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PIPELINE GENERATION
CONTENTS
Introduction 03
Chapter #1: A Quick History on Pipeline Generation 04
Chapter #2: What is the Future of Pipeline Generation? 07
Chapter #3: Your Pipeline Team 10
Chapter #4: Your Pipeline Strategy 12
Chapter #4: Clear Responsibilities 14
Chapter #5: Ideal Customer Profile 16
Chapter #6: Pipeline Coverage 18
Chapter #7: Messaging & Campaigns 22
Chapter #8: Personalization vs Automation 26
Chapter #8: Where Do You Go From Here? 31
INTRODUCTIOn
With an unlimited amount of prospects in the pipeline, every sales
team in the world could hit their revenue goals. While the idea of
unlimited pipeline sounds outrageous, smart sales and marketing
teams are unifying around a common goal of a pipeline coverage of
4x to 6x.
3
1 A Quick History on Pipeline Generation
CHAPTER
4
Over the past 15 years, B2B sales and marketing organizations have gone through
vastly different models of pipeline generation. They include:
1.1. Marketing provides the leads, sales closes them. This is probably the oldest and most tried
and true form where marketing has a humming demand generation machine through events,
webinars, content and digital advertising which attract target buyers which then gets passed to
sales to do their magic.
2.2. Marketing provides leads, but sales have to prospect to fill the gap. Obviously, not every
organization is perfect. Companies often found friction between marketing and sales because
the leads were terrible and so sales leaders tasked their salespeople to prospect into their own
territories and generate their own pipeline while closing business.
3.3. Marketing focuses on branding, messaging, content and some demand generation, but sales
build out a dedicated prospecting team to focus on generating pipeline. This was originated in
companies like salesforce and Responsys in the early to mid-2000s where sales development
organizations living under sales were tasked with generating opportunities. The primary driver for
this was sales wanted very specific target accounts of a certain fit and size to go after to ensure
they were creating pipeline that was likely to close.
5
Now, most of the B2B world today falls under
one of the three models described above. In fact,
when taking all possible B2B companies into
consideration, only a small amount of companies
actually has sales development organizations, so
approach #3 is still considered cutting edge or
even a luxury to have for most companies.
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2 What is the Future of Pipeline Generation?
CHAPTER
7
The three key root causes are the following:.
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8
THE FUTURE OF PIPELINE GENERATION TAKES A BRAND NEW APPROACH TO GENERATING
PIPELINE. IT IS AN APPROACH WHERE:
Marketing and sales create a unified pipeline team to own pipeline coverage just like you would
own the number.
Marketing and sales use sophisticated tools to define an ideal customer profile and a way to smartly
engage with target buyers through well thought out marketing and sales campaigns.
Instead of hiring armies of SDRs to cold call, this pipeline team is an elite team of content creators,
copywriters, strategists and a few SDRs to strategically engage with customers at scale using best of
breed software over email, phone, social media and physical events.
The future of pipeline generation blends the discipline of sales and marketing. Instead of artificially
driving alignment which rarely works, the Pipeline Team is a truly elite team that blends the best of both
worlds. The future of pipeline generation does more with less, generates the right pipeline composed of
the right target buyer, and leverages software to drive scale and personalization.
In the rest of this book, well walk you through how to assemble this team, craft your strategy, watch the
right metrics, and become unstoppable in generating the right pipeline for your revenue organization.
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3 Your Pipeline Team
CHApter
Have you done all of those things as part of your pipeline generation strategy? Be honest. And, its okay
if you say No. Because most people havent. In fact, when most people look at that list, they almost
always hit a state of pause. Wow. Thats a wide-ranging list. And the biggest caveat of all is that this
cant be done by only Marketing or only Sales in a vacuum, this needs to be a concerted effort that aligns
the entire company.
Heres the thing. Its very easy to invest in a ToutApp, or a Marketo, buy a list, build a database, and start
cold calling and emailing while you invest $15k a month on a digital advertising agency to market your
product. Thats easy to do, requires a bunch of meetings to make happen, and can feel great. Will it result
in sound pipeline? Probably not.
10
The thing that most sales and marketing leaders overlook is the wide-ranging set of skills and abilities
required to clearly articulate a pipeline generation strategy and run a pipeline team.
The sales leader and the marketing leader who are the keepers of the strategy
A data analyst or a sales operations expert that can clearly help identify your best and ideal
customer profile and help set up the systems to tie it all together
A content strategist that can help define the communication and messaging strategy
A content creator/copywriter to help communicate the right message
An army of outside workers helpers who can help you build a database of target customers with
full contact information (or buy it from a company directly)
A small group of seriously smart SDRs who can leverage the messaging, content and strategy
and go after your target buyers in a meaningful way
Its important to recognize that you dont need an individual for each of the items above. You
just need someone that can own one or more of those roles. But if you are able to successfully
assemble a team of people that can fill each of those facets, youve got the essentials for an
unstoppable pipeline generation strategy.
