Market View
Beyond MQLs: Reframing success in B2B marketing
Sponsored by:
Produced by:
Sharon Forder
CEO at Revop
Market View
Beyond MQLs: Reframing success in B2B marketing
Sponsored by:
Produced by:
Sharon Forder
CEO at Revop
About Sharon Forder
Sharon Forder serves as the CEO of Revop, a consultancy specialising in aiding scale-ups and growth-oriented organisations to develop their growth strategies. In her role, she focuses on the comprehensive aspects of revenue operations, providing necessary guidance to build effective growth models. This support aims to enhance the organisations' ability to improve their bottom line, leveraging Sharon's expertise in scaling business operations.
How are shifts in ABM and B2B marketing influencing how marketing is measured today?
There's been a significant shift towards Account-Based Experience (ABX) rather than just Account-Based Marketing (ABM). This approach puts the customer at the core of our activities, ensuring a seamless experience across all touchpoints - from prospects to customers. We're moving away from traditional metrics like MQLs and SALs towards measuring effectiveness throughout the customer lifecycle.
This shift demands tighter alignment between sales, marketing, and customer success teams, along with changes in the metrics we track. We now look at engagement levels across the whole account - how they interact with our content, where these interactions occur, and the platforms used. ABX requires a multi-channel approach to be effective.
We're also focusing on metrics like pipeline velocity and conversion rates across all channels, relating to the entire account and the community we engage. This method goes beyond traditional pipeline metrics to a deeper understanding of engagement and the influence we can exert on everyone involved with the account.
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We're moving away from traditional metrics like MQLs and SALs towards measuring effectiveness throughout the customer lifecycle.
What are the top KPIs that marketing should be measured on in today's landscape?
Firstly, pipeline conversion is crucial. We track the movement of prospects through the sales funnel and understand conversion rates throughout. With the shift to the ABX model, there's an all-bound approach emerging - integrating sales and marketing more closely within a unified revenue operation structure. This means measuring the combined impact of inbound and outbound marketing efforts across the entire revenue operation, not just on new business but also on how we're converting existing customers through upsells and cross-sells.
Another key metric is customer experience and engagement, which feeds into the ABX approach. We're utilising product metrics and understanding customer engagement rates as part of this new focus. This is particularly important in the B2B SaaS sector, where product-led growth is becoming prevalent.
We're also seeing increased demand for metrics around existing customer revenues and referrals. It's about engaging customers, understanding their experiences, how they utilise our products, and how we can convert them to other features and functions.
Lastly, we're starting to use telemetry data to measure product experience scores. This includes tracking how often customers log into our system, the features they use, and their engagement level within our platform.
How can organisations better align their marketing function with sales?
One of the biggest challenges has always been aligning sales and marketing to work towards shared objectives and metrics. Traditionally, there's been a significant silo effect between sales, marketing, business development, and even partnerships, each responsible for their contribution to the pipeline.
The goal isn't to have everyone arguing about where the pipeline originates but to have all teams aligned towards a common goal: the successful growth of the business. By aligning the organisation around a shared pipeline goal, you significantly reduce the friction concerning where leads come from.
Marketing's role doesn't stop at the top of the pipeline. If working effectively with sales and business development, marketing can help accelerate the pipeline and influence the closure of business, not just drive leads.
We advocate for an all-bound approach, where sales and marketing are united, measuring both inbound and outbound activities cohesively. This includes having the entire revenue-generating part of the organisation aligned behind a common goal, which includes your pipeline number and growth.
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Marketing's role doesn't stop at the top of the pipeline. If working effectively with sales and business development, marketing can help accelerate the pipeline and influence the closure of business, not just drive leads.
What metrics would you put in place as a CEO to measure marketing's contribution to new business revenue generation?
I would focus on metrics that directly link marketing activities to revenue generation. While pipeline growth and acceleration are important, we need to go beyond just tracking lead progression and conversion. I'd emphasise understanding customer acquisition cost in relation to anticipated customer lifetime value. This approach provides a deeper understanding of a customer's actual value over time, often revealing that acquisition costs are lower when viewed over the customer's lifetime.
It's crucial to analyse the connection between nurturing existing customers and their lifetime value, balanced against acquisition costs. This holistic view helps in making better strategic decisions, especially during market downturns.
Moreover, it's important to view marketing as a value centre rather than a cost centre. Historically, companies that thrive during downturns are often those that continue to invest in their people and marketing. This perspective allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of marketing's impact, considering both short-term metrics like lead generation and long-term value creation through brand building and customer relationships.
What trends and challenges will shape the future of sales and marketing collaboration?
From a Revenue Operations perspective, the vision centres on a model where sales, marketing, and business development functions work together, aligned around a common goal of revenue and pipeline growth.
A significant trend is the advent of generative AI. Understanding the impact AI has within an organisation and harnessing its benefits like predictive modelling and AI-driven insights is crucial. These tools offer unprecedented forecasting abilities, allowing organisations to use data in new and beneficial ways.
The rate at which AI is transforming the data and analytical landscape available to marketers and sales professionals is unprecedented. The ability to keep pace with AI and use it to your advantage is only feasible if you have a strong RevOps model firmly established in your organisation.
Looking ahead, organisations will need to invest in understanding and leveraging emerging technologies. Finally, it's worth noting the value of following investment trends to gain insights into emerging technologies and potentially form early partnerships or collaborations.
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The ability to keep pace with AI and use it to your advantage is only feasible if you have a strong RevOps model firmly established in your organisation.
About Revop
Revop is a consultancy firm dedicated to supporting scale-ups and growth-oriented organisations in crafting and implementing effective growth plans. Specialising in revenue operations, Revop provides expert guidance to businesses aiming to enhance their operational efficiency and profitability. With a strategic focus on building robust growth models, Revop plays a crucial role in helping companies achieve their financial and operational goals.
About 6sense
6sense is on a mission to revolutionise the way B2B organisations create revenue by predicting customers most likely to buy and recommending the best course of action to engage anonymous buying teams. 6sense Revenue AI is the only sales and marketing platform to unlock the ability to create, manage and convert high-quality pipeline to revenue. Customers report 2X increases in average contract value, 4X increases in win rate and 20-40% reduction in time to close deals. Know everything, do anything, with 6sense.