This article was written by Ray Kemper, CMO of Televerde and published by Convince and Convert in June 2016. Convince & Convert was founded by Jay Baer in 2008. Jay has advised more than 700 brands since getting started in online marketing in 1993.

By Ray Kemper

5 Steps to Boost B2B Marketing Productivity

When it comes to marketing strate-

gies, you’ll find lots of tricks and

techniques on launching creative

marketing campaigns and driving

conversions. While those are

valuable conversations to have,

sometimes teams put the cart before

the horse by focusing on refining

those tactics when they haven’t yet

addressed more basic steps on

ccampaign strategy and metrics for

success. One commonly overlooked

area? Volume.

Consider your team’s productivity. By

setting the right expectations up front

in terms of volume and leads, and by

prioritizing the appropriate metrics,

you’ll position your pipeline for

sstronger sales. The trick is to increase

volume strategically, so your team

brings in a higher number of quality

leads. You’ll make better use of your

team’s time and enjoy stronger

results and bigger profits on the

same budget.

HHere are five steps to bigger and

smarter B2B marketing volume.

1. Get Focused

This is where your engagement

strategy begins. No doubt you’ve

already spent time focusing on your

targets. Get laser-sharp on your

industry segments, and identify

ggeographical areas and the size of

the businesses you’re targeting, as

well as other qualifying information

for your product.

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The trick is to increase volume strategically, so your team brings in a higher number of quality leads.

The buyer personas within your

segment are a critical component. You

should develop your personas from

good primary research involving

tailored surveys, both online and

through telecommunication or

iin-person conversations, with your

targeted industries and buyers. Your

personas will continue to evolve based

on your learnings and approaches.

YYou’ll also need to map out the buyer’s

journey for your product. Too many

teams make one of two mistakes here:

They either try to recreate the wheel for

each campaign, or they think in terms

of transactions, rather than the buyer’s

mmind throughout their buying decision.

By mapping the buyer’s journey up

front, you can leverage those insights

and develop campaigns that talk to the

buyers’ needs at various points of the

decision making process.

2. Know Your Data

TThe effectiveness and productivity of

your campaigns is reliant on the

clean and accurate data that feeds

them. According to Sirius Decisions,

25 percent of the average database is

inaccurate. This isn’t surprising, given

that teams often build up a base of

ininformation quickly without

deliberate management. The result

is wasted valuable time and budget

going after the wrong targets.

Keeping your data clean and current

does more than empower you to

personalize effectively and develop

content that resonates. You’ll also

maximize your budget by having your

team pursue only the right people at

the right time.

According to Sirius Decisions, 25 percent of the average database is inaccurate. This isn’t surprising, given that teams often build up a base of information quickly wwithout deliberate management.

3. Get a Marketing Automation Engine

YYou have two options here: You can

either buy a platform yourself or hire

a provider as a managed service.

Either is a valid option, but be aware

that marketing automation is not

plug-and-play. It involves a steep

learning curve and the right staffing. If

yoyou choose to use a provider as a

managed service, you’ll get the

benefits of the provider’s expertise

without the hassles of managing or

maintaining the system. If you

choose to deploy and manage your

own system, just be sure to manage

internal expectations for when

4. Have the Right Conversation

To accelerate your pipeline, you’ll

want to tailor your outbound

conversations as precisely as

ppossible. You’ll need to discover

where each prospect is in the

buyer’s journey. Is the prospect only

consuming content and getting

educated? Does their contract come

up for renewal next year, and they’re

exploring their options?

KKnowing where they stand in their

process helps you frame the

conversation and shortens the time

from contact to close. Remember

campaigns can start to roll out, and

plan on training your team.

YYou can choose from top-of-the-line

platforms to more basic models, but

you do want your system to feed into

your CRM. This is critical for boosting

productivity and sales effectiveness;

if your systems don’t talk to each

other, you’ll encounter a number of

ununnecessary delays, misalignments

and stumbling blocks. For instance,

follow-up will be difficult, you’ll have

to export files manually, and sales

people will update information that

doesn’t make it into your master

system, creating frustration with

outdated records.

5 Steps to Boost B2B Marketing Productivity2

that digital is only part of the

jjourney—it’s not the entire journey.

You need to layer in a conversation

with the prospect through teleservices

to identify their stage in the journey.

Your data and engagement statistics

should help you strategize and

eescalate the path to ROI. But don’t

forget the importance of the human

touch along the way.

5. Align Sales and Marketing

We We marketers talk about this a lot,

but more as a general goal than a

practical tactic. The truth is that

aligning with sales and building trust

among departments will spark an

immediate rise in productivity.

Agenda items here include

ddeveloping a common set of

definitions on what a lead is and

agreeing on when that lead is qualified

for sales. The teams will also need to

agree on a standardized process and

timeline for lead follow-up.

WWithout this alignment, you’ll have a

disgruntled sales team who complains

that marketing is giving them the

wrong leads, and an equally

ddisgruntled marketing team who wants

to know why good leads are dying

on the vine. But once they’re working

in tandem, you’ll have a feedback

loop of continuous improvement.

TThe first step in a high rate of closed

deals is a rich pipeline flowing with

leads. Focus on boosting your team’s

productivity and making the most

strategic use of their time, and you’ll

see a rise of lead volume that translates

into a rise in ROI.

Call us about how to increase your

sales pipeline volume.

televerde.com 888-787-2829

The truth is that aligning with sales and building trust among departments will spark an immediate rise in productivity.

5 Steps to Boost B2B Marketing Productivity3

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