Articles

12 Tips on Building a Successful B2B Inside Sales Team (a Growth Team)

October 19, 2015/in Growth Marketing Team /by Samuel J. Woods

Any CMO/VP Marketing worth their salary knows that what worked even a decade ago does not work now.

With the advent of new technology, social media, and savvy buyers, marketing teams have to be able to grow and adapt in ways they have never been challenged before.

This is why many CMOs/VP Marketing are looking to grow inside sales and marketing teams for their brands. These teams are being specifically developed to help brands not only hone their target market and buyer personas, but also understand buyer motivations to ultimately increase revenue.

You can call this (and we do) your “growth team”, too.

How to Execute Outbound B2B Lead Generation Effectively

October 9, 2015/in Acquisition, Growth Marketing Process /by Samuel J. Woods

Alright, you’ve got the team hired, the systems set up, the training complete, the goals set, now comes the most difficult part, keeping your lead generation team on task and productive every day.

No matter how your team is set up and what department it lives in, it’s incredibly important to have a lead generation team that is willing to put in the effort make adjustments to be successful.

Leverage the Right Tools for Outbound B2B Lead Generation

October 8, 2015/in Acquisition /by Samuel J. Woods

Technology is part of our life today. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not there to solve all our problems. Especially not magically conjuring up successful outbound B2B lead generation.

Too many businesses end up failing when it comes to that concept, they continue to use tools, technology, and automation even if they aren’t delivering the desired results quickly.

Instead, it’s better to focus on how tools can augment the business and its processes. When that happens, brands can start seeing much more efficiency and success.

Developing Your Outbound B2B Lead Management Process

October 7, 2015/in Activation /by Samuel J. Woods

Having a deep understanding of your sales and marketing funnel is going to help you build the foundation of your marketing plan.

Since your outbound lead generation team is focused on targeting the potential customers you’ve already identified, these brands should enter the funnel at the same stage each time.

This is different from brands who don’t have B2B lead management process or teams, and might find prospective customers entering the sales and marketing funnel at various points during the process.

How To Build an Outbound B2B Lead Generation Team

October 6, 2015/in Growth Marketing Team /by Samuel J. Woods

So, you’re ready to start building an outbound B2B lead generation team?

Great. Now here comes the hard part.

In order to find, hire, and implement the right team, you need to look at things like sales funnel activity, revenue goals, and timing.

Are You Ready to Build an Outbound B2B Lead Generation Team?

October 5, 2015/in Acquisition, Growth Marketing Team /by Samuel J. Woods

For most VP Marketing/CMO’s, one of your biggest challenge is lead generation – and developing an outbound B2B lead generation team.

Generally, lead generation is defined as:

When the sales or marketing team will reach out to specific targeted prospective buyers, let them know about your product or service and try to interest them in discussing it more (with buying in mind).

In reality, there are two main functions that go into lead generation.

Starting Your Perfect Growth Hacking Team (An Introduction)

Starting Your Perfect Growth Marketing Team (An Introduction)

September 23, 2015/in Growth Marketing Team /by Samuel J. Woods

How do you develop a new growth marketing team?

Or turn your existing team into more “growth focused”?

I’m not a huge fan of the “growth hacker” label at all, but have made peace with its existence and usage (I prefer just “growth marketing”).

Anyway, in the age when a Growth Hacker is seen as the final frontier of marketing, with a serious case of the Hero Complex, “Full-Stack” and “T-Shaped Marketer” is what everyone is aiming for…

…What’s often overlooked is that the 1 person “growth hacker” can only do so much alone – there’s a limit to capacity that is, so far, ignored.

Triple Your B2B Sales By Aligning Sales & Buying Cycle

September 5, 2015/in Revenue /by Samuel J. Woods

Let me ask you something.

And I want you to be completely honest.

The question to you is: Do you know how your customers buy?

I don’t mean if you know the features and benefits of your software – I’m sure you do.

And I don’t care if you know how to answer every objection.

No, all that’s par for the course – but I’m interested in knowing if you know how, why, and when your customers purchase your software.

B2B SaaS, Software, Tech: Preparing Your Team For Growth – Part 2

August 27, 2015/in Growth Marketing Team /by Samuel J. Woods

Here’s why you need a dedicated SaaS growth team:

You’re not going to win the “marketing lottery” with a campaign that generates hockey-stick growth.

You will probably never go “viral” or be a YouTube sensation.

The days of global vitality is largely over, as channels are becoming more fragmented and niche, while simultaneously disappearing.

For a B2C company, you don’t want to go viral anyway – you want bursts of growth that gives you momentum and vitality does not.

For a B2B company, your target market is not big enough – and that’s a good thing.

But you can, actually, achieve “hockey stick” growth.

B2B SaaS, Software, Tech: Preparing Your Team For Growth – Part 1

August 11, 2015/in Growth Marketing Team /by Samuel J. Woods

If you’re a B2B software/tech company, how do you go from traction to scale?

That’s a big question that can’t be answered in one, single blog post, but the start of a solution comes down to:

Your existing team and structure.
Your existing systems and processes for attraction, acquisition, retention, and growth.
Your marketing and sales vision, and how your team is formed to execute on that vision.

There are a few more points that I’ll leave for now, but that’s where you need to begin.

Now, whether your team consists of 1 or 10, and anything in-between, before you start publishing lead magnets (whitepapers), populate your site with landing pages, and push PPC in classic omni-channel flair…