SALES & MARKETING Ecosystem Alignment Report
Sales & Marketing Ecosystem Alignment Report Prepared for: BUILD & DEPLOY AUTOMATION COMPANY The Eco System Alignment Report identified ways marketing can provide an increased volume of higher quality MQL s by leveraging your company s collective knowledge about the customer experience. Implementing these insights into your processes will result in sales having more conversations about Budgets, Requirements and Timelines. TABLE OF CONTENTS Evaluation: Ideal Company Profile P2 Research Path P5 Sales & Marketing Alignment P7 Recommendations: Next Steps (by topic) P8 Content Development P 13 Future Initiatives P 16 To gather information for this report, 6 members of your team took surveys specific to their roles and expertise on your industry and solutions. Follow up calls were conducted with Survey Participants. Our discovery also lead to 1 hour Follow up calls were performed with: Director of Sales Sales Engineer Director of Marketing VP of Sales Marketing Manager Sales Admin Account Executive Account Executive 1
EVALUATION IDEAL COMPANY PROFILE Through the surveys and follow up interviews we discovered that your team had an in-depth understanding of your customer s experience; that hadn t been documented, shared or leveraged in your messaging or nurture campaigns. We ve defined 7 components of your Ideal Company Profile (ICP) in the Build & Deploy space. This section of the report defines your ICP and how they develop requirements. 1 SIZE: Companies with 500+ employees with large development teams of 25 developers or more. 2 INDUSTRIES: You have a strong presence in regulated industries as the result of your end-to-end audit trail and 360 Development Cycle reporting. Banking Finance Insurance With a second tier of presence in: Military 2 Military Contractors Education Retail Government
3 4 EVENT(S) THAT EXPOSE CRITICAL NATURE OF PAIN AND ISSUES: Broken Builds & deploys Enterprise migrations Cross platform build errors Script management breakdowns Poor product launch Internal/external code audits INITIATIVE THAT LEADS TO BUDGETED PROJECT: 100% of your Enterprise implementations are comprised of organizations that have implemented a Centralized Build Team (CBT). The CBT commonality is a result of your platform being the best and most established enterprise tool in the market designed to accommodate a development cycle managed by operations with autogenerated reporting. The adoption of a CBT varies by industry: In the Financial sector, the CBT initiative is driven by the emerging regulations and need for on demand audit trail reports. In the Healthcare industry, insurance companies are facing fluctuating requirements across the entire healthcare landscape. Centralized control is essential to quick adaptation. 3
5 ROLES AND RESOURCES RESEARCH SOLUTIONS AND VENDORS: Project Managers Development (Manager/Director Enterprise Architect IT Operations (Manager/Director) IT innovation (Manager/Director) DevOps (Manager/Director) IT Transformation/Strategy (Manager/Director) 6 HOW REQUIREMENTS ARE DEVELOPED: Requirements are initially developed by the roles doing research. Their requirements checklist is shared with: 7 Development Operations (CBT) IT Workflow DevOps (where established) Executive teams Build & Release Automation DECISION MAKERS, BUDGET AND APPROVAL PROCESS: Centralized Build Team, Build & Release Automation, IT Work Flow Management, DevOps and IT transformation projects fall under the CIO Budget. Small team implementations are often approved by the Director or VP of in charge of project. Enterprise implementations need approval from the office of the CIO. Enterprise implementations in the Financial industry sometimes need additional budget approval or need to provide supplemental vendor qualifications to the office of the CFO. 4
BUILD & RESEARCH DEPLOY PATH OF ICP There are 3 stages of the Research Path (RP) in the Build & Deploy space. This section of the report defines your ICP and how they develop requirements. QUESTIONS 1 TOP / AWARENESS How do I automate the development cycle with error alerts before release? What s the best way to manage cross platformbuilds? What s the best way to prepare for code audits? How do I guarantee my release will work? What tools are available for Centralized Build Teams? 2 MIDDLE / CONSIDERATION Should we Build or Buy? Should we use Open Source or Commercial? Can we get more out of our existing tools/features with customization? Should we invest in a consulting firm to develop our road map? Should we invest in a consulting firm or tool integrator to develop our road map? 3 BOTTOM / DECISION What features best meet requirements by vendors Scalability How much customization will be needed Native integrations with core technology stack Support and development requests 5
CONCLUSIONS 1 TOP / AWARENESS PRIMARY CONCLUSIONS YOU WANT THE RESEARCHER TO LEARN DURING AWARENESS STAG Broken releases often happen earlier at compile-and link stage not at release. Checking build status against technology stack across the entire development process will catch errors before release Standardizing the build process can accommodate cross platform builds Centralizing the build process will capture all code changes with time stamps, essential for code audits Standardizing the build & release process offers code validation at stages of the development cycle Your Enterprise tool is specifically designed for organizations that have implemented a CBT 2 MIDDLE / CONSIDERATION PRIMARY CONCLUSIONS YOU WANT THE RESEARCHER TO LEARN DURING CONSIDERATION STAGE Building will still rely on extensive script management and not provide centralized control needed to achieve goals. It s different wrapper on the same problem Open Source does not provide entire development cycle audit trail It costs more to integrate existing tools, especially when trying to make them function outside intended use You offer road-mapping services and have a list of tool integrators you partner with 3 BOTTOM / DECISION SEE CONTENT DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES FOR ASSETS SALES NEEDS TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS 6
