

From the box to the cloud — that was the fundamental shift in the business model that Autodesk faced several years ago. And for the leader in 2-D and 3-D design, engineering, and entertainment software, navigating the rocky path from packaged software to cloud computing and subscriptions required a new approach to marketing through content.

The reorganization and retooling process had thrust the company into disarray. There was staff upheaval. The company missed Q2 FY 2013 sales expectations by a wide margin. It wasn’t clear whether its customer base in architecture, manufacturing, design, and entertainment would embrace the shift.

Yet by Q2 FY 2015, the company had righted the ship, generating record revenues of $637 million, a 13 percent jump over the previous year. To engineer the turnaround, Autodesk took another look at how it engaged its users, recognizing the opportunity presented by constant communication with customers through subscription services. The company leveraged content marketing to drive a renewed focus on the customer experience.

THE CONTINUOUS CONVERSATION“When you move from

these up-front, occasionally engaging conversations with your customer — ‘buy now’ or

CONNECT THROUGH CONTENTUsing Marketing to Leverage a Technological Shiftby MARK STUERTZ

‘upgrade now’ — to a world where 80, 90 percent of your customers are engaged in some kind of recurring relationship with you, the role of content becomes much more important,” says Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk senior vice president of industry strategy and marketing. “You’ve got to pay

attention to content as a product, not something you simply throw out there to try and get an action from the customer.”

Central to this strategy is generating an understanding of why Autodesk is moving to the cloud and what the future of design and engineering

tools looks like. To achieve its transition objectives, Autodesk developed an engagement portfolio consisting of three silos of content:

Thought Leadership: Guide customers into the future by charting how the industry is changing and evolving.

SUMMER 2015 29

Renewal: Spur subscription renewals by helping customers get the most out of their Autodesk relationship.

Acquisition: Generate new subscribers by inspiring current customers to engage others on the power of Autodesk tools.

“Applications in the cloud drove the need for content marketing because you need a continuous conversation with the customer,” Anagnost says. “We wanted our ‘why things are changing’ message out there aggressively and early because we believed it established our leadership position.”

Strategy components include video, stories, and blog posts, released on a consistent, timely schedule. Each content piece is built around stories and advice. Advice content shows customers how to maximize Autodesk tools through how-to and demonstration pieces. But it also offers small-business tips unrelated to Autodesk products. Pieces explore areas such as the pros and cons of buying or leasing software, marketing in a digital world, and effectively leveraging social media.

The strategy also explores telling the stories of breakthrough applications of design and engineering tools. What are people doing with 3-D printing technology? A story might chronicle the design and 3-D printing of prosthetics on-site in Africa. Or how a former banker engineered a high-performance electric motorcycle (Lightning Motorcycles)

that captured an unlikely victory at the 2013 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, beating the next competitor by more than 20 seconds. From there, Autodesk engaged syndication services to broaden the reach of its already shareable stories.

SCORING HEARTBEATSTo give structure to

the engagement strategy, Autodesk charts the customer journey across the life of the subscription: the first 90 days, the middle journey, and the last 90 days. In the first 90 days, Autodesk delivers content to help customers understand the tools, get up to speed, and optimize performance. Through big data analytics, Autodesk developed a system that scores the “heartbeat of the customer.” A score indicating a customer is “fibrillating,” or at risk of not renewing, triggers a rapid response through content and other resources to heighten engagement.

As enterprises transition to the cloud and users move from the desktop to touch-driven mobile devices, transactional sales are slowly surrendering to subscriptions. Leading marketers are turning their focus from generating leads to generating subscribers to blogs, webinars, and video channels.

Autodesk is successfully leveraging this transition by shifting content to the center of its marketing strategy. It quickly identified and utilized this relatively new method, which had emerged from a rapidly evolving marketing landscape. And Autodesk is not alone. Content marketing has clearly come into focus as a key strategy for many businesses that employ it to better identify leads, generate sales, and retain customers.

THE STRATEGY ALSO EXPLORES TELLING THE STORIES OF BREAKTHROUGH APPLICATIONS OF DESIGN AND ENGINEERING TOOLS.

Andrew Anagnost is the senior vice president for industry strategy and marketing at Autodesk, a position he has held for three years.

PH

OT

O B

Y J

EF

F S

ING

ER

30 SBI MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

The cost of hiring the wrong person for an open sales position can range from five to 10 times that person’s annual compensation in the form of lost sales, salary, and benefits. If that doesn’t catch your attention, it should. But mis-hires can be reduced — if not avoided all together — if you follow the basic concepts outlined in my book, Topgrading for Sales, written with Bradford D. Smart.

This methodical approach teaches you to build an assessment and scorecard that assigns your salespeople to one of three categories: outperforming A players, average B players, and subpar C and lesser players.

Leveraging this information gives you significant power to increase your percentage of A players. Only 20 percent of the typical sales force comprises A players — the best-in-class performers. Another 60 percent are B players. The remaining 20 percent are C players or lower. By Topgrading, you can end up with 70 percent to 90 percent A players and 10 percent to 30 percent B players.

Imagine a sales force where 90 percent of your team is made up of A players who outperform the rest by two to three times in terms of revenue production. Your top-line growth would skyrocket.

The most difficult, yet most critical, challenge of Topgrading is getting the scorecard right for evaluating current talent. With every company and unique role, defining what an A player looks

like is difficult.You must create a

methodology that scores job candidates according to key competencies. That requires writing penetrating interview questions that test for each category. The manager must also accurately distinguish between good and bad answers.

If you can build a good talent profile and effectively test candidates, Topgrading will improve hiring results and sales performance remarkably. But to truly Topgrade, you must go further.

During the hiring process, a typical non-Topgrading reference

check calls the people supplied by the candidate and does little more than verify dates of employment. It’s essentially a fact-gathering exercise.

To Topgrade, you must perform a reference interview, consisting of at least a 45-minute conversation with a former manager. This allows you to dive deeply into the candidate’s background and performance. The reference interviews must be with former bosses — not people who might be considered friendly, such as former colleagues — to keep the information as unbiased as possible.

Since Topgrading for Sales came out in 2008, it’s become almost standard-operating procedure among forward-thinking, aggressive sales organizations. Less-aggressive, less-forward-thinking sales organizations adopt it far less frequently.

If you have to compete with tough competitors, or you would like to be able to, this is a best practice you can’t afford to be without.

FILL EVERY ROLE ON YOUR TEAM WITH AN A PLAYERThe Basics of Topgrading for Sales by GREG ALEXANDER

TO TOPGRADE, YOU MUST PERFORM A REFERENCE INTERVIEW, CONSISTING OF AT LEAST A 45-MINUTE CONVERSATION WITH A FORMER MANAGER

Get your FREE signed copy at www.SalesBenchmarkIndex.com/TopGrading

TALENT PROGRAM

IT’S THE SALES LEADER’S

LITTLE BLACK BOOK.Learn the best process to hire, coach and keep the best people.


32 SBI MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

The evolution of Software as a Service (SaaS) and mobile technology has translated into what feels like new sales applications appearing on the horizon daily. From mobile playbooks and knowledge-management systems to analytics and customer-relationship management (CRM) add-ons, the appeal of these flashy solutions can’t be denied. But investing in the latest bells-and-whistles application could lead to a disastrous waste of money and manpower. Want to avoid this embarrassing spectacle and prevent your team from being further overworked? Follow this step-by-step guide:

1 Master Your CRM: First, you must master your basic application. Today’s out-of-the-box models have reduced the total cost of ownership and give you direct control over configuration. But this makes ensuring adoption of the application by the sales teams even more critical. You must instruct your sales team on how to use the tool to make them more effective sellers. Don’t just show them how to use the tool; show them how to use the tool to sell more. You can consider layering additional tech on top of a foundation of a strong, well-adopted CRM.

2 Maximize Your Current Tech: Before you jump into bed with new systems, ask yourself: Am I fully taking advantage of my existing tools? You don’t want to complicate your situation by adding to the mix unnecessarily. Once you know you’ve fully leveraged the capabilities of your current system, you can steer the conversation toward what else is worth adding. What’s going to allow you to acquire better data to drive decisions or enable your salespeople to be more productive?

3 Involve Your Reps: By opening a conversation with your sales force, you’ll be able to take into account what they really need to be able to sell more effectively. They won’t have all of the answers for you, but they will be able to give you much-needed context. Simply including them in the conversation will help with your change management. You will find that their primary need will be for tech that allows them to spend more time selling and less time administering information.

