IN THIS ISSUE
This final Driven issue of January brings you more practical, actionable ideas and information on these topics:
- How to make the transition from marketing specialist to team leader
- Thought leadership marketing: What it is and how to do succeed with it
- One of the best ways to coach sellers may also be the scariest. Here's how to do it.
- How to overcome the groupthink that can lead to disastrous decisions
Let's jump in.
Dave Vranicar at Driven
MARKETING | LEADERSHIP | STAFFING
How to make a successful transition from running one marketing channel to managing a team
"The best single-channel executors often have the most difficult time transitioning to running a multi-channel team."
Challenges
You're a marketer who's been successful with demand generation in one or two channels. Maybe, for example, you're great with organic or paid search.
Now you've been promoted to higher-level responsibility. You're to lead a team that works across multiple channels.
How can you make that transition successfully?
Or maybe you're a senior revenue leader in a company that promotes marketers from within.
How do you help your marketers succeed as they advance to bigger roles?
Why it matters
It's hard to find really good marketers who understand demand generation and have done it well.
So when you've found one, it makes sense to promote them to positions of more responsibility.
You know the candidate, and they know your company and your products.
But the transition to leading a cross-channel team isn't just another step on the ladder.
"It's a vast canyon to cross with multi-faceted challenges requiring incredible personal growth.
"And usually, no one explains this to new team leaders, so they don't realize what they're walking into and they are not equipped to succeed."
Ideas to consider
Understand what a big step it is for the marketer. Give your rising marketers the help and support they need to succeed.
Marketers must make four key transitions:
- From being an expert in one channel to building strategy across all channels
- From being good at their job to guiding others to be good at theirs
- From focusing on their area to collaborating across departments
- From playing an instrument to conducting the orchestra
Rising marketers must often do all this without training, support, or mentorship.
Resource
"Crossing the Canyon: Leading Your First Marketing Team." Brittany Bingham. Mike Fiske. Reforge blog. [Undated post, probably from late 2020.]
reforge.com
MARKETING | BRAND
How to do thought leadership marketing
"The thought leader is at the intersection between the subject matter expert, the social influencer and the key opinion leader."
Your challenge
Nearly every B2B SaaS company that sells high-value software wants to be known as a thought leader in its field.
But you can't just declare yourself a thought leader. You need thoughts. And you must share them in ways that bring the recognition you want.
Why it matters
In SaaS today, it's hard to differentiate your company by its products alone. Competition is so intense, a competitor will soon develop the capabilities that make you unique today.
Many buyers of B2B software say they look for thought-leadership content from the vendors they seriously consider.
Questions to consider
- How important is it for your company to be seen as a thought leader?
- What are companies doing to achieve it?
- To what degree can you outsource thought leadership?
- What formats of content effective for establishing thought leadership?
Resources
"What is Thought Leadership Marketing? A New Definition for Marketers Based on Research." Andy Crestodina. March 2020. Orbit Media Studios blog.
Building Thought Leadership with Content: Strategies, Tactics, and Trends. Ascend2. 2020. [Downloadable PDF. 14 pages. No charge.]
"Why Personal Brands Are Stronger than Corporate Thought Leadership." Dan Sanchez interviews Adam Witty, founder and CEO of Advantage Media Group. Undated. B2B Growth Podcast. [41:00 total]
[This episode makes the point that it's easier for individuals in your company to establish thought leadership than for you try to do it for your company brand.]
ascend2.com
SALES & SELLING | LEADERSHIP | COACHING
Role playing: One of the best – and scariest – ways to coach better sales performance
"Having salespeople play a prospect is one way of getting instant feedback. But you can also have salespeople play the salesperson's part."
Challenge
Many sellers say they would welcome more coaching from their sales leader.
Yet only 7% of sales supervisors and managers offer coaching regularly.
And most sales managers believe they're better coaches than their sellers say they are.
The main reason leaders cite for insufficient coaching is that they don't have time.
But it's also likely they don't know how to coach effectively because they haven't been trained to do it.
