6 Keys To Building A High Performance Revenue Marketing Practice: People And Process
- Published in Demanding Views
By Debbie Qaqish
Editor's note: In this three-part series, Debbie Qaqish examines the six keys of building and growing a thriving Revenue Marketing practice – strategy, content, people, process, technology and results. In Part One she talked about Strategy and Content. In Part Two, Debbie discusses People and Process.
People Power
Ever played the fortune cookie game in a Chinese restaurant? You read your fortune from the slip of paper inside your fortune cookie, add two little words – “in bed” -- and it completely changes the meaning of your fortune!
When thinking about people, add the two little words – Revenue Marketing – and it completely changes what you mean by “people.” Let’s look at the four fundamental elements of people in Revenue Marketing.
1. Marketing And Sales Synergy. This is an evergreen topic for marketers, and it is especially important if you have ANY chance at Revenue Marketing success. The most successful organizations have more than alignment; they have synergy so that the efforts of each group are in the best interests of both marketing and sales. Having a common direction, goals, metrics and compensation are the best ways to create this synergy. How do you rate against these four key measures?
2. Marketing And Senior Executive Vision. First, Revenue Marketing is a strategic initiative, not another set of marketing tactics and to-dos, and like any strategic initiative, executive vision and support is critical. There is a lot of change management that occurs as a company moves marketing from a cost center to a revenue marketing status: How does the role of marketing in revenue impact change? How does the role of sales change, how are budgets reallocated? And finally, how do all key stakeholders play nice together?
3. Revenue Marketing Skills And Competencies. There are eight key competencies required for Revenue Marketing success: strategy, business analysis, marketing automation power user, nurture and campaign specialist, creative specialist, tele-qualifying, content specialist and marketing operations. This is a big list, and sometimes you can find some of these skills in house. More often, however, you will need to hire or train to have the full complement of skills required for a successful Revenue Marketing practice.
4. Enabling The Sales Organization. The last area in people is educating, training and empowering sales to take advantage of the benefits of marketing automation. This includes giving sales full access to the online behavior of customers and prospects so they can make better decisions during the sales process. Sales must be able to use campaigns created by marketing. They must sing from the same hymnbook as marketing. Finally, sales must have complimentary automation tools to effectively prioritize their activities.
Process Makes Perfect
Developing, testing, validating and codifying process can be a challenge for the Revenue Marketer. Not only is it time intensive, it is also never-ending. To be an effective Revenue Marketer, there are several key processes that must be mapped and validated. They include development and management of the campaign process, the content management process, the contact and data management process, the testing and QA process, the funnel management process, the lead management process, the customer buy cycle process and the reporting process.
Here are five steps to develop and codify any process:
1. Gather a small group of stakeholders and map the buying process as you understand it today. Example: Working with a cross section of marketing and sales operations, map the life of a lead (lead management) including required fields in CRM.
2. Using this same group, map the process the way you think it should be. Typically, companies implementing a new marketing automation system will map the new, optimized process for a raw name to closed deal, and how that works across marketing automation and CRM.
3. Take this "AS IS" and "TO BE" process map and conduct an internal validation with other key stakeholders. Focus on validating the "TO BE" process. Work with sales folks across all key areas of sales to validate the lead management process works for all situations.
4. Once you have conducted an internal validation, conduct an external validation with external stakeholders. No external stakeholders in this example.
5. Codify the validated process.
Once you understand the "People" element of Revenue Marketing you are able to create the right "Processes" to transform your marketing efforts and drive revenue. Join me next month for Part Three of this series when I take you on the last leg of the Revenue Marketing Journey: Technology and Results.
Debbie Qaqish is Principal Partner and Chief Revenue Marketing Officer for The Pedowitz Group, the authority in Revenue Marketing Transformation. A nationally recognized thought leader, Qaqish has over 30 years of experience helping organizations connect marketing to revenue. She is a pioneer in marketing automation – first as a beneficiary of the technology and now as an advocate and expert. Debbie was just named one of the Top 10 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management. She coined the term “Revenue Marketer” in 2007. Contact Debbie@pedowitzgroup.com or http://www.linkedin.com/in/dqaqish.