Ep 26 - What would happen if you moved BDRs under marketing?

Business Development Representatives (BDRs) have typically been a sales function, as part of the compartmentalization of sales functions defined in Aaron Ross’ Predictable Revenue (2011).

What worked well for a decade has met challenges today. They don’t want the phone calls or emails until they’re ready.

In short, buyers have changed their research and buying process--what was predictable five years ago is…

Well, not so much.

Because prospecting is actually marketing, some innovative organizations have moved them under marketing and changed the incentives to focus on engagement over number of meetings booked.

That’s a tough pill to swallow for many B2B companies that have built their sales (and marketing) infrastructures around the Predictable Revenue Model.

As Vice President of Marketing at Intellum, Robyn Hazelton has led the charge to move their BDRs under marketing, develop a closer relationship with sales, and align all their sales, marketing, and customer success motions around the buyer.

In this episode, she talks about how they made the move to marketing, the organizational challenges, and how to use the data to drive better decisions.

The results speak for themselves—dramatically shorter sales cycles and four times higher revenue over the previous year.

It’s an illuminating interview and will help you evaluate whether or not your current sales and marketing process could be modified for greater efficiency.

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