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Do you know your sales funnel like the back of your hand, or the back of your head? September 11, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Funnel management basics, Marketing and sales alignment, Revenue planning.
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If your CEO, head of marketing, and head of sales can all agree that the following information is known than step to the head of the class.  However,  I suspect that you won’t pass the test, meaning your company is like 90% of other B2B companies that are:

  1. Struggling to align marketing and sales,
  2. Struggling to hit their revenue numbers,
  3. Struggling to develop a believable plan and budget for 2010,
  4. Struggling to achieve a comfortable level of transparency into the sales forecast.

Often you’ll know:

  • The size of your market
  • How much revenue you need to generate out of that market

But do you, or the team, know:

  • How many deals you need to close each month?
  • How many proposals that will take – for each month of 2010?
  • How about first meetings (you know the one, the “Hi, thanks for making the time, tell me about your business”)? How many do you need in month 1,2,3 and next year?
  • And how many leads will that take from Marketing, and how many must Sales generate itself?
  • How about the market? Do you know how much of that market you need, and whether (and how tightly) you can (or must) focus?
  • Does everyone in Sales, Marketing, Finance and Operations have the same view of these numbers? Or are there disconnects?
  • How do these planned numbers compare to your current numbers?
  • Which of these do you know, and which of them are gaps in the understanding of your funnel?

So, how well do you, and your team know all of the numbers, and what does the future hold?
You need to have a simple, single model of your demand for 2010 (and beyond), outlining
your total funnel – top to bottom.

If you’re wondering where the gaps are in your ability to plan and execute a revenue plan effectively contact me. As a certified Funnel Coach in North America for MathMarketing there are many ways I can be of service to you this year, and some are even free.

My colleagues at MathMarketing in Melbourne have a nice habit of hitting the nail on the head when it comes to discussing funnel management, revenue planning, and marketing training, which is why I boldly lifted the above (in italics) from their literature. Thank you, mates.

My free offer to audit your funnel and project growth over 3 years September 9, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Lead generation, Webinars and live events.
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Do you have sufficient buyers in your funnel to achieve 2009 revenue objectives? What about your plans for 2010, 2011 and 2012? There’s a very insightful webinar on September 9 and September 10 you should consider. Plus if you attend the webinar I can offer you a free funnel audit. Details below.

REGISTER FOR SEPTEMBER FUNNEL FORUM: featuring guest speaker Jim Lenskold, author of ‘Marketing ROI’

Why not take just 45 minutes – in the comfort of your own office – to learn how to:

  • Predict – and change – the future using a simple model funnel
  • Use lead quality to increase profitability and marketing ROI
  • Use lead quality to drive your revenue objectives
  • Use predictive modeling to accurately forecast how many leads, meetings, proposals and deals you need to win
  • Use metrics to inform change

Presenters:

  • Hugh Macfarlane, MathMarketing
  • Jim Lenskold, Lenskold Group

Dates:

  • 9th September – US Eastern Time 3.30pm
  • 10th September – Australian Eastern Standard Time 11.00am

Attend, and I’ll also offer you a free analysis of your current sales funnel. So, you get some action-packed insights PLUS some free consulting.

I’ll build a disarmingly clear model of your funnel that projects your growth over the next 3 years, based on your current effectiveness. The results will confront you, but also inform what you need to change if you want to see real results. We’ll present your funnel, our analysis and the identified gaps to you and your team so you can agree what needs to change.

Places are strictly limited – so please register to reserve yours right away.


Calculating Your Lead Volume Target: Lessons from Captain Hook August 21, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Funnel management basics.
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Universal rules for B2B marketers aren’t all found in text books and seminars. Sometimes wisdom can be found (re-found) in the oddest places; even in cartoons.

Remember the villain in Peter Pan, mean old Captain Hook?  He was only scared of one thing, a ticking clock. (To be accurate he was actually scared of the alligator, but stay with me a bit longer.)

As B2B marketers we have to have a healthy respect for the ticking clock, the passing of time.  Time,  just like Captain Hook’s nemesis,  can bite us in rear end  if we don’t understand the critical importance of time in our lead-sales funnel.

