Are you curious about effective cold-calling techniques, consistently achieving sales quotas, or strategies for dynamic and scalable personalization? Well, you’ve landed in the right spot! We’ve carefully selected 60 top SDRs and sales leaders who aren’t just excelling in their careers; they’re also taking the time to share their knowledge. As if that wasn’t enough, they also actively engage in the broader sales community.  That’s why you MUST follow the salespeople below (like, immediately!).   Amanda Wilde Director of Business Development, Alida  Why you should follow Amanda ..read more

Sales and marketing alignment is perhaps the #1 predictor of go-to-market success. However, these teams often function in different ways. Put simply, sales is from Mars and marketing is from Venus. Think of it like this: sales teams focus on immediate goals — the next lead or sale — while marketing takes a wider view, planning and developing strategies for the future. Understanding these different approaches is key to getting both teams to work towards the same goal. I recently had the opportunity to lead a panel discussion on the topic of sales and marketing alignment at the Modern Sales Pros ..read more

You don’t need me to tell you that the economic landscape is a bit tricky right now.  During these uncertain times, putting your limited marketing budget to the best use to stimulate revenue growth and form better relationships with your best customers becomes even more important. I’m famous for saying in my ABM workshops with clients, “Since marketing budgets are never infinite, we need to hone in on ‘best fit’ accounts that are in-market for your products and services today.” Now more than ever, getting hyper-targeted using ABM / ABX as your go-to-market (GTM) approach is critical. Unli ..read more

Account-based marketing (ABM) has not only altered the trajectory of B2B marketing; it has fundamentally reshaped the way companies go to market. By fostering a deep alignment between marketing and sales teams, ABM enables businesses to approach their target accounts with the precision and personalization that today’s competitive landscape demands.  This article will explore ABM’s historical development, look at its current state as highlighted by the October 30, 2023 release of the Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Account-Based Marketing Platforms (in which Demandbase was once again named a L ..read more

One of your most important jobs as a senior marketer is communicating the impact of marketing investment on business results. Without showing this clearly, it’s difficult to justify and defend the budget you need to be successful.  The language, metrics, and reports you use matter. Choose the wrong ones, and you diminish marketing’s credibility across the organization. Choose the right ones that speak to revenue and profitability, and you strengthen the perception of marketing as a strategic driver of growth. Let’s explore this, beginning with how the wrong reports and metrics can hurt ma ..read more

Sales operations is about using systems, processes, and technology to ensure that sales teams reach their targets. It’s about optimization – leveraging relevant data to drive insights and actions around, for example, how many reps to hire, where to place those reps for optimal sales coverage, what technology tools those reps need to succeed, and how to incentivize reps to meet their targets.  This year has been a challenging one, but 2024 promises to be even more challenging. What can you do as a sales ops leader to thrive in the coming year? Here are 8 suggestions: The post 8 Things Sale ..read more

Since the release of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace has been on everyone’s minds. Companies are struggling to figure out how and where to use it best, and are wondering how to quantify the impact it will have. Is it a productivity powerhouse, or does it carry the risk of diminishing human skill?  Recent studies are starting to provide us a nuanced answer: it’s both. While AI was proven to significantly elevate performance across various tasks, there’s a caveat. The technology excels in some areas but falls short in others, particul ..read more

Sales development reps (SDRs) are an essential component to a truly high-performance revenue engine. They bridge the gap between sales and marketing and act like the initial handshake in the B2B world — a crucial first step in a long-term relationship between businesses.  There are multiple advantages to using SDRs, including: More consistent, faster, and better quality follow-up on prospect interest More cost effective for less expensive people to take on some of the work Better tracking and analytics Talent development for sales Like all functions, sales development is evolving. Just ..read more

Data has long been the fuel that powers our most groundbreaking technologies and strategies. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in today’s Generative AI craze and the massive appetite that large language models, or LLMs, have for training data. Be it software solutions, artificial intelligence, or go-to-market (GTM) strategies — the common thread behind the value is quality data. In GTM, data helps businesses find the right people and companies to sell to and make sure they’re reaching them in the right way. The right data underpins everything from building target account and contact lists t ..read more

Repeated cuts over the last few years have hit marketing departments hard. Marketing programs are often the first thing to get cut, leaving many teams with shrunken program budgets. This hampers company growth, and if not managed well, can trigger a cycle of cuts and stagnant growth. In fact, Gartner’s 2023 CMO Spend and Strategy Survey revealed that 71% of CMOs feel their 2023 budgets fall short of what’s needed to meet their goals, 75% are struggling to achieve more with less, and 86% are seeing a need to restructure their marketing operations for sustainable results. We recently explored th ..read more