As we wrap up our InsideView Drive roadshows in Chicago, Boston, and New York, we couldn’t be more thankful for the attendees, sponsors, and speakers who made the event a success. Our initial vision was simple: create a half-day event designed to educate business leaders on new trends, best practices, and modern strategies to speed the lead-to-revenue process. We accomplished that and more, thanks to the energy and ideas brought by those who attended. Thank you!
The feedback on our inaugural InsideView Drive roadshow was terrific. We especially loved this quote from a Chicago attendee:
“I have been an InsideView customer/advocate for years and have always admired your position in the marketplace as thought leaders. The more people I meet from your organization, the higher my regard for the company becomes and that is truly one of the best compliments I can give in my opinion. I thank you for your time showing your process of targeting customers and prospects as that has always been something that fascinates me (yes, I know I am a nerd lol). Thanks again!”
Given our penchant for nerds (and satisfied customers), this feedback made our day!
InsideView Drive wasn’t about fluff. We managed to cram in as much juicy, valuable content as possible, all while making it actionable and easy for our audience to take learnings back to the office.
Here are favorite highlights from InsideView Drive:
Highlight #1: Mary Shea’s research on modernized buyer and seller dynamics
We loved Forrester Principal Analyst Mary Shea’s powerful keynote, which focused on the evolution of sales and marketing in the digital age, and adjusting your sales strategy to today’s modern B2B buyer. Some of our favorite takeaways:
- The B2B buyer is more empowered. Mary discussed that in the Age of the Customer, the B2B buyer prefers to do their own research and wants to engage with vendors who already understand their needs and pain points.
- Sales and marketing alignment is more important than ever. With inside sales growing 15 times faster than field sales, Mary stressed the importance of sales and marketing alignment, a focus on account-based marketing, B2B social selling platforms, and turning to market intelligence during the buyer-seller journey.
- The sales force is changing. Millennials make up ⅓ of the modern sales force (in 4 years it will be ½ of the workforce), and this is driving a shift in the frontlines of buying and selling. Mary noted that millennials share common attributes, like being quick learners, tech-savvy users, and adept multitaskers.
- Millennials require a unique management style. Some of Mary’s recommendations included:
- Make training and procedures relevant and on-demand
- Set up dashboards to facilitate self-management
- Implement reverse mentorship
- Hire and promote millennial managers
Highlight #2: Umberto Milletti’s tips for thriving in a shifting market
InsideView CEO Umberto Milletti kicked off the event by addressing how companies are under more revenue pressure than ever, and organizations are being forced to develop a fresh go-to-market model that is about shifting from a volume focus to a target focus. Some key themes from Umberto’s terrific keynote:
- The buyer journey has changed. The majority of buyers prefer to self-educate rather than work with a salesperson. Sales teams need to engage the buyer at a much more strategic level, address their needs in a consultative manner, and focus on solving the buyer’s business problem.
- Marketing is adjusting by implementing more modern strategies, such as ideal customer profile, total addressable market, predictive, and account based marketing. But these strategies are not the answer on their own. Instead, they help to accomplish the goal, which is focus — focus on targeting the right people at the right accounts, and with the most relevant and timely outreach.
- The linear sales funnel is a thing of the past. Now, it’s about an ongoing lead-to-revenue mindset: Find, Engage, Close, Grow. There is no longer a division between marketing’s top-funnel programs and sales’ bottom-funnel efforts; the two teams must invest and align throughout the entire lead-to-revenue journey.
- It’s imperative to be powered by an intelligent revenue engine. Quality data and a single source of truth is needed across all areas of your business to support this new, evolved customer journey.
Highlight #3: Tracy Eiler and Andrea Austin’s advice for how to really achieve sales and marketing alignment
InsideView executives Tracy Eiler, CMO, and Andrea Austin, VP of Enterprise Sales, presented a session titled “Crack the Code of Sales and Marketing Alignment,” which analyzed results from our recent market report, focusing on the following key themes:
- Alignment is an age old problem: 38% of CMOs state that alignment is a priority, but only ⅓ of CMOs have a clear action plan to make it happen. The top challenge to obtaining sales and marketing alignment is communication.
- Ways to get aligned: The three main areas of alignment are people, process, and technology. Tracy and Andrea also focused on the new funnel, where sales and marketing collaborate to Find, Engage, Close, and Grow. Also, it’s imperative to measure accountability and implement a data strategy.
- What success looks like: Research shows that sales and marketing alignment results in 19% faster growth and 15% higher productivity. To measure your own success, Tracy and Andrea suggested using this helpful checklist:
- Agree with your CEO that you have an alignment imperative.
- Measure trust with your sales team and take action.
- Review your funnel definitions with your counterparts.
- Report on the same metrics. Focus on pipeline.
- Bite the bullet and give marketing variable compensation.
Tracy and Andrea’s session is a great opener for their upcoming book, “Aligned to Achieve,” arriving in September 2016. Keep your eye out for more information on the release soon!
We wrapped up the events with an InsideView product demo, two sponsor lighting rounds, and a lively customer and expert panel with so much great insight that we’ll feature it in an upcoming blog post. Stay tuned!
We couldn’t have had such a successful event without our amazing sponsors, Microsoft, Marketo, Engagio, Highspot and Riva. Thank you for your support!