This document outlines a presentation about building alignment between product, sales, and marketing (the "trifecta") in startups. It discusses how each group thinks differently, defines the trifecta as alignment leading to revenue, and provides tips on achieving alignment through both soft skills like listening and hard data. Attendees participate in a challenge to apply the concepts in different scenarios and discuss what they learned. The presentation emphasizes the importance of the trifecta for business success and delivering revenue.

1. BUILDING YOUR
PRODUCT, SALES & MARKETING
TRIFECTA
Michelle A. Heath
www.michelleaheath.com
www.linkedin.com/in/michelleheath
April 2013 for Startup Institute
Twitter: #startupinst
@michelleheath
@startupinst

2. AGENDA
 Introductions
 The humble art of marketing
 How Sales & Product think
 What is The Trifecta?
 How does it work in the Real World
 Why it ain‟t that easy
 Building your Trifecta
 30-Minute Trifecta Challenge
 Results Share
 Wrap-Up
 Q&A
Twitter: #startupinst @michelleheath @startupinst

3. INTRODUCTIONS
 Tell the group
 Your name
 The name of your start-up
 Your role
 What your start-up does
Twitter: #startupinst @michelleheath @startupinst

5. AGENDA
 Introductions
 The humble art of marketing
 How Sales & Product think
 What is The Trifecta?
 How does it work in the Real World
 Why it ain‟t that easy
 Building your Trifecta
 30-Minute Trifecta Challenge
 Results Share
 Wrap-Up
 Q&A

6. AS A MARKETER YOU MUST…
 Admit and remind executives and staff
that you do not have the “secret sauce,”
“magic wand,” “pixy dust” or any other
mystical powers that will
 a) make marketing programs
sexy, jazzy or cool
 b) make videos or any other
programs „go viral‟
 c) deliver thousands of leads by
pressing a button
 d) create demand for a crappy
product (aka lipstick on a pig)
 e) build a lead gen machine that
spits out leads like jellybeans

7. AS A MARKETER YOU MUST
ALSO…
 Admit you do not have all of the answers
 Network like mad with people who do (see above)
 Test and measure everything
 Understand what KPIs are and why they matter
 Learn to talk like Sales and Product
 Arm yourself with data to support your decisions
 Accept that they will never understand why it takes so damn long to
get the campaign out the door
 Be a prioritization ninja to stay organized and focused on what will
move the needle and drive results
 BE CONFIDENT. BE MANIACLE ABOUT DATA. BE HUMBLE.

8. AGENDA
 Introductions
 The humble art of marketing
 How Product & Sales Think
 What is The Trifecta & why building it ain‟t that easy
 Building your Trifecta
 30-Minute Trifecta Challenge
 Results Share
 Wrap-Up
 Q&A

9. HOW SALES THINKS

10. HOW PRODUCT THINKS
 The user is an idiot
 The product doesn‟t need to
change
 Find new users
 Find new distribution
channels
 There are too many features
to prioritize
 It‟s never going to make it
into this sprint
 It‟s just a marketing request

11. HOW YOU NEED TO THINK
 Marketing is the hub of harmony: Kumbaya
 Avoid finger-pointing
 Sometimes you have to give-in and and “do it their way” to prove
that their way doesn‟t work
 The soft skills combined with hard data separate good marketers
from great marketers
 Build marketing as a revenue center
 Align marketing with what sales
cares about: REVENUE

12. AGENDA
 Introductions
 The humble art of marketing
 How Sales & Product Think
 What is The Trifecta & why building it ain‟t that easy
 Building your Trifecta: The 30-Minute Trifecta Challenge
 Results Share
 Wrap-Up
 Q&A

13. WHAT IS THE TRIFECTA?
ALIGNMENT
=
REVENUE

14. ALIGNMENT WITH SALES
THE SOFT SKILLS
 Listen
 Picking your battles
 Knowing how far to push your
agenda
 Being a cheerleader
 Working together to clearly
define goals
 Focusing on the solution
 Avoiding negativity and finger-
pointing
 Using your creative skills to
your advantage
 Communicating effectively and
in-person as much as possible
THE HARD SKILLS
 Marketing must go beyond leads
 Tie everything you do to revenue
 Build your marketing team and
programs as a revenue center
NOT a cost center
 Provide regular metrics and
reporting for transparency and
optimization
 Focus on the goals and don‟t let
other agendas get in the way!