4 Make Sure It Integrates: As you consider new technologies, you need to know your limitations. Just because you are expected to buy software and install it without involving IT doesn’t mean you should. The benefit of using an IT professional is capitalizing on his or her knowledge of systems management, IT architecture, and product. In other words, he or she could ensure all applications and systems integrate with each other. If you aren’t using an IT pro, do your research to make sure the application you’re considering works well with your existing technology. If your new technology systems don’t integrate into your CRM system, you and your team will get bogged down in additional work. For example, each new salesperson will require five new log-ins. Each report must be run from four different systems and pieced together. The new system won’t live up to the hype because it’s missing context from another system.

5 Be Clear on the Goal and Costs: Are you trying to increase sales time? Automate administrative processes? Gain better data about your customers? Whatever the goal, be sure you’re specific on what it is and how the technology will help you get there. Then think about the cost and whether it’s hard dollars or hours or both. You’ll be able to tell if the benefits merit the costs — and justify the opportunity.

6 Nail Down Your Process First: The last piece of advice is to remember this sequence: process, then technology. You need to have defined your business processes. And optimized them. The fastest path to failure is to try to automate a business process that doesn’t work.

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY PLAN YOUR SALES-TECH STACK Follow These Tips So You Don’t Waste Money on Systems That Are All Hypeby AARON BARTELS

www.SalesBenchmarkIndex.com/ContentPlanning

CONTENT PLANNING

NOTHING ATTRACTS BUYERS

LIKE THE RIGHT CONTENT.


34 SBI MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

OUTSIDE THE FUNNEL: SOCIAL SELLINGInventive Tactics for Identifying Leads

A staggering 84 percent of B2B sales begin with referrals. Traditionally, these golden tickets to revenue took place during private conversations between friends. Today, though, you have a powerful tool to generate referrals and drive topline growth. Through social selling, you can leverage your digital life to fill the funnel with leads. You reach these potential customers through social media, heading straight to the territory where they hang out, converse, and connect online — LinkedIn. Social selling is a modern prospecting methodology that generates appointments with your target decision-makers. In fact, if you can execute this at scale, you will be incredibly successful.

STEPS TO SOCIAL SELLING:

1Transform Digital

Profiles:

Rewrite your

profiles from the

perspective of your

target audience —

think outside in.

Describe how you

solve customer

problems, not your

job responsibilities.

2Grow Your

Network:

Leverage your

existing networks

to build your

connections. And

as soon as you

establish an off-line

connection, move

it online.

3Identify Referral

Sources:

Segment your

connections into

groups of potential

referral sources.

4Create Social

Debt:

Do your referral

source a favor to

build social debt,

such as bringing

them a new

customer, making

an introduction, or

generating publicity.

5Obtain Referrals:

Ask for a soft

referral but don’t

use the template

response. Craft

something personal.

Follow up with a

thank-you, and

begin nurturing

the lead.

6Iterate:

Identify

which tactics

worked well and

which ones didn’t.

Improve on your

strategy with

each round.

POTENTIAL REFERRAL SOURCES

of B2B sales begin with a referral84% 360 million+

LinkedIn users 930

the average number of connections on LinkedIn 2 new users join

LinkedIn every second

SUMMER 2015 35

I’m often asked, “What kind of marketing leader do I need?” My answer is usually, “It depends on what you want to accomplish.” Generally speaking, CMOs exist on a continuum — some want to build the brand, others lean toward lead generation, and others exist somewhere in between. Here is some more insight so you can determine which one you need.

BRAND BUILDERS

With an intuitive understanding of the power of the brand, these leaders rely on studies, messaging, and brand building to create a hospitable environment for sales. While a brand builder’s tactics may generate leads, he would be hard-pressed to connect the dots. The thought of having to measure ROI makes this CMO’s stomach churn, since he is not adept at showing how marketing returns value to the company.

LEAD GENERATORSThese prospecting machines chiefly see their job as

providing leads to the sales force. This may seem appealing, but since these CMOs are more about activity than anything else, results may be lackluster. Without effective marketing efforts and an appropriate emphasis on brand-building, the leads may not result in sales.

INTEGRATED LEADERSThese full-funnel warriors balance an approach to

understanding what needs to happen to build the brand with the goal of driving revenue contribution. An expanded focus includes lead generation, lead nurturing, and sales enablement. Consummately involved in the entire cycle of the customer-acquisition process, these integrated leaders always focus on the buyer.

Of course, you want a perfect CMO who takes a full-funnel approach. But if your organization is young or if you have a small budget, you may be best choosing one of the first two options. For instance, a limited marketing team may be capable of doing only one of these things — generating leads or building the brand. And maybe that’s all the company needs. And some CMOs have direct reports in both the brand-builder and lead-generator roles to make up the difference.

No matter what CMO you have, you’ll want to ensure that person wants to be held accountable for his or her performance. With that kind of attitude, you can be sure that he or she’ll keep the marketing department working toward the overall goals of the company — and well on its way to success.

THREE CMO ARCHETYPESWhich Type Do You Have? Which Do You Need? by VINCE KOEHLER

9 out of 10 executives are frequent LinkedIn users

SOCIAL SELLING CYCLE

GAMIFY SOCIAL SELLINGEntice your sales team by turning this

out-of-the-box exercise into a contest.

Make each KPI worth a number of

points, with the winner getting a

valuable prize.

New Executive Connections: 2 points

Social Debt Created: 3 points

Referral: 7 points

Appointments: 10 points

Iterate

Identify Referral Sources

Create Social Debt

Obtain Referral

Transform Digital Profiles

Grow Your Network

36 SBI MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

The typical approach to sales planning — a simple and direct one — leaves a lot to be desired. What I see most often are sales leaders who take the projected sales growth and directly apply that number to their sales forces. For instance, let’s say your CEO determines that next year’s sales must grow from $1 billion to $1.1 billion, or 10 percent. You figure that you then need to add 10 people to your 100-person sales team to make the number — an even 10 percent.

But what if the CFO says you can boost head count by only 5 percent? You may tell your salespeople they all have to sell 5 percent more to make up the difference. Are you done with the sales plan then? Not quite. You should resist the urge to respond quickly to the revenue-increase request with a matching head-count request until you can answer these questions.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE MARKET? The simple, direct, and common approach is configured in a vacuum — without

acknowledging how the external market impacts what you can accomplish. You also must answer these questions before you proceed: How fast is the market growing? Are we growing faster or slower than the market?

WHERE WILL ADDED REVENUE COME FROM? Obviously, if your revenue target requires you to grow faster than the market,

you’ll have to address that. Simply giving someone a higher quota and a pat on the

back is not likely to support the organization’s goals. Before handing out new quotas to your team, ask yourself: Where is this added revenue coming from? Possible sources include: • More deals to existing

customers• Bigger deals to existing

customers• New customers and markets• More sales of existing

products• New products

CAN YOU BOOST PRODUCTIVITY? You must also study your

team, products, and processes to find efficiencies first. Simply translating sales-increase goals to head count and quotas also means you are less likely to address last year’s inefficiencies. If you ask for and get more heads, you don’t have to increase productivity. If you boost productivity, on the other hand, you may be able to meet or beat that sales increase without adding to your own costs.

Here’s a better way: Use the request for more sales to power your request for more resources. If you’re asked to generate 10 percent more sales with 5 percent more salespeople, that’s a perfect time to ask for more leads from marketing, additional tech solutions, a reconfigured bundle, or new products to help you sell.

When you begin preparing an actual budget request in response to the sales mandate, you may use zero-based budgeting, activity-based budgeting, or some combination thereof. You’ll need to identify and set up key performance indicators (KPI). And once you have a plan, you can turn it into a strategy with tasks and responsibilities. Sales planning is just one step — though an important one — of making your numbers. Do it well and you’ll be placed in a prime position to meet and maybe even exceed expectations.

A BETTER WAYTo Develop the Sales Planby AARON BARTELS

IF YOUR REVENUE TARGET REQUIRES YOU TO GROW FASTER THAN THE MARKET, YOU’LL HAVE TO ADDRESS THAT.

REVENUE GROWTH MATURITY MODEL

DEFINED

IMPLEMENTED

MANAGED

PREDICTABLE

CHAOS

1 LEVEL

2 LEVEL

3 LEVEL

4 LEVEL

5 LEVEL

WHERE YOU RANK DETERMINES

WHAT’S IN THE BANK.

2016 STRATEGY WORKSHOPContact us at www.SalesBenchmarkIndex.com/2016Workshop

Benchmark yourself against your peers and find out if you’re positioned to make your number in 2016.


38 SBI MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2015 39

by VINCE KOEHLER

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CAMPAIGN PLANNINGIt isn’t a matter of luck or magic. Executing the perfect marketing campaign

comes down to planning, executing, adjusting, and iterating. Here’s how.

40 SBI MAGAZINE

Of course, you have to know what you’re looking for when you search for ways to adjust. Simply testing for anything creates far too many variables, which leaves you without any tangible results.