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4 Your Pipeline Strategy
chapter
12
THE CORE REQUIREMENTS FOR A WELL-DEFINED PIPELINE GENERATION STRATEGY
MUST INCLUDE:
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4 Clear Responsibilities
chapter
If you cant measure it, you cant improve The sales leader lives and dies by the
it. If you dont have a clear owner, then no number. Similarly, there needs to be a single
one will have enough respect to care about person that lives and dies by the Pipeline
it. You can have anything you want, but you Coverage number and the teams strategy,
cant have everything; so you better know execution and ability to hit that number.
what you want. When you have one single person owning
it, he or she will ensure theyre thinking
I cant add any more clichd quotations about it day and night, and that there is true
about ownership and responsibility to drive alignment across the revenue organization
home the point that pipeline generation, on making sure the pipeline goal is hit.
pipeline coverage, and quality of pipeline
needs to be owned by one single person Even the best sales team in the world will fail
that lives and dies by it. without the sufficient pipeline to help feed
them. So, declare a clear owner.
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FOR TOUTAPPS CUSTOMER
BASE, WEVE SEEN IT DONE IN
DIFFERENT WAYS. WEVE SEEN:
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5 Ideal Customer Profile
chapter
Your best customer is usually a combination of the one that pays the most, is an absolute pleasure to
work with, and has such strategic alignment with the value you provide - theyll never leave you.
Your job as the leader of the Pipeline team is to find a thousand more customers that look just
like your best customer. It is incredibly easy to buy generic lists, databases, or spend money on
companies that promise to give you a fresh database of contact information. All of that would be
easy to do but wont necessarily guarantee your success.
16
To build a meaningful ideal customer profile, here are the key questions you should
identify:
1.1. Which industry are our best customers in? 6. What internal trigger events drove the
6.
2.2. What size company are our best customers? same buying decision?
3.3. What type of technology investments have 7. Which area of the business did the budget
7.
our best customers already made that are 8. come from when our best customers
complementary to our offering? decided to purchase from us?
4.4. Who are the key positions at our best customers 8. Is there variation in how long it took us to
9.
we interacted with to get a deal done? close the deals with our best customers?
5.5. What external trigger events drove the decision Which ones took less time? What made
for our best customers to purchase from us? some take longer?
As you answer the questions above, youll be able to define a model that helps you clearly articulate your
ideal customer profile and who you want to go after. If you can tether yourself and your organization to
a clear profile, it will help drive all other important decisions; from building a database, to targeting the
right set of accounts, to defining the right messaging to engaging with your target accounts.
It is important to recognize that youll never be perfect in determining and defining your profile. But that
doesnt make it okay to operate without one. Do the best you can with your team to define a profile with
the data points available to you and then iterate it over time.
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6 Pipeline Coverage
chapter
18
Figuring out your coverage model is key to creating a consistent strategy, so at the
end of the day you can hit your number.
You often hear about a standard 3x coverage model but depending on your close rate, how much
you want to grow your business and your sales cycle your model could be wildly different. Use the
equation below to uncover your pipeline target.
Did you get all that? Its okay. We didnt get that either when we first saw it but when you actually break
it down, it all makes a ton of sense. The sales leader in an organization has a number to deliver on THIS
month. And then NEXT month. And then the quarter after. To add to that, your sales team has a track
record of closing a certain percentage of deals that enter the pipeline (Your Close Rate) within a certain
amount of time (Avg Sales Days).
When you factor in these key characteristics, you get a deeper understanding of exactly how much
pipeline you need to ensure based on your sales teams track record of closing deals and the complexity
of your sales cycle, you have sufficient pipeline to give them a standing chance.
19
The chart to the right visualizes
Desired Pipeline Coverage Ratio
the desired pipeline coverage
16.00
ratio for the first two variables:
14.00
20
"
The desired pipeline coverage ratio ranges
from 0.83x to 15.0x. A pipeline coverage
ratio of 3x works with a 33% close rate for ...no matter
90-day deals. Coincidentally, a 33% close
rate for 90-day deals is fairly common. That
what you do,
explains the rule of thumb. make sure you
all get aligned
But, the rule of thumb obviously does not
apply in all scenarios. Companies should use
on your pipe-
the pipeline coverage formula with their own line coverage
numbers.
goals and do
Needless to say, no matter what you do, everything you
make sure you all get aligned on your pipeline can to drive to
coverage goals and do everything you can
to drive to it and measure against it. This will
it and measure
most likely be the single biggest predictor of against it.
the success of the business.
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7 Messaging & Campaigns
chapter
Being thoughtful about your messaging and the type of campaigns you run is the next thing you
will need to focus on. There are two components to this step the Logistics and Content.
