💡 Tue Søttrup, Chief Executive Officer at Smart Role, explores Customer Experience’s critical role in B2B. He discusses its impact on sales cycles, relationships, and revenue compared to B2C. He also highlights varied views on CX's direct link to churn in B2B SaaS and stresses holistic support beyond sales to nurture partnerships and drive sustained business success. 💡"As a B2B company, it's your job to stay top of mind and keep reminding your partner customers about the value you provide. Show them that you understand their business, know your product, and can help them become more successful with it." - Tue SøttrupIn B2B, prioritizing customer success, fostering employee happiness, and strategic CX is crucial. Despite transactional differences from B2C, universal CX principles drive sustainable growth and relationships. Integrating best practices and demonstrating ongoing value solidifies B2B organizations as trusted partners, essential for lasting success and growth.Follow Tue Søttrup on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡 Melissa Moody, CEO at Matcha with 14 years of experience at Google, shares insights on the evolving role of the CMO. She emphasizes the importance of having a seat at the table and being involved in strategic decision-making. Melissa also highlights the need for marketers to listen to their customers and encourages CMOs to focus on both running the business and changing the business. 💡Melissa discusses how to be an effective CMO in a rapidly growing startup. She shares her insights on the role of a CMO and the importance of having a seat at the table. She also emphasizes the need for marketers to think strategically and contribute to the overall business direction and highlights the balance between strategy and execution and the importance of listening to customers.“It's never so much about something on paper or a specific salary or equity. It's about the feeling you get when you're sitting with your coworkers at that highest level and you bring something that has come out of the marketing side of the business, but should be an influence to the overall business.” - Melissa MoodyAn effective CMO should strive to have a seat at the table and be involved in shaping the overall business strategy. This can be achieved through proper strategy and execution of creating valuable content that is tailored to what the audience needs. With that, continuous learning is essential to stay ahead of the curve and adapt their strategies to meet the evolving needs of their audience. Follow Melissa Moody on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡 Dave Rigotti, Co-Founder and Head of Marketing at Inflection.io, underscores the critical significance of net revenue retention (NRR) and advocates for a shift in focus among marketers toward this metric. He states that tapping into revenue streams from existing customers is more straightforward and cost-efficient.💡He emphasizes that marketing should focus on customer expansions and driving product usage to improve NRR. He also advocates channeling greater attention and resources into customer marketing efforts and enhancing customer engagement with the product. By doing so, marketers can substantially enhance NRR and consequently drive revenue growth.“CEOs need to have a real conversation with their CMOs about how important NRR is. CEOs need to change the metrics for marketing that marketing signs up for NRR because once you get to 100% NRR, you start to become unstoppable. It's really hard for even macro-economic headwinds to slow you down.” - Dave RigottiNet revenue retention (NRR) measures revenue growth from existing customers, which is critical for SaaS companies aiming for over 100% NRR. CEOs and CMOs should prioritize NRR, focusing on customer expansions and tailored onboarding to boost revenue. By emphasizing customer-centric strategies, marketing can drive NRR and sustainable growth, prompting dialogue between leadership for dedicated plans.Follow Dave Rigotti on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡 TJ Waldorf, CMO of 1WorldSync, emphasizes closing the consumption gap between company capabilities and stakeholder perceptions. Amid rapid growth and acquisitions, educating internal and external stakeholders on expanded capabilities is vital. TJ stresses ongoing communication, internal campaigns, and reframing conversations to align understanding. By closing this gap, companies improve client service, drive revenue growth, and establish thought leadership.💡“There always tends to be some gap between those two things. In our case, it has been accentuated because, over the last three and a half to four years, we’ve transitioned from a single-product company to making nine acquisitions, significantly expanding our capabilities and our platform.” - TJ WaldorfClosing the consumption gap is a multifaceted endeavor requiring internal and external education. While external marketing efforts are crucial for reaching clients, internal education is equally vital in ensuring that employees understand and can effectively communicate a company’s capabilities. Thought leadership content is essential in educating internal and external stakeholders, reframing conversations, and driving growth.Follow TJ Waldorf on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡 Annie Wissner, VP of Marketing at Choozle, shares tips for new VPs or Heads of Marketing. She emphasizes relationship building, understanding existing initiatives, and conducting a listening tour. Annie highlights the need to assess marketing functions, analyze the competitive landscape, and identify gaps. She also discusses the importance of a clear content strategy, creating engaging content, and balancing urgent tasks with long-term planning. 