Since I started running marketing campaigns 20 years ago, I’ve found that most fall short for four different reasons. These causes — a poorly defined audience, the wrong activities executed, an incorrect choice of programs, or an underdeveloped offer — don’t often work in perfect harmony when you first launch. It’s when you fail to adjust these issues as the marketing campaign rolls out that can lead an otherwise well-designed plan into oblivion.

Knowing when to adjust, though, isn’t always easy. So here’s how you can tell when you need to tweak or when you should hold the course to turn that marketing campaign into an attention-grabbing, revenue-generating rollout that your customers will notice and remember.

AUDIENCE NOT WELL DEFINEDNot too long ago, I started working on a marketing campaign for

a software company that pulls in about $700 million annually. They wanted a big push on a new product launch to attract buyers from a list of existing and new customers. The company expected strong results. But by the time we came onto the project, it was nowhere near living up to its forecast. So we dove into the data to get a closer look.

We could tell immediately that the campaign had achieved its desired target of reaching new customers. Existing customers,

however, showed very little interest when the ads showed up on their screens or in their mail. But we couldn’t tell why.

To solve this, we asked existing customers why they weren’t interested in the new offering. It should come as no surprise that as soon as you ask for customer feedback, you get it. The customers said they didn’t understand how the service could improve their current circumstances. The company didn’t realize that they needed to address the issue the application solved for these customers. By uncovering that wrinkle, we then attacked the problem. We changed the copy that targeted existing customers, ensuring it explained why they could — and should — use this feature on top of the application they already had in place. It turned the campaign into a hit, far surpassing the targets.

But the reason for the slow beginning had everything to do with how we defined the audience. We had treated existing customers like new ones, even though we knew much more about the existing customers’ needs. By differentiating the two audiences, we could show how the application provided a distinct solution to each group. After that, sales followed.

EXECUTING THE WRONG ACTIVITIES When launching a campaign, the tools you use to reach the audience

can fall short in one of three ways. The problem typically falls either on the customer list to which you send marketing materials, the offer (which I discuss further below), or a lack of connection to the creative. But you won’t actually know what’s wrong with any of these three parts until you test it out. Then you can switch gears as needed.

Without knowing, you could be placing far too many social ads, as opposed to concentrating on email offers. Or you may spend far too much time developing content when it’s the offer that needs a better hook.

Let’s say I have a list of 25,000 potential customers that I want to target. I may select 2,000 of these customers and run a short pilot campaign. Short campaigns not only give me insight into how the design will function, but it also shows me how a campaign team works. If I need to make any changes, it’s better to do so before the main campaign begins.

As the mini-campaign finishes, we review the results. This allows us to adjust what worked and fix what didn’t. Then I’ll take another 2,000 customers and target them with the new strategy. This will

likely continue three or four times, until we have a proven campaign that doesn’t waste any activity on unnecessary tools. After that, we can roll out the full campaign to the 17,000 or so customers who haven’t received any marketing materials, along with the customers who didn’t respond to the earlier campaigns.

This is an absolute necessity that must be incorporated into your campaign. Remember, not every industry works the same. There’s no such thing as cross-industry marketing in a box. So doing these test runs will ensure you’re targeting your customers correctly,

here’s a prevalent myth that a perfect marketing campaign just happens. Once it’s designed, you can just let it rip while you sit back and count the money. It’s a misunderstanding that pervades nearly every organization.

This doesn’t just happen though. Perfect campaigns come about from an understanding of how to test and tweak the campaign before it rolls out, applying best-marketing practices to the information that the company has about its customers, and altering the campaign rapidly until it becomes a success. Most important, they come from not giving up on a struggling campaign too early.

WE HAD TREATED EXISTING CUSTOMERS LIKE NEW ONES, EVEN THOUGH WE KNEW MUCH MORE ABOUT THE EXISTING CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS. BY DIFFERENTIATING THE TWO AUDIENCES, WE COULD PROVIDE A DISTINCT SOLUTION TO EACH GROUP.

SUMMER 2015 41

without wasted effort on unnecessary tasks when the campaign is released to your entire list.

WRONG PROGRAMS CHOSENA number of years ago, I worked on a campaign with Yellow Freight,

a shipping company known for its small-freight transportation. They were adding a new service for full-truckload transportation, meaning larger shipping options. But the industry saw them as only a lightweight option. Attracting customers for truckload-size shipping proved difficult because of these preset opinions.

To solve this, we first turned to existing customers. We knew we had a good chance with them since Yellow Freight’s name recognition was so strong with this group. We came up with the tagline “Moving mountains just got easier,” which proved very successful with existing customers, as they understood what Yellow Freight did in the past, and the copy made it clear that we could now help move larger loads.

But marketing to new customers proved very tricky because of Yellow Freight’s perception. What we needed had less to do with name recognition and more to do with solving a problem, since potential customers were fairly happy with their current truckload provider. For them, we came up with the idea of flexibility. A company doesn’t always know if it needs a truckload-freight or small-freight shipment. This causes problems when loads fall in between the two. That’s the value proposition we focused on, which proved to connect with new customers. We found the program that worked for them.

This value proposition wasn’t necessary to spell out for existing customers because they already trusted Yellow Freight. But in order to get new customers, highlighting flexibility proved to be the only way we could convince them to try the service over their large-freight provider. It allowed them to test out Yellow Freight while they continued to use their large-freight company for loads they knew would warrant it.

OFFERS NOT WELL DEVELOPEDToo often, marketers treat the offer as an afterthought. It’s the

last thing done before the campaign launch. But that’s not how it

should work. Instead, I advise clients to think about it from the beginning — because different offers only work with specific campaigns. Plus, knowing how the offer helps entice customers defines the rollout.

For instance, when working with B2B clients, offers that include a reduction in price

won’t convince a customer to purchase something they wouldn’t already consider. It’s just icing on the cake that entices them as their fingertips itch to buy. To attract latent customers though, content can draw in a prospect. Offering a solution they don’t already know they need — infused with the product as the answer — can lure a buyer. But your offering will differ based on the situation.

You also have to think about the customer. While giving away a $100 Amazon gift card may encourage consumers, when someone shops for business purposes, personal gift cards aren’t usually the best way to go. Instead, you want to link it to the business solution you are offering and the problem your product answers. Say you’re selling a supply-chain product. You can offer a free consultation with an industry expert. This will resonate with the target audience since supply-chain optimization is constantly changing and education is highly valued.

But in your testing you should see if your offer aligns with the right stage in the buying process. That way you know when the freebie will have the most impact, ensuring it’s an offer they can’t refuse.

Developing a winning campaign isn’t just about planning. It’s about testing and prototyping any of the key areas that could cause your campaign to fail after it goes live. Some of these things — the audience, activities, programs, or offer — may not be formulated correctly for your campaign, and you may not know before the campaign launches. So plan to adjust, test, adjust, and test some more. Pretty soon, you’ll land on a winning combination — and a campaign that shines so much, there will be no whispers that someone could have done it better.

FOUR REASONS CAMPAIGNS FAIL: 1 Poorly defined audience2 Wrong activities executed 3 Incorrect choice of programs4 Underdeveloped offer

THE IRON MOUNTAIN WAY

42 SBI MAGAZINE

by JOANNE SAMMER

Building a World-Class Sales-Enablement Approach

SUMMER 2015 43

44 SBI MAGAZINE

The story of sales enablement is still

being written, but Boston-based

Iron Mountain has already furthered

its development enough to warrant

a chapter, if not a book, all its own.

In just four years, this leading

provider of storage and information-

management services has developed a world-class

sales-enablement function that stands as a model from

which many companies can learn important lessons.

That model includes a three-pronged approach to

shortening the sales cycle, as well as processes that

incorporate training reinforcement and scalability.

With six unique teams and over 25 members, Iron Mountain’s sales-enablement group did not spring up overnight. It is the result of a clear strategic vision and careful resource allocation. “Sales enablement is a key differentiator for us,” says Ted MacLean, the company’s chief marketing and commercial officer. “Our strategy is not only meeting customer needs today, but also anticipating what they may need next.”

Of course, this strategy puts more pressure on the sales force to be more things to more customers. It is the job of the sales-enablement group to alleviate this pressure and provide more support to the sales force in the form of tools, support, and training. “The resources we have dedicated toward engagement with our field sales teams reflect the fact that we’re in this together,” MacLean says. “While we are setting high expectations of our sales teams, we also want to make sure that we’re providing them with the support they need to be able to then go deliver on those objectives.”

Iron Mountain had to make some trade-offs to provide those additional resources, often at the expense of other potential investments. “We have shifted some resources away to other forms of sales support to fund this increased investment in sales enablement,” MacLean says.

As the idea of a broad sales-enablement group took hold, the company also made the strategic decision not to replace certain sales positions that were empty because of attrition. Instead, the company

shifted that head count to sales enablement. “Management saw the value that one person in sales enablement could have in bringing everyone in sales up, versus having one single quota-carrying salesperson,” says Kevin Starner, the company’s vice president of sales enablement.

