Shiv Narayanan’s Post

The best companies have healthy conversion rates across the board. 1. They find the right leads at the top of the funnel so they convert at a high rate to MQLs. 2. Because their MQLs are from the right leads, they end up being a good fit for what they're selling and in-market to make a purchasing decision. This makes it more likely for them to get to opportunity status. 3. Because they're good fit opportunities, they close at higher rates. If your business is in a healthy place with some of these numbers but not others, odds are there is a mismatch between who you're targeting, what you're selling and where you are deploying your limited marketing and sales resources. The best companies have numbers much higher than this across the funnel.

One of the biggest revenue opportunities inside companies is the uncaptured revenue from existing customers. Yet most companies never do the analysis required to figure out how much revenue. Good whitespace analysis includes: -Listing out all the top accounts and prioritizing them by total revenue opportunity -Identifying how many more seats can be sold into those accounts (e.g. expanding into additional departments) -Identifying opportunities to cross-sell and upsell (e.g. what other products and services can we sell into those accounts) The analysis can be super simple but the insights are incredibly valuable. They should inform which accounts Sales prioritized and also how much Marketing needs to support outreach to those accounts. We've deployed this simple template across hundreds of B2B SaaS, Tech-Enabled and Business Services companies. If you want access, comment "YES" below and I'll send it to you.

Marketing leaders get too much into the details and lose investors and CEOs during board meetings. One of the biggest gaps we see in Marketing metrics is that leaders do not have the right reporting framework in place to communicate performance at a high level. Things you need to include: - Channel performance, pipeline and revenue (e.g. Paid vs. Events vs. SEO vs. Social) - Overall spend, pipeline and revenue (e.g. Marketing Generated Pipeline and Revenue) - Overall budget allocation and ROI (e.g. program spend vs. overhead) - Core business metrics (e.g. Unit economics) The simpler it is to understand, the more traction you get in board level conversations. We've deployed this simple dashboard below across hundreds of B2B SaaS, Tech-Enabled and Business Services companies. If you want access, comment "YES" below and I'll send it to you.

The biggest competitor most companies face is "Do Nothing" as an option. Inertia is the main hurdle you need to help customers overcome. The way to do this is by spelling out the actual cost of doing nothing in a tangible way that customers understand: 1. Time Lost: how much time could they have saved if they had your solution? 2. Money Lost: how much money is being lost or not saved by not adopting the solution? 3. Uncaptured Value: what is the quantifiable opportunity being missed by not taking action right now? 4. Speed to Outcome: how much longer will it take to get to a desired outcome without your solution? 5. Externalities: what other indirect negative outcomes will be experienced by your prospect by not purchasing today? The more your marketing and sales efforts address these objections, the higher your conversion rates will go.

The marketing budget breakdown of most companies is too evenly distributed across channels. This is not how the best companies operate. The reason for the even distribution is to hedge bets across channels to find the right prospects. Instead, it's much better to double down on activities that work in your specific context. If you're really good at partner marketing, put a bigger chunk of your marketing budget into it. If thought leadership is working really well for you, reallocate budget from other channels to it drive better brand awareness. The more you double down on the strategy that works for your business, the more pipeline and revenue you will generate. It is better to be incredibly proficient in one channel than adequate in several.

Investors and CEOs are often the primary reasons for change in marketing investment inside companies, not marketers themselves. Why? Because: 1. Marketers don't fully work to understand board expectations and revenue projections. 2. Marketers fail to focus on activities that drive enough revenue. 3. Marketers don't tie their work to revenue enough to understand which activities are working or not working. 4. Marketers do not build good enough business cases to scale marketing investment. Getting to a point where the CEO or board needs to make this decision means it's way past the point of salvagable. This is why CMO tenure is less than 18 months. The more marketers lead the charge and build trust with data and communication, the less CEOs and boards get involved because they know Marketing is in safe hands.

The best CFOs are true partners to the CEO, Board and GTM leaders. They: 1. Understand Cash Flow to help the business allocate its limited resources. 2. Forecast bookings and revenue in partnership with Sales and Marketing 3. Ensure the right amount of investment is going into all key initiatives with a zero-based mindset. 4. Work with Customer Success to ensure the business is retaining and expanding existing customer accounts. 5. Align with the CEO and Board at all times on expectations. Great CFOs can be the difference between hitting your projections and not.

Great customer service isn't just about resolving issues, it's about building loyalty and transforming customers into brand advocates. #marketing

Marketers who over-index on SEO or Paid Search often (incorrectly) rely on “search volumes” and “keyword difficulty” as their guides on what to prioritize. This leads to companies fighting for market share like a commodity, inevitably inflating CAC and Payback Period metrics. Instead, starting with Differentiation as the goal changes how you Go-To-Market: 1. You invest heavily into understanding market dynamics and customer pain points 2. You build a strategic narrative to educate the market on how to resolve those pain points while separating yourself from the noise 3. You create content to educate buyers on the strategic narrative at every stage of their journey 4. You leverage demand generation channels and campaigns to scale distribution of the content to your ideal buyers This approach focuses on the customers and the message, not search volumes or keyword difficulty. It brings down CAC and improves your Payback Period. It also opens up infinite scale because you can take the message to any channel, not just those where search volumes are the focus. Ironically, the approach also leads to far more uptake from the market and customers which helps improve SEO and Paid Search performance over time anyways. #marketing

Filling skill gaps at your portcos often starts with understanding where their founders’ strengths lie. 🏋️ It’s usually either in two places: 1) Technical proficiency, or 2) Market knowledge and domain expertise Founders with strong technical backgrounds often need more help figuring out their initial market and ideal customer profiles. Founders who really understand their market and space often need more technical advisory support. Get more insights about finding and developing stronger founders in this episode of Private Equity Value Creation, featuring Sunil Grover, Managing Partner at True Blue Partners. Listen now → https://lnkd.in/dNJs2qrM