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The Chief Outsider
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Recent Posts
From Loyalty Programs to Leadership: What 20 Years in CRM Taught Me About Organizational Growth
Loyalty programs taught many of us how to turn casual buyers into raving fans. My 20 years in CRM and loyalty for brands like Marriott, Amazon, and American Express—and leading a $3B customer platform—taught me something bigger: The same system that keeps customers coming back also keeps your best people from leaving. When growth stalls, most CEOs reach for the usual levers: more demand gen, more recruiting, more channels.
Is ChatGPT Going to Change Search Marketing?
Tue, Mar 21, 2023 — Microsoft’s recent announcement on adding ChatGPT AI Technology to Bing must be sending warning signals to Google on the future of search marketing. With the integration of ChatGPT in Bing, the search engine will be able to provide results in a natural language – more conversational than a list of links that is today’s norm.
How to Use ABM to Drive Revenue Growth and ROI: Part 4
Tue, Feb 28, 2023 — By: Carol Eversen and Jeff Loeb Part 4 - Getting Started with ABM In part 3 of our four-part ABM blog series, we explored the technologies available to support ABM and articulated how different tech stack elements can be leveraged to support your ABM program. We also provided thoughts about the essential elements of reporting for an ABM initiative. In part 4 we focus on the best strategies for ABM programs and offer a framework to help determine whether ABM is right for you, and, if so, the flavor of ABM to deploy. We also provide practical advice about how to get started with an ABM pilot program.
How to Use ABM to Drive Revenue Growth and ROI: Part 3
Tue, Feb 21, 2023 — By: Carol Eversen and Jeff Loeb Part 3 - Technology and Reporting In part 2 of our four-part blog series we explored the core tenet of every successful ABM initiative – orchestration and personalization across sales, marketing, and customer success teams. Part 3 delves into the technologies available to support ABM and helps articulate how different tech stack elements can be leveraged to support your ABM program. We also provide thoughts about the essential elements of reporting for an ABM initiative.
What Every Midmarket CEO Should Know About Sales Enablement Tools
Mon, Feb 20, 2023 — What are sales enablement tools and why should I care? We are hearing more and more today about the rise of Sales Enablement tools, many AI driven, that accelerate and enhance the Sales Team’s customer outreach. What exactly are Sales enablement tools? Sales enablement refers to technology and related applications that are designed to help your Sales Team do their job more efficiently. It’s more than just call tracking, these tools educate and coach your Sales team making them much more effective in real time. Most integrate into your existing CRM solution while others can stand alone. Through apps, they can facilitate an automatic linkage between your other Marketing and Sales tools, providing visibility into your KPIs and strategies. With 43% of B2B buyers reporting to Gartner that they prefer a “seller-free” experience, Sales Enablement tools are becoming a necessity in the modern Sales Organization for B2B and B2C sellers.
How to Use ABM to Drive Revenue Growth and ROI
Tue, Feb 7, 2023 — By: Carol Eversen and Jeff Loeb As fractional CMOs with deep experience implementing ABM across many B2B companies, we see a pattern emerging: business leaders have very different perspectives about what it takes to implement ABM and how to get started. And most opinions seem to be informed by solution vendors rather than defined by the business challenges at hand. This series of blog posts will guide you through the core pillars of ABM, when ABM should be used and with what approach, and share best practices to get started on a successful ABM journey. You’ll learn about the strategies to consider, the enabling technologies to prioritize, how to measure ABM efforts effectively, and how to get started and reduce risks.
RACI+ Joins the Race: How to Supercharge Your Sales Funnel
Wed, Sep 21, 2022 — To win at the growth game, ownership is everything – and in fact, you would agree that the leaders in the marketplace truly “own” the customer journey. But if you’re among those looking up at the market leader, it’s possible that you have a secondary ownership problem –- an inability for all your cross-functional teams to own their role in the sales funnel, which is a big part of the customer journey.
What Tech CEOs Get Wrong About Positioning
Thu, Jul 28, 2022 — If you are a CEO that is lamenting slowing sales and lagging growth at your company, it’s tempting to place the blame directly at the feet of the sales team – those well-intentioned front-line soldiers who are responsible to turn your solutions into the bucks that feed the company growth. Indeed, most CEO’s I talk to feel this way – when product and market fit is not happening with enough velocity, or visions of declaring leadership in their market are unrealized, the obstacle standing in the way is always sales.
Psychographics: How To Use Brain-Level Insights to Improve Marketing
Fri, Jul 22, 2022 — As a marketer in the digital age, I am fortunate to have many tools at my disposal that make my job easier. Unfortunately, however, I still have no way to read minds (and that would be quite creepy, anyway) – but one could see how individual “brain-level” insights could have a stunningly positive impact on campaigns, revenues, and overall success. That’s because the Holy Grail for marketers is to understand not just the “who” is likely to buy, but the “why” behind the purchase. If we figure out the need we fill for that customer, at an emotional level, we can effectively cultivate a highly-valued customer.
Positioning Mistake No. 365 -- Treating Prospects Better Than Existing Customers
Wed, Jun 22, 2022 — From the world of “shocking but true”: There are real, actual companies out there that are turning away revenue. Literally, they have customers shaking fistfuls of dollars in their direction and walking in the opposite direction. Before you shake your head, thinking this is blasphemy, the stark reality is this: You, too, could be guilty of the same offense.