Previously Published to TMC Net’s MadMarketer
BrightFunnel, a company that offers businesses actionable insight into marketing tactics, recently raised $6 million in capital to educate its sales teams on the importance of marketing and its return on investment.
“Marketing is from Mars, sales is from Venus,” comments Nadim Hossain, CEO of Bright Funnel. “They’re not speaking the same language. We help provide a common language, by translating every marketing touch into a dollar of revenue; and using that to predict a future state.” For businesses to excel under such pressure, it is necessary to understand the sales funnel. It’s necessary to understand how every movement in the process can affect or effect sales.
Hossain explains why sales teams could benefit from the understanding of analytics and how sales could become easier, simply by understanding a customer’s archetype and consumption habits.
“Some of the research steps in the buying process become more automated and scalable,” states Hossain, “This requires new content, new uses of channels and new ways to measure the results.” Thus, BrightFunnel has developed a solution that offers in-depth analysis through “multi-touch” points of the sales funnel, including traffic acquisitions for e-commerce, strategic partnerships, offline and online events, syndicated content and social influence.
Analytics are only the beginning of the process. Putting this information to good use and converting data into actual sales is the most important part. Understanding the data and focusing on a plan of action is what BrightFunnel hopes to drill into sales teams through its platform. As an executive, Hossain gives valuable information to sales teams needing an additional push, “I want to know where to spend my scarce marketing dollars, and hold my team accountable for the metrics that the business cares about — revenue and pipeline — not vanity metrics of leads or MQLs, or worse, opens and impressions.”
When push comes to shove, all the executive body wants to know is the health of the company, if there is growth and where marketing dollars should be allocated. What sales teams need to know is how to understand the data and utilize it to their advantage without coming off too “salesy.” Understanding the data will introduce them to the core of their future customers. It will attract more sales and ensure the health of the company’s future. It all starts with the message, but made possible by the closer.
