About Chuck Besondy

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So far Chuck Besondy has created 14 blog entries.

Reset the Sales Funnel for Revenue Forecast Accuracy

In case you didn’t notice your customers are buying differently today than they did last year. The differences could be subtle or obvious, but if you observe closely you’ll see that the process they follow to make a buying decision –the buyer's journey– has changed. If your selling process and sales funnel structure haven’t adapted to the buyer's journey the efficiency of your sales and marketing efforts will be down and so will the accuracy of your revenue forecast. This is what I call the new “Funnel Economics”. Here are the major variables in a sales funnel READ MORE ›

By |Velocity|
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Think your market is too small? Try recycling

I was speaking with an executive the other day who repeated the concerns of her management team that their existing market was too small to sustain their growth. Expanding into new markets may look enticing, but there are large risks and costs associated with this strategy. As it turned out in this case I was able to show the company that their market was large enough to provide growth opportunities for the next 3 years. A little back of the envelope math indicated a bleak picture at first. Considering the size of their available market and their READ MORE ›

By |Strategy, Velocity|
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The Best Time to Align Marketing and Sales

If you sense that your revenue engine is under-performing and believe that aligning Marketing and Sales will lead to the necessary transformation you might next ask when is the best time to launch an alignment initiative. Fair enough question and I’ll provide some ideas beyond the obvious answer of, “right now”! Aligning the Marketing function and the Sales function to the buyers’ journey and to a single, measurable revenue-generation plan is frequently the transformation that leads to breakthroughs in revenue growth and revenue-generation efficiency. Here are several events that usually trigger a decision by top management to READ MORE ›

By |Strategy|
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How long is your revenue runway?

Many business managers I speak with don’t have an accurate view of how long their revenue runway is; or to put the metaphor aside for a moment, they are unclear about how much time is required for the marketing and sales team to create enough customers to achieve a revenue target. Almost without exception the estimated time to revenue is perceived as being much shorter than it is in reality. The misperception is dangerous. It leads to wildly inaccurate forecasts, wasted budgets, and unnecessary management turnover. Ask any pilot and they’ll tell you with a high READ MORE ›

By |Velocity|
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Align to Buyer’s Journey then Flip the Switch for Marketing Automation

I recently read another great post on the Marketing Automation Software Guide.  The article entitled, Close the Gaps to Close More Sales with Marketing Automation, was written by Sharon Drew Morgan who has written and spoken passionately about the need for new sales models and processes. The central theme to Sharon Drew’s article is that marketing automation systems (when used properly) enable companies to align their marketing and sales efforts to the buyer’s journey. This in turn improves conversion rates and sales effectiveness. Ms. Morgan made another insightful point that I want to comment on later. But READ MORE ›

By |Tactics, Velocity|
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Do marketers have the right stuff to be revenue marketers?

In the past few months a cool new term has appeared on my radar. That term is, “revenue marketer”. Wish I had thought of it first. It defines a new level of marketing professional. While I’m energized by the term, sadly, I’m concerned that too many B2B marketers don’t have the right perspective and skills to play in this new league. My latest exposure to the term was at an event in Austin hosted by Marketo, a marketing automation platform vendor. Speaking at the event was Debbie Qaqish , Chief Revenue Marketing Officer of  The Pedowitz Group, READ MORE ›

By |Sales, Skills, Strategy, Velocity|
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Account Ownership as an Alignment Indicator

Charles Besondy, President of Besondy Consulting & Interim Management, writes... The attitude your company has and the processes your company employs for its strategic accounts can be an indicator of the degree of alignment between Sales and the rest of the organization... This thought struck me last night while enjoying drinks with a former client. He was recounting how a new CEO and CMO at his company had very refreshing views about the handling of strategic accounts. Previously, the five major accounts identified as strategic were “owned” by account managers in the sales department. The company’s attitude READ MORE ›

By |Strategy|
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Putting a dollar-sign on B2B Marketing and Sales Alignment

Charles Besondy, President of Besondy Consulting & Interim Management, writes... We know misalignment of sales and marketing is present to some degree in nearly every company. Survey after survey tells us so, but can misalignment be quantified? Now there’s a simple way to measure the degree of alignment and calculate the costs. This 14-minute video presents the Alignment Index for Sales and Marketing. Uniquely and importantly, the Index formula lists process and cultural issues within the organization that are clear indicators of misalignment. Give it try. Calculate your Alignment Index and follow the guideline for adding up the READ MORE ›

By |Strategy|
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Why are sales and marketing not aligned?

Charles Besondy, President of Besondy Consulting & Interim Management, writes... At two different speaking engagements this month I asked the audiences of marketers if they thought the lack of sales and marketing alignment was the biggest obstacle in their company to achieving significant revenue growth.  At both events (one a marketing conference, the other a webinar) the results were similar. Over 60% agreed that the leading nemesis to greater revenue performance was the lack of alignment between their department and Sales. The other 30% to 40% believed another factor was primarily to blame such as market/economic factors, READ MORE ›

By |Alignment|
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Do you really need sales training?

Charles Besondy, President of Besondy Consulting & Interim Management, writes... Is revenue flat or heading south? Time to invigorate the sales force with the latest sales techniques, right? New head of sales takes the reins with the job of transforming the revenue engine. Time to bring in the sales trainers, right? Maybe yes. Maybe no. Upon closer examination, your revenue problem may not be due to a lack of sales skills. The pros at align.me (for whom I am a certified Funnel Coach in North America) can point to case study after case study of clients who READ MORE ›

By |Sales, Skills, Strategy|
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