A study of B2B companies found that just one in 20 was able to consistently grow sales faster than sales and marketing expenses. (Cited in Harvard Business Review)
Measuring “commercial productivity” is a great way to quantify the symptom. However, it’s more important to find and fix the causes of low productivity. Here are a few on the marketing side worth exploring. If you’re struggling with any of these, I invite you to be in touch.
- Lack of alignment: Sales and marketing are not using the same messaging or even the same segmentation. Or product and go-to-market teams become independent fiefdoms. They end up working at cross-purposes.
- Immature decision-making: Everyone has an opinion. Companies waste a massive amount of time chasing whims rather than following a mature, fact-based, and testable process with clear decision roles.
- Subject-matter confusion: Marketing expertise is horizontal. It is rare and difficult for marketers to find the right middle ground for collaborating with deep vertical experts, especially in complex verticals such as institutional financial services and climate tech.
- Ineffective resourcing: Individual marketers usually bring unique constellations of skills to the table, combining experience, talent, and personal preference. External providers fill the gaps. The goals should be coherence and comprehensiveness. Marketing teams can stretch and combine resources, but not infinitely.