SALES & MARKETING ALIGNMENT Marketing has not defined definitive criteria for a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL). What has been defined was developed without any input from Sales. Sales has not engaged in attribution reporting to establish MQL conversions. Sales and Marketing need to collaborate to understand what the customers experience is and increase the number of Conversations about Budgets, Requirements and Timelines. The survey responses revealed that Sales & Marketing had not engaged each other on the following topics: How a MQL is defined How many MQL s are converting Why does marketing think it s a MQL How a MQL is delivered What do sales look for in a MQL Sales criteria for a MQL Most frequent questions MQL s ask sales Sales Objections Top reasons MQL s don t convert What happens when Sales disqualifies a lead 7
NEXT STEPS Based on your current process and maturity, our recommendations are focused on increased adoption of Marketing Automation platform and communicating with your ICP in a more sophisticated way. In addition, the quality and volume of information we gathered will provide the details needed to develop Project Plans and/or Road Maps across all areas of the Sales & Marketing Ecosystem and facilitate ongoing Sales & Marketing alignment. MARKETING AUTOMATION (MA) The most pressing MA initiative is to configure your platform to accommodate a lead acquisition through sales hand-off process based on your ICP and Research Path (RP) discovery. Recommended series of events for nurture and MQL hand-off program: 8 1 LEAD PROVIDES PROFILE INFORMATION AT GATED CONTENT (FORMS) 2 LEADS ARE GRADED AND SCORED BASED PROFILE INFORMATION GATHERED AT FORM AND BY SOURCE 3 GRADED, SCORED AND ROUTED TO NURTURE CAMPAIGN 4 MQL HAND-OFF TO SALES WITH AUTO LEAD ASSIGNMENT AND SALES ALERTS
FORMS You ve implemented Forms, but they are not capturing the information needed to properly qualify and route leads to the corresponding nurture campaign or hand-off to sales. The forms currently ask for generic information that don t qualify the lead based on your ICP and RP. Forms should gather qualification criteria and route prospects to next step based on their profile. After First Name, Last Name and Email, forms should ask qualifying questions. Example: FORM QUESTION: What stage of research are you at on this topic? Understanding the challenges of Graded, Scored & Routed to Awareness Nature Campaign Determining the best options for improving Graded, Scored & Routed to Awareness Nature Campaign Developing requirements based on Graded, Scored & Routed to Awareness Consideration Campaign Have requirements and looking for solutions... Graded, Scored & handed-off to Sales * SEE SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT ON FORMS AND PROGRESSIVE PROFILING BASED ON ICP AND RESEARCH PATH 9
GRADING & SCORING You ve implemented scoring but not grading. Thus, your scoring doesn t help define lead qualification in a meaningful way. It s best to categorize GRADE and SCORE based on: GRADE SCORE How interested you are in them based on ICP and stage of research path. Source and Form answers dictates Grade How interested they are in you Specific and number of assets viewed dictates score This grading and scoring model will determine the next for that lead. * SEE SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT ON GRADING AND SCORING BASED ON ICP AND RESEARCH PATH DISCOVERY NURTURE PROGRAMS You currently have one drip campaign where all scored leads are funneled to. You need to configure at least 3 Nurture campaigns that account for new grading and scoring model: AWARENESS CAMPAIGN CONSIDERATION CAMPAIGN ONGOING NURTURING See Prioritizing Content Development section for content needed to fulfill steps * SEE SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT ON GRADING AND SCORING BASED ON ICP AND RESEARCH PATH DISCOVERY 10
HAND OFF TO SALES MQL s are currently assigned to sales users Round-Robin style with auto lead assignment and real time alerts. No immediate changes are required. Will need to review process and options when new nurture programs are implemented. Primary considerations will be: Implementation of sales development and best practices for new process PULL ASSIGNMENT SKILLS-BASED / GEO ROUTING ROUND ROBIN DISTRIBUTION PUSH ASSIGNMENT SALES DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING CROSS TEAM DATA-BASE MANAGEMENT SKILLS-BASED / GEO & PUSH HYBRID MARKETING For the new MA process to be implemented, Marketing needs to assimilate the new ICP, Research Path (RP) and Sales insights into their strategy. ICP, Research Path (RP) and Sales insights into their strategy. Social Media distribution should be based on an editorial calendar and should coincide with content development. New ICP and RP messaging should be incorporated to SEO and AdWords program. A budget review will be needed as Marketing prioritizes new initiatives and approach. The Marketing team has stated Account Based Marketing (ABM) will be a focus of your strategy in the coming year; but haven t defined a phase 1 implementation of ABM or how to migrate from traditional role based marketing to an ABM model. We recommend further exploration into the concepts and criteria for developing budget. * SEE SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT ON AUTOMATED SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRIBUTION 11
SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENT The surveys uncovered areas that Sales and Marketing had not explored together. The first step to Sales a & Marketing alignment is to establish who will be responsible for what aspect of lead development and qualification: Marketing Marketing Do you have a problem? Do you understand the Problem? Do you know what the problem is? Are you looking to solve that problem? SDR or Account Executive Do you have budget, requirements and timelines to solve that problem? SDR or Account Executive What is your budget? What are your requirements? What is Your timeline? Account Executive Does that budget properly assess TCO? Are those the right requirements to achieve goals? Are you committed and is that a realistic timeline to achieve goals? * SEE FUTURE INITIATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT ON SALES & MARKETING ALIGNMENT QUESTIONS, SUMMARY AND OPTIONS ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Because your solution impacts Development, Build, Deploy, Workflow and IT operations, you have a large buying group of 7-9 resources with varying interests and goals. Account Executives have also not been trained to extract information across the buying group or armed with specific collateral that speaks to evaluation teams. 12
NOTES ON BUYING GROUP: CHAMPIONS: You have immediate champions in the CBT as they need centralized control to perform the core function of their group. Unfortunately, the CBT falls under operations, which traditionally has limited influence on final decision to purchase. CBT teams that have been empowered by the CEB for organizational change have greater influence than some CBT teams. Account Executives need to establish the level of influence their champion CBT has. RESISTANCE: There s immediate resistance from the Development team. Development has urgency to respond to fixes, bugs and development requests; thusly, they believe a model driven approach will impede quick and independent action. Account Executives (and Marketing) need to develop messaging and a strategy to get buy-in from the Development team earlier in the sales cycle. * SEE SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT ON ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS SALES MANAGEMENT The Stage & Status of opportunities are not dependent on specific customer engagement. This has led to: Sales Engineers spending time on unqualified prospects and unreliable revenue forecasts Account Executives not prioritizing activity correctly We recommend implementing specific qualification criteria for each stage of opportunities: Defining level of influence of the CBT (or other champions) Accounts have provided development cycle technology stack dependencies Demo attendees have completed survey of demo requirements before Sales Engineer performs demo Accounts have provided development platform hierarchy and if cross-platform builds are an Enterprise requirement Accounts have provided perspective on the viability of open-source achieving Enterprise goals 13
* SEE SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT ON SALES MANAGEMENT INSIGHTS CONTENT DEVELOPMENT Sense marketing has not formally defined the research stages of your ICP with corresponding assets, we recommend the following steps: 1 STEP Catalog & Categorize Assets Example: Asset Type Awareness Consideration Decision Gated Ungated Quality Promo Video High ebook Med Webinar Good Blog Post High Comparison Chart Good * SEE SUPPLEMENTAL WORKBOOK FOR CATALOGING AND CATEGORIZING CONTENT 2 STEP Evaluate which assets can be re-worked (rewrite, redesign, reimagine) to speak to your ICP 3 STEP Create content road map 4 STEP Prioritize content development 14
Content Road Map Research stages are progressive Awareness stage questions inform the consideration stage questions Consideration stage questions inform requirements Both stages are where sale objections are formed Content should answer questions researchers are asking themselves at that stage Content needs to guide prospects to requirements Incorporate SALES OBJECTIONS into Research Path: Open source can do the same thing Scripts achieve same goal Different platforms have different requirements Can already achieve some functionality with current tools Developers need more control Need a SaaS model Sales has excellent responses for these objections. However, if researchers sit with a question too long, it can result in a disproportionate attachment to the concern. Addressing future objections earlier in the research cycle will help direct researchers to a more favorable context for your solution. * SEE SUPPLEMENTAL OBJECTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR INCORPORATION MARKETING MESSAGING AND ASSETS 15
Prioritizing Content Development You won t be able to accurately prioritize content development until you ve developed the Content Road Map; but based on Account Executive and Marketing Automation input, the Content Road Map should include assets for: Nurture Campaigns: Marketing Automation should be implementing Awareness & Consideration nurture campaigns. The number of steps and timeline of nurture campaign is dependent on number and quality of assets. Nurture campaign design should be a driving factor When prioritizing content development. Buying Group Assets: Development Build Sales Requested Assets: Sales has identified the need for sales support collateral for vendor selection stage evaluation: Deploy Feature Comparison Chart Workflow Current Case Studies IT operations TCO and ROI Development Team Flexibility Data Sheet Operations (CBT) Check List DevOps (where established) IT Workflow * SEE SUPPLEMENTAL OBJECTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR INCORPORATION MARKETING MESSAGING AND ASSETS 16