Logistics: Content:
Remember, theres no silver bullet to pipeline strategy because every business is different so your
logistics and content will vary.
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The Logistics
HERE ARE TWO EXAMPLES:
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The Logistics
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The Content
The key to creating effective messaging and campaigns that deliver results is defining the bucket you
are going to reach out to, so the messaging is relevant and specific enough to their challenges, goals,
persona, and industry.
Think outside the box everyone talks about an ICP but that is not always enough to make a message
relevant. What is happening in your prospects world that connects to the value you provide? Stay on
top of industry specific news that makes noise within that category and Analysts reports such as the
Gartner Magic Quadrant & Critical Capabilities reports as a launch pad for creating tailored prospecting
messaging.
Heres a checklist of the components you should think through when creating your
messaging and campaigns.
To define a strategy that is going to deliver pipeline for your business, you need to decide on how to
approach your target segment(s) based on the complexity of your sales cycle and the buying pro-
cess of your customers. The key questions below will help you decide how to approach your target
segment(s) of prospects.
IF YOU ARE A HYBRID YOU WILL WANT TO ASK THE QUESTIONS BELOW FOR BOTH
INBOUND AND OUTBOUND BECAUSE THE ANSWERS CAN YIELD A VERY DIFFERENT
APPROACH.
If you are primarily outbound focused, a complex buying process with multiple stakeholders
and a high ACV You can spend the time to hyper-personalize your outreach.
If you are primarily inbound focused, with a more transactional sale you have a larger volume
leads at your door with a lower ASP to automate.
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What is the complexity of our sales cycle?
The buying process, who you sell to, the Enterprise Transactional
number of stakeholders, ASP, and your
sales cycle are all inputs into developing
your pipeline strategy.
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Heres an example for a heavily focused outbound account based model, where
your entire sales team or a segment of your reps are focused on the Enterprise
market, have a small target list of accounts, multiple stakeholders and a longer
strategic sales cycle. Marketing generates a steady flow of inbound leads,
typically from Lower Level Personas in target accounts.
(Outbound) Lower
(Outbound) Key
Level/ End User
Enterprise Stakeholders/ Decision
Personas Tier A
Makers Tier A Accounts
Accounts
(Outbound) Tier B
Accounts or Your Not
Sales Complexity
Ready to Buy Now
(Inbound)
'Downloaded
Analyst Report'
Lead from Lower
Level Personas
Transactional
Communication Strategy
Automation Personalization
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The strategy plotted If you have a daily flow of You may have a small
on the grid automates inbound leads for lower target list of accounts and
communication for the level personas, you know a a number of those are
outbound lower level lot more about these buyers Tier B accounts or even
personas, such as end such as they Downloaded accounts that are not ready
users in order to focus an Analyst Report or are to buy now that you want
strategic, personalized trialing your product, where to keep warm use semi-
communication with key automation will allow reps automation here.
stakeholders and decision to consistently follow
makers when targeting up with hand raisers, but
Tier A Enterprise accounts. wont compromise their
productivity.
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Where do you start?
Now that youve thought about how to approach your target segment(s), where to you start? Do you
create the messaging and campaigns for those inbound leads or focus on the outbound prospecting
messaging for your Enterprise team?
FOCUS ON THE TARGET SEGMENT THAT WHAT IS MOST FEASIBLE? ALREADY HAVE
WILL HAVE THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON AN INITIATIVE IN PLACE, MESSAGING,
YOUR BUSINESS! CONTENT OR RESOURCES ALLOCATED TO
Lets say increasing ASP will have the A SEGMENT? START THERE.
biggest impact on your business, you may You already have inbound leads knocking at
prioritize focusing on your outbound your door
Enterprise segment. You have an ideal customer profile and
On the flip side, increasing your pipeline target prospect list
quantity is important and you already have One of your objectives as a company is
a large number of inbound leads knocking breaking into a new market
on your door, you may prioritize focusing
on your inbound lead segment.
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8 Where Do You Go From Here?
chapter
The book is purposefully built to help you think strategically about generating pipeline, create
the right organizational structure for your pipeline team, and you define a thoughtful strategy for
generating pipeline.
Once you have your team assembled, youve got the right responsibilities defined, and youve got
the right pipeline coverage, messaging, and automation vs. personalization strategy defined, you
now need to execute on it like youre pulling off a bank heist.
A critical component to every pipeline team is to have the right software platform that enables
them in executing on a cohesive personalized and automated pipeline generation strategy at
scale. This is where ToutApp comes in.
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ToutApp allows your pipeline team to execute on your inbound and outbound pipeline generation
strategy with the best messaging, content and cadence while allowing you to measure the right metrics
and ensure that you are on track.
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