When you ask salespeople what they need from marketing, ten out of ten will tell you that they need high-quality leads. Lead generation is important, that is a given. But there are other ways to help your sales teams. Pam Didner, author of Global Content Marketing and B2B marketing consultant, will help you look at your inbound and outbound marketing communications holistically and identify ways to scale marketing support across regions to your sales teams.

1. 3 Creative Ways Marketers Can Enable Sales Teams
Across Regions
Pam Didner (pam@pamdidner.com)
Author of Global Content Marketing / Marketing Consultant

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4. Clearly tie between
online experience
and lead definitions
4

5. Clear and actionable lead definitions agreed
between sales and marketing
Lead Definition
5
Lead Category Definition
Pre-Qualified Lead Inbound and outbound leads that fit the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Marketing Qualified
Lead (MQL)
Pre-qualified + requests demo (“hand-raisers.”)
Sales Accepted Lead MQL criteria is validated by sales reps
Prospect
SAL + completed ICP calibration (Qualifying process specific to
LeadGenius. Equivalent to SQL.)
Demo Scheduled Prospect agrees to a demo presentation
Evaluation Prospect has completed demo
Proposal Prospect has been sent contract
Committed Prospect has signed contract and has been sent payment link
Closed Won Paying Customer
Source: Lead Genius

6. “Closely” tie lead definitions back to your website
6

7. “Very Closely” tie lead definition back to your website
7

8. Things get complicated if you need to
support sales across regions
8
Lead definition
may need to
change for each
region
Align outbound MKT
with lead definition (but
not intrusive)
Lead ownership
managed at
the local level

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10. Scale marketing support across borders
• Understand the challenges at regional and country level
• Help local teams understand what you (corporate) can
offer
• Identify opportunities to work together
• Find balance between global vs. local
–Guidance vs. Execution
–Lead vs. Follow
• Communicate and follow up
10

11. Standardization vs.
Localization
11

12. Collaborate!
Communicate!
Compromise!
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13. 3 ways to enable sales as a marketer
13
Differentiate Products
from competition
Map Content
for sales engagement
Train Sales
for products and tools

14. 14
Differentiate products
from competition
Map Content
for sales engagement
Train Sales
for products and tools
3 ways to enable sales as a marketer

15. EXAMPLE
Messaging Framework
15
Market
Dynamic
[Company]
Respond to
Market
Target
Audience
Positioning
Messaging
Supporting
proof points

16. EXAMPLE
Messaging Framework
16
Supporting
Proof points
25-word
paragraph
100-word
paragraph

17. “Three Value Conversations” by Erik Peterson
“The [seller’s] premium is your ability
to tell buyers something they didn’t
know about a problem or of a
missed opportunity that they didn’t
even know they had.”
Be a problem finder,
not just a problem solver!
17

18. unconsidered needs
18
Problem Finder
Uniqueness and
Urgency Live Here!
Needs
Your Solutions
Unconsidered
Needs
Unconsidered
Possibilities
Problem Solver
Commodity box
Specified
Identified
Image Source: 3 Value Conversations by Eirk Peterson

19. Customize your differentiation
19
Articulate
unconsidered needs
Explore
different features
Determine
talking points

20. EXAMPLE
Target Account
[Customers]
Challenges
Messaging
Proof Points/
Reasons to
Believe
End-User
Benefits
Messaging for unconsidered needs (an example)
20

21. 3 ways to enable sales as as a marketer
21
Differentiate Products
from competition
Map Content
for sales engagement
Train Sales
for products and tools

22. Contacted Qualified Demo Proposal Closed
Static data
Pipeline gets measured
once a week/month
based on static metrics
such as number of deals,
deal size, close ratio etc.
Linear path
Sales professionals move the
customer through the funnel
from stage to stage. Sales
always knows in which stage
the client is.
Synchronous
process
Sales is in lock-step
with the client, in the
same stage, moving at
the same pace, and
at the same time.
Sales skill: Control process
Sales professionals excel in
moving clients through the funnel
by controlling the information,
service description, price,
proposals, and much more.
Sales-centric
Sales defined
stages
A customer’s journey
goes through stages that
relate to the sales
process.
Sales goal
To sign a
customer up for
the service.
Image Source: Blue Print SaaS Methodology by Jacco Van Der Kooij and Fernando Pizarro

23. Customer-centric
23
Real-time date
Wide range of data gets
measured real time, allowing
for educated decisions, and
immediate actions.
Non-linear path
Customers move seemingly
random, through different
experiences and back-track
their journey several times.
Asynchronous process
Customers obtain insights
online and no longer have to
wait for sales. Sales struggles
to identify where the
customer is in their journey.
Sales skill: Share insights
Sales professional excel in
customer education,
sharing of best practices,
and assisting a customer in
an online environment.
A customer becomes
AWARE
of a problem
A customer looks for
EDUCATION
to gain insight
Customer goal
Successful use of the
services to solve the
problem experienced. The
goal extends well beyond
signing up for the service.
Size matters
Indicates where customers
spend most of their time.
A customer
INTEGRATES
the service
A customer
SELECTS
the right service
A customer
USES/EXPANDS
the service
Extension of sales cycle
Customer defined stages
A customer’s journey goes through
experiences that relate to the
customers problem solving process.
Image Source: Blue Print SaaS Methodology by Jacco Van Der Kooij and Fernando Pizarro

24. 24Image Source: Blue Print SaaS Methodology by Jacco Van Der Kooij and Fernando Pizarro
A customer becomes
AWARE
of a problem
A customer looks for
EDUCATION
to gain insight
A customer
SELECTS
the right service
A customer
USES/EXPANDS
the service
Extension of sales cycle
• Top 5-7 content list
• Top 5-7 content list • Top 5-7 content list • Top 5-7 content list

25. Customer journey mapping to sales journey
25
A customer becomes
AWARE
of a problem
A customer looks for
EDUCATION
to gain insight
Size matters
Indicates where customers
spend most of their time.
A customer
INTEGRATES
the service
A customer
SELECTS
the right service
A customer
USES/EXPANDS
the service
Extension of sales cycle
Customer defined stages
A customer’s journey goes through
experiences that relate to the
customers problem solving process.
Contacted
Qualified
Demo
Proposal
Closed
Maintain
Relationship
Image Sources: Blue Print SaaS Methodology by Jacco Van Der Kooij and Fernando Pizarro

26. Customization and localization for different regions
26
Review
list with your
local team
Prioritize
what to standardize
and localize
Determine
roles and
responsibilities to get
THINGS DONE!

27. 3 ways to enable sales as as a marketer
27
Differentiate Products
from competition
MAP Content
for sales engagement
Train Sales
for products and tools

28. Sales and marketing
are blurring
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29. 29
Product
training
Messaging Content Social media
for social selling
Training

30. Creative ways to support sales
• Create crisp lead definitions and tie these
to your websites and outbound marketing
• Craft messaging for known and
unconsidered challenges
• Map content between customer and sales
journeys
• Use marketing elements as part of sales
engagements and negotiations
30

31. Scale marketing support across borders
• Understand the challenges at regional and country level
• Help local teams understand what you (corporate) can
offer
• Identify opportunities to work together
• Find balance between global vs. local
–Guidance vs. Execution
–Lead vs. Follow
–Standardization vs. Localization
• Communicate and follow up
31

32. It’s a journey.

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34. Workshop, training, consulting and coaching?
Anything about content MKT or marketing enabling sales
Pamdidner.com
Pam@pamdidner.com
@Pamdidner
Pam Didner