Smart Marketing Blog

10 Questions When Creating a B2B Sales Enablement Strategy

Talented salespeople are highly valuable resources for your company, and you want to ensure that every hour they spend is applied in the most impactful way possible. A strong sales enablement strategy sets your sales people up to consistently sell more effectively. Companies that use sales enablement best practices are 50 percent more likely to achieve or exceed sales quota*.

What is a Lead Conversion Funnel?

To understand what a lead conversion funnel is, you should know what a regular ol’ funnel is. According to “The Google”… So for our purposes, a Lead Conversion Funnel at the most basic level is a visualization of how prospects or leads interact with your company from an unknown website visitor to a new, first-time customer. The only difference with a Lead Conversion Funnel and your run of the mill kitchen funnel is that 100% of the contents poured in do not come out as customers.  This is where the conversion portion comes into play. There are imaginary holes in your funnel where leads leak out for various reasons, including disqualification, lack of interest, unsubscribes etc. In order to predict this loss with a reasonable amount of certainty, you use conversion rates to calculate the various lead stages. Each company’s conversion rates will vary but typically are fairly consistent from industry to industry.

Top 6 Topics for Sales + Marketing Alignment Sessions

Time is money.

TREW CEO Challenges Marketers to Be Brave  

‘Be Brave: Say No to Grow’: TREW Marketing’s Rebecca Geier Shares How Narrowing Business Focus Widens Potential for Success 

Infographic: The Engineer's Buyer Journey is Online

The traditional ways of marketing and selling to B2B audiences have evolved, thanks to the Internet. While the times have certainly changed, many engineering and technology companies haven't shifted their efforts to include inbound marketing.  Today, successful technical and engineering companies use inbound marketing with content as the fuel, to reach new prospects and nurture leads through the buyer's journey.

Our Next Big Opportunity: Smart Pipeline Management

  Recently, I spoke to a global audience of about 100 engineering business leaders and asked them a simple question: Are you happy with your pipeline? More specifically, I asked them to all stand, and only remain standing if they answered yes to the following questions:

Introduction to Message Mapping for Effective Communication

A message map is a framework used to create compelling, relevant messages for various audience segments. It also serves as an organizational alignment tool to ensure message consistency. Whether you are launching your company, introducing the next big product, or preparing for other major marketing campaigns, messaging mapping is an important step in communicating effectively.

6 Sales Trends for your Growing Business in 2018

2018 planning season is in full swing. As you work to put those final touches on business plans for your company, consider incorporating these six trends into your sales and marketing playbooks.

HubSpot CRM vs. Salesforce CRM:  6 Comparison Criteria

An effective customer relationship managment system (CRM) separates hugely successful companies from the ones with stagnant lead and sales growth. This foundational technology allows you to gain insights into your customers and prospects, easily reach out to them, and measure conversions through their buyers journey. It also helps you to eliminate numerous manual sales tasks, freeing up your sales force to spend time in the most impactful ways. In short, CRMs are critical to improving your B2B organizations' marketing and sales performance.

3 Charts Indicating Your Sales and Marketing Teams Need to Talk

Companies that use sales enablement best practices are 50% more likely to achieve or exceed sales quota*, such as successfully engaging your target personas through their buyers' journey. Marketing serves a critical role through lead generation and qualification (technical prospects complete 68% of the buyers journey before they engage with sales) as well as sales content.