BUILDING IN FLEXIBILITY AND SPEEDOnce the sales-enablement team began to form, speed

and nimbleness quickly proved to be key attributes of the group. Rather than solely developing standardized tools and programs to support the entire sales force, group members realized that they also needed to offer customized services and solutions as needed. As the organization and customer-buying behavior change, content and programs can become stale or even obsolete quickly as different segments and buying groups demand customized solutions and support.

Meeting all of these needs challenges resources. “When working across all segments, everyone has a different view of what they need,” Starner says. “Trying to make everyone happy with something that spans the process is challenging and slows the process down.”

How it solves for this and what makes Iron Mountain unique is its sales-enablement approach that has multiple goals as its focus. Rather than working to achieve a single companywide sales goal, the group’s vision is to enable sales success across the spectrum of products and segments.

SHORTENING THE SALES CYCLEIron Mountain defines the sales cycle as beginning with a qualified

opportunity and ending with a closed sale, and it is the job of sales enablement to shorten that sales cycle as much as possible. With a particular focus on supporting sales worth $50,000 or more, the sales-enablement group takes four key steps to shorten the sales cycle and, in the process, makes it as easy as possible for these customers to do business with Iron Mountain:

1 SALES PROGRAMS: The sales-enablement team uses these programs to help

increase sales reps’ selling capacity and support sales-performance management. This includes both onboarding and ongoing support for the first 12 to 18 months for new reps and directors. This group

IRON MOUNTAIN: WORLD-CLASS SALES ENABLEMENT

TED MACLEANCHIEF MARKETING AND COMMERCIAL OFFICER

KEVIN STARNERVICE PRESIDENT OF

SALES ENABLEMENT

Sales enablement is part of the customer commercial operations along with product management, product marketing, revenue management, and sales operations supporting developed markets, including North America and Western Europe.

$3 BILLION IN REVENUE

18,000 EMPLOYEES

700-800employees in the sales

organization

6unique teams

25+associates

&

SUMMER 2015 45

provides cross-segment sales training, including power messaging and qualifying opportunities, and “does account planning to elevate the sales organization’s ability to drive better results through critical thinking instilled into account plans,” Starner says.

2 SALES SUPPORT:When it comes to sales representatives spending time researching

and compiling data, such as weighted-average spreadsheets on all active contracts, he or she can rely on sales support staff to provide that. “This way, they [sales representatives] can act faster and get back to the customer faster, and that should reduce the sale-cycle time,” says Starner. To ensure ongoing communication, the team also runs a weekly conference call and newsletter, Sales Enablement Weekly, to communicate new ideas and feedback to the field.

3 PROPOSAL SERVICES:The team works with sales representatives to identify customers’

critical business issues so that the resulting proposal hits the correct key themes. This part of the sales-enablement group can help the sales representative develop both the solution and a proposal that is consistent, professional, and delivers the right message addressing that customer’s challenges and needs.

4 CONTRACT SUPPORT: The sales-enablement team offers contract support to help sales

representatives avoid issues that could delay the close of a sale. Rather than waiting for the legal department to handle the inevitable back and forth on contract terms, this function can help deal with nonstandard business terms and other minor contractual issues.

REINFORCING THE FIELDIn many ways, sales enablement is about ensuring that sales

representatives and sales managers can execute what they have learned consistently. “Up to 80 percent of sales training is lost within the first month,” Starner says. “A key role for sales enablement is to reinforce what sales representatives and sales managers have already learned.” That is why Starner is adjusting the sales-enablement team structure to focus more specifically on frontline sales managers.

In other words, it is not enough to train the sales force to qualify opportunities and use customer verifiers to track them throughout the sales process. Sales managers and directors must reinforce these reps going after the right accounts by deselecting on the low-percentage deals. This approach also ensures that the sales force does not unnecessarily waste sales-enablement resources. For example, if a sales representative wants support from the proposal services team, that sales representative must first fully verify the customer and opportunity using existing tools.

Iron Mountain’s field-enablement team provides a range of services, including conducting model workshops with sales directors until they can conduct those workshops on their own. The team can also sit in on these director-led workshops, as well as team meetings, and provide specific coaching to improve the effectiveness of these meetings and the director’s general communication style. “The key is to help directors to get more out of communication with their sales representatives and to drive the right programs,” Starner says. “Our new sales-performance management program focuses on helping directors in a number of areas — leveraging the right data, managing

individual conversations, and helping sales representatives to improve, while also managing the business and customer opportunities.”

“If sales training and onboarding teach sales representatives to fish, field enablement ensures that they are fishing, that they are catching fish, they are using the right lures and fishing in the right bodies of water,” says Starner. “Field enablement spends time focusing on individual teams and ensuring they know what they need to do for continued success.”

EXPANDED RESPONSIBILITIESOne of the characteristics of a world-class sales organization is

a willingness to continually stretch to improve performance and capabilities. For example, as Iron Mountain seeks to increase its share of wallet on its enterprise accounts, including improving the win rate and sales pipeline for deals of $50,000 or more, the sales-enablement group will focus on providing the account planning necessary to achieve that objective.

Changes are also occurring in the middle market and small- and medium-size business (SMB) segments. “Until recently, we didn’t offer any kind of e-commerce capabilities to allow customers to conduct immediate transactions online,” MacLean says. “We are also strengthening telesales for the SMB space to quickly answer customer questions and help them make decisions about specific transactions.”

When these types of new innovations succeed, Iron Mountain moves quickly to scale them out to appropriate customer segments. From a sales-enablement perspective, the company could align different types of selling resources to capture new business in those marketplaces. “That is another example of where we have shifted from a single model to a more bifurcated model that allows us to pursue more nuanced approaches as needed,” MacLean says.

At the same time, sales enablement will drive the right kinds of activities to further both enterprise and mid-market customer relationships. For example, this could mean ensuring that sales representatives are pursuing and conducting high-level meetings and that those sales representatives define “high level” in a way that is relevant and appropriate for each customer.

“Our overall goal is to have a 360-degree view of how best to support sales at all times,” Starner says. “Our plan is to educate, facilitate, and innovate in order to build trust, loyalty, and transformational value with our customers.”

SELLING AT A GLANCEOne of Iron Mountain’s most powerful sales training and

reference tools is its customer-alignment guide, Selling the Iron Mountain Way at a Glance. Presented from the buyer’s perspective, the guide outlines the six stages that customers go through when considering Iron Mountain’s products and services, explaining what customers typically feel and look for at each stage. Alongside that, the guide places the different stages of its own sales process with objectives for each stage, actions the sales representative can take, and the tools and resources available to help. The guide is designed to support both new sales-representative training and established sales representatives in their ongoing work. Such a powerful tool helps enable greater success companywide.

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Elite Business Leaders Do Things Differently

BY C H R I S WA R R E N

HOW TO

MAKE YOUR

NUMBER IN 2016

ILL

US

TR

AT

ION

BY

AL

EX

VA

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SE

48 SBI MAGAZINE

As important as it is to Walker to understand and adapt to big-picture marketplace forces, he’s also adamant about making sure the overall strategy he and his executive team devise is well-understood by the sales force and, ultimately, by the company’s customers. “We think about talking to the sales force in a language that they actually believe they can use with their customers,” Walker says. “It certainly gives them confidence that what they can talk to their customers about is not just what the products and services we have today are, but how they’re going to evolve over time to continue to solve problems for their customers.”

Walker says that Herman Miller’s corporate strategy — which is how the company allocates its people, money, and time to generate profitable growth — both animates and directs the sales team, illustrating one of the key findings of SBI’s 2015 annual report. This year’s report provides an in-depth look at how companies that consistently and predictably hit their

sales numbers do it. This is an elite group — only 9 percent of the many companies examined were able to pull it off. Walker’s commitment to continuously push Herman Miller to improve and aspire to greatness tracks with SBI’s findings that companies that reliably make their number are always strategically aligned.

What does it mean to be strategically aligned? Companies that achieve strategic alignment do a lot of things right — starting with utilizing market research to achieve a deep understanding of the markets in which they compete. This “outward in” viewpoint is used as the key input into the development of the CEO’s corporate strategy. This is then complemented by functional strategies in the realms of product development, marketing, and sales. Last, and arguably most important, strategically aligned companies have the sort of talent strategy that ensures that the right people are in the right positions. As strategies change, so do the talent needs of a company.

rian Walker could easily become

complacent. As CEO of the well-respected

interior furnishings giant Herman

Miller for the past decade-plus, he has

presided over a company that has consistently churned out

both innovative products and impressive sales — revenue was

about $2 billion in the most recent fiscal year. But Walker is

perpetually restless, always looking to better understand the

risks and opportunities Herman Miller faces so that he can set

the right course for his company to excel.

