SaaSy Talk Unfiltered | SaaSy Talk S01.16: The Need for Data-Driven Innovation in B2B Go-to-Market Strategies

SaaSy Talk S01.16: The Need for Data-Driven Innovation in B2B Go-to-Market Strategies

October 25, 2023 / 56:54/S1:E16

About The Guest(s): Chris Walker leads a powerful team that is challenging the current reality of B2B "Marketing" and "Sales". This traditional organizational structure, division of responsibilities, and process for budgeting/planning is failing B2B companies. They are designing and building a new future for how B2B companies and Revenue Teams operate. Chris also hosts the B2B Revenue Vitals podcast which mixes live Q&As and chats with today’s top B2B leaders to share tangible advice and tactics.

Key Takeaways:

The traditional MQL-based model in B2B go-to-market strategies is subjective and lacks data-driven insights.
Companies should adopt a performance-based objective data model to determine the stages of their revenue system.
The B2B go-to-market space needs more science and data to drive innovation and optimize revenue systems.
Early-stage founders should prioritize marketing and align their strategies with the changing buying behaviors of B2B customers.
Sales velocity is a key metric that combines sales cycle length, win rates, opportunity volume, and deal sizes to assess the health of a company's revenue engine.
The metrics used in B2B go-to-market strategies often incentivize behaviors that are not customer-centric and can lead to inefficiencies and wasted resources.
As companies scale, the traditional MQL-based model becomes unsustainable and requires a new operating model that is adaptable and data-driven.
Continuous optimization and the use of data are crucial for driving growth and innovation in the B2B go-to-market space.

Quotes:

"We need a lot more science and data and a lot less opinions and past experiences in B2B revenue generation." - Chris
"The core problem in the MQL-based model is that it's subjective and lacks data-driven insights." - Chris
"Companies should determine whether to publish pricing on their website based on what their customers want." - Chris
"The metrics in a company incentivize the MQL, the meeting, and the qualified opportunity, even though it's not good for the company." - Chris
"You don't feel the pressure of it until the investments are large enough and the ROI starts to break down." - Chris

Chapters:
00:00:37 Background in engineering and product management

00:03:51 Need for more data-driven decision-making in B2B revenue generation

00:11:25 Disadvantages of the current marketing approach.

00:14:00 Subjectivity in the MQL, SQL, SQL model.

00:22:00 Importance of large-scale aggregated data for go-to-market success.

00:23:00 Using real data to make informed decisions when raising capital.

00:29:34 Acknowledging the shift in B2B buying behavior since 2012.

00:35:47 Transitioning from brand awareness to demand creation.

00:40:15 Key revenue team metrics: sales velocity and marketing ROI.

00:42:27 Should B2B SaaS companies list pricing on their website?

00:45:45 B2B buyers trust sales reps less, prefer self-qualification.

00:51:49 Scaling challenges when ROI starts to break down