marketing and sales alignment

Guest Post by: Maria Pergolino

As part of our ongoing B2B sales and marketing thought leadership interviews, I spoke with Carlos Vidal, Principal at Sales Benchmark Index (SBI). SBI is a strategic advisory firm that helps executives understand how well their sales forces are performing relative to peer group and World-Class levels. SBI is differentiated through the use of empirical data -- a repository of over 11,200 companies, across 19 industries, 11 years of history and over 315 sales metrics.

The next interview in the B2B Marketing thought leader interview series is with Christine Crandell, one of the most innovative thinkers I've met on the topics of sales and marketing alignment and marketing accountability. Christine sits on several advisory boards including Coupa and SDForum, and has held senior marketing positions at Egenera, Ariba, and many others. Her thoughts on organization and how marketing can earn credibility and "go toe-to-toe" with sales leadership are definitely worth reading.

Guest Post by: Maria Pergolino

The next interview in the B2B Marketing Thought Leader interview series is with David Taber. David is the author of the new Prentice-Hall book, "Salesforce.com Secrets of Success," which covers the people, policy, and process issues surrounding effective CRM solutions.

by: Jon Miller

by: Alain Thys

I always say that if you gotta' do something, you gotta' do it right. And when it comes to cutting marketing budgets, that rule applies as well. Real CMO's know the question is not to decide how much red ink should be used. They see their challenge in cutting wisely. Reducing marketing spend while keeping sales intact. Ensuring customer loyalty when there's less funds to please the customer. Building the brand when there's no cash to do it.

by: Jon Miller