By Kayla Beard, Marketing Intern at Heinz Marketing
Over the past four months, there has been so much change to everyone’s lives. Unfortunately, change is not something new that’s come out of the coronavirus pandemic. Change is inevitable and is a constant whether we recognize it or not. While some people don’t like change, leading the change in business organizations is essential to maintaining success in your industry.
Latane Conant, CMO at 6sense, just released the book #NoForms #NoSpam #NoColdCalls that targets a new generation of sales and marketing leaders who are ready to ditch the traditional strategies, tactics, and technologies that are no longer working to deliver breakthrough results. Conant outlines how to improve and enhance different roles within a business organization.
What Is A Difference Maker And Why Do You Want To Be One?
As Latané Conant lays out in her book #NoForms, #NoSpam #NoColdCalls, difference makers are those in the industry who are willing to take real risks in order to advocate for change. Difference makers are what make great businesses. They take advantage of change and use it to better themselves and the people that work in their organization. If you are looking for people in your company that could be a difference maker, Conant recommends looking for people who are curious, have a high work ethic, are not comfortable with the status quo, focus and measure their outcomes instead of their time or effort.
How To Be A Revenue Operations Difference Maker
If you’re passionate about data, people, technology, sales and experience, you have what it takes to be a revenue operations difference maker. Did you know that only 13% of sales and marketing teams have confidence in their data? (Conant, 142). Businesses need to find ways for their revenue operations to improve and Latane gives readers just the right ideas.
Modern revenue operations can:
- Provide revenue teams with insights that create competitive advantage
- Drive operational and cost-efficiencies throughout lifecycle
- Deliver a predictable operating plan
- Set every seller up for success
- Put customer and future customer experience front and center
- Enable teams and drive adoption of modern account engagement stack
How to be a Digital Marketing Difference Maker
As a digital marketer, you create the experience for your customers and others. With every ad impression, page view, chatbot conversation – your customers and future customers make judgments about you. It’s essential that your business’s digital content truly represents what your business stands for. In the last chapter of her book, Latane discusses breakthrough moves for digital marketers. She talks about the importance of understanding buyer intent, measuring engagement, focusing on the experience, and developing unique content and tools.
Conant also portrays how digital marketers can be difference makers by:
- Delivering superior digital experiences
- Increasing ROI across all tactics
- Uncovering early-stage interest
- Delivering hyper-personalized experiences at scale
- Maintaining consistency in brand and messaging
- Accelerating velocity of accounts
How to be a Demand Generation Difference Makers
The demand generation role is very broad and has no strict role description. However, their job is about generating engagement with multiple buying committee members to the point that they lean way in with you and convert – not just in moving them to the next stage of the buyer’s journey but buying into your brand. Improving demand generation leader’s roles is essential to your business.
Modern demand generation can:
- Ensure sales and marketing work on accounts most likely to close
- Create customer/prospect centric experiences and adapt to buyer changes
- Optimize revenue team’s time and efforts to ensure accounts convert
- Generate higher ROI for programs
How to be a Field Marketer/Chief Marketing Officer Difference Maker
Field marketing is a critical component of the customer experience revolution. They are creators of programs that engage target accounts in meaningful ways. Conant compares field marketing to throwing a surprise party. It’s important to know your guest of honor, set your budget, make sure guests are in the right place and happy, and assemble your helpers. It’s essential that modern field marketers:
- Drive tight alignment between sales and marketing
- Maximize impact from webinars, trade shows, dinners, etc.
- Accelerate pipeline by engaging the right accounts at the right time
- Orchestrate campaigns that generate buzz
- Measure the success of marketing events
How to be a Business Development Representative, Marketing Development Representative, and Sales Development Representative Difference Maker
Business, Marketing, and Sales Development Representatives are some of the most important people in the business. They are the pipeline drivers and the most important channel for successful account-based programs. According to Conant, in order to be successful, it’s essential for Business Development Representatives to have clearer buyer personas, tighter sales and marketing alignments, and more time to do outreach.
In the future, Latané says that successful Business, Marketing, and Sales development representatives should:
- Deploy outreach cadences to prioritized warm accounts, resulting in higher response rates
- Personalize outreach based on account and contact’s unique interests
- Engage entire buying team
- Improve engagement rates and boost the number of meetings scheduled
- Strategically use tactics like direct mail to generate meetings and engagement
How to be a Sales Leader Difference Maker
Sales leaders have a lot of responsibility. They can set sellers up with success by prioritizing territories and prospecting insights to get the best opportunities.
Future sales leaders should:
- Help sales reps strategize on deals and prioritize actions to maximize win rates
- Scale success while growing the team
- Manage pipeline to ensure reps hit quota and eliminate EOQ surprises
- Rapidly adjust to market changes
- Ensure teams aren’t late on deals or missing them altogether
How to be a Sales and Account Executive
Sales and account executives carry a lot of weight for the team. They are like the quarterbacks of the team, they need to be able to rally the whole team together. Because Sales and account executives play a big part in the team, it’s essential to look at how they can be evolved for the future.
Latané says modern sales and account executives should:
- Get in deals early by engaging with prospects before the competition
- Effectively manage the pipeline to meet or exceed numbers
- Differentiate by adding value throughout the buying process
- Win more often
Hopefully, this post and Latané Conant’s suggestions for future business leaders will help your business accept this new change and keep up with the modern market.
What are you doing as a difference maker in your organization? Reply in the comments below.
Latané Conant’s book is now available at Amazon.
Full Disclosure: 6sense is a client of Heinz Marketing.
