As I write this the calendar tells me the second half of 2010 is over and there are about 5 months remaining to achieve my annual revenue target. For those responsible for revenue generation it is a tense time. It’s also a time for some healthy retrospection.
If your company didn’t experience a breakthrough in revenue performance, or even a healthy incremental increase in the first half, why not?
Could the lack of stellar performance be because different results were expected from doing the same old things in Sales and Marketing (only with fewer people and resources)? Isn’t expecting different results from doing the same thing the very definition of insanity that we all chuckle about?
Take a quick inventory. Call it an insanity test if you want, but if you answer no to more than two of the questions you will begin to see why revenue growth is caught in neutral.
1. Are Marketing and Sales working from the same revenue-generation action plan?
2. Is Marketing generating at least 24% of the revenue opportunities for the company?
3. Is Marketing spending more of its budget on lead generation than on brand awareness?
4. Are Sales and Marketing tactics aligned with the buyer’s journey rather than the company’s internal sales process?
5. Are contacts and opportunities that don’t progress through the funnel being recycled systematically by Marketing?
6. Is the lag time of each stage in the sales funnel being measured and reported?
7. Are Sales and Marketing in total agreement about when a prospective buyer should be handed over to Sales?
8. Does the CEO, CFO, head of Marketing and head of Sales all know the conversion ratios for each stage of the sales funnel for the company’s major products?
9. Does a Marketing manager attend Sales staff meetings?
10. Does a Sales Manager attend Marketing staff meetings?
How many “no” answers did you give? If you would have given the same “no” answers to these questions three months ago as you answered just now, welcome to the asylum. You’re expecting dramatic changes in revenue performance by doing the same things over and over.
Charles Besondy, Certified Funnel Coach for North America.
