Goal
Implement a framework of data-driven tools and practices that help our sales and marketing teams work better together as a single, revenue-generating organization.
Step 1: Standardize Funnel Stages
Develop a unified picture of the funnel and standard definitions of each stage in the process.
Marketing’s Perception of the Funnel Stages:
- Visits
- Leads
- Trials (MQLs)
- Trials w/Integrated Marketplaces and/or Carriers (SQLs)
- Deals (Opportunities)
- Subscribers (Customers)
Define Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
Develop a MQL definition based on the combination of fit and interest that’s right for our company. This is the crucial handoff point between marketing and sales, so it’s essential that the teams agree on the terminology.
Marketing’s Perception of What Makes an MQL
A user that has signed up for a free trial of ShipStation.
Step 2: Implement a SLA (Service-Level Agreement)
With clear expectations on how many quality leads (trials) marketing will generate each month, and how sales will follow up with those leads, a SLA defines the expectations and provides hard numbers for both teams to measure their success.
The SLA formalizes the commitment that the sales and marketing teams make to meet shared goals for revenue growth. It’s a two-way process:
- The marketing team commits to delivering a certain quantity and quality of leads/trials each month or quarter to help the sales team meet its quota.
- The sales team then commits to follow up on those leads/trials in a timely manner, and to make a specific number of contact attempts before abandoning the user.
4 Steps to Creating Our SLA
Step 1: Calculate Percent of Closing Trial-to-Subscriber Users
The first step of our sales-marketing SLA is to examine our sales closing rates, and specifically tease out what percentage of your leads/trials ultimately become subscribers. This analysis looks at the historical performance of both our marketing and sales, and fills these holes in with actual performance data.
Look at the last 6 months of sales data to see how well we were able to close our trial users from each persona category and each source. Then take the average close rate. Update this on a monthly basis as our channels will change over time.
Step 2: Calculate Value of a Trial User
The second step in your SLA development is to determine the value of each lead source. Knowing the value of your leads is pivotal in evaluating your overall pipeline, and deciding where to allocate your scarce sales and marketing resources.
Look at the average sale price of each persona type. This should also be updated on a regular basis.
Step 3: Calculate Monthly Trials Generated
Step three helps your marketing team track its monthly lead generation by channel. By looking at actual monthly data in real time, we can see which channels are performing each month, and which need to be addressed to enable our team to hit its projected numbers. Monthly lead tracking gets the whole team on the same page, offers insight into which strategies are working, and helps pinpoint underperforming channels in near real time.
Regularly add the number of Trials we are generating this month from each persona category and source. Monitor these numbers on a daily and sometimes hourly basis.
Final: Calculate Total Monthly SLA
The final section of our calculator will tally our SLA commitments. As we fill in steps one through three, the SLA calculator will automatically populate the total SLA fields for each channel and persona. This worksheet will sum our channel and persona SLA, and our overall monthly totals.
Ultimately, the total monthly SLA we commit to should equal the total potential revenue each trial segment can produce per month.
We can assume that the total monthly SLA should equal the potential revenue that can come in from the trial users collected.
Step 3: Setup Daily Dashboards and Detailed Monthly Reports of Sales and Marketing Activities
Marketing Dashboard / Daily Leads Waterfall Graph
- Visits
- Trials
- Activated Trials
Sales Dashboard
- New leads / trials that were not called within XYZ hours, as specified in the SLA
- All leads / trials that weren’t called at least XYZ times within XYZ days
Marketing Monthly Report
- Visits, Leads, Trials and Subscribers by Source
- Performance of Marketing Assets
- Web Pages, Landing Pages and Calls-to-Action
- Speed from Conversion Event to Sales Follow-Up
Sales Monthly Reporting
- Sales Waterfall Chart
- Visualization of actual sales results vs. quota
- The chart should show the percentage of the goal that was reached and if there was a gap between the quotas and the monthly goal
- Total Sales Cycle
- How long it takes the sales organization to convert the leads/trials that marketing generated into customers/subscribers
- Monitoring this view will give us a sense of our sales cycle and if we are ever below or above average
Step 4: Hold Weekly/Monthly Sales and Marketing Meetings
Weekly Meeting
- 30 minutes max
- End of day to avoid disrupting the sales team’s prime calling time
- Designate one presenter each from sales and marketing
- Discuss recent results and upcoming activities
- Highly interactive session, welcoming discussion and questions from anyone in the group
Monthly Management Meeting
An opportunity to take a deep dive into results and to hash out upcoming plans, strategy questions, and any potential problems that may be nudging our sales and marketing teams out of alignment:
- Review of Metrics
- Future Plans
- Discussion Items