1. Framework for Demand Forecasting and Generation
In a SMB2B Context

2. Forecasting is an educated guess about future demand

3. What drives demand forecasting?
60% Process
30% Analytics
10% Tech-nology

4. Marketing is about generating future demand

5. B2B Sales and marketing is essentially digitized
54% of B2B buyers begin the buying process with informal research around business challenges
78% of the time they use the internet to initiate that research
Source: , accessed

6. This no longer works… by itself

7. This is too complex… to begin with
Source: , accessed

8. Framework for Demand Forecasting and Generation
An initial sketch
Process centric
Forecasting demand
Goal setting vs. forecasting
Forecastability
Picking a forecasting technique
Managerial review
Automation focus
Generating demand
Generating new leads
Sales from existing customers
Exploiting SFA
Digitized sales process
Framework for Demand Forecasting and Generation

9. Activities within and across customer segments
A1.1 Inquiry management
A2.1 Cross-sales analysis
New Customers
A3.1 Lead nurturing
Existing
Customers
A3.2 Sales
A3.3 Demand forecasting

10. Map activities to processes
A1.1 Inquiry management
P1.1 Inquiry to lead
A2.1 Cross-sales analytics
P2.1 Cross-sales analysis
A3.1 Lead nurturing
P1.2 Lead nurturing for new customers
P2.2 Lead nurturing for existing customers
A3.2 Sales
P1.3 New business development
P2.3 Account management
A3.3 Demand forecasting
P1.4 DF New customers
P2.4 DF Existing customers

11. Automation example: P1.1 Inquiry to lead
Website visits
Qualification
Lead generation and assignment to sales
What kind of visits are we getting, ie. which content engages?
Is our website content current and relevant?
Prune the list of candidates to only the most interesting ones and add contextual information.
Sales manager assigns leads to sales consultants or sends the leads back to marketing or deletes the lead.

12. Automation example: P2.1 Cross-sales analysis
Basket-analysis
Opportunities
Salesforce automation
Looks at recency/tenure, breadth and customer potential.
Where is our base changing and how can we affect it?
Any opportunities for further sales, bundling and cross-sales.
Any other changes/threats to notify?
Book a (short) check-up among stakeholders, ie. get attendees, responsibles and due dates for tasks in meeting.

13. Results Investment in Marketing Automation, systems and processes
Elements of a balanced sales plan:
Content marketing
References, blogs, white papers, social media
Sales campaigns based on industry
Outbound calls
Co-operation and partnerships
Vendor partnership events
Access to leads