Sponsored by:
Produced by:
Niels Zijderveld
Chief Sales Officer
about
Niels Zijderveld
Niels Zijderveld is a Chief Sales Officer (CSO) with extensive experience in the insurance and insurtech industries, Zijderveld specialises in SaaS go-to-market strategies, sales, and business development. His background includes working with companies like TIA Technology, FRISS, Guidewire Software, and Sollers Consulting, positioning him as a seasoned expert in operational advisory and software integration for the financial sector.
How would you characterise your organisation's revenue generation as more sales-led or marketing-led, and what factors influence this?
Working within a specific vertical means the market is finite – for example I have worked exclusively with insurance companies, primarily in the Property and Casualty (P&C) sector. This means one can precisely identify potential targets in each market where you are active. The distinction between marketing and sales becomes a question of whether there's an immediate need or opportunity in the account.
If there's an immediate need or opportunity, it will be sales-led. I believe industry specific salespeople are actually consultants who provide value add during the sales process to their prospects. They're not purely professional account executives who focus solely on the process of selling.
If there's no immediate opportunity, marketing will nurture the account. I believe this should be a very conversational approach - a mutually beneficial exchange of information. It is not just sending information about the latest research and how great we are, but having a conversation about what they're struggling with, what we're seeing in the market, and how we're helping other clients deal with that.
The key challenge on the marketing side is how to use automation and insights from all the information out there to drive that more personal conversation as efficiently as possible.
How has the increasing complexity of B2B buying groups affected your sales process? What do you need from marketing to better engage?
B2B has always been complex. There have always been multiple stakeholders and committees involved in making decisions. It has become more complex due to regulations and requirements that clients have on a partner. But the necessity to manage multiple stakeholders and keep track of all the various people involved in the decision is not new.
That said, there are now roles like Chief Information Security Officer that maybe weren't there in the past, or not as formally represented. A large part of that is driven by regulations. So numerically, there might be more people involved. But in the end, I think the overall process still comes down to a couple of key individuals that make the final call.
How effective do you find marketing qualified leads (MQLs) in identifying real buying opportunities? What alternative signals or processes would you prefer from marketing to ensure leads are truly sales-ready?
The key value of MQLs for me is that they often make it possible to broaden your network in the target company. In most cases, another individual is discovered who's expressed an interest that might not have been known before. That's what you get out of it in more than half of all cases.
To ensure MQLs are handled effectively, I see value in establishing an inside sales team if not present already. This team acts as the main conduit between pure marketing (managing social media presence, website presence, etc.) and the individual consultants/sales people having relationships with clients. The inside sales team will call, investigate, and do some research before the field team gets involved.
How do you currently personalise your outreach at scale? What account-specific insights from marketing would make this process more effective?
The best way to personalise at scale is by involving most of your workforce. At a consultancy I worked with recently, most consultants of a certain seniority level will have accounts assigned to them. Next to their day job, they have a relationship manager role where they're responsible for understanding what's going on at certain insurers, keeping track of changes, reading their annual reports, and really understanding what makes them tick and what makes them different from others.
That's how you can institutionalise the "at scale" piece - by using everyone and not just a dedicated sales force. It's part of the career track. If you want to progress your career, you're expected to do this and invest time and effort into it. Otherwise, you won't be able to progress to more senior roles.
There is scope for automating more of this process using new AI tools, but the personal touch remains essential, especially in low volume / high value B2B sales process.
What types of buyer intent signals or data do you need from marketing to help you identify and engage prospects earlier in their buying journey?
A very important signal I look for is new appointments. When certain executives get appointed somewhere else, that's crucial information. One should of course also pay attention to visits to certain conferences, comments on competitor marketing releases on LinkedIn, and downloads of your own content. Certain pertinent job postings are also signals to be monitored.
And of course, regulatory change is always a huge driver for sales. But that's not account-specific; it's industry-wide, although it can hit certain accounts more than others.
Given the changing B2B landscape, what types of content or resources do you anticipate needing from marketing to engage buyers more effectively?
In my mind, it always boils down to high-quality content. That's why I have seen companies actually employ journalists to research the market and write unique points of view on trends. You should aim to have a point of view and add value to the conversation, not just add noise. There are so many articles I read where at the end, I think, "What did I just learn? Absolutely nothing." Try to avoid putting those types of articles out there.
It's all about having high-quality content that people can rely on. Then how you use it becomes more operational.
How do you envision the ideal sales and marketing collaboration? What specific support from marketing would have the biggest impact on your sales success?
Ideally, there is no talk of a sales-marketing collaboration. It's like a continuum, and there's no real difference between the two. To the client, it also feels seamless. That, to me, would be ideal.
The specific support I'd want from marketing is more information on the client and better positioning before we go in there. I keep going back to that conversation with the client, and not just sending information. It's about really engaging and spending the time. It's an investment, but in the end, people buy from people.
Looking ahead, what capabilities do you wish your marketing team could provide in terms of understanding buyer behaviour and engaging accounts? How would these capabilities change your approach to selling?
One thing that came to my mind is more competitive intelligence. I'd like to know more about which competitors are also working the account, who they're talking to, and how good their relationships are. This is still fairly hard to get.
While these capabilities wouldn't necessarily change your approach to selling, they would inform your strategy and how to differentiate yourselves. It's about having a more comprehensive view of the competitive landscape to refine positioning and approach.
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.
Share this page
About Sollers Consulting
Sollers Consulting is an international operational advisory and software integration firm specialising in the insurance industry. Founded in 2000, the company has established itself as a key player in supporting insurers through business transformation and technological adaptation. Over the past two decades, Sollers has assisted more than 100 financial institutions in navigating the evolving landscape of the insurance sector, focusing on modernising operations, integrating cutting-edge technologies, and helping insurers thrive in a rapidly changing business environment.
