Marketing & Sales Roundtable Developing and Maintaining an Effective Marketing and Sales Closed Loop System September 2005

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 2 SalesMarketing Engineering Creating the Foundation for Market Leadership: A Strong Core Effective Relationships Key to MSCLS Effectiveness CORE TEAM

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 3, Dave Shrigley

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 4 Why Are MSCLSs Necessary? Compiled from RT participants’ discussions  Provides feedback: What’s working in sales? Translate what’s working in sales into marketing and sales programs  Customer feedback – How to get it from sales w/o MSCLS?  Customer testimonials  Catalog wins  Ensures conversion of customers into references  Brings data to table: audit performance of leads + sales  Forces accountability of both sales and marketing for revenue  Allows replication of processes more easily  How do you know what you are doing is effective without it?  Allows the optimization of resources  Ensures the ‘message’ is consistent – fine tuning where needed, Dave Shrigley

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 5 The Case for MSCLS  Enables learning: company ‘systems’, customers, market  Systematic data collection  Tuning and refinement  Predictability  Scalability  Bring (new) people up to speed faster  Basis for great planning and execution  Chances for market leadership are diminished without one (it’s harder and takes longer)

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 6 Key Components of a MSCLS  Defined market leadership strategy (market vision, market and customer segmentation, etc.)  Effective ‘Force Field’ development  Integrated, customer-focused marketing programs  Formal lead generation and qualifying programs  Relationships with key market influencers  Customer references and beta programs  Metrics and accountability  Formal sales methodology (including tools and training) and process (funnel)  Scalable, leveraged Sales and Marketing team structures (in-house, consultants)  IT infrastructure to manage the MSCLS system and track performance  Marketing and Sales accountability for results

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 7, Dave Shrigley

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 8 Market  Start-up market ‘penalty’ Strategy  Lack of company marketing strategy (positioning/segmentation)  Lack of alignment between segment critical need and product value proposition = extended sales cycles (>9 months)  Defining repeatable scalable model for growth  Team structure and development  Sales methodology process and IT infrastructure  Development of an indirect channel frequently an afterthought rather than an initial strategic objective Team  CEO, executive team, unfamiliarity with sales and marketing domains  Identifying, recruiting and managing the right  Direct sales force  Channel partners  Lack of integrated of marketing/sales planning, metric-tracking, reporting  Large company channel management experience does not always translate into building an effective sales channel ‘from scratch’  Sales management metrics not seen as relevant in early stage companies  Start-up resource limitations Key MSCLS Challenges in Start-Ups

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 9 Investors Sales Channels Target Accounts Partners Industry & Financial Analysts Trade & Business Press EXISTING ________ NEEDED ________ Strategy Evidence Positioning Strategy Statement Positioning Strategy Company Business Strategy Market Entry Customer Segment Messages, Brand Strategy and Programs StrategyMarket Leverage Company Marketing Process

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 10 Building the Force Field: Necessities  Positioning Toolkit  Mission Statement  Market Vision  Positioning Strategy Statement  Market Leverage Model (see next page)  Strategy Evidence  Total Product Roadmap  Marketing Plan/Marketing Communications Plan  Company and Product Launch Plan  Iteration: Strategy and Plan Reviews/Refinement  Message Architecture  Brand Attributes  Tagline, Boilerplate

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 11 Market Segment SALESSALES TARGETTARGET PARTNERSPARTNERS INDUSTRYINDUSTRY ANALYSTSANALYSTS ANALYSTSANALYSTS TRADEPRESSTRADEPRESS Market Entry Customer Segment Company BUSINESSpRESSBUSINESSpRESS EDITORSEDITORS ACCOUNTSACCOUNTS CHANNELCHANNEL FINANCIALFINANCIAL EDITORSEDITORS Validation Education INVESTORSINVESTORS Message distribution channels Developing Strategy Evidence: Market Leverage Model