You may be feeling pretty good about your lead volume target. You calculated the number of deals or orders required to reach the revenue goal. You looked at conversion percentages at key points in the funnel. You calculated the gross number of names that marketing programs need to put into the top of the funnel.  What’s so tough about that, you might ask?

You have stepped into a trap and the alligator is about to have you for lunch.  Don’t ignore the ticking clock.

Here’s an excellent article with tips on how to factor time into your lead volume calculation. It’s good reading for sales managers, too.  The folks at Math Marketing have been developing and testing best practices for sales funnel management for over ten years on 4 continents.

If you want to be notified when there are Webinars or workshops on this topic, just contact me directly.

Forget about Branding. Get Marketing Closer to Revenue. July 22, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Role of marketing, Webinars and live events.
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If you are a B2B marketer reading this your job could be in jeopardy and you don’t even know it.  If you are a CEO or CSO you’ll see why you tend to be frustrated by the marketing function at your company.

Try this. Make a list of all the tactics your demand generation campaigns include. For each of the tactics make a note of what the objective is.

In most companies a majority of the list includes tactics devoted to “building name awareness”, “getting our name out there”, “positioning the brand against the competition,” etc.   Good enough,  but what about the tactics that move buyers into and through the funnel?

If Marketing’s primary focus is on branding, it isn’t doing enough to partner with Sales in driving revenue.

How should a company view the role of  Marketing in its revenue generation process? I suggest you register for free 45-minute webinar on July 29 at 2:30 EDT.  This webinar is being presented by MathMarketing, a thought-leader in the area of sales and marketing alignment. (I am associated with Math Marketing as  a Funnel Coach in North America).

Here’s what will be covered:

  1. The 4 most common reasons Marketing fails to deliver accountable results
  2. 3 proven steps to get Marketing and Sales on the same, revenue-accountable track

If moving Marketing closer to revenue is important to you I suggest you register today.

What is the Cost of Misalignment in Sales and Marketing? June 14, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Misalignment.
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There’s a lot of talk about aligning sales and marketing. I’ve given speeches on the topic and have written numerous posts.  Company executives know it’s an issue, but what are the costs associated with misalignment? Read my recent post on this topic at my One Riot- One Ranger blog.

Think Your Market is Too Small? Try Recycling. June 14, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Funnel Calculator, Funnel management basics.
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I was speaking with an executive the other day who repeated the concerns of her management team that their existing market was too small to sustain their growth.

Expanding into new markets may look enticing, but there are large risks and costs associated with this strategy.  As it turned out in this case I was able to show the company that their market was large enough to provide growth opportunities for the next 3 years.

A little back of the envelope math indicated a bleak picture at first. Considering the size of their available market and their current conversion metrics for demand generation they simply couldn’t reach their revenue target. They were burning through too many prospective buyers and before long every prospective customer in the market will have been contacted and perhaps even placed into their sales funnel.

Their conversion rates were respectable, too. Only incremental improvement could be expected. It was when I asked about buyer recycling (lead recycling)  that the answer started to emerge.

Many marketers and salespeople put all their energies into generating leads and working to progress these buyers through the funnel. But, a percentage of buyers always leak from the funnel at every stage. If your conversion rate at one stage in the funnel is 40%, this means 60% have leaked–they haven’t progressed. For whatever reason they weren’t willing or able to move to the next stage in the funnel at that time. Later a portion of these leaked buyers will be ready to re-engage with you (if you let them).

Sadly these buyers who leak for whatever reason are frequently forgotten by marketing and sales.

The company I was speaking to wasn’t actually ignoring their leaked buyers, but had a procedure in place to follow up with leaked buyers every 6 months. Ah-ha!

Using a sales funnel calculator from MathMarketing (click for  lite version of this calculator) I was able to show the company that by recycling their leaked buyers at every stage after 4 weeks rather and after 24 weeks they’d need 7,000 fewer fresh names over a three year period.

This meant the market was large enough if they could execute effective marketing and sales strategies for recycling the leaked buyers back into the funnel–certainly a much easier and less risky proposition than expanding into new markets.

