When you want to blame sales, do this instead (Newsletter #106)
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Today’s Newsletter is Brought to You By Navattic
Are B2B SaaS websites more or less buyer-first than last year?
Navattic and Chili Piper explored just that in their 2024 B2B Buyer First Best Practices Report.
It’s easy to complain about bad enterprise SaaS buying. But it’s getting better. Last year after booking demos with the top 100 SaaS companies:
- 35% never got back in touch with us
- Average of 2 days for companies to respond
- Only 17% of websites had interactive demos on their website
- 57% of websites had pricing pages
In comparison this year:
- Majority same-day responses
- 31% of websites had interactive demos
- 68% of websites had pricing pages
Curious why it got so much better than last year? Read the full report here.
Avoiding the Marketing Blame Game
“You got defensive.”
The CEO said as he sat with his arms crossed, staring at me through the little Zoom square his face occupied.
My face got hot and my chest felt like it was going to explode. I tried very hard (and failed) not to let the tears that welled up in my eyes escape.
It remains one of the worst moments of my marketing career – even if he was right.
In my mind, I was trying to solve a problem. But I jumped into defensive mode – listing the reasons (read: excuses) why we were where we were, and my grand plans to fix it.
But it really just came off as playing the blame game…and I really wish I had heard this advice from Dave Kellogg much, much sooner:
Marketers should be dispassionate analysts.
When the numbers are off (and at some point in your career, they will be off), show up with data, objectively present the facts, and lead conversations based on these insights.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Your company has missed revenue targets this quarter and you dig into why. You’ve hit all of your SAL targets, and all other metrics from top to bottom of the funnel.
And you see that the sales team has a stage 2 close rate at 5%, which is well below industry benchmarks of 15-20%.
Instead of:
- Blaming the Sales team for their terrible close rates
- Focusing on how Marketing hit all of their numbers and it’s not your fault
- Come to the table insisting the fix is for the Sales team to improve
Here’s a simple framework for what a dispassionate analyst would do:
Bring the data to the table, without emotion: present the data you found objectively, including the close rates and the benchmark data, without attaching any blame.
Get agreement on the problem: Ask, “do we think this is a problem? Yes or no?” If not everyone agrees that it’s a problem, there’s no point in trying to solve it. But once you do, you can move into trying to find a solution.
Work together to find a solution: be prepared with the solutions marketing can execute on – and get buy-in from the people at the table.
As a first time marketing leader, you feel so much pressure to come to the table with THE answer. To prove that you have enough tools in your proverbial marketing bag to have earned a seat at the table. But more often than not, it's a recipe for getting yourself into trouble.
Take the pressure off yourself – and avoid going on the defense by taking Dave’s advice and taking on the role of the dispassionate analyst.
P.S. Has this ever happened to you? Did you play the blame game by accident, or come to the table thinking you had to solve everything?
Would love to hear how you’ve dealt with this in your career. Just reply to this email – I read (and cherish) every single reply.
Podcast #155: Inside Exit Five | Creating Webinars People Actually Want to Attend (Behind the Playbook We’re Building)
Dave and Matt (Marketing Manager at Exit Five) go behind the scenes of our best live session (don’t call it a webinar!) yet. Matt also shares his insights on targeting multiple personas and generating compelling content ideas.
Matt and Dave cover:
- Creating content for multiple personas without losing your brand’s voice
- Secrets to engaging webinars that people actually want to attend
- Top tools and strategies for generating content ideas that resonate
Listen to the Episode Now on Spotify
Or find it everywhere you listen by searching "exitfive" podcast.
Podcast #156: LinkedIn | How to Build a LinkedIn Founder Brand that Drives Revenue with Kait Stephens and Brad Zomick
Dave sits down with Kait Stephens, co-founder and CEO of Brij, and Brad Zomick, Brij’s former Head of Marketing turned LinkedIn consultant.
Dave calls Kait the “Queen of Omni-Channel” for good reason — she turned LinkedIn into a powerhouse for her brand to drive leads and revenue for her company, growing to over 15k followers.
Kait, Brad, and Dave cover:
- Turning LinkedIn into a lead generation machine and building a strong founder brand.
- The nitty-gritty of creating authentic, engaging content that resonates with your audience.
- Crafting a content flywheel that keeps your audience hooked and continuously brings in new leads.
Listen to the Episode Now on Spotify
Or find it everywhere you listen by searching "exitfive" podcast.
Upcoming Events
Breaking Down the Best B2B Website Experiences in 2024
What do the best B2B websites all have in common? What, exactly, makes them great? How do you create a website experience that puts buyers first?
We’re hosting another one of our famous teardowns to help you refine your own website to create a killer buyer-centric experience. We’ll be joined by expert Natalie Marcotullio, Head of Growth at Navattic, to help break down the best practices and the data behind them.
In this session:
- Our experts will look at real website submitted from Exit Five members, and get live feedback on how to improve the experience for buyers
- Learn exactly how the Top B2B Brands prioritize being buyer-first, and how you can implement these tactics yourself
- Get your burning questions answered by Exit Five Founder Dave Gerhardt and Head of Growth at Navattic, Natalie Marcotullio
- Engage in the chat and share your ideas with fellow B2B marketers.
Open Roles
HOT JOB OF THE WEEK: CLARA is looking for a Head of Product Marketing who will work closely with the go-to-market team to craft CLARA’s story into positioning and messaging that educates potential customers on the capabilities, value, and outcomes we deliver for our partners.
If you're interested, you can apply here.
Other open roles on the Exit Five job board this week:
- Close is hiring a Senior Social Media Manager. Remote Role.
- OhMD is hiring a Demand Generation Marketer. $70-100k salary.
- Backbase B.V is hiring a Senior Director Demand Generation. Remote Role.
See All Open Roles
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