The Amigos Network

Welcome to February. You survived the highs of parties and celebrations as we left 2023 behind, and now have passed through the stormy, snowy, and dry January.

Onward are the realities of revenue hikes, right-sizing and budget cuts as they start to bite across our industry.

The clever clogs in the suits above our pay grades are scratching their heads, trying to make sense of a market that's showing all the signs of becoming slower than a Sunday driver. Right now, you could say the world of sales and marketing is like a fairground ride that's lost a bolt – a bit wobbly, but still trundling on!

Dinosaurs and Chocolate Teapots

So where does this leave us? First off, you've got your traditional B2B tactics – you know, the ones that’ve been used since dinosaurs roamed the earth. Everyone claims they have a long-term strategic plan, but the reality is, that most deploy stop-start, quarterly-focused masterpieces. In this climate, they’ll become even more useless than the chocolate teapots they’ve been for some time. Yet the Finance suit may be resisting investing in the long term in case the marketing budget needs to prop up the sales number in the last quarter.

Strictly Come Dancing

Customers like to self-serve and have done so for nearly as long as we’ve had the interweb. Sales whizz kids, we admire your vigour, but jumping on the ‘phone too soon will not only be a waste of valuable time, but you’ll end up on the ‘block’ list. If it happens once in an organisation, then it’s not the greatest idea to use ABM data to do the same to the rest.

Like it or not, at some point, you have to dig deep and be in it for the long haul. Someone you meet tomorrow may love what you’re saying, but unless you figure out how to keep in touch with them and measure their interactions until it’s a definitive “no thanks” you’ll be throwing good money after bad, year on year. Sales and marketing are now, more than ever, going to need to tango together to make the money roll in, like some sort of corporate Strictly Come Dancing.

Market Activation™ Solution Brief

Some more detail about how we approach demand generation to get outstanding results.

For more information and a live demonstration of lead progression and pipeline visibility, please book some time with us to show you.

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What should this be telling us?

Big Kahunas

Technology is the big kahuna here. Used wisely, to its full potential and beyond just the data mapping and AI gizmos, it helps to truly unlock where the treasure is to be found. Nothing comes for free and without a bit of effort. Relying on the basic systems or limited skillsets to deploy it, probably isn’t going to cut it in the new game plan.

Rabbits from Hats

Budgeting in this world? Revenue numbers rarely get cut in line with budgets, at best they stay flat. Marketing teams get left flipping coins between the multiples of Omni-channel digital dazzlers and budget-guzzling events, spreading it about in enough places in the hope of pulling a rabbit out of the proverbial hat.

The End Game

Where does this leave the suits with the clever money and a new game plan? Back to basic principles is what works best – the customer experience. Tease them along the journey little and often in enough places to help them move at your pace, watch and strike when the time is right. But don’t smash them over the head in desperation or you’ll scare them off.

If any of this makes sense, you're on our wavelength

Every one of our Clients was looking for a programme that would complement and deliver for both sales and marketing functions. Why not take a small step towards finding out how Market Activation™ will help amplify your brand, identify buyers with purchasing intent and create better-informed sales conversations - 52 weeks of the year?

It can be a complete enabler for small/newly funded businesses or as a programme that's part of a wider demand generation strategy.

Vendors looking to support their partner channels in their demand-creation efforts find it particularly beneficial if they build it into their channel programmes.

Forward-thinking distributors wishing to offer value to vendors and partners by engaging and managing relationships directly with buyers are also showing interest.

And great news for the Finance suits and budget holders - depending on where you sit there are models some customers have adopted that make it cost-neutral or revenue-positive at source.