MARKETING AND SALES EXECUTIVE THINK TANK

This ITAC Marketing and Sales Executive Think Tank was held on February 19, 2009 at Infosys Technologies.

Mandate of ITAC Think Tank:

To discuss and establish thought leadership positions on critically important issues, which will be communicated to the technology marketing and sales community at large.

Issues Covered:

1. Effective sales & marketing techniques for driving revenue growth
2. Best methods for measuring and demonstrating ROI

Attendees:

  • Ms. Ann Christie, VP Marketing, Octopz
  • Mr. Douglas Long, Marketing Director, Canada, Tata Consultancy Services
  • Mr. Brian Stevenson, V.P. of Sales, Laser Networks
  • Mr. Chub Letenyei, Independent
  • Ms. Sandra Conn, Independent
  • Ms. Anu Vijh, Channel Marketing Manager, Canada, Symantec Corporation
  • Mr. Wayne Wood, Technology Sales Manager, Oracle Canada

Host: Dave McNeill, Alliance Development Manager, Infosys

The discussion was moderated by Bob Becker, Principal, SMA.

Synthesis of Group Discussion

Position Statements

To demonstrate the net worth of their function, Sales & Marketing departments are finding ways to create more value, by:

  • meeting weekly to trim unnecessary expense or activity
  • focusing on tactics, rather than longer term strategy
  • aligning Marketing more closely with Sales
  • getting close to customers; showing value to them and helping ensure their success
  • using roundtables with customers to identify: “what can we be doing better?”
    doing more with less

The focus of sales and marketing activity seems to have shifted over the past year. Executives report that the ways they are driving revenue growth in a cost-effective way include:

  • leveraging business partners to cost-split on go-to-market strategies
  • focusing on a narrower market; putting resources to higher-value revenue generators
  • using common resources i.e. global marketing programs
  • seeking quality leads, not necessarily quantity
    shifting messaging to “here’s how you can save money”
  • emphasize the solution, not the technology
  • using Web-based services and databases to locate leads
  • more online initiatives, fewer trade shows
  • focus, focus, focus: on best deals, right customers, specific events
  • always developing a Plan B at a lower cost than Plan A
  • leveraging existing relationships and asking for referrals

Some ways to address the higher expectation on ROI include:

  • using targeted prospect lists for any marketing activity
  • leveraging feedback from event attendees: identifying their pain points and ensuring all marketing efforts are targeted to those
  • adopting analytics to determine success of events
  • ensuring Sales follow-up on leads
  • implementing systems that will build data for tracking ROI
  • using out-of-the-box thinking, innovation

 

Next Steps:

The ITAC Think Tank will next meet in June 2009.

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