B2B Reads: “Smarketing”, Channel Conflict, and Scope Creep

In addition to our Sunday App of the Week feature, we also summarize some of our favorite B2B sales & marketing posts from around the web each week. We’ll miss a ton of great stuff, so if you found something you think is worth sharing please add it to the comments below. 

Preventing strategy scope creep
“Scope creep” is quite common in the business world. An organization with a clearly defined business vision gets so far away from the original purpose, it is unrecognizable. The consequences of scope creep are strategic distractions, inefficiency, financial disruptions and overall poor performance” writes Dave Coffaro. In this post, Coffaro outlines the signs of scope creep and how leaders can be proactive in preventing this phenomenon in their own businesses.

To improve management, build a decision factory
In this article, Theodore Kinni pulls out some important insights from a new book by Berkeley and Harvard professors Don Moore and Max Bazerman. He notes that “in their new book, Decision Leadership, professors Don Moore and Max Bazerman tell leaders how the lessons of behavioral economics can lead to better organizational decision-making.” Kinni explores how the professors’ expertise in behavioral economics allows for bold (or even surprising) conclusions about decision-making and group dynamics.

How to Build Alliances With Sales and Marketing to Achieve Optimum Results
In this post, Candice Georgiadis explains the concept and importance of “‘smarketing’ – integrating sales and marketing to achieve optimum results.” She offers different avenues and solutions for thinking about alliances between sales and marketing, along with the relevant metrics to track effectiveness.

5 Strategies To Maximize Revenue From Your Email Marketing
Emails remains one of the most important channels for any business selling online. In this interview with copywriting specialist Zak Columber, Jodie Cook shares 5 important lessons on how “with no additional ad spend or acquisition costs, even small improvements in your email marketing conversion rates can make a huge difference to your bottom line.”

The Brand Lessons That Are Having An Impact This Year In B2B
In this post, Kelly Feist outlines how B2C movements like ESG and layered, multichannel information have found their way in B2B practices and behaviors. She writes: “We’ve seen a rapid acceleration in digitization across industries since the pandemic started, and this shift has accelerated how B2B companies are now being evaluated by their end customers. Because of this, we see more B2B companies taking lessons from and behaving like consumer brands.”

How to Save Social Media Content for a Marketing Swipe File
In this informative guide, Anna Sonnenberg outlines what a social media swipe file is, and the best way to go about saving relevant posts in creating your own swipe file. She runs through all of the major social media platforms and the various ways to save content on each.

How to Identify and Prevent B2B Channel Conflict
Darya Troncoso in this article offers many common types of communication breakdown in B2B sales and one might avoid them in the future. For example, Troncoso sites “inconsistent pricing, unclear or compatible goals, and lack of trust” (among many others) as causes for potential channel conflict.

The Leadership Mindset That Sparks Miraculous ‘Aha!’ Moments
In this post, Amy Federman details the euphoria of ‘aha!’ moments, some common misconceptions around their arrival, and how using growth mindset can stimulate more of these moments to come. Federman notes that “you must train your psyche to believe that examination and reflection are worthwhile” in fulling embracing growth mindset.

Is It Time to Consider Co-CEOs?
In this entry of the Harvard Business Review, Marc A. Feigen, Michael Jenkins, and Anton Warendh explore how the popular perception of co-CEOs as an inefficient practice may be misguided. Instead, these authors draw upon data that recent co-CEOs of large, public companies have outperformed their singular CEO counterparts to argue that this business practice should be reconsidered.

Stop Losing Sales to Customer Indecision
Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna in this article establish the historically successful conventions in sales and how salespeople have converted customers on the fence. Although, their research says otherwise. Dixon and McKenna argue: “[the time-honored techniques] aren’t just unproductive; they can actually be counterproductive to the goal of getting the customer off the fence.”