In the Pipeline Issue #12
Hi there! ??
Welcome to issue #12?of In the Pipeline, where we share what's worked for us—and what hasn't—in the B2B marketing and sales enablement space. This month: how a sound GTM strategy could save your numbers, our issue with cold-calling as a first resort, how to spot a bad lead, and a little sales habit we love to see.
Struggling to hit sales targets?
Before you start adjusting your sales targets, is your entire organization aligned on your go-to-market strategy?
Here are the key elements of every GTM strategy:
1. Positioning and Targeting
What niche segments value your offering vs their alternatives? (Highest margin segments)
2. Product
What is your value prop and your differentiators for this niche?
3. Content
How are you going to reach and engage this audience?
4. Distribution
Is your content tailored to each stage of the buying journey?
Align your sales and marketing teams on the answers to these four questions, then do the WORK, and then see where your numbers are.
Cold calling vs. ABM
Cold calling might be "the way you've always done it," but you just can't build a sales pipeline with outbound calling, it's just not sustainable. Here's a big reason why:
Cold calling thousands of prospects - imagine the likelihood of reaching the right buyer at the right time pretty far down their buying journey - that means time wasted.
And cold calling can turn off leads that really just needed to be nurtured - that means pipeline leakage!
Try account-based marketing instead:
Before you pick up the phone, reach your list of 2000+ plus names with buyer centric content. You'll know warm prospects when you see who's engaging—then start reaching out! (But ask questions, don't sell!)
Pursuing bad leads causes sales burnout:
Tired of training new sales reps? Here's a great place to start:
Send sales reps their best bets and reduce the noise.
Here are the questions to tell if a lead is worth pursuing:
?When your sales teams is confident in their Best Bets Dashboard, they'll hit their SLAs and be able to spend more time on profitable opportunities, and everyone will be happier.
领英推荐
Something we love to see:
Tracking the effectiveness of content!
When we see companies tracking their content, they focus their resources on content that’s getting buyers into and down the funnel.
Here's a few metrics to measure your content with:
Reach: Is your content getting in front of of your TAM?
Engagement: Time on site and scroll %: how long are folks engaged in reading the content and continuing into the site?
Conversion: Are people completing the desired action?
Use simple metrics like these to see what's working and what's not —?then adjust accordingly!
What we're reading:
Everyone's definition of "marketing" is a little bit different. Seth Godin's definition is a fresh, modern take and we're here for it.
Tip: Godin's book is especially helpful when thinking about your go-to-market strategy!
Get it on Amazon.
That's all for now! Watch out for us next month.
The Swivel Team
Powered by Swivel, a sales-first marketing partner for mid-size B2B companies.?