Accelerate Revenue by Aligning Marketing and Sales, with Darryl Praill [Episode 699]

Darryl Praill, Chief Marketing Officer of VanillaSoft, joins me on this episode.

Key Takeaways

• Getting Sales and Marketing to work together to generate revenue more effectively will be a trend in 2019. Is there sales and marketing alignment, or is it a turf war? Darryl suggests that marketers should make some cold calls.
• Darryl has been a sales rep, a VP of Sales, and a CMO. He says the heads of sales and marketing must agree on the rules of engagement and understand their own roles.
• Rule 1. Determine what percentages of the leads should come from marketing and from sales.
• Rule 2. Define the characteristics of a lead as agreed upon by sales and marketing. Darryl explains.
• Rule 3. Define how leads will be contacted within stated periods of time. Sales and marketing should meet regularly and review progress to eliminate misalignment.
• At VanillaSoft, 80% of closed deals have historically come from inbound leads because of the conservative growth pattern they followed. They are hiring more hunters now and ultimately looking for a 50-50 split.
• Some companies have moved the role of SDRs into marketing. Darryl explains in detail how this works, including the handoff from SDRs to AEs. Marketing’s job is to generate and qualify leads for sales.
• The AE does additional discovery qualification and prepares prospects for closing. Andy reflects back on the marketing aspects of his cold call prospecting.
• Darryl examines sales engagement automation. It gives sales reps the time and tools to build their own credible brand. It is marketing. Being a marketer is not for the faint of heart.
• There is still a cultural split between sales and marketing, even when SDRs work in marketing. If you are early in your career, think of the SDR role as an apprenticeship. Improve your sales skills every day in your job.
• Data tools give feedback on your effectiveness. What if Andy and Darryl could have had AI tools on their very first sales calls? It’s a good time to be in sales and marketing and the difference is blurring. New terms are needed.
• The Chief Growth Officer may direct sales and marketing on the same company team. Andy talks about one huge, growing company that has no sales VP. Sales needs to change. Darryl sees exciting changes coming.