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 12 Definitions Sales Methodology A set of concepts and techniques which, when learned and consistently practiced, increase sales and customer satisfaction Sales Process A series of small, logical and explicit commitments that the buyer makes as he/she advances toward ultimately committing to purchase, Dave Shrigley

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 13 Most Popular Sales Methodologies  Strategic Selling – Miller Heiman  Powerbase Selling – Holden  Solution Selling – Bosworth  Spin Selling – Rackham  Consultative Selling – PAR

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 14 Sales Process (Funnel) Management PROSPECTING-BY SEGMENT DEMO NEEDS ANALYSIS CONVERSATION EVALUATION CONVERSATION EVALUATION DELIVERED PROPOSAL/QUOTE DELIVERED CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS Customer Commitment Stage WIN! Accepts Sales Call,Tradeshow, Webinar Invitation Agrees to do Site Survey/Benchmark Schedules Trial, Allocates Resources Takes Delivery of Product, Training Signs off on Trial Results Begins Contract Negotiations Signs Contract Clearly defined, simple, process and tools with feedback loop

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 15 Feeding the Funnel: Lead Generation Programs  Search engine placements, blogs  Website visits/Promotions  Trade shows  Seminars/Webinars  PR/Speaker programs  Direct marketing – snail- and , telemarketing  Partner co-marketing  Ads – press and electronic All marketing programs should have clear objectives and metrics

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 16 Lead Generation by Stages of Company Development  Marketing  Sales (Telesales, ‘Elephant Hunters’, Channel Partners)  Marketing  Sales (Telesales, ‘Elephant Hunters’)  Marketing  Sales (‘Elephant Hunters’) Participants  Referral (Extended personal networks)  Partners/Customers  Formal programs  Referrals (Extended personal networks)  Partners/Customers  Formal programs  Referrals (Personal networks)  Informal/ad hoc programs (Participation in visionary/early adopter events etc.) Sources of Leads Feed the Funnel: Develop market entry segment momentum and revenue flow Identify Potential Lead Sources in available customer segments Acquire Beta customers Lead Generation Goal Phase Product Development Cycle Beta Launch, Market Development Ongoing

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 17 Why are CRM Products Valuable?  Contact management  Lead management  Sales process management  Forecasting  Sales metric tracking and reporting  Customer understanding and feedback capture  Marketing and Sales accountability They enrich time- and cost-effectiveness benefits of a MSCLS

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 18 M&S Technology Adoption Path Individual sales rep maintained account data Shared customer/ prospect information Manual Tools Contact Management Sales Force Automation CRM Excel, Act Act, Goldmine, Outlook (Exchange) Automated, intelligent sales process management Integrated customer data from multiple processes SalesForce.com, UpShot, SalesLogix SalesForce.com + Eloqua + GotMarketing +Orts  ASP model (IT outsource)  Modular, integratable, customizable Real-time collaboration Web-based presentations and meetings, Social Networking, Wikis, etc.  Cost-effective ©2005 Arrington, Burke

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 19 MSCLS: Food for Thought  Do you have a clearly defined Marketing and Sales Closed Loop process?  Is there an MSCLS-related initiative in your 2006 operating plan?  Have the elements of a closed loop marketing and sales system appropriate for your company been defined and agreed to? How you will evolve it over time been agreed to? -Do you have fully functioning lead generation and management programs in place? -Have resources (people, $$) been allocated for SW to support a MSCLS?  Is there a clear owner of your MSCLS?  Are there performance metrics for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your MSCLS?

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 20 Summary  A shared, focused (positioning) strategy decreases the cost of marketing and sales activities/investments and is a major variable in effectiveness of those activities  Marketing and sales should be a closed loop system with defined ownership for cross functional integration  MSCLS should be a foundation for growth…not a later stage in development of marketing and sales organizations

©2005 Rosemary Remacle 21 Presenters  Rosemary Remacle, Consultant Market Focus