In addition, few sellers have good role models to follow because they haven't experienced good coaching.
Why it matters
Many studies have shown the sales coaching is the single most effective way to improve the performance of sellers.
Each year, surveys of sales forces show that sales performance continues to drop across the board. That's been true even before Covid-19, and it isn't getting better.
Solutions to consider
Teach your sales leaders how to coach their teams, and establish performance metrics to ensure they do it consistently.
A good place to start coaching is with role playing.
Caveats
Sellers will say they hate role playing. The more senior the sellers, the more likely they are to resist it.
Nevertheless role playing is a highly effective way to build, practice, reinforce, and test skills.
To do role playing successfully, most sales managers would benefit from the guidance of some of the following resources.
Resources
Running in Sand: Achieving New Sales Manager Expectations Means Abandoning Old Approaches. CSO Insights. January 2020. [Downloadable PDF. 21 pages.]
"Measure Change in Sales Effectiveness without Numbers and Metrics." Dave Kurlan. February 2, 2018. OMG blog.
"8 Sales Role Play Exercises to Prepare Your Team for the Win." Adam Clark. April 24, 2019. Sales Hacker blog.
Related
Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives. Keith Rosen. 2009. [353 pages in print. Available in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audiobook. 252 ratings on Amazon. Average score 4.6 out of 5 stars.]
Sales Leadership: The Essential Framework to Coach Sales Champions, Inspire Excellence, and Exceed Your Business Goals. Keith Rosen. 2018. 289 pages in print. Hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audio book. 90 ratings on Amazon. Average 4.7 of 5 points.
"How to Sell to Your New C-Suite Buyer." Thiago Sa Freire. January 8, 2021. DemandGen Reports blog.
omghub.com
MANAGING | DECISIONS
To make better decisions, overcome this common tendency
"Since we're all in agreement, it's clear no one has considered the issue."
Challenge
Rational people often succumb to groupthink.
Even when you're trying to overcome the 100+ cognitive biases to which our species is prone, information cascades can cause market bubbles and other crazy behavior.
Why it matters
It's often a good thing for leaders to seek consensus in making decisions,
But if you push for consensus before you've encouraged and considered plenty of disagreement, the outcome can be terrible.
An idea to consider
If you're a follower, consider it an obligation to dissent. If you're a leader, welcome dissent.
It's the only way to avoid information cascades.
Resource
"Information Cascades - How Many Rational People Can Make Logical Decisions and Yet Still Create a Bubble." Tomasz Tonguz. January 8, 2021. Redpoint blog.
Related
The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam. Barbara Wertheim Tuchman. 2011. 511 pages in print. Hardcover, paperback, Kindle, audiobook, CD. 415 ratings on Amazon. Average rating 4.5 of 5 points. Tuchman is a Pulitzer prize-winning historian.
tomtunguz.com
RESOURCES | SERVICES
Services you can hire through my company, Redwell B2B
In the most recent issue of Driven, I posted a table of services available through my company Redwell B2B.
Unfortunately, the table wasn't visible to people who read the article on a smartphone. It was visible if you read the article on a computer.
In case you missed it, here it is again.
Dave Vranicar at Driven
ABOUT DRIVEN
Driven is a fortnightly digest for busy revenue leaders in business-to-business (B2B) SaaS.
It's likely to be most useful if your company sells higher-ticket products that require moderate to heavy involvement of professional sales people.
Driven is here to help you:
- Achieve your most important goals
- Overcome your biggest challenges
- Solve expensive problems
- Become a better version of yourself.
You'll find an online archive of back issues 12 through 43 at this link.
A word about links, commissions, and endorsements
When I provide links to articles from vendors, does it imply an endorsement?
Only of their content. Not of their products or services.
If I recommend a service or a book, it’s because I think it’s likely to help you. Period.
I get nothing from providing links to any commercial service, including the books for which I provide a link to Amazon.
That may change. I’ll tell you when it does.
Dave Vranicar at Driven