Marketers have become much more bottom-line oriented over the last several years with great success. In the enterprise selling environment though, there are still some core challenges. A few of the big ones are providing long-term reporting on programs, maximum utilization and coverage of leads, and how to track revenue.
Back in 2008, the CMO Council released a report that stated over 45% of B2B marketers were unable to measure the return of their programs--it's a real multi-dimensional challenge since sales cycles can exceed 12 months or more in enterprise sales environments.
Understanding the potential impact within YOUR organization will help map out objectives and create a reasonable roadmap to implement the many features and see long-term results. Over the last couple of years, our clients that are using automation platforms along with our own reporting have been able to see the huge impact their telemarketing programs alone make--so we are a big fan of the visibility analytics and reporting provide.
At Dreamforce this year, marketing automation was a hot topic. Below are a couple of great interviews with Marketo's CEO Phil Fernandez, and Eloqua's Joe Payne. The interview, conducted by Marketing Automation Software Guide, discusses many topics, some of the highlights are marked below.
Phil Fernandez, Marketo:
1:13 Revenue Performance Management helps companies generate more revenue
1:40 The way marketing and sales have worked in the past has changed completely, Buyer 2.0
2:50 Revenue Performance Management is about helping sales be more effective
Joe Payne, Eloqua:
0:55 How marketing automation ties sales and marketing together
2:23 How marketing automation affects the funnel
7:27 Marketing is key to driving revenue
8:07 The process of selling has to change
13:44 The importance of revenue to CEO's
