Serent Capital’s Revenue Generation Summit took place recently to highlight and discuss trends in the industry. Presenters showed attendees best practices and the latest technology to improve a company’s growth. We were happy to see a lot of new faces in the crowd. For approximately 70% of the attendees, this was their first Serent summit. Events like these are great because it allows us time to meet and collaborate with new people, all of which were either in marketing or sales.
“The systems [sales and marketing teams] use…make it easier for marketing information to flow to sales teams.”
During the summit, presenters focused on a few major themes:
- Using the right systems and tools to max out potential
- How to drive cultural change
- Getting the most out of your sales and marketing organization
Using the right systems and tools to max out potential: Serent’s summit launched with speakers discussing systems and tools companies are investing in to unlock the potential of their employees. A representative from USATestprep, which delivers educational software that teachers use to help students achieve state-specific learning standards, showed how they bring sales and marketing together in Salesforce. The systems they use, like Wagtail, Google Analytics and Pardot, make it easier for marketing information to flow to sales teams. The Managing Director EMEAI of BirchStreet talked about how DecisionLink can increase the total revenue per sale while shortening the sales cycle. Their sales team closes nearly 20% faster than they did prior to using DecisionLink. Avionté, who makes staffing and recruiting software, pointed out how they use scorecards to evaluate candidates throughout the hiring process and create short 30-60 minute modules to help with onboarding. They also considered an ideal candidate to be like a three-legged stool that consists of selling skills, personal characteristics and relevant experience.
How to drive cultural change: Most organizations know what they want their company culture to represent. But achieving that cultural goal is easier said than done. Our presenters dove into this topic by giving pointers on how to initiate cultural change. Real Green Systems offers the broadest portfolio of field services software and services in the lawn care market. Initially, their employees had somewhat of a passive attitude and their culture wasn’t data-driven. They changed this by taking an inventory of functional competencies and aligning marketing, sales and client success. This led to the expansion of the account management team and the completion of other teams which more than doubled their selling capacity. BirchStreet suggested implementing a customer value management system like DecisionLink to drive shift your company culture. It forces change by requiring a company to define tangible, realistic business benefits that your customers will receive from your services. It also equips your sales team with new language while giving them a fresh perspective on how to approach customer engagements. Steps like these create a ripple effect that can cultivate the culture you desire.
Getting the most out of your sales and marketing organization: When you want to get the most out of your sales and marketing organization, you need to properly segment your prospects. An executive from KORE Software explained how they rely on account-based marketing to target accounts within a specific market. Their touchpoint plan provides sales staff with a set of content marketing tools they can leverage to provide meaningful outreach to prospects. First, they target critical contacts at each enterprise like a Vice President of Ticketing or Vice President of Sponsorship, for example. Next, they use KORE’s vast library of marketing content to send personalized and specific emails to each target. Once this has been done, they repeat it at a regular cadence. The goal is to send one meaningful communication per month to the critical contacts at each enterprise target prospect account. All these touchpoints are tracked in Salesforce with a link to all activity and content used. Another presenter, from a marketing strategy consulting firm, laid out a framework for developing your digital roadmap. It’s important to identify your list of target accounts by using resources like 6sense, Demandbase or Pardot. Next, you need to maximize your digital footprint to connect with the decision-makers at target accounts. Do this through your website, social media, paid advertising and public relations. All of these marketing elements should properly align with your business and marketing objectives to make your digital roadmap a success.
“All of these marketing elements should properly align with your business and marketing objectives to make your digital roadmap a success.”
Serent Capital’s Revenue Generation Summit was a weekend of exchanging ideas and passionate presenters who excelled at sharing their experience and knowledge with the audience. These summits are not only great for networking, they’re geared to highlight tactics and the latest technology to help your business grow.