B

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S T R AT E GY — D O I N G T H E R I G H T T H I N G

TA

CT

ICS

— D

OIN

G T

HIN

GS

RIG

HT

Strategic alignment is a challenging task. Internet-fueled changes in how purchase decisions are made in complex B2B environments make it even more challenging. As SBI has noted in the past, the sales rep used to be the sole initial source of information and solutions to customer problems. This once-central role has been rapidly eroded by the internet, to the point that self-directed buyers today spend well over 50 percent of their purchase journeys Googling their own answers. Though this dynamic is well-known, it has not yet spawned a widespread and necessary change in approach among sales and marketing teams. Instead, some companies have been either paralyzed by inaction or wishfully hoping that the primacy of the internet would somehow disappear. Plenty of other companies have spent the past few years launching tactics ranging from content marketing to persona research to free trials in an attempt to get their messages in front of early-stage buyers. In last year’s research, SBI reported that widespread recognition now exists that these scattershot and frequently one-off efforts were inadequate to the challenge. “People realized tactics were not a strategy, and tactics masquerading as a strategy resulted in lots of waste,” says Greg Alexander, cofounder and CEO of SBI.

As a result of this realization, a renewed emphasis on strategy over tactics has emerged during the past year, though SBI’s research has demonstrated there is confusion about these two important terms. Strategy is all about doing the right things, while tactics are about doing things right. Though strategy is more important than tactics, companies should aspire to do both right. Indeed, a company with a lousy plan (strategy) executed flawlessly (tactics) will die fast, while a company with a great plan

executed poorly will still survive. The best-case scenario is when a company can excel at both strategy and tactics (see diagram below).

Such is the case with the top 10 percent of strategically aligned companies. Though it’s rare and difficult to achieve, companies able to reach the highest levels of alignment can slice their customer-acquisition costs by 26 percent and boost customer lifetime value by 30 percent. “We’re talking about double-digit improvements,” Alexander says. “The research reveals that of all the growth initiatives available to the executive team, getting into strategic alignment produces the largest amount of revenue growth, in the shortest amount of time.”

Naturally, this doesn’t just happen. Companies committed to reaching genuine strategic alignment first need to understand where they currently stand and the steps to take to improve. How to begin that journey and what it looks like along the way is laid out in detail in this year’s annual report. Here’s a basic overview of how to get there.

FROM CHAOS TO PREDICTABILITY: SBI’S REVENUE-

GROWTH MATURITY MODEL

Helping companies work toward full strategic alignment is why SBI developed the Revenue Growth Maturity Model. The model is based on the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), a program developed at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to help guide process improvement for companies, divisions, or even a single project. Though CMMI has been around for years, what makes SBI’s version of the model unique is its application to the problem of revenue growth.

The vast majority of companies require fundamental retooling to achieve the potential benefits of decreased customer-

EF

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E F F EC T I V E LYI N E F F E C T I V E LY

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FF

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DIE QUICKLYA poor plan executed brilliantly

DIE SLOWLYA poor plan executed poorly

THRIVEA brilliant plan executed brilliantly

SURVIVEA brilliant plan executed poorly

“OF ALL THE GROWTH INITIATIVES AVAILABLE, STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT PRODUCES THE LARGEST AMOUNT OF REVENUE GROWTH IN THE SHORTEST AMOUNT OF TIME.” — GREG ALEXANDER, SBI CEO CONTINUED ON PAGE 50 3

50 SBI MAGAZINE

acquisition costs and increased customer lifetime value. These benefits can accrue quickly, merely by committing to make the transformation. But the only way to set the course and begin is to make a clear-headed assessment of where a company stands now. The Revenue Growth Maturity Model’s five levels make that a straightforward exercise.

LEVEL ONE: CHAOS Imagine life inside a struggling technology

company. It had innovative products and a stock price north of $100 over a decade ago. But more recently its share price has fallen below $5, and it has shed customers faster than it can replace them. Revenues continue to spiral downward, and a recent acquisition hasn’t helped the situation at all. This is how it feels to be at the chaos level of the Revenue Growth Maturity Model, where the heroic performance of a few combined with a bit of luck is the only thing that makes hitting the number possible. But the organization as a whole is ill-suited to repeat it. In this frenzied technology company, the corporate strategy, which may exist, is still a mystery to functional leaders. Obviously, lacking fleshed-out strategies for marketing, sales, product development, and human resources means that any kind of strategic coordination and alignment is impossible. Day-to-day life at these organizations is stressful, as sales teams careen from one crisis to another, Retaining talented people becomes increasingly challenging.

LEVEL TWO: DEFINEDFortunes can change quickly at this technology

company. Moving from chaos to what is called the defined level of the growth-maturity model involves outlining both corporate and functional strategies. For instance, it means the business chooses which markets to compete in and how it will prevail through its corporate strategy. At the same time, leaders of the tech outfit’s product development, marketing, and sales teams also devise strategies. This effort yields quick and tangible rewards: SBI research demonstrates that companies that define their corporate and functional strategies see a 3 percent

drop in customer-acquisition costs and a customer lifetime value boost of 2 percent, compared to Level One companies. What does that mean for the struggling tech company? If it’s a billion-dollar company with a 30 percent sales and marketing expense, it spends $300 million to acquire customers. A 3 percent improvement translates to $9 million, all of which goes straight to the bottom line. A $9 million boost in profits is bound to improve the stock price. The problem, though, is that the strategies at this stage are more theoretical than practical. That’s because they are formulated exclusively by executives and are neither shared with nor implemented by the rest of the staff. Nor is there any effort to coordinate the various functional strategies.

LEVEL THREE: IMPLEMENTEDThe numbers alone show how motivated this tech

company would be to jump to the implemented level of the Revenue Growth Maturity Model. That occurs when the good intentions and legwork that take place during Level Two are acted upon. In other words, the functional strategies are communicated, accepted, and implemented by everyone else on staff. This is a significant improvement, where behaviors change and become repeatable to the extent that both customer-acquisition costs and customer lifetime value improve by 8 percent compared to Level One. Translated to dollar signs, that means our $1 billion tech company sees a $24 million improvement in what it costs to acquire customers. But Level Three companies still have work to do. The execution of each strategy is limited to each individual function. Hard as it is to imagine, the most significant benefits of true strategic alignment are yet to be achieved.

LEVEL FOUR: MANAGEDForty-eight million reasons exist for the once-

beleaguered technology company to work hard to get to the managed level of the Revenue Growth Maturity Model. SBI research shows the improvement over Level One is dramatic: a 16 percent reduction of the cost to acquire a customer and a 13 percent spike in lifetime value. Regarding the customer-acquisition cost boost, that translates as an improvement of $48 million. Here, the well-deserved credit goes to strategic alignment. At this level, the corporate and functional strategies are both formulated and effective within their own spheres and aligned across the organization. Management is therefore able to use a common set of key performance indicators to identify and address potential internal problems before they impact performance. Equally important, alignment also leads to cross-pollination of best practices and collateral between functions.

LEVEL FIVE: PREDICTABLEAlthough it’s a remarkable achievement to get to

Level Four, these companies have failed to take into account one important thing: the outside market. Level Five, or predictable, organizations take that final step of aligning their frictionless internal strategies with the real world and actual customers. In fact, one way to identify Level Five organizations is to talk to their customers, who are uniformly delighted with the companies. This is the case even when market conditions change,

SUMMER 2015 51

because these companies understand how to adapt to customer needs through internal and external alignment. Another way to pinpoint predictable companies is by their aspirations. Instead of year-over-year internal improvements, they seek quantum improvement validated by the marketplace. Level Five companies see customer-acquisition costs improve by 26 percent and a customer lifetime value boost of 30 percent. Looking at customer-acquisition costs again, what does that mean for the technology company as it moves up the ladder? An impressive $78 million in additional profits compared to Level One. And a giant sigh of relief that chaos is a distant memory of the past.

SIX STEPS TOWARD GREATER MATURITY

The impressive bottom-line benefits possible for companies that obtain full strategic alignment make beginning or continuing the journey toward Level Five of the Revenue Growth Maturity Model more than worth the effort. Fortunately, SBI has dissected huge amounts of data (see sidebar for details), examined how top-producing organizations got where they are now, and charted a course to excellence. The result is a six-step process that can take companies from chaos and uncertainty to predictably superior performance. Here’s a step-by-step road map to making your number.

STEP ONE: MARKET RESEARCHEvery company claims to be customer-focused. More often

than not, though, executives determine what their customers need by talking to one another. A far more effective approach is doing the hard work of understanding the behavior of a company’s customers. In the past, that meant knowing the newspapers and trade magazines that buyers turned to in order to get informed about possible purchases. Today, it means understanding the blogs, social-media platforms, and videos that buyers scour to get educated. Those who truly understand their customers can not only say what problems they are trying to solve, but also distinguish the ones they’re willing to shell out cash to remedy — and the ones they’re not.

