What I do – non-industry people version!
Imagine:
- Your systems (the CRM, Marketing Automation, Sales Engagement) are car parts
- Data- & Intelligence as well as processes: the fuel – petrol, diesel. All new: electricity.
- The sales & marketing teams: the drivers
Let’s assume the team is competing in a championship – a racing team! Formula 4:
Ok – let’s assess the car we start out with: a solid if a bit rigged …racing car, running on regular petrol. The drivers are familiar with it’s straightforward enough operation. No chance to compete with the top ranks yet.
So what’s next? A shiny new engine – it’s all about speed, right!? But of course challenges arise:
- The engine’s much higher performance can’t be handled by the chassis.
- The exhaust system wasn’t built for this either.
- A lot of little things: more & better lubricants, better brakes, etc.
–> Integrations: tools like Zapier (there’s even a free version), Tray (SMBs) and Mulesoft (Enterprise) make the new engine compatible with the existing setup. Suffice to say, after some intense time in the garage, the pimped car is ready to go!
But …we forgot about the drivers! So they take their place & a lot of things are different – mostly under the hood, but handling is affected as well. After the first more narrow turn, they’re off the road, they can’t handle the acceleration, the new suspension and so on! Fair enough – training time.
–> Clear processes to work the CRM, goals and reports. Marketing campaign tracking, automation & strategy. A Demand Gen Funnel, made visible via Business Intelligence solutions.
Now that the drivers are also up to speed, the F4 championship was a good challenge the team masted!
On to Formula 3! An all-new challenge:
- Bigger, more experienced teams with more resources
- “Just” replacing existing parts with better ones doesn’t cut it this time.
- Team Owners want to win the very first season… challenge accepted!
–> New tech is needed: a completely different suspension (Sales Engagement Automation), supported by new hydraulics (People Intelligence). All needs to be integrated and trained like before of course. First races are tough – the suspension is too soft, too hard, the drivers are not used to the handling.
–> Moving to better fuel (“Account Based Marketing”) takes its toll on the engine and the entire setup, a new fuel pump is also needed (Account Intelligence). So long days in the garage follow to reconciliate all new and existing parts & train drivers in the new way of racing.
Finally though, the efforts pay off: acceleration, handling and aerodynamics are working out, we own formula 3!
Formula 2 – finally! Only one tier below the highest realms of motorsport, yay! Challenges aplenty:
- More & more drivers, still changing too frequently.
- Budget restrictions hit – updates to parts need to be done “inhouse”
- New series guidelines & requirements (GDPR, new markets, Executives think they now need to see the ROI of each part & liter of fuel)
- Aging hardware, especially the engine (CRM).
That’s where we are – trying to get on top to reach the final tier – Formula 1. Does the team have the perseverance & determination to become one of the world’s best? We shall see…!