Latest / The Prompt / Ep. 564 | Client-led GTM: How CMOs can drive sustainable, aligned growth

Transcript

Ep. 564 | Client-led GTM: How CMOs can drive sustainable, aligned growth · The Prompt

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This is on base, your one stop shop for solving your most
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pressing B to B go to market challenges.
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Each week host Chris Moody and Paul Gibson talk to sales and
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marketing leaders to get you in depth insights and creative
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strategies to set your revenue teams up for success.
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Hello everyone and welcome to the latest in the award-winning
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on base podcast series. I'm Paul Gibson, your host.
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And with strategies around GTM being such a big project on
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topic in 2025, I'm excited that today I'm talking with Mehta
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Karajani, Chief Consulting and Growth Officer at Memento
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Mitzvah. And today we're discussing
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client LED GTMCMO priorities and strategies.
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Mehta sounds a great topic, excited to get you on the show.
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Thanks for coming on today. I'm very pleased to be here and
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thank you for having me, Paul. Excellent.
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Look forward to the discussion. Yes, it should be a good one.
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And and before we get into the to the meat of the subject, it's
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obviously something the listeners will be interested in.
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But before we get going, can we start with?
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So it's a simple question for you, Matt.
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So can you walk us through your professional journey today, how
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you've got to where you are and the path that led you onto the
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that focus around GTM strategies?
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Yeah, happy to do that. And you know, as you posed the
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question, first of all, you take me way back when I started my
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career even before as in in if you want in professional terms,
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when I was young and I was helping my dad.
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So my dad had a travel agency specializing on business travel.
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Now imagine this was back 2530 years ago even more, right?
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No digital, no Sabre, no Amadeo systems to book the travel.
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It was all manual. So one of the things and why I'm
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saying that story is because what I learned in that
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experience is how my dad and she was teaching also his employees
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to really know the customer, to really know the preferences of
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the customer, the needs she was, she had to design right
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different options of how you go from A to B.
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Even checking down the details of the airplane and going to the
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customer recommending here are the options that I found.
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This is what I think is best for you.
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So that was a very if you want learning for me and an ethos
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about focusing on the customer, focusing on the client needs.
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Now Fast forward in my professional if you want career,
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I can divide into two big areas. 1 is where I was a consultant
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before I'm led and developed ACMO teams, but also I was a
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practitioner. Sorry, I'm going to take this
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again. All right, Paul.
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So now Fast forward in my professional career, I can
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divide it into two big parts. 1 is more when I was a marketing
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practitioner myself, building and developing teams.
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And the other one is when I was a consultant and I was also ACMO
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level advisor working with CM OS and their teams, helping them
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around the go to market strategies.
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So in my career I started as a consultant back in the days with
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Gardner when he had a vendor consulting team and we were
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advising technology vendors with a go to market strategyism.
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So one of the key things that I learned there is about
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understanding the business levers, understanding how the
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business is working. And I also had the pleasure to
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become the Chief of staff for the Gardner GM working across
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the Gardner organization in EMEA, understanding each of the
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function and looking at the cross functional alignment.
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So one step further, if you want to forward, I spent 10 plus
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years with a company called Serious Decisions where we were
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bringing to the market the ethos of the business, alignment
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across sales, product and marketing.
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And of course, today it's also other teams go to market teams
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like customer support, customer service.
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And one of the things that that I'm really enjoying here and
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momentum, it's amazed bringing all that experience together to
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help our clients drive that to what you said that client LED go
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to market approach. Yeah, awesome.
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And that Gartner and serious decisions background, quite a
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few of the the team we have within demand base now come from
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that background and it gives you the real understanding of of the
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business ethos. So I think that's a really good,
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good start. So great to hear.
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Yeah. So can you think of any early
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experiences or maybe key moments that shaped your approach to to
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building what we now Class A successful GTM models?
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Yeah, I think I will go back to some of the things we already
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discussed. First of all, is that cross
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functional alignment right? Easier said than done, but also
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if you want the alignment with a client need.
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So if you will, we can put it in a simple two by two client needs
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on one axis, on an on one axis and then cross functional
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alignment on the other axis. But really the magic is when you