Closing the Gap Between Strategy and Results May 11, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Webinars and live events.
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In a lot of B2B companies marketing and sales aren’t on the same page and this creates a severe obstacle to efficient revenue generation. Just about everyone talks about the problem. Few have adopted methods that solve the problem and generate convincing results.

If you want to hear first hand the secrets of companies who got the alignment right and  are growing 5.4% faster than their industry counterparts, winning 38% more proposals, and churning 36% fewer customer every year I suggest you register for a free online Forum produced by MathMarketing. I’ve seen this 45 minute program and it certainly opened my eyes.

The initial event is May 20 in U.S. time zones, but registration is closed. The next event is June 17.  Here are the times

US Pacific – 12.30pm
US Mountain – 1.30pm
US Central – 2.30pm
US  Eastern – 3.30pm

Here’s the link to register (and I’m told “space” is limited; the May 20 event became fully subscribed in less than 2 weeks). www.mathmarketing.com/forum

Why the CFO Should Be Funnel Savvy March 13, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Funnel Academy, Funnel economics, Funnel management basics.
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The revenue funnel isn’t the sole domain of sales or marketing. CFO’s should be as familiar with their company’s funnel structure and metrics as any sales executive or marketing executive.  Here’s why.

  1. Funnel modeling tools provide the best way for marketing, finance, and sales to talk the same language during planning and reporting.
  2. The variables of the funnel make up the actual metrics of the revenue engine. These variables are the levers and dials over which management has control.
  3. The funnel, over time, enables the sales forecast to be made with higher and higher degrees of accuracy.
  4. Requests for more resources from Marketing and Sales can in part be justified or refused based on funnel economics

CFO’s should be trained in the use of sophisticated funnel modeling tools right along side their marketing and sales colleagues.

An excellent source of this training is the FunnelAcademy(tm), which includes comprehensive training on sizing a funnel and measuring progress. It also includes the most robust funnel modeling tool I’ve ever had the pleasure to use.

Reset the Sales Funnel for Revenue Forecast Accuracy March 11, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Funnel economics, Funnel management basics.
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In case you didn’t notice your customers are buying differently today than they did last year.  The differences could be subtle or obvious, but if you observe closely you’ll see that the process they follow to make a buying decision–the buyers’ journey’–has changed.

If your selling process and sales funnel structure haven’t adapted to the buyers’ journey the efficiency of your sales and marketing efforts will be down and so will the accuracy of your revenue forecast. This is what I call the new “Funnel Economics”.

Here are the major variables in a sales funnel (which I am now going to refer to as the revenue funnel because it should be co-owned by marketing and sales).

  1. Stages of the buyers’ journey
  2. Lag time between stages
  3. Leakage rate at each stage
  4. Advancement rate at each stage
  5. Number of meetings required in each stage
  6. Number of meetings that each sales person can expertly handle in a week
  7. Number of available sales people
  8. Average revenue per order

Any change to any of these variables has an impact on how many deals get closed in a period of time.  The marketing and sales effort required to generate a level of revenue last year is very different from what it takes this year.

If you’re still trying to plan and forecast based on last year’s funnel structure, you’re not just flying blind you’re flying with the wrong instruments.

Reset your revenue funnel by analyzing and observing the customer’s current buying process and  behaviors.  Dial in the new metrics into your revenue funnel and monitor carefully over the next several months.  The accuracy of your revenue projections will improve.  What’s more, you’ll  have a more realistic preview of what type and level of activities are necessary to achieve a certain revenue outcome.

Should Marketing Be Measured on Conversions? February 27, 2009

Posted by funnelfan in Funnel Academy, Funnel management basics.
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Good question. Up until recently I thought the proposal conversion rate belonged to Sales and therefore Sales performance should be based, in part, on the rate of proposal wins.

After attending a FunnelAcademy(tm) workshop lead by Hugh MacFarlane, I have changed my way of thinking.

The percent of proposals  won is directly related to the quality of the buyers that marketing places into the revenue funnel and advances through the early stages of the funnel.

Yes,  Sales should still be measured, in part, on their effectiveness in closing deals, but so should Marketing.

What better way to put Markeing and Sales on the same page than to have both evaluated for the same key business metric?