💡"As an executive marketing leader, you can get caught in a tactics trap from listening to input from your peers and your team. That's why it's important to be strategic and balance tactical execution." - Annie WissnerAs a new head of marketing, building relationships and conducting a listening tour are crucial. Annie Wissner’s insights emphasize meeting with a wide range of people in the first 30 days to understand the organization. She also highlights the need for a clear content strategy, creating valuable content, and establishing a publishing cadence to align marketing with business objectives and drive growth.Follow Annie Wissner on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡 Marina Devalia, CMO at Vantaca and founder of Playbook Lab, discusses the need for marketers to evolve and take on a more strategic role within organizations. She encourages marketers to be brave and assertive in their approach. She also emphasizes the importance of unpacking the buyer's journey and identifying the touchpoints where thought leadership content can have the most significant impact. 💡"I'm a huge fan of training your sales force, your sales team, not only to use the content appropriately, which already validates them as points of authority and knowledge in the industry, but also to elevate them to the point of participating in the production of content." -Marina DevaliaMarina Devalia discusses the importance of revenue-driven and customer-centric marketing. She emphasizes the need for marketers to be brave and assertive in decision-making. She also highlights the company's importance as an industry innovator in improving the sales process. She suggests engaging customers and industry experts in producing thought leadership content and creating peer-to-peer engagement and education opportunities.Follow Marina Devalia on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡Stu Perlmeter, founder of 1st Resource, Janet Flesch (Practice Lead), and Kelly Eisner (Interview Analyst) discuss the power of qualitative win-loss analysis. They reveal insights on buyer journeys, pricing, sales streamlining, product development, and marketing improvement. Storytelling and buyer trust are key revenue drivers.💡"When done properly, win-loss analysis can deliver deep and surprising insights that help build the roadmap to winning more and the success that every marketing and sales organization strives for." - Stu PerlmeterThe win-loss analysis offers qualitative insights into the buyer journey and decision process, which is particularly beneficial in complex B2B sales. Through one-on-one interviews, it uncovers competitive insights, pricing concerns, sales process improvements, and product development opportunities. This method fosters open dialogue, allowing buyers to share experiences and inform marketing strategies by validating target segments and refining positioning and messaging.Follow Stu Perlmeter on LinkedInFollow Janet Flesch on LinkedInFollow Kelly Eisner on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡 Megan Howe, Chief Sales Officer at Oversight, explores ways to increase marketing involvement in the sales process. She emphasizes the importance of deeper collaboration between the two teams for faster deal cycles and revenue growth. She also highlights the importance of genuine curiosity about each other's operations and appreciation of the complexities of their respective roles. 💡“The balance between sales and marketing involves having a genuine curiosity for how the other operates and an appreciation for the intricacies behind each role.” - Megan HoweOrganizations prioritizing sales and marketing alignment are nearly three times more likely to exceed new customer acquisition targets. This statistic from Gartner highlights the critical nature of the relationship between sales and marketing. It's not just about working together better; it's about the company's overall growth and vitality. In today's revenue-driven landscape, this alignment is the cornerstone of success.Follow Megan Howe on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡Crys Black, a marketing expert with a background in tech startups, discusses the importance of creating an aligned go-to-market structure within a company. She emphasizes the need for aligned goals, transparency, and trust among different departments, such as sales, marketing, and customer success. By using tools like OKRs and CRM systems, companies can track and measure ROI, empower sales teams with quality content, and create a customer-centric approach to marketing.💡Crys emphasizes the importance of tracking ROI in an aligned go-to-market structure. By creating dashboards and reports that measure engagement, intent data, and other metrics, teams can assess the effectiveness of their marketing and sales efforts and make necessary adjustments.“First is aligned goals. If we don't have aligned goals, we can't succeed..” - Crys BlackIn this podcast interview, we will delve into the insights shared by Crys and her lessons learned.Follow Crys Black on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalblack/Follow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensmacdonald/