Like a lot of businesses, Mitel, a telecommunications company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, developed four buyer personas to help it grasp what existing and potential customers really want and how they gather necessary information. Though building

L E V E L O N E : C H A O S

BY THE NUMBERS

REVENUE GROWTH MATURITY MODELBENEFITS FROM ADVANCING LEVELS

3 percent drop in customer-acquisition costs

2 percentboost in customer

lifetime value

8 percent drop in customer- acquisition costs

8 percent boost in customer

lifetime value

16 percent decrease in customer-

acquisition costs

13 percentspike in customer

lifetime value

26 percent decrease in customer-

acquisition costs

30 percent boost in customer

lifetime value

50 percent determined by having the

right people in the right jobs

50 percent determined by conditions

created by having the proper strategies in place

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L P E R F O R M A N C E I S :

L E V E L T H R E E : I M P L E M E N T E D

L E V E L F O U R : M A N A G E D

L E V E L F I V E : P R E D I C T A B L E

L E V E L T W O : D E F I N E D

Companies at this level experience the highest customer-acquisition costs and lowest customer lifetime value.

EVERY COMPANY CLAIMS TO BE CUSTOMER-FOCUSED. MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, THOUGH, EXECUTIVES DETERMINE WHAT THEIR CUSTOMERS NEED BY TALKING TO ONE ANOTHER.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 52 3

52 SBI MAGAZINE

personas is quite standard, what Mitel did with them is unique. “Many firms do the persona work, put it on the shelf, and really that was them checking the box,” says Martyn Etherington, Mitel’s former chief marketing officer and chief of staff, who is now an advisory board member at the technology companies Myplanet and CultureSphere. Not so at Mitel, though, where personas guide the creation of everything from content to explaining product features in a way that addresses customer problems and marketing content that generates leads to sales content that salespeople use to engage with prospects.

Here’s how it works at Mitel. First, the firm builds the buyer personas using feedback gleaned from real customers and gives them names, such as Contact Center Cathy. “We’ve all worked with Contact Center Cathy, so she becomes real in our minds and somehow it makes it a little bit more personable, more relevant, and certainly more distinctive,” Etherington says. Actually giving the personas names such as Contact Center Cathy and Affordable Allen has helped Mitel employees embrace the use of personas. “I think the naming part of it, while I thought it was quirky and a bit clunky and a bit cutesy, it has really enabled them to stick,” Etherington says. “When we go through all of my teams, we say, ‘Who are the four personas?’ and bang, they rattle them off.”

Armed with specific information about their customers and how they make purchase decisions, Mitel can create content that is relevant — something that companies utilizing content not informed by personas can’t do. For example, the firm’s product demos are geared specifically to each persona. “If we have a technical guy come in or a financial guy, we can serve our demonstration based upon that persona to really be relevant to that person, his role, his needs, his understanding,” Etherington says. That deep understanding of what its customers need also guided the development of Mitel’s website and media campaigns.

For example, before making the commitment to develop personas and fully embrace what Etherington calls the “voice of the customer,” Mitel’s small-business prospects were hard-pressed to find online information about its products. “For the longest time, we were using terms such as Premise Space PBX [a business phone system] and guess what? Out of 5 million small-business users out there, we were getting 22 searches per month,” Etherington says. “Contrast that with using [the term] business phones: 900,000 searched for Mitel. It really spoke to being outside and driven by the voice of the customer.”

Etherington also explains that embracing buyer personas has helped make internal conversations more customer-focused. “It enables good, robust conversation among your own team because they start thinking in those personas,” says Etherington. “It has given us a vocabulary to use to object and to challenge each other. Would Affordable Allen use that word, or how would he feel about receiving that piece of content?”

STEP TWO: CORPORATE STRATEGYThe development of a corporate strategy sets the direction of

a company and determines the allocation of people, money, and time to achieve profitable growth. But a corporate strategy that is not based on the realities found through rigorous market research will fail to achieve strategic alignment.

Walker, of Herman Miller, began to achieve strategic alignment a few years ago, when Herman Miller realized the importance of growing what Walker calls the company’s “addressable market.” “We thought ultimately our ambition had to be to increase the size of the marketplace that we were addressing,” he says. After Walker made a passionate pitch to his board that this expansion should be central to the company’s corporate strategy, one of his board members distilled it to this: “So you’re really talking about four or five things that you’ve got to get done,” he recalls.

To ensure that all the functional arms are working toward the same strategic goals, Walker now insists that his executive team craft their own strategies succinctly enough to fit on one page. The practice ensures disciplined thinking, regardless of how ambitious an idea is. “Every time somebody brings me a strategy, whether it’s for a business unit, whether it’s for a product line, whether it’s entering a new market, you have to be able to get that down to one page,” Walker says. “On that one page you’ve got to tell me what are the major changes you have to make.”

STEP THREE: PRODUCT STRATEGYBrilliant engineers who spend their days working on a

23,000customers who made complex

B2B purchase decisions

9,000 prospects considering

similar purchases

SBI RESEARCH PROCESSIn order to understand how buyers’ behaviors have changed

over the past year, SBI gathered input from more than:

BY THE NUMBERS:

SBI’S RESEARCH HAS FOUND THAT A PRODUCT STRATEGY THAT IS DIVORCED FROM THE NEEDS OF THE MARKETPLACE AND BLIND TO THE CORPORATE STRATEGY IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST HURDLES PREVENTING STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT.

SUMMER 2015 53

THE SBI APPROACH TO RESEARCH

Conduct a Google search for “B2B sales and marketing effectiveness” and you’ll be inundated with advice and tips from self-proclaimed gurus. This is a helpful exercise only in the sense

that it provides the perfect counterpoint to the

rigorous research approach SBI utilizes to reach the

conclusions found in this year’s annual report. This

is the ninth year SBI has issued this report, which

allows for the identification of long-term trends and

developments. Just as important, SBI’s findings come

through the use of 14 data-collection techniques

applied through four different lenses: customer,

corporate, market, and field. Compared to the many

single-data-point surveys available, the use of four

different lenses provides a truly comprehensive view to

approach the problem of making the right number.

The customer lens refers to the people who actually

make purchases, the corporate lens is about the

perspective of the CEO and his direct reports, the

market lens addresses competitors and how they

operate, and the field lens refers to how the sales and

marketing team engages with customers. “The reason

why these four lenses are really important is that very

often you see the executive team thinks one thing and

the people in the field engaging with their customer

see another thing. Sometimes what the customer

wants and what the market is providing them are

very different,” Alexander says. “If an empirical fact

shows up in one lens but not the other three, we rule it

out. The things we are talking about here had to pass

through all four lenses and there had to be enough

samples and data points to where the statistical

relevance was real.” The demographic profile of the

data samples is c-suite executives from enterprise B2B

companies, which is far different from other research

on the market that relies on input from mid-level

managers and individual contributors from small

businesses. While the individual lenses themselves are

important, there often exists a chasm in understanding

between, say, what executives and those in the field

report. To be included in the SBI report, a finding had

to pass through all four lenses and be confirmed by

multiple data points.

company’s product road map or determining what services to offer often believe cutting-edge work sells itself. But SBI’s research has found that a product strategy that is divorced from the needs of the marketplace and blind to the corporate strategy is one of the biggest hurdles preventing strategic alignment.

The ultimate goal of a product strategy is not aspirational; it is to build products that solve customer problems today. Accomplishing this is not possible without collaboration across the company to target the needs of customers in strategic markets. And well before products actually launch, the entire company needs to be prepared to bring them to market.

At Cypress Semiconductor, which has over 5,000 employees and makes products that are used in everything from digital cameras to air-conditioning units, the sales team has a hand in developing new products by sharing customer feedback with the product team. The alignment between marketing and sales at Cypress becomes even more apparent as products get closer to launch. “Six to eight months out, I start working directly with the business units and the marketing teams to get the collateral we’re going to need,” says Mike Balow, executive vice president of sales and applications at Cypress. This advanced prep work at Cypress Semiconductor starkly contrasts with companies that are not in the top echelon of strategically aligned organizations, and it is due at least in part to Balow’s decade-plus experience as an engineer. “I did everything from software engineering to engineering management,” he says. “Some projects can take upward of a couple of years to three years. It required a lot of planning, a lot of preparation, hiring the right people.”

At companies outside this elite level, it’s common for sales teams to have little or no input into the marketing materials they’ll need to rely on as they attempt to explain the superiority of their offerings. Equally troubling, when sales teams don’t receive collateral until a product launch is imminent, they waste valuable time that could be spent selling in merely familiarizing themselves with materials that may or may not help them do their jobs. At Cypress, the presentations and training materials describing what makes their products different from its competitors are finished at least three months ahead of a launch. “When the time comes to launch,” Balow says, “we’ve got the right training and the right collateral in the field.”

