B2B Sales absolutely depend on three distinct and different, but highly related operations working seamlessly together. There are very good reasons for why three operations are needed, and why they are so different from each other. It is all about the economy of scale and specialization necessary to deliver high volumes of high quality leads that will convert into sales, at a higher and faster rate.
Below is the “dashboard” view of these three operations to get B2B sales working again.
| Marketing Operation | |
| Operational Goal | Continuously find new prospects that fit your ideal customer profile. Engage and move them closer to a buying intent. |
| Core competencies needed | Market research and analysis (customers, competitors, and partners); work with Sales to identify a compelling message; build assets to support and explain the message; distribute content over a wide range of media; track engagement and move prospects further down the funnel. |
| Management Goal | Message focus and discipline; building high quality assets; strong skills in managing leads down the pipe; keeping in step with Prospecting and Sales. |
| Prospecting Operations | |
| Operational Goal | Connect, qualify, and set appointments for the sales team with prospects that are seriously looking at buying a solution. |
| Core competencies needed | Ability to make 70+ dials a day; ability to reduce complexities to the core business issue; ability to communicate these issues in 20 seconds or less to busy C-level decision makers. |
| Management Goal | Boost both quality and quantity—conversion rates of MQLs to SQLs; conversion of SQLs to sales pipeline. |
| Sales Operations | |
| Operational Goal | Consistently close business to achieve targeted revenue growth. |
| Core competencies needed | Ability to consistently meet quarterly sales objectives by deeply engaging prospects and winning quality business against competitors and alternatives. |
| Management Goal | Ability to get consistent performance out of every member of the sales team and ensure that the weakest performers are within 20-25% of the strongest performers. Avoid the temptation to rely on one “rainmaker” who single-handedly saves the entire quarter. |
We discuss the first operational area, “Marketing”, here.