15. ALIGNMENT WITH PRODUCT
THE SOFT SKILLS
 Be a cheerleader for the user
 Arm yourself with data
 Understand product priorities
and where marketing fits in
 Be a support and partner
 Provide customer feedback
and data to support product
changes and improvements
THE HARD SKILLS
 Tie all product recommendations
to hard data
 Suggestions cannot be subjective
 Build marketing into the product
development process
 Show Product how you can help
them make the product more
successful (launch planning, new
feature rollouts, beta tests)
 Deliver on-time
 Partner on testing with users

16. MARKETING AS A PROFIT CENTER
 The Marketing budget is discretionary. Product and Sales are not.
 When things aren‟t going well, Marketing will be cut before Sales or
Product…The first budget to get cut is: Marketing
 Ownership of revenue is KEY
 Sales enablement
 ROI
 CPA/Lifetime Value
 Net profit for the company
 Metrics/KPI/Data
 Using tools such as Salesforce, KissMetrics, MailChimp will give
you real-time reports on how your marketing programs are
working
 Weekly reporting to execs & Sales keeps everyone aligned on
how the company is doing v. the goal

17. WHY IT AIN‟T THAT EASY
 What happens when you
can‟t get your sales, product
and marketing trifecta to sing
campfire songs?
 What skills can you try to
make it work?
 How can you use your
communication skills and
finesse to improve the
situation?
 What if it doesn‟t work?

18. AGENDA
 Introductions
 The humble art of marketing
 How Sales & Product Think
 What is The Trifecta & why building it ain‟t that easy
 Building your Trifecta: The 30-Minute Trifecta Challenge
 Results Share
 Wrap-Up
 Q&A

19. 30 MINUTE CHALLENGE
 Break into groups of 3
 Take your challenge (next slide)
 Take on your challenge:
 Define the scenario
 Pick your roles : Sales, Marketing, Product
 After 5 minutes in your role, switch roles so that each person
plays the role of Sales, Marketing and Product in your group
 Change how you approach the situation in each role
 Take a variety of communication approaches:
Defensive, Helpful, Data-Driven, etc and see what worked the
best
 Note what approaches worked and didn‟t work
 Spend the last 10 minutes documenting what you learned
 Present to the class

20. ASSIGNMENTS
 Group 1: Challenge:
 Sales says: The leads are weak.
 Group 2: Challenge:
 Marketing says: We need to
change the product because
customers are complaining.
 Group 3: Challenge:
 Product says: We don’t have
time to get everyone’s input on
what we build because we know
what to build.
 Group 4: Challenge:
 Sales says: Marketing isn’t
producing enough leads fast
enough.

 Group 5: Challenge:
 Marketing says: Sales isn’t
working hard enough to close the
leads.
 Group 6:Challenge:
 Product says: We are launching
whether Sales & Marketing are
ready or not.

21. WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
 What worked?
 What didn‟t?

22. TIME TO PUT IT ALL INTO
PRACTICE
 Create a culture at your company that embraces The Trifecta and
finds ways to build healthy relationships that produce results
 Focus your marketing efforts on REVENUE
 Forget the personal agendas and finger-pointing, it‟s depressing
and a waste of valuable time
 Bring the data: Test and measure, rinse and repeat
 Celebrate the wins
 Deliver revenue
 Be humble
And remember, without The Trifecta, you have no business.
Rethink your marketing approach…
DELIVER REVENUE

23. MY BOOK CLUB
 Just a few “must read?s as you build your businesses and learn
the art of marketing
 Brandwashed – Martin Lindstrom
 Why We Buy – Paco Underhill
 Good to Great – Jim Collins
 Brains on Fire – Phillips, Cordell, Church, Jones
 Linchpin – Seth Godin
 Lean In – Sheryl Sandberg
 The Dip – Seth Godin
 Winning – Jack Welch
 Delivering Happiness – Tony Hsieh
 Flip the Funnel – Jaffe
 The Purple Cow – Seth Godin

24. Q&A

25. KEEP IN TOUCH!
 Need help with your marketing, acquisition or sales
strategy and approach? Let me know how I can help!
 Linked In: /michelleheath
 Twitter: @michelleheath
 Facebook: /michelleaheath
 Instagram: michelleheath
 Email: michelleaheath@gmail.com