STEP FOUR: MARKETING STRATEGYIn strategically aligned companies, the kind of collaboration

300 corporate and functional strategies

10,000 corporate documents such as product

road maps and marketing plans

900executive interviews

100industries analyzed

CONTINUED ON PAGE 54 3

54 SBI MAGAZINE

that takes place at Cypress Semiconductor is the norm. So, too, is marketing’s practice of using insights from research and the corporate strategy to build demand for their products. Progressing along the six steps that enable companies to move up the Revenue Growth Maturity Model, it becomes increasingly clear how fragile these interlocking components actually are. Think about it: A marketing team that ignores the corporate strategy could be running campaigns in the wrong segments, because the corporate strategy is where the CEO spells out what market segments the company is going to compete in, and which ones they are not.

Marketing strategy is all about choices, including where to allocate limited resources and which market channels to decide to pursue. As at Cypress, making marketing effective at food wholesale giant Sysco means staff members interacting with customers. “There’s no one that has greater knowledge of that

customer than the person who sees them every week,” says Richard Doggett, vice president of product and field marketing at Sysco. This means that corporate marketing campaigns routinely involve field marketers as well as sales reps. “They’re involved in the execution and putting the finishing touches on any campaign, whether it’s point-of-sales material, customer email campaign — anything,” he says. “That’s where the magic happens.”

Doggett’s approach to campaigns fundamentally relies on two factors: on-the-ground knowledge and plenty of data. “I try not to do anything without the right data behind a campaign,” he says. “Working with our merchandising team and our sales team, we will try to identify what appear to be the best opportunities.” There are obvious benefits to a data-driven marketing approach when compared to those that are propelled by gut instincts and hunches. Not only does the more scientific campaign have a better chance at success, it is also more likely to be embraced by other company leaders. At Sysco, Doggett says he has found that approaching operating company presidents armed with data while also soliciting their input is effective. “I’ll always try to preach that this isn’t a marketing conversation. This is about your business. You tell me where opportunities are or what your needs are, and I will help you approach it.”

STEP FIVE: SALES STRATEGYFor alignment to be complete, a company’s functional

strategies must be complementary and further the goals outlined in the corporate strategy. All of these connections are important, including the bond between marketing and sales. In most cases, the sales team depends on marketing to provide

AN EFFECTIVE TALENT STRATEGY HELPS EXECUTIVES PUT THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT POSITIONS, SO THAT ALL OF A COMPANY’S FUNCTIONAL STRATEGIES ARE EXECUTED WELL AND SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER.

Market Research

Corporate

Strategy

Product

Strategy

Marketing Strategy

Sales Strategy

Talent

Strategy

0102

03

0405

06 SIX STEPS TO STRATEGIC ALIGNMENTThe six-step process can take companies from chaos and uncertainty to predictably superior performance

SUMMER 2015 55

valuable leads and effective tools to help sales reps communicate the unique value proposition of their products or services. To foster the best collaboration, Balow of Cypress Semiconductor says he believes sales leaders need to plan far enough ahead. “I’ll start looking in September, October to start looking into the next year,” he says. “Generally, we start to look at what the products are that we have and what the potential is and then work with the CEO on the growth plan.”

Balow’s approach leads to growth projections grounded in fact and the kind of strategic alignment that enables obtaining those objectives. “If you start to look at the revenue and say, ‘Hey, if we want to grow by 10 percent, you’ve got to have the product pipeline to do that,’ then you’ve got to have the resource plan as well,” he says. The close collaboration between executives at Cypress markedly contrasts with less-integrated companies, where it’s not uncommon for sales and product leaders to rarely have any communication whatsoever.

A collaborative approach is also useful for sales leaders seeking to build support to fund a new initiative. Tim Huffmyer, CFO of technology service provider Black Box Network Services, says sales executives frequently overemphasize the revenue a new idea will bring while lowballing the costs. “Take extra caution in making sure you are conservative in laying out extra costs that you might not think of in the first analysis of the project or proposal,” he says. Many times, Huffmyer says, wise sales executives will seek out the help of a company’s financial analysts, who can build models that accurately estimate costs and revenues.

STEP SIX: TALENT STRATEGYAn effective talent strategy helps executives put the right

people in the right positions, so that all of a company’s functional strategies are executed well and support one another. It’s hard to overstate the importance of having a talent strategy capable of assessing, recruiting, training, and retaining the sorts of employees who can devise stellar products and marketing campaigns and close sales. Research from SBI has shown that matching the right people with the right jobs accounts for 50 percent of an organization’s performance, with the other 50 percent determined by the performance conditions created by having the proper strategies in place.

Too many companies fail to include HR executives in the development of corporate and functional strategies. In the AMX division of Harman, a 14,000-employee company that provides premium audio and visual solutions, global chief human resources officer Steve Byars has found that the proper role for an HR executive is as a senior advisor to the CEO and other company leaders. “It’s so key to have the trust and open communication and dialogue with the CEO and the board, but also with the sales leader and the rest of the team,” he says.

Outside of the most strategically aligned companies, this is not generally the role of the top HR executives. Instead of a leader who views his fellow executives as internal customers who need top performers throughout the organization chart, many HR chiefs spend their time making sure a company is compliant with all employment regulations and laws so it doesn’t get sued.

Byars believes the HR department as a whole needs to be

involved in the daily operations at a company to better grasp the skills and talent required in all positions. “Whether it’s a service or a product, go out and become part of it, all the way to the loading dock,” he says. “Learn all those businesses and you’re going to have a whole different orientation for how things work.”

Other strategically integrated companies expect HR executives to partner with functional leaders to help them identify, recruit, and interview new talent. John Pierce, who heads up the global HR function for corporate, sales, and marketing at the data-intelligence company Zebra Technologies, believes sales managers and reps should be instrumental in recruiting new sales talent. “They know their area of expertise better than anyone,” he says. “I always see it as the sales leader’s responsibility to drive the search process.” HR’s role is to help identify potential candidates and pinpoint what to look for as they assess possible new hires. For Pierce, that means working with sales leaders to help them more effectively interview job candidates. “They become very good at the interviewing process,” he says.

LOOKING TOWARD 2016

There are plenty of reasons to be enthusiastic about the pursuit of strategic alignment, especially because change can happen quickly. Companies can move from Level One to Level Two in as little as three months and see immediate improvements in customer-acquisition costs and customer lifetime value. “Benefits are instant,” says SBI’s Alexander. As a company embraces the importance of change and employees begin to personally experience the tangible benefits that come from strategic alignment, organizational momentum toward improvement builds.

One of the key lessons SBI learned in its exhaustive study of strategically aligned companies is that they adhere to a defined annual strategic-planning process. For most, the third quarter is the time to look at the market and research for potential changes. The fourth quarter is when the individual functions define their own strategies in a way that recognizes any changes in the market while also achieving the corporate strategy.

Obviously, part of developing functional strategies involves sharing them across the organization and, ultimately, coming up with between three and five key integration points to be measured in the future. As the first quarter of the next fiscal year begins, the new strategies launch, along with weekly, monthly, and quarterly communications among various leaders to make sure they’re working and that alignment is maintained.

This is how companies that boast strategic alignment work. As we progress through the third quarter of 2015, those wheels will begin turning again. While nobody can predict exactly how 2016 will unfold, we can say this about the vast majority of these strategically aligned companies: They will once again make their number.

CONGRATS TO THE

AMA 2014-2015 CMO OF THE YEAR,

GREG CLARK. (A.K.A OUR CLIENT)

Greg Clark, CMO of Caliber Collision


SALES AND MARKETING CONSULTING


SUMMER 2015 57

IDEAL LIFE

70% of travelers say they will gain weight while traveling

52% of travelers say they drink more alcohol while on the road than at home

AV E R AG E A M O U N T O F W E I G H T G A I N D U R I N G T R AV E L

Less than 5 pounds

Juicy rib-eyes at a client’s favorite steakhouse. Hotels

offering warm chocolate-chip

cookies. Banquet fare with

tiramisu for dessert. Those are

the kinds of temptations that

we business travelers face.

A Columbia University study

confirms we should worry

about what those tasty treats

do to our health: Researchers

found that frequent business

travelers (on the road 21 or

more days per month) are 92

percent more likely to be obese

than other workers.

When it comes to managing

weight, here’s what I’ve

concluded: It really comes down

to calories consumed versus

miles logged. And my on-the-

road eating tips are super basic

— but they work.

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate:

Drink a ton of water. According

to the Health Sciences Academy,

water can help you feel full,

boost metabolic rate by 30

percent, and help your body

detox.

