Market View
Beyond MQLs: Reframing success in B2B marketing
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Produced by:
Adam Kite
Vice President of Brand, Content & Marketing Operations at Relex Solutions
About Adam Kite
Adam Kite serves as the Vice President of Brand, Content & Marketing Operations at Relex Solutions, a company specialising in retail planning software. Under his leadership, the marketing team has experienced significant growth, expanding from 20-30 members to 80 within just 18 months. This rapid expansion mirrors the company's ambitions to extend its global reach beyond its 500 retail clients, aiming to break into the manufacturing sector. With ongoing changes and developments within the company, Adam plays a crucial role in steering these initiatives and managing the evolving dynamics of his team.
Are you noticing a shift towards account-based marketing in B2B marketing influencing how marketing metrics are evaluated today? If so, what changes are you observing?
Yes, from a measurement perspective, our primary focus is on improving alignment with our sales teams. It's about how we engage with the accounts that are most important to the sales team and how we can impact them at different levels. We are looking to synchronise our activities to ensure that we are jointly driving value. This alignment occurs at the account level, not at the contact or lead level. It's all about how we can effectively penetrate an account or accelerate its progress if there are ongoing opportunities. It's turning out to be an excellent framework for aligning sales and marketing efforts. In theory, it doesn't always pan out as expected, but it certainly sets a worthwhile goal. It also facilitates a unified language between sales and marketing, which is fundamentally important to us.
However, it's more precise to say that we have adopted an account-based motion, not strictly a model. This distinction is crucial for us. Within our demand generation, we maintain traditional ABM functions. But the majority of our efforts remain rooted in conventional methodologies—focusing on lead generation, business development, and converting leads into opportunities. From this vantage point, we aren't as futuristic as it might seem; we find ourselves at a midpoint. Many in the marketing field adopt a similar blended approach; we haven't fully transitioned to a complete account-based model just yet.
"It's turning out to be an excellent framework for aligning sales and marketing efforts."
What are currently the top three key performance indicators that marketing is measured on in your organisation today?
I think the most significant one for us right now is velocity. Our account-based marketing strategy is primarily focused on accelerating existing opportunities, so velocity is crucial. We aim to quickly move accounts through a process with the sales team. It's a shared target but one where we believe we can drive significant value. The rate of closing these opportunities is obviously another key metric. In addition to velocity and close rates, we're also focusing on how we can source opportunities and penetrate accounts using account-based marketing techniques. We're utilising tools like 6sense to understand where there's intent and potential for conversations. Looking ahead, we're focusing on our 6Sense qualified accounts’—how they come in, how we process them with our business development teams, and what we're generating from these in terms of opportunities.
What challenges have you encountered in aligning your marketing function with sales? And do you have shared goals and metrics for success?
We see success in pockets. The work that the ABM team is doing is really fantastic; they're delivering exactly what the sales team wants to see, and it's very tangible. We often hear anecdotal stories about the impact of ABM, which are very positive. The challenge we're facing is due to the rapid growth of Relex Solutions. Our teams, including marketing, business development, and sales, have been expanding so quickly that we've been trying to manage and adapt to these changes within our individual functions. Currently, the biggest hurdle is creating a complete picture of the entire customer journey and working systematically to drive impact. We're in a phase where we need things to settle down so we can establish a clear blueprint for cross-functional collaboration.
Discovering these gaps is part of the evolution. Whenever we encounter something new, like at 6sense, it can be a humbling reminder that there's always more to learn and apply. It's reassuring to know others in the industry face similar challenges; it drives us to innovate and enhance our approaches continuously.
"We're in a phase where we need things to settle down so we can establish a clear blueprint for cross-functional collaboration."
"With AI, we have a much larger 'brain' to make these decisions swiftly, influencing how outreach is conducted, messages are crafted, and even how display advertising is rolled out."
In your opinion, what are the key trends and challenges that will shape the future of sales and marketing collaboration in the coming years?
I think a major trend will be the integration of artificial intelligence in our processes—it's a bit cliché, but it's true. The use of AI tools is transforming how we conduct outreach and make decisions. Currently, a significant question for the business development team is about prioritising new leads. Tools like 6sense help us focus our account outreach more effectively. With AI, we have a much larger 'brain' to make these decisions swiftly, influencing how outreach is conducted, messages are crafted, and even how display advertising is rolled out. The AI tools we're working with are also being designed to handle these tasks more robustly. It's not so much a challenge but an opportunity to design holistic customer journeys. With the ability to be more targeted, it's crucial to maintain a cohesive design to avoid fragmented messaging to prospects.
To fully realise the potential of AI and other emerging technologies, integrating these components requires a comprehensive approach. My role has evolved to not only oversee but also harmonise our branding, content, and operational strategies. Each element, while distinct, is interconnected; our task is to ensure they coalesce to drive our overall marketing engine efficiently. By fostering collaboration among the leaders of these respective areas, we aim to maximise the synergies and enhance our campaign outputs. The collective vision we build is crucial for navigating the complexities of modern marketing strategies, ensuring that each function contributes optimally to our overarching goals.
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About RELEX Solutions
RELEX Solutions is a leading provider of retail planning software, renowned for its innovative solutions designed to optimise retail operations. Established to cater to the dynamic needs of the retail industry, Relex Solutions supports over 500 clients globally, facilitating efficient inventory management, demand forecasting, and workforce planning. The company is currently expanding its expertise into the manufacturing sector, aiming to deliver the same level of precision and efficiency. With a commitment to technological advancement and customer satisfaction, Relex Solutions continues to shape the future of retail and manufacturing planning.
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.
6sense are changing the world of marketing, one customer advocacy programme at a time. Ready to transform your business?
