2. swim out a little farther
Sales
Marketing
Success
Factors
March 2016
3. Sales Marketing Success Factors
13 Lessons Learned from
25 Years of Consulting
make some waves
4. swim out a little farther
But first… About LargerPond Me
• Building Marketing and Sales Structure for…
Small organizations and divisions of larger
businesses
Start-ups, in a mentor role
• Career mostly in marketing, but also in sales
• Worked at the world’s largest agency and some small
agencies, as well.
• Write children stories
• Run a charity
• Long time angel investor
Fully subscribe to the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) theory
of Marketing.
5. swim out a little farther
Lesson 1: Never stop selling
• Question: What do you call the top salesperson at an
SMB or start-up? (Answer: The President.)
• Corollary: Never wait on marketing
6. Lesson 2a: You can never know too much
about about your customer
• Demographics and psychographics
“What’s her mother’s maiden name
and what color socks is she wearing
right now?”
• Know the smallest step you need
your customer to take
• And know their entire life cycle, i.e.
“lifetime value” (LTV), “customer
experience mapping” … etc.
make a bigger splash
7. Lesson 2b: The customer has the answer
• In other words: You don’t. (You
might think you do, but you’re
likely wrong.)
• Words I hate: “think,” “believe”
• The dreaded “s” word
• Be the enemy of the anecdotal
• The customer will tell you what
they want next. Ask them. Then
listen!
catch bigger fish
All your answers are here.
8. Lesson 3: Start with goals
explore new shores
• No one can hit a lack of a target
• Just plant a flag and see if that’s where you land
9. • Market size is almost as
meaningless (for SMBs)
• The current companies are
defending their turf; but beating
them is not the challenge
Lesson 4: Market share is meaningless
cast a wider net
The giant decides.
10. test the waters
• Put more simply: If you cannot find supporting data, assume it’s
not true
• “Everyone knows…” means “I can’t prove it.” means “It’s just a
guess.”
• If you can’t measure it, you cannot manage fix it. Or predict it.
• If you don’t know why you’re measuring it, then stop
• Know your Sales Marketing KPIs
Predictive, not historical
Vanity metrics don’t pay the bills.
Defend your scorecard as tightly as you defend your
margins
• The only true failure is a failure to learn from your failures
Lesson 5: If it’s not in the CRM, it
didn’t happen
11. • You think you do, but you
don’t
• Salespeople hide behind this
• Find out why you really lost
Lesson 6: You (almost) never lose a deal on
price.
make a bigger splash
Why shop anywhere else?
12. • Technology is an enabler, not a solution
• The only person that makes money with technology is the
person who sold it to you
Lesson 7: Build the process before you buy the
technology
dive down deeper
13. Lesson 8: Your case study process is your
future
dive down deeper
• How did you delight your customer?
• Prove it. Then document it.
14. swim out a little farther
Lesson 9: Fix your net. Now.
• If your first customers are
unhappy; new customers will
not magically be happier
Note: an unhappy customer
is still a customer
• New prospects will not be
easier
• Your margins will not
magically improve
• This list goes on
15. test the waters
• Especially not a consumer
brand
• Partner for success
They already have
your customers
They are meeting
them right now
• In short: Find your “one-to-
many” channels
Lesson 10: You cannot build a successful
brand one person at a time
16. Lesson 11: Branding is not the opposite of
lead generation
dive down deeper
• “Awareness” is what failures call success
• Why can’t you have both?
17. test the waters
Lesson 12: Make sure your marketing and
sales teams are on the same page
18. Lesson 13: RFPs suck
explore new shores
• If you didn’t help write the RFP, you probably
already lost
How can you get a personal meeting?
• Listen to the questions that others ask
How did they know to ask that question?