Find the Nutritional Info:

Stay in hotels with calorie

counts on their restaurants’

menus and track those calories

with a health-monitoring device,

such as Fitbit, or an app, such

as MyFitnessPal.

Splurge on Client Dinners:

Save calories for when you dine

with clients. When dining alone,

take the opportunity to eat light.

But if you’re at a steakhouse

for business and the clients are

ordering prime rib, order more

than greens. In this situation,

focus on portion control.

Don’t Brag: Avoid flaunting

your healthy lifestyle in front of

clients. They don’t necessarily

want to hear you talk about your

fitness plan. That is unless you

know your clients like or want to

talk exercise and diet.

Go Easy on the Sauce:

Watch alcohol intake, because

liquor is full of empty calories.

If you do drink, opt for clear

alcohol, such as gin or vodka,

since it contains fewer calories

than beer or darker liquors.

Here’s the Deal: You’re

ultimately in charge of the

food you eat. Don’t think you

are at the mercy of your crazy

travel schedule. When it comes

to healthy eating and smart

fitness choices on the road,

control what you can.

EATING WELL ON THE ROADClose the Door on Weight Gain — Even When You’re

Closing a Business Deal by MARK SYNEK

36% of business travelers admit to overeating More than 5 pounds So much weight, “I

need to hit the gym”

37% 17% 17%

A C H I E V E

Y O U R G O A L S

I N S I D E A N D

O U T S I D E

T H E O F F I C E

58 SBI MAGAZINE

IDEAL LIFE

As much as I travel, I’ve learned that to keep up my exercise routine away from home, I have to stay prepared. If you don’t take your workout stuff with you, you can’t work out. At least give yourself a fighting chance.

Not long ago, I was stuck at the Indianapolis airport for a three-hour weather delay. But I still got my daily workout in. I just pulled gym shoes out of my carry-on.

Even though I was wearing my sport coat and turned a few heads pacing the terminal again and again, I got in my 11,000 steps.

I religiously use my Fitbit device, which tracks workouts, footsteps, and even calories. And I’m down 50 pounds and up to 1,800 push-ups a week. I travel by car or plane three to four times a week, and I’m proud to say I’ve mastered working in those on-the-road workouts.

HERE ARE MY TOP TIPS:Use a Fitbit or similar device

to monitor movements and workouts.

Pack a set of workout shorts, shirt, and shoes — and take an extra set. I always take two of everything — two white button-downs, two shave kits, two sets of workout gear.

Pick one hotel chain you like so you’re familiar with the workout facilities and options. Some may even provide workout clothes if you leave yours at home. Get to know the front desk staff, because you may get after-checkout access to workout rooms or a place to change

clothes before your flight. Head outdoors. Let’s face it, not

all hotels have superior workout facilities. In fact, Lieberman Research conducted a study of 300 business travelers for Westin Hotels & Resorts and found that 55 percent of them have walked out of a hotel gym because of poor equipment. If you think “Ugh” when you peek into a dingy room with a few treadmills, try for an outdoor workout. Ask the front desk attendant for a jogging trail map to walk or run. This way you get a little sunshine and fresh air.

Schedule workouts like a meeting. Put it on your calendar

WORK IT OUTIt’s Hard to Find a Time and Place to Exercise on the Road But Try These Tips for Getting in Crunches — in a Crunchby MARK SYNEK

SUMMER 2015 59

Salespeople who are also parents feel pulled in two directions. You want to make your number, but you also want to be involved in your children’s lives. Is it possible to be successful at both?

As a sales professional with two children at home, I believe that being an involved parent and making your number aren’t mutually exclusive. You can do both well. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way:

PLAN AHEADCoordinate as much as possible

ahead of time. For example, using your child’s school calendar, incorporate the important events you don’t want to miss into your work calendar well in advance. If you need to work during a vacation, wake up early in the morning so you can answer emails and do as much as possible while your family members are asleep. Spend as much uninterrupted time with your family during those “prime-time” hours.

SET EXPECTATIONSOver-communicate but don’t over-

promise. If you know there’s a good chance you won’t be able to attend a

child’s school event or family gathering, be upfront. Set expectations but don’t commit to things you can’t pull off, because that will just let them down.

INTEGRATE WHILE BALANCINGRather than compartmentalizing the

two roles, combine them. Integrate your work with your family life. For example, if you’re going on a business trip, extend it over a weekend and invite your family to join you. Including your spouse and children will introduce them to some exciting cities and allow you to spend time together.

LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGYInvite your family members to

share your work calendar so they can see where you are and what you have coming up. You can also use travel apps in the same way. When on the road, use applications such as FaceTime and Skype to stay in touch visually.

You can be an involved parent and make your number. Be sure to set yourself up for success by integrating your family and work, planning ahead for special events, setting expectations, and leveraging technology.

MAKING YOUR NUMBER AND BEING AN INVOLVED PARENT

or in your smartphone with a reminder two to three days a week, whenever you can catch it.

Apart from health benefits, I saw a tidbit in the Los Angeles Times that may give you another incentive: A study from consulting firm Alertness Solutions found that 66 percent of business travelers said they exercise on the road, and 35 percent of those said it improved or greatly improved their performance at work.

So if you want to outperform peers and stay healthy, find a way to exercise. Even in the middle of a busy workday, you just have to stay motivated and do it.

They Don’t Have to be Mutually Exclusive by JOSH HORSTMANN

60 SBI MAGAZINE

IDEAL LIFE

Since his childhood, Christopher Bray has thrived in different cultures across the globe. Bray, senior vice president at Intel Security (formerly McAfee), was born in Germany and spent his youth living wherever his father’s position in academia took his family, including Tajikistan, among other international destinations.

“My exposure to other cultures has really influenced my curiosity for other languages and customs,” Bray says. “I have a genuine desire to figure out how to thrive in a different environment and learning about other people’s ways of doing things.”

What he learned has paid off for him throughout his career in terms of building relationships that lead to sales.

“What translates universally

across cultures are the simplest things,” he adds. “Listening to someone. Laughing with someone. Rolling up your sleeves and digging into a project with someone. These personal experiences build relationships.”

MULTICULTURAL MIND-SETToday, Bray puts his

multicultural background to use at Intel Security, with global responsibility for the company’s consumer PC OEM, ISP/telecommunications/mobile, and retail businesses. Bray earned his MBA at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, but he started his career with McAfee in South Africa.

“The reason I ended up there was my girlfriend got a job offer in Johannesburg,” Bray explains. “She decided to take the job, and I

decided to follow her.” Bray’s capacity for risk-taking

paid off. Not only did he get the girl — today, she is his wife — but he also landed a job with McAfee, where he was responsible for sub-Saharan African business.

“I stayed in that position for several years until McAfee asked me if I would be interested in taking a new position in Austin,” Bray says. “The job was to run McAfee’s relationship with Dell on a global basis, making sure that our software would be the preferred software installed on Dell computers across the globe.”

GLOBAL AND LOCALAlthough he’s a senior-level

executive for the world’s largest dedicated security technology company, Bray remains humble about his achievements. “My philosophy is that if you start off being assigned to make coffee, then make the best coffee possible,” he says. “If you want to get to the next level, do your

absolute best at your current job.”Despite Bray’s global

experience, he emphasizes that having a local focus has led to his success.

“My global experience has taught me that there is nothing that can replace face time,” he says. “You can’t run a global business with conference calls and spreadsheets. You have to get out and meet people. When you have a structured conference call with a crisp agenda, there are nuances, opportunities, and challenges that won’t come out in that type of a format. No matter how sophisticated technology gets, the fact is we’re still human beings,” Bray says.

FINDING QUALITY TIMEBray places a lot of emphasis on

the quality time he spends with his family. He and his wife’s two daughters, ages 12 and 14, bring them much joy and laughter, he says. “I believe that finding a balance between work and home life is necessary for a successful career,” Bray says. “One of the things I am very adamant about is scheduling time off. I’ll travel to the ends of the earth during the week, but it’s very rare that I’ll schedule time during a vacation or on the weekends.”

In his spare time, Bray says, he enjoys racing motorcycles and tinkering in his garage. He is also passionate about health and fitness. “I think it’s really important to get the right amount of balance, the right amount of exercise, and the right nutrition,” Bray says. “This will enable you to feed the cycle of health, happiness, and productivity.”

Bray’s bigger-picture perspective, which has brought him good fortune both at home and in his role as SVP at an enterprise level, provides a refreshing road map for those who hope to mimic his success.

HOW I DID ITChristopher Bray, Senior Vice President at Intel Security, Reveals How He Achieved Success by BRITTANY GLENN

Christopher Bray began his career with

McAfee (now Intel Security) in South

Africa before he relocated to Austin.

Todd Cione, Chief Revenue Officer at Rackspace

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