A term the larger marketing automation firms are trying to promote is dubbed ‘revenue performance management.’ What does this mean? Who’s performance are they hoping to monetize?
It’s been fascinating to me that the major players in the field insist they ‘know’ the buyer’s decision path.

Because choosing a solution is the last thing a buyer does, the vendor isn’t an active partner at the point the most important decisions get made.  We  like to think that because we gather good data, deeply understand pain, and have a relevant solution, we’ll be considered an ‘active partner.’
SELLERS ENTER TOO EARLY
We fail to realize that we are [...]

When I recently heard that a prospect was re-organizing and moving the sales folks into geographic verticals, I was baffled. Across the board, through decades, using any sales model, selling any solution, the sales model closes 7%, plus or minus 2%. Regardless of where the sellers sat.
From what I gather, the thinking behind this is to ‘be nearer [...]

Recently, I asked 15 marketing automation leaders to define Lead Scoring for me. Every one gave me a different answer!

What does your pipeline consist of? How long have the ‘opportunities’ been in the pipeline? How accurate is your/your team’s forecasting?

You get paid based on closed sales. Fortunately, you don’t get paid on the % of sales you don’t close.
But actually, that is exactly what happens: you are missing income on the sales you aren’t closing. But if you based your efforts on the buyer’s decision paths rather than your solution, you can be closing a helluva lot more sales.
THE COST OF [...]