Alignment is the name of the game when it comes to product development and delivery. As Marketers, we play a key role in getting to the group hug and gaining alignment across key delivery channels to deliver on our brand promise. Here's how I shared my learnings and ideas with the Boston Startup Institute. Good stuff.

1. BUILDING YOUR
PRODUCT, SALES & MARKETING
TRIFECTA
Michelle A. Heath
Founder & CEO
Growth Street Marketing
www.growthstreetmarketing.co
m
April 2013 for Startup Institute
Twitter: @growthstreet
@michelleheath
@startupinst #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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. HOW SALES THINKS

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. WHAT IS THE TRIFECTA?
ALIGNMENT
=
REVENUE

13. 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!

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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?

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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.

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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Q&A

24. KEEP IN TOUCH!
 Need help with your marketing, acquisition or sales
strategy and approach? Get in touch
 Linked In: /michelleheath
 Twitter: @michelleheath
 Twitter: @growthstreet
 Facebook: /michelleaheath
 Instagram: michelleheath
 Email: michelle@growthstreetmarketing.com