Presentation at Dreamforce 2011 by Adam Blitzer and Derek Grant on How a Marketing Automation Company Uses Marketing Automation. Covers lead qualification, lead nurturing, and social media tactics.
Pardot - How a Marketing Automation Company Uses Marketing Automation:Dreamforce 2011
1. Behind the Curtain:How A Marketing Automation Company Uses Marketing Automation Marketing Track Adam Blitzer, COO, Pardot (@adamblitzer) Derek Grant, SVP of Sales, Pardot (@derekgrant)
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40. Adam Blitzer COO, Pardot (@adamblitzer) Derek Grant SVP of Sales, Pardot (@derekgrant)
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Editor's Notes
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DG – Thanks to our terrific team of inside sales people (which we’ll talk about in a moment), we’ve been able to add over 650 terrific new clients to the Pardot familyB2B CompaniesMid MarketUsing Web as a selling channelComplex Sale (CRM is a great indicator of this)
Although we are inside, our team is nothing like this cheesy rep pictured here. We choose inside sales because of 2 important factors:it aligned with out sales process (+/- 45 Days), demos via web conferencespricing model (1,000 – 3,000 / month, no contract) – Rated #1 in TCO by Forrester ResearchWe’ve also elected to hire reps with limited technology sales experience – No Bad Habits, tech Savvy, eager to excel in their first software sales positionInside sales also hides our reps only potential weaknesses – Their age.They can be consultative, and helpful as a rep, however we can’t make them be the age of many of the senior level team members they sell to Fortunately for this team, they don’t have Grey / Limited hair like Adam and I
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DG – In most organizations, sales and marketing are not in syncSales says marketing leads are garbageMarketing says sales never follows upVicious cycleIn most organizations, both sides are partially correctGreat leads are often lumped in with so/so leads, making it difficult to identify the exceptional onesAdditionally, many questionable leads make it through to sales, turning your rainmakers into lead qualifiersAnd don’t think that sales gets a pass on their part in this disagreement that is older than time – Sales doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain by following up on the leads that are assigned. A Marketer’s best friend is the “Lead Status” field – Did Sales not change the status field – Call them out on it – Have something similar to the wall of shame report to identify leads that were assigned by not contacted…and schedule it to be sent to key marketing, sales and executive stakeholders. Additionally, Pardot can be configured to be the sales nanny, hounding sales people to contact leads, and send them to management if an lead is not contacted
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DG – Use explicit data to further qualify your prospect – Are they the right size, revenue, location?Pardot uses Jigsaw data to supplement the prospect data. This prevents sales from following up on leads who may be highly active, however may not be a good fit for your product or service.The reason we supplement data is twofold:Asking this information on a form results in high data error rates –Still asking for address on a form, and wonder why so many prospects are from AlabamaEven with progressive profiling, which is asking for data in managable bits can still lower conversionWe give the opportunity to supplement prospect provided data from a form (since this may have been intentionally mis-submitted). When’s the last time you filled out a lead form that asked for your street address, our your revenue, and actually gave the appropriate information
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AB – so the way we assign leads is in the following manner:“Hot” leads – Product Test Drive, Contact Us, Inbound Call, info request submitted by email – Reps Love TheseLukewarm leads – Webinar, Whitepaper, Case Study, etc… - Once we determine which path the prospect goes, we then send an alert to marketing, and then check to see if the lead is assignedIf the account is not currently being called upon, we then assign it to the appropriate round robbin queue
DG – Recency, Score, Grade, and SearchRecency, engagement, fit and awareness
DG – All data in Salesforce.com
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DG - I know you won’t believe this, but sometimes I call prospects who don’t take my call (shocking)If at first you don’t succeed…skydiving may not be for you.Thankfully in B2B Sales, we have the opportunity to try, try, try, try, and try again.Recent research from CSO insights indicated that it takes 7 touches to engage a prospect, and 8 touches if it’s an enterprise product you are sellingAnd just because they aren’t engaging today doesn’t mean they aren't interested, but most sales people move on to find the low hanging fruit.Most orgs have reps set reminders to send the whitepaper, case study, follow up’s, etc…
AB – We don’t let our sales people create these drips – We make them, and then allow our reps to put the prospect into one.
DGRecent research at MIT noted that the first 2-3 contact attempts are pretty meaningless, and that it takes many touches to get a response.Leads are your best asset, so don’t let them wither and die in the CRM.Good relationship