Plenty of marketing professionals will tell you that their team is often misaligned, misunderstood, or competing against the sales team at their organization. Unsurprisingly, many sales professionals echo this same sentiment. In fact, a 2019 survey commissioned by LeanData and Sales Hacker uncovered that more than a third of those surveyed (37%) do not believe that sales and marketing are properly aligned.
As stay home orders were instituted across the country businesses were forced to rapidly adapt to changing market conditions. Employees began working remotely and sales functions went virtual to meet business and consumer audiences where they were.
While some industries surged with revenue growth overnight, other industries abruptly saw these business operation changes create barriers to meeting revenue projections. Businesses that previously relied on face-to-face and in-person interactions to sell were left scratching their heads as they tried to figure out how they could leverage their strengths to conduct sales in a new way.
We are currently in a recession that is being felt across all industries. An April McKinsey & Company survey indicates, “Consumers are feeling the impact of COVID-19, with about 34 percent noting that either their income or ability to work has been negatively impacted.” Rising unemployment and consumer economic uncertainty are rippling through organizations in both B2B and B2C arenas.
However, consumers and businesses are still spending. How and what they are consuming is changing. Those changes will likely stick around after the pandemic is over. The same survey indicates, “The next normal has started emerging, with consumers indicating that they will adopt long-term behavioral changes that will last beyond the current situation. Consumers who have switched to new brands or retailers largely intend to stick with them, with almost two-thirds of consumers indicating an intent to continue.”
Businesses are following suit – making purchasing changes based on supply chain availability and selling changes based on necessity. Additional survey data on B2B sales indicates that “Almost 90 percent of sales have moved to a video conferencing(VC)/phone/web sales model, and while some skepticism remains, more than half believe this is equally or more effective than sales models used before COVID-19.”
Do you know how to move forward in a restart? Ask yourself these questions:
In a recent webinar Paul Single, Managing Director at City National Rochdale, explained the forecasted economic curve as being shaped like a Nike swish – with a sudden drop-off and a slow but continuous upward swoop. While the economic rebound will almost certainly happen slowly, your business needs to be poised for revenue growth now to capitalize on opportunities as they arise.
Recent events have significantly affected the economic climate over the past month. That’s undeniable.
Social distancing measures and stay home orders have been implemented for everyone’s wellbeing, which means that in-person functions like tradeshows, conferences, and networking events have been canceled. For B2B companies that rely on these face-to-face events to drive revenue, this creates an indisputable barrier.
So, what does that mean? Has a portion of your future business been permanently lost? Are there still deals out there to be made right now? How do you adopt a revenue growth management mindset during these unpredictable times? Are your organizational objectives for the year still attainable?
The world has changed, but the goal has not.
Profitable revenue is the lifeblood of any organization. As such, many business owners correlate revenue with success, presuming that companies making money are, indeed, successful. However, revenue does not necessarily equate to success. While profitability, sustainable growth, and significant revenue can be components of success, true success is achieved when long-term goals are met.
The first foundational question in the Revenue Development Action Plan is “What does success look like for your organization?” This question precedes 27 more that help business owners, founders, and CEOs evaluate what is working within their organizations and what needs to be modified. Visualizing success helps identify competitive advantages, strengthen value propositions, locate gaps in existing plans and processes, recognize barriers to success, find operational areas for improvement, and seize opportunities in the market.
Strategy ideas are in abundant supply. Any and all may appear attractive and anyone with an active imagination can easily see the possibilities, but “possible” should not be confused with “probable”. Entrepreneurs (and intrapreneurs) with “irrational optimism” are eager to take action on the possibilities and leap without a parachute --- to fly or land with a splat.
Strategy is not a top priority for startups, entrepreneurs, and freelancers. The leaders are hunters in unfamiliar territory. To consider a strategy in the early stages seems a bit like making a plan to survive on Jupiter. Relying on theory, science and data works until it becomes apparent that it doesn’t.
Think of a strategy is a directed plan to which you commit your time and action in a single direction. A strategy aligns how you spend your time, money, resources, and your communication. This increases your chance for success.
Aka: Revenue Strategies - the Foundation for CRO Success
In a recent confidential interview, a CEO shared his thoughts about the next 12 months: "We believe we will achieve our revenue and profit goals over the next 12 months with our current resources. We have the right team, the latest software and tools, effective processes, remarkable products & services, strong branding and a unique value proposition." He went on to admit “… but we are not achieving our revenue and profit goals and we are still unsure why.”
The proper revenue strategy aligns marketing, sales, and customer experience teams around a singular goal: drive profitability. Without a strategic roadmap, healthy and sustained growth simply cannot flourish, which is why organizations put so much emphasis on the planning process. In fact, studies reveal that tightly-aligned sales and marketing functions result in an average of 36% higher customer retention rates and 38% higher sales closing rates, than their more loosely aligned counterparts.
Unraveling such a puzzle to understand what is ‘broken’ has us first visiting the revenue strategy. Choosing a revenue strategy impacts all other aspects of planning and whether goals are achieved.
