Matt Tatum’s Post

What's the difference between a salesperson who can confidently quote a large amount and one who lacks confidence and is almost apologetic when delivering a large quote? I loved the conversation happening in this post from Chris Orlob on this topic this week (be sure to check it out) 👇 I closed the biggest deal of the year so far a couple of weeks ago and here is my perspective on the difference: If you are selling products or services you are immediately on defense with price. However, if you are selling an outcome, and one you know will transform their business, then delivering a quote for a large amount becomes much easier. It becomes less about “do you know think my product is worth $350k?” And more about “of course this outcome is worth way more than the $350k.” That’s how anyone can deliver a large quote with confidence, and not just very senior and seasoned sales executives. What do you think? Why are some salespeople able to deliver large quotes with confidence?

Is an MQL a leading or lagging indicator? It turns out that how you respond to this question reveals a lot about your view of marketing’s chief responsibility. In Ep 48 of Micro Podcast, I talked with Heather (Tolksdorf) Kruger, Head of Corporate Marketing at Payscale, and we started with this question. Here's a hot take: we need to stop thinking about marketing as just an MQL machine for sales. Why? As Heather emphasized, if marketing’s sole focus is on creating MQLs, we are channeling significant marketing power into a narrow space. Wonder if you fit into this category? Well, how do you measure whether your marketing team is being effective? For most companies that I've encountered, it's often almost completely based on the number of MQLs being delivered to sales. Why is this a bad strategy though? Heather pointed out an eye-opening statistic from the new B2B Institute: Only 5% of your ideal customer profile is typically in market at any given time. So, while marketing may hand over a long list of MQLs to sales, there can often be finger-pointing about the quality of leads being low quality because they aren’t "sales-ready.” (SQL) This means that while MQLs are valuable, they often represent a small fraction of your total addressable market or ideal customer profile ready to engage with sales. A key shift in mindset lies in viewing MQLs not just as a lagging indicator and the end of marketing’s responsibility but as a leading one that can drive proactive marketing actions aligned with the full go-to-market strategy. Marketing should share a revenue generation goal with sales. Let's leverage those marketing superpowers more broadly across the customer journey. What do you think? #MarketingStrategy #MQLs #SalesAlignment #CustomerJourney

As long as companies need to grow, they will need sales appointments. That said, the current SDR playbook is breaking down. The numbers just don't make sense anymore because it takes so many more touches to book a meeting due to automation and increased noise. AI SDRs, like Piper by Qualified signal the end of an era for the way we have approached outbound appointment setting over the last decade. We're advocating for companies to move to an Account Development Rep or ADR model instead of an SDR model. I know. Another label. It's so cliche B2B of me. But let me make the case for why it's different and needs to be referred to as something different. An ADR is NOT focused on asking for something (time) or measured based on conversions (appointment setting). An ADR is focused on providing something (value/insight) and measured by the engagement they create. An ADR will make you the early favorite vendor once a prospect is in-market. But this is a completely different playbook and model. So this is my long way of saying that I think Santosh Sharan is right, the function is evolving, but still as important as ever. But we also believe the evolution is so dramatic that the SDR label needs to be replaced. While still outbound in direction, it requires a new set of skills and should focus foremost on engagement vs conversion. The reality is that for most SaaS companies, 95% of their ICP is likely not in-market for their solution at any given time. Our current SDR model is designed to find the 5% that has need and get them to demo. Seems like we are missing an opportunity to engage the 95% of your ICP that isn't in market with something of value. What are your thoughts? #sdr #demandgeneration #b2bsales

This is my new running partner, Winnie. We got Winnie as a puppy in the fall, and I've been looking forward to the day when she could run with me. Running is important to my mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. I love it, but I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be. Winnie is my accountability partner, though. Whether it's a walk or a run, she uses her big Goldendoodle puppy eyes to encourage me to close my laptop, get off my phone, get outdoors, and get active. I've found that running outdoors is a huge help when I'm feeling anxious, creatively blocked, or uninspired. When I'm actively using my body, it allows me to think, pray, and just disconnect. Sometimes stepping away from whatever I am stuck on is exactly what I need. I always come back with more vision, inspiration, clarity, and purpose. Yesterday was a hard day. So I shut down my laptop and went for a run with Winnie. It didn't fix everything, but I came back with a different outlook and perspective. We made it 4.5 miles! Not too shabby. However, she did eat one of my AirPods, which is my one complaint about her as a running partner so far. What do you do to reset or find inspiration in your day?

Don't sell products or services. People buy outcomes and results. Don't worry; you don't need an outcomes-based revenue model to change your approach. You do need a better story, though. Your story needs to deliver a compelling case for the outcomes and results you can deliver. Instead of selling your product and services.... Speak to the problem your product and services address and ask if the outcome and results you deliver would make their life better. Give this approach a try this month and see if you get better results.

Brand new Work Tech Weekly newsletter from my colleague Steve S.. Some encouraging news! Thought this would be particularly interesting to you Anna Haas Bauman Marie Seitzer Hannah McCabe Terry Tripp Kelli Hinteregger Michael OConnell Mark Stadler Melissa Gilkerson Callum M. Teresa Kuruvilla Faye Davis Stephen Yadzinski Sami Kallio Monica Chopra Shapari Samimi Ahmed Marmoush

It's important to celebrate good work when you see it. In Ep 47 of Micro Podcast, Lance Haun, Nancy (Pummill) Crabb, and I talk about some of the ads we like including HiredScore, WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association), and Zendesk 1) HiredScore was recently acquired Workday, so the brand will likely be sunset soon. - This brand has always been near and dear to our hearts at The Starr Conspiracy since we, too, have a cephalopod (?) as our mascot. - Work tech brands can tend toward being conservative and stuffy, so we’ll miss this playful brand with its bold color palette and message. 2) WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association). This ad emphasizes a stark switching of context between a very corporate environment and a loud and energetic basketball environment. The sharp cuts back and forth with the soundtrack emphasize the energy and intensity on the court. - Women's basketball has had a moment this spring and the WNBA is taking full advantage of increased interest in the sport, but.... - The ad doesn't emphasize "women's sports" so much as it just emphasizes that the WNBA is a great and entertaining product. 3) Zendesk. An ad about how AI makes you more human. Interesting. -Our favorite part is how human-forward the ad is, and thankfully there are no weird images of people and robots shaking hands or anything. - The ad does a good job of casting a vision that AI can actually streamline processes to make customer experiences more human. What ads have inspired you lately?

