What does a sales opportunity mean to you? Would the rest of your company give the same answer? Probably not. But not to fear, GTM leader, because Tricia Gellman, the Chief Marketing Officer of Box joins hosts Matt Amundson and Craig Rosenberg to explain how to fix the cracks between sales and marketing in B2B. Tricia outlines the importance of having shared goals across B2B sales and marketing teams, why defining terms clearly is so critical, and what it’s like for those selling AI tools to B2B buyers.
Also, Craig recounts his time spent hanging out with reps at Dreamforce and Matt gushes about the events TOPO used to run.
Critical Takeaways
- A crucial component in driving B2B sales and marketing alignment is using the same metrics and dashboards to accomplish shared goals. Consistency and agreement on these metrics will help streamline the goal-setting process, reduce friction, and ensure everyone is working towards the same company objectives.
- Clearly define what constitutes an opportunity and different stages within the pipeline. Aligning these definitions across marketing and sales will prevent discrepancies and confusion, leading to more accurate performance tracking and reporting.
- Invest in brand building. A strong B2B brand is essential for long-term success and helps in making conversations happen at the C-suite level. This investment continues to pay off by fostering word-of-mouth recommendations and creating a lasting impression in the minds of decision-makers.
- Building a customer or peer community, especially around high-level executives and key decision-makers, can significantly enhance your brand's reach and credibility. Hosting events and creating opportunities for peer networking add tremendous value and deepen customer loyalty.
Sponsored Segment
This episode is presented by Ringmaster Conversational Marketing, the go-to branded podcast team. To discover how your company can leverage B2B podcasts to deliver outsized ROI, visit ringmaster.com.
Interested in becoming a sponsor of The Transaction? Contact transactionpod@samguertin.com
Chapters
00:00 Tricia's Italy Trip & Career Advice
03:08 Overcoming the Challenges of a B2B Chief Marketing Officer
04:51 Managing Pipeline in the Current SaaS Environment
08:56 How to Align B2B Marketing and Sales Teams
23:26 Aligning Incentives Across Go-To-Market Teams
24:01 Defining Opportunities and Meetings
25:18 Adapting to AI in B2B Sales
27:13 Transitioning to a New CMO Role in a B2B company
32:22 Building a Customer Community and Product Alignment
Sign up for our Newsletter: https://thetransaction.substack.com/
Epic Quotes
- “Saying you can't do it because you don't have the data is just a cop out.” - Tricia Gellman
- “Everybody works to their goals. Whatever the incentive is, that's what people work towards.” - Tricia Gellman
- “One of the key roles of leadership across sales and marketing is really being clear on who are we going after? Why are we going after it? And then, how are we going to go after it?” - Tricia Gellman
Connect with Tricia Gellman
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gellmansfmarketing/
- Website: https://www.box.com/home
Shoutouts
- Mini Peiris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mini8ture/
- Maria Pergolino: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariapergolino/
- Sydney Sloan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydsloan/
- Ted Purcell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedpurcell/
- Latané Conant: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latane-conant/
Love the show? Give us a shoutout on LinkedIn and tell us what you loved!
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.