Barbie Mattie, former VP Principal Analyst at Forrester and current growth strategy consultant at Iron Horse, discusses the findings of her recent report on investments that B2B companies are making in 2024. The report reveals that the top three most important outcomes for high-growth companies are efficiency, retention, and expansion. Mattie emphasizes the importance of content in achieving these outcomes, stating that content is the new ABM (account-based marketing). She highlights the need for audience-centric content and a connected buyer journey. The report also shows that investing in content marketing technology is a top priority for high-growth companies. Mattie advises CMOs to learn from the successes of high-growth companies and emulate their strategies."Content with journey-specific messaging is the most effective mechanism to get from target to ICP; optimizing that practice enables a more efficient go-to-market approach." - Barbie MattieThe findings of Barbie Mattie's report shed light on the importance of efficiency, retention, and expansion as key objectives for high-growth companies. The data highlighted the crucial role of content in achieving these outcomes, with audience-centric content and content marketing technology being key areas of investment. By focusing on delivering value, building trust, and providing thought leadership through content, companies can drive growth, reduce sales cycles, and strengthen their brand. Follow Barbie Mattie on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

Mark Stouse, former CMO and current CEO of Proof Analytics, challenges the notion of being a data-driven CMO. He argues that most CMOs are doing data wrong and need to shift their focus to a more holistic approach to analytics. Mark also points out B2B marketing's time lag in analytics for proving ROI as a major reason why CMOs are being unjustly fired due to lack of performance. "We ran analytics and found out whether the CMO firings were justified. Four out of the five were not justified." - Mark StouseThrough his extensive interviews with CEOs and CFOs, Stouse sheds light on the frustrations and concerns of business leaders regarding marketing's lack of accountability and credibility. Follow Mark Stouse on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡B2B marketing specialist Amanda Rabideau highlights FOMO's influence on revenue marketing. She advocates targeting specific audiences, enhancing customer understanding, efficient resource allocation, and faster growth. Emphasizing the importance of aligning sales and marketing goals, she notes that misaligned incentives can impede company performance.💡Amanda emphasizes the importance of understanding the target audience and conducting voice-of-client interviews to create relevant and captivating marketing content. Amanda also highlights the need for startups to narrow and focus on one or two specific audiences to achieve product-market fit and accelerate business growth. "The right content that's relevant, that's timely, that resonates with your audience, that ranks a 10 out of 10." - Amanda RabideauThe conversation also touches on the alignment between sales and marketing, the significance of high-quality content, and the power of thought leadership in sparking conversations. Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn or YouTube for more marketing insights.Follow Amanda Rabideau on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandarabideau/Follow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensmacdonald/

James Krouse, CMO of Eastridge Staffing Solutions, emphasizes shifting B2B marketing from product focus to educating and supporting buyers. He demonstrates how his company has successfully challenged the narrative, emphasizing thought leadership, trust, and engagement. Krouse advocates for B2B marketers to adopt innovative approaches and storytelling to highlight their expertise and expedite the sales process.James discusses how, in today's B2B landscape, capturing the attention of buyers has become increasingly challenging. With the rise of self-service research, buyers are more informed than ever, making it crucial for marketers to reframe the conversation and provide a unique point of view. "It is about positioning your company above a commodity, that you are a trusted advisor, that you do know more in-depth about a field than your clients do." - James KrouseThis thought-provoking interview with James explores the importance of reframing the conversation and how it can lead to more meaningful connections with B2B buyers.

Karla Rivershaw, an award-winning global marketing leader, discusses the power of content marketing and its role in understanding and guiding the buyer's journey. Karla highlights content as a crucial data source, enabling marketers to better understand their audience and tailor their approach accordingly. The conversation also explores the value of intent data in identifying potential buyers and streamlining the sales cycle. Karla discusses the importance of using content to understand and engage with buyers. "Thought leadership is probably one of the most important things we can do as marketers." - Karla RivershawShe emphasizes the need for data-driven marketing and tracking buyer behavior through content interactions. Karla highlights the role of thought leadership in building trust and credibility and using intent data to identify where buyers are in their journey. Follow Karla Rivershaw on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlarivershaw/Follow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensmacdonald/

Eric Steele, the CRO at Source Advisors and a 15-year veteran at Forrester, stresses that the future of the B2B revenue engine lies in total alignment and strong brand equity. As B2B buyers become more empowered and knowledgeable, it is essential for companies to create a seamless alignment between sales, marketing, and customer success. This alignment not only ensures a consistent and valuable customer experience but also drives growth and success for the business as a whole.Eric discusses one of the most important subjects impacting the B2B companies today: the future of the B2B revenue engine. Eric also draws upon his insights from 15 years at Forrester and explains the increasing importance of total alignment and brand equity in a company's growth. He highlights the necessity of understanding and serving the customer at a higher level, the role and importance of revenue operations, and the significant role people, leadership, and personalities play in aligning a unifying vision."The future of the B2B revenue engine is total seamless alignment with sales, marketing, and customer success as one team, one dream, common metrics, common goals, and a common vision.” - Eric SteeleTotal alignment in the revenue organization means having one customer and one vision for serving, retaining, and growing that customer. It requires breaking down silos and eliminating competing agendas. The revenue engine should operate as one team with common metrics, goals, and vision. This alignment is crucial in meeting the high expectations of B2B buyers who expect sales reps to be knowledgeable about their business, lead with insights, and understand the outcomes their business can achieve by working with the company, strengthened by the brand.Follow Eric Steele on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericcsteele/Follow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensmacdonald/

