Last week Forrester said it was building upon its acquisition of SiriusDecisions by launching a B2B certification program to help marketers gain alignment with sales and more successfully execute programs. With a course list that includes fundamentals and campaign planning, the program is based on SiriusDecisions research and will include personalization via a course advisor, […]
Many marketers might feel challenged or threatened by the notion that the value of marketing is defined by sales. However, it isn’t such a provocative idea. Remember, fewer than 1% of all leads turn into customers. That’s hardly a statistic you want to stand behind. If company leaders set a 100% growth goal for a […]
Not only is the customer completely exhausted from not knowing where to look, they’re absolutely fried trying to figure out whether the people and brands worthy of winning their time are also worthy of winning their budget. With so many options to choose from, distributed through so many new methods of delivery, supporting so many […]
The year 1776 was a momentous one in world events, not just for the declaration that begins, “In Congress, July 4,” but also for the publication of Adam Smith’s opus An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Smith’s book, a corner- stone of classical liberalism, laid the foundation for the […]
If you’ve reached something of a cruising altitude with your ABM strategy, it’s certainly cause for feeling gratified. Implementing ABM effectively and growing it is no small accomplishment. After all that hard work, it’s time perhaps to ease up on the throttle, but it’s also time to stay vigilant about your ABM effort. It’s a […]
If we could offer only one piece of advice to managers and coaches who want to improve the way they provide feedback to their team members, it would be to ask more questions. This can be a lot harder than it sounds. Like most managers or coaches, you were likely promoted to your current role, […]
Today, enterprise organizations are attempting to use managerial mechanisms from previous ages to direct software delivery in this one. IT and software delivery costs have been growing for decades, yet our organizations do not have adequate visibility or understanding of what is now one of the largest costs of doing business. Meanwhile, the tech giants […]
After spending six weeks traveling through Southeast Asia with my family in 2017, I came home to more than 2,000 emails! We are inundated with information: blog posts, videos, social media, advertisements, podcasts, infographics, photos, bill- boards, videos, direct mail and more. The growing embrace of storytelling is an attempt to make sense of the […]
Why would you want to enter the high-technology world when all you have ever known is low-technology (or no technology) rust-belt products? Because the high-technology world is where all the money is. The manufacturing space is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and if you are not on that bus, you will be left behind. Sophisticated high-technology manufacturers […]
If you are wondering how to take on the challenges of a shifting global economy, investing in creative industries entrepreneurs tackles economic, civic, and social challenges and is found in every community in every corner of the globe. From Boston to Bangladesh, creative entrepreneurs are building companies at the cutting edge of digital fabrication, augmented […]
In StrategyMan vs. The Anti-Strategy Squad, the main characters – StrategyMan, Purposeidon, Innovatara, and our trusty researcher Rich – come to the aid of TechnoBody, an innovative tech company about to launch a new, wearable technology product. TechnoBody has been targeted by members of the Anti-Strategy Squad, who want to kill the company’s strategic plan by […]
When we ask salespeople what marketing can do to enable sales, 10 out of 10 salespeople will say, “more high-quality marketing leads (MQLs).” Although lead generation may be the only element that the sales teams care about, marketing can do so much more than just generate leads. In my book, Effective Sales Enablement, I discuss […]
When we think we are using our mind to actively form or connect an idea. But there is more to the word think. Thinking is also an approach, a possibility, a deliberation, an opinion, or an attitude. It can even be a belief or a conclusion. Let’s first contemplate the act of thinking. Thinking can happen in parallel. […]
Winning is a mindset. As the leader of a company focused on nothing else but winning bids and RFP competitions, it amazes me how much effort teams put into expressing dissatisfaction about the process, the expectations or the ‘stupidity’ of the buyers. We only have so much energy, creativity and prefrontal cortex processing time available […]
Janet walked out of the movie theater, looking and feeling bored, and tired (it had been a long week). She’d just sat through an early preview of Fatal Attraction, and like most of the test audience, she didn’t love it. The main reason? The ending was not satisfying. The movie tells the story of a […]
There’s a funny disconnect I experience every semester: One hundred percent of my Marketing students want to be employed when they graduate (duh). But when I ask them what type of job they hope to land, almost none of them say sales. Why is this a disconnect? Because the very large majority of them will […]
The first few months after you launch a startup are stressful, to say the least. You’re searching for your first customers, trying to figure out how the hell hiring works, and thinking fondly of a time when eight hours of sleep was no big deal. You move at lightspeed for those first few months, and […]
Competitive salespeople don’t waste people’s time, least of all their own. They identify the relevant executive for each sales opportunity, and they take time to understand the dynamics of their customer’s organization to uncover where influence, power, and control over a particular project reside. “It doesn’t have to be the CEO of a corporation,” said […]
Even if blockchain technology still must overcome some challenges there is a clear change in attitudes and initiatives regarding the technology behind cryptocurrencies. Moreover, the use cases and spending patterns become clearer and show how blockchain is not just converging with the Internet of Things (IoT) but also with the foundations of a digital economy […]
I opened my business in 2002—an idiotic time to do this. The dot-com bubble had burst and 9/11 had shaken the planet. The world was in turmoil. But I was on a mission. I had worked with, led, and mentored salespeople for over two decades. And I noticed talented sellers and business owners slam into […]