Here are the top 8 reasons we've seen B2B Tech Startups Fail over the last 20 years. 1) Wrong Positioning 2) Differentiating in the Wrong Way 3) Target Market is Too Broad 4) Muddled Messaging 5) Visual Brand Inefficiency 6) Lack of Brand Awareness 7) Impatience 8) Disdain for Your Buyer Which one do you think is the biggest pitfall for startups? 1) Wrong Positioning. It's tempting to position ahead of where your product is at, but this is a trap and will kill momentum for your startup before you get out of the gates. 2) Differentiating in the Wrong Way. Almost every startup I speak with wants to create a new category. Buyers also aren't out shopping for a new category label because they don't know what it is. We recommend fitting within an existing category and differentiating within the category. 3) Target Market is Too Broad. Bigger is better, right? Not with target market. We recommend "getting small to get big," meaning find your niche where you can be the best and appeal most strongly. Then expand out from that tarket market as you gain dominance. 4) Muddled Messaging. Clarity is key with messaging, and clarity starts with a very clear understanding of who you are messaging to. We help companies identify and message to their Radical Buyer. Think of your ICP, but with a strong psychographic fit. 5) Visual Brand Inefficiency. The easier your name and identity are to remember, the less you must spend to make your prospects remember them. That said, B2B tech startups are notorious for sameness with their visual brand. Be bold with your visual brand and you won't have to spend as much money to make it memorable. 6) Lack of Brand Awareness. It can be easy to neglect brand building and put all your eggs in the lead-gen basket. Carving out precious people and program resources for campaigns that are not tied directly to creating a lead can be a tough pill to swallow for a startup. The problem is that we are more likely to engage with brands that we have heard of. So be sure to invest in brand awareness early on. You'll reap the benefits down the road. 7) Lack of Patience. Startups move and change course quickly. This can be problematic when you are implementing a growth strategy. It comes from a lack of confidence in a strategy working. Get ahead of this by working with a partner you trust to help you build a strong plan, then stick with it for a reasonable amount of time without making major changes. 8) Disdain for Your Buyer. Startups are often created by someone coming out of an industry with an idea on how to do things better. Sometimes this comes across as disdain or disrespect for your buyer. Pursue a buyer and market you like and be their biggest advocate. By the way, this content is from our highest performing ebook over the last decade. You can access it (ungated) in the comments below!

Brand new Work Tech Weekly out. Lots of good funding and acquisition announcements this week. Be sure to subscribe, if you haven't already! Thought you'd find this week's newsletter particularly relevant to your business: Kerry Wang Tim Driscoll Ellen Humphreys Francesca D'Arcy-Orga Pritesh Vora Jason Gong Stephanie Tsimis Isabel Edwards Julia Haber 🎓 Emily Van Orman David Franco-Julian William Taylor Leslie Surley Kostrikin Katherine Wong Too Yen Amarildo Gjondrekaj

Should you gate your best content? We all love to argue about this one. What does the data show is best practice, though? In Ep 46 of Micro Podcast, I chat with Jonathan Gandolf, founder and CEO of The Juice, about what they learned from their research on this topic. TL;DR Ungated content performs better. The Juice reviewed and analyzed the 300,000+ pieces of content on their platform. Here is what they found: ✅ Ungated content actually outperforms gated content by about 26%. 📆 Avg. time between a content touch point and a deal moving to closed won or closed lost is about six months. 📚 During those six months, the prospect engages with 2.2 pieces of content. 🥇 This means that your golden piece of content doesn’t actually convert. It starts a conversation and engages. It hasn't always been this way. What changed? > Hubspot started the inbound marketing era in 2012 or so, and it was revolutionary and effective when it was new. > But when everyone runs the same playbook, it stops working. > The model evolved to introduce content syndication, where you can engage partners to distribute your ebooks to serve up very targeted but very cold "leads.” 🌎 This is where we find ourselves in 2024. The connect and convert motion, where we send out a gated ebook for SDRs to follow up and immediately set up a demo, stopped working in 2023. It's not going to start working again, either. As Jonathan says, "Content stopped being the focus, and all we were thinking about was conversion." So does this mean we don't need content anymore? Absolutely not. It is evolving in the way we find it and consume it. Jonathan's recommendation: "Great content should educate and entertain, and something should come along behind that and do the actual conversion based on building a fan of the brand through the content." I think that's pretty good advice. Be sure to check out the State of Gated vs Ungated Report. Link in the comments (it's ungated, of course). What do you think about gated vs ungated and what we should expect our content to do for our business? Would love your perspective: Lance Haun JJ La Pata Noah Johnson Steve S. Gordon Johnson Sarah White Brandon Giella Jonathan Goodman Matthew Lee Mary Ellen Slayter Liv Anderman Charlie Liang Patty Thompson Lex Winship Chris Ciolli Todd Raphael John Bradley Kruger Daniel Schafer Tami Mandeville Remi Silva Jeffrey Fermin Patricia Gallagher Karen Henke Devin Reed #contentmarketing #gatedcontent #demandgen #b2bmarketing