EPISODE SUMMARY
In SaaS, Marketing and Sales are some of the most effective teams. However, they tend to be in a complicated relationship where communication is lacking. But the truth is, they are dependent on each other and that connection should be optimized for growth.
In this episode of SaaS Story in the Making, host Matt Wolach, and Steffen Hedebrandt, Co-founder and CMO at Dreamdata.io, talk about how marketing and sales should be in sync and the importance of data collection among their operations. Hedebrandt shares his knowledge and experiences on leveraging data for faster growth.
PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE
Podcast: SaaS-Story in the Making
Episode: Episode No 201., “Why You Should Align Marketing and Sales for an Exceptional Growth”
Host: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS sales coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor
Guest: Steffen Hedebrandt, Co-founder and CMO at Dreamdata.io.
TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Map the Buyers’ Journey
The buyers’ journey shows a prospect’s path until purchase– starting from their awareness of your brand until they convert. Mapping this journey will not only help you assess your prospects. But also help both your marketing and sales teams to create an effective strategy.
Dreamdata.io specializes in tracking and mapping data into a timeline. The end of the process can display which marketing qualified leads got into the pipeline and out. This software can “map every touch into the timeline of each of your accounts.” Which allows you to collect all necessary data.
With or without the software, SaaS founders should be tracking their metrics for marketing and sales convenience. Their operations can be more in sync in having enough resources to work on. By constantly tracking your metrics, you’re setting a standard– the quality you aim to maintain for the next cycle. Thus, continually improving your operations over time.
Revenue Attribution Can Help Salespeople
Revenue attribution, also called Marketing Attribution, allows you to collect and use data to see where each lead and deal came from. By its name, it appears more beneficial for the marketing team as it will help them work on specific prospects. But salespeople can also use this information to up their game.
Hedebrandt describes this as getting “out of a completely blindfolded demo.” When it’s time to sit down with a prospect, salespeople should be prepared. B2B Attribution allows you to know what to talk about during the presentation. By that time, you’ll know what they like, what they have been up to, their pains, and interests. This is where you can associate your product on a more personal level. Attribution can also help with “pushing prospects down the pipeline.” Since it can identify which accounts are progressing and which are not, it can help identify the kind of outreach.
In my Perfect D.E.A.L Process, A stands for Associate. During demos, personalization is an important aspect. By understanding your prospects, you can show them how your product answers their problems. Associating their experiences and the product can help with effective conversion.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Marketing and Sales Communication is Important
Marketing and sales teams have a reputation for being against each other. But the truth is contrary. They are teams that are dependent on each other’s performance. And this requires them to understand each other’s actions and provide feedback to improve together.
Hedbrandt describes the situation as marketing getting a high return on ad spending, and they need the sales team to close deals. On the other hand, salespeople should inform the marketing team which accounts they should go for because they convert faster. When sales see success in a specific segment, they should inform the marketing team. Constant communication allows them to understand their concerns and attend to them immediately.
Additionally, he also advised not to sell to everybody. Improved sales and marketing connections and the needed resources can create an ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). This way, you only have certain prospects to look for, and work can be clearly defined.
Marketing and sales teamwork can have a vast and lasting impact on business operations. Startups should understand its importance right from the start. With this, Hederbrandt emphasized that they should not focus on planning long. It is a fast-paced industry, and rapid experimentation is more important than spending the entire quarter preparing for a move that can go out of date soon. Free trials should also be leveraged for faster conversion. Sometimes prospects would prefer having to experience themselves rather than talking to salespeople before the product itself.
Data is More Important in Marketing
Data is an essential resource for both marketing and sales. However, sales displays apparent results as their success is defined by which deals are closed or not. On the other hand, marketing needs more time and in-depth data tracking to see its efficiency. Hederbrandt explained that since marketing touches the buyer’s journey first, “if marketing doesn’t have proof from all of all those journeys that they start, they are the ones that are getting laid off the fastest.” Instead of trying to cut off costs, “you might be shooting yourself in the foot by stopping a lot of activities that are providing those needs that your salespeople work with.”
Collecting enough data in marketing allows you to make better decisions for the team and the salespeople as well. What they do can seem to be more on the background that should be explored.
One of the most common misconceptions about marketing is B2B, and B2C processes are the same. The truth is, it destroys marketing tools and your growth. Prospects have different needs, journeys, and needed understanding of their needs. Identifying its differences can help a business sort its approaches and leverage its resources.
TOP QUOTES
Steffen Hedebrandt
[13:33] “High transparency into what is quality– and then try to repeat what is quality.”
[14:40] “If you set yourself just five minutes aside, then you’d be able to understand what they were interested in before hitting this demo. And then know much more about what are the right things to talk about today.”
Matt Wolach
[09:18] “Salespeople think that the marketing people didn’t get them good enough leads or enough leads overall. The marketing people think, “Hey, we’re driving these leads, and you’re not closing them.” And so you start to have some of this infighting which isn’t good.”
[15:31] “If you can see what they’ve been doing and what’s been happening, that makes it all the easier to be able to understand how you can best sell to them.”
LEARN MORE
To learn more about Steffen Hedebrandt and Dreamdata.io, visit https://dreamdata.io/.
You can also find Steffen Hedebrandt on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffenhedebrandt/.
For more about how host Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com/.
