Transform Marketing from a Cost Center to a Revenue Generator

Today’s show will demonstrate how to generate enough leads for the sales team to exceed their revenue objectives. To follow along, download our 10th annual workbook, How to Make Your Number in 2017. Turn to pages 218 - 226 of the PDF to review the Lead Generation phase of the workbook.

Joining us today is Chief Marketing Officer Katherine Calvert. Katherine provided leads to the sales team at Advent Software, a B2B technology company based in financial services. Advent was acquired at a premium of five times revenue, and Katherine’s role as CMO was instrumental in this success story. Katherine is the perfect CMO to demonstrate how to generate enough leads for the sales team to exceed their revenue objectives.

Listen as Katherine level sets with B2B executive leaders on whether marketing is a cost center or a revenue generator? CMO’s are striving to prove marketing’s contribution to revenue is primary goal and Katherine has the right formula. Traditionally marketing has been viewed as a cost center. Shifting to a revenue generator starts with tracking the sourcing, support, and generation of company revenue.

Establishing marketing as a revenue generator required Katherine to elevate the value marketing delivered to the sales organization and ultimately the company. She describes looking more deliberately at the funnel from top to bottom and where our contributions touched. Everything from total number of engagements, all the way down to the percentage of revenue that closed that was attributed to opportunities discovered by marketing. This approach established credibility with sales and made possible a partnership with sales, every quarter.

Why this topic? Businesses that generate a lot of revenue from a lot of accounts need a constant stream of new leads entering the funnel. If Sales is generating leads, they are not closing deals. Marketing needs to feed the sales teams with qualified leads and get them focused on running effective sales campaigns. Failure to fill the sales team’s funnel will result in below average revenue growth.

Listen as Katherine demonstrates how to generate enough leads for the sales team to exceed their revenue objectives by answering the following questions:

- Rule of thumb- what % of leads a company needs to make its number should come from marketing?

- What percentage of a marketing budget should be dedicated to lead gen?

- How can a marketer learn the trigger events their buyer experience that put them in the market for a solution?

- How can a marketer understand the information needs of a target audience?

- Should there be a service level agreement in place between marketing and sales and if so what should it contain?

- Please describe an optimal lead hand off process?

- In your view, what is the most accurate way to measure revenue attribution?

Establishing marketing as a revenue generator requires blending the right strategies with effective tactics. Let us know if you need a hand. We can set up a workshop at The Studio, SBI’s multimillion dollar, one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art executive briefing center located in Dallas, Texas. A visit to The Studio increases the probability of making your number because the sessions are built on the proven strength and stability of SBI, the industry leader in B2B sales and marketing.