Gayle Nixon, a multiple-time B2B CMO in the SaaS space, shares her insights on why CMOs need to be great forecasters and how she has flipped the traditional marketing attribution model. Instead of looking at marketing results after the fact, she focuses on predicting marketing spend and ROI before implementing any tacticsGayle discusses the importance of being a great forecaster and how to predict marketing spend and ROI before implementing tactics. She emphasizes the need for fiscal responsibility and accountability in marketing, using data-driven metrics and regression analysis to forecast outcomes. "It's all about being able to create a predictable funnel and raising the bar quarter over quarter, year over year." - Gayle NixonGayle is able to hold her team accountable, make informed decisions on where to allocate the budget and exceed sales targets. She emphasizes the importance of being fiscally responsible and showing the value that marketing adds to the business through data-driven metrics.Follow Gayle Nixon on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

Jonathan Symonds, 2x B2B CMO,  highlights the power of thought leadership as critical to embracing a self-serve buying model. By creating high-quality content, B2B companies can engage their target audience earlier in the buyer's journey while building strong trust-based relationships.  "You're not trying to radically transform buyers in a single piece of content. What you are trying to do is get them to think differently by reframing the conversation." - Jonathan SymondsJonathan outlines how thought leadership content allows them to "reframe" the conversation, elevating and clearly differentiating themselves from competitors and establishing themselves as trusted authorities in their industry. And if done correctly, it creates content that serves as a perpetual seller in the self-serve buying world.Follow Jonathan Symonds on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

John Golden, CMO and Chief Strategy Officer of Pipeliner, brings a unique perspective having held leadership roles from CEO to sales, marketing, and strategy. His experience allows him to shed light on the importance of aligning sales and marketing, questioning assumptions, and finding the right balance between long-term brand building and short-term revenue generation.John emphasizes the need for a fluid and aligned organization that focuses on enabling salespeople to provide a seamless customer experience. He highlights the importance of sales as the tip of the spear and the need for marketing to support and align with sales efforts. "I think the most important thing is that there is an alignment on who the real target customer is with input from both sales and marketing." - John GoldenJohn lays out an expanded perception that creating growth requires a shift in mindset and a deep understanding of the interplay between sales and marketing. Follow John Golden on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn

💡Hunter Montgomery, a 2x CMO with 25+ years of experience, explores changing B2B demand gen and customer marketing roles. He stresses adapting to customer expectations, using data as a competitive edge, and promoting thought leadership and customer-centric strategies for perpetuating revenue growth and customer relationships.💡Hunter discusses the importance of thought leadership in demand generation and customer marketing. He emphasizes the need for quality content that establishes trust and authenticity with prospects and customers.Hunter advises, "Volume is great, but if it doesn't drive the outcomes you want, it's ineffective. You need to focus on content that leads to meaningful engagement and prompts the audience to take action."Hunter also highlights the incredibly important role of customer marketing in driving revenue through upselling opportunities. He advises marketers to focus on metrics and data to track the effectiveness of their content and campaigns. The key takeaway is prioritizing thought leadership and customer engagement to achieve successful revenue growth.

Anuj Kumar is a former and current Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) with extensive experience in sales and leading global sales teams. Anuj believes in disruptive sales, where you challenge the status quo and provide value that goes beyond what customers can do themselves."My definition of disruptive sales is everything you know about how you procure, how you support, how you keep your customers happy and is completely different than every other company or every other method of actually interacting with another company." - Anuj KumarAnuj talks about how sales velocity, not just speed, is the key to success in sales. It's about moving in the right direction and focusing on quality interactions rather than quantity. One meaningful meeting can be more impactful than a thousand calls.Follow Anuj Kumar on LinkedInFollow host Steve MacDonald on LinkedIn