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bring those two together and it is easier said than done, but
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the reality and I'm sure we're going to get into that
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discussion today is that there is a need to create it, but also
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to sustain that alignment as the organization grows, as it starts
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to expand in different markets, in different buyers, so on so
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forth, more portfolio, more propositions bringing into the
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market. Yeah, absolutely.
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And there there's still that desire for instant results as
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people put strategies in place, which obviously we'd all like,
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but we have the reality is that this takes time, but get it
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right. And and longer term, there's
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there's big benefits. So, has your perspective on GTM
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strategy evolved and changed throughout your career?
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Yeah. I think initially it was more
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the focus on the sales and marketing alignment.
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Then I think with serious decisions and other experience
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that I had, you started thinking, no, it is not just the
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sales and marketing, how about the product, how about the
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customer service. So that cross functional
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alignment starts to expand if you will and embrace all the go
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to market functions, which is very much in line with some of
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the trends that we are seeing in the market from not only now
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being a driver of acquisition and net new, but also an
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important driver of customer expansion and their post sales
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and customer service teams, customer success management
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teams are an important part of the equation.
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I think the other component and I have done a lot of work and
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some great and fun conversations is how do we think the alignment
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within each of the functions, right.
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We cannot assume that there is an automatic alignment between
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global all and regional teams, right?
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We need to create it. We need to make sure that we
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start cascading that alignment throughout the organization.
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So these are some of the components that over the years I
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think my view of go to market has been evolving.
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Yeah, makes a lot of sense. And I think alignment is
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something that comes up in pretty much every conversation I
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have. Often it's more rather than the
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regional side of things, it's sales and marketing alignment.
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But if you don't get the alignment right and you've got
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people doing different things with different objectives and
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and metrics for success, you're really going to struggle
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whatever your strategy is, I think.
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Absolutely. So as we dig into the, I suppose
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the core topic for today, based on your experience, what would
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you say are the essential elements of a client LED GTM
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strategy? That's a great question.
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So let's start if you want from the top one is an important
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agreement of what is a North Star, right?
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Where are we heading towards and that North Star needs to be
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specified and agreed and not necessarily living into high
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level ambitions and aspirations. What is our market position?
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What does our desired market position in the market?
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Do we have a gap that we need to bridge between where we are
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today and where we want to go? And also do we have a
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reputational gap that we need to bridge between where we want to
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go and where we are? How are we going to get to that
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aspirational number where the revenues going to come from and
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be joined up in that view? And oftentimes the other thing
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that we don't do very in a disciplined way is what is our
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readiness not within each of the functions, but as an
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organization to get to that North Star.
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So that's an important component, get that North Star
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aligned across the leadership team, which of course is in line
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with the business strategy of the organization.
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Once that happens, Paul, then the next layer that needs to
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come in is that go to market alignment, right?
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Guess we said we're going to go and to get to that revenue,
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which segments, which markets, which clients, which personas
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are we going after and make sure that those are still in an
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alignment, right? Global regional sales,
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marketing, product, customer success, make those important
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converse, have those important conversations and make some
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important trade-offs because the resources are not infinite and
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we all know that, right? So in that go to market,
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oftentimes I see a lot of fuzziness and a lot of
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assumptions, right? And oftentimes the other thing
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I'm saying is we do segmentations, we do all these
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work, but then we don't deprioritize, right?
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Because that exercise is as important of what we're going to
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put in that that we're going to go after and equally important,
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what we're not going to put there where we're going to say
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no because that has important implications for sales.
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Straight toys are in campaigns and content that we're going to
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build over downstream efforts that the different go to market
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functions that need to take and all of that guides.
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Finally, if you want the functional plan where we're
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going to go and do in each of the functions.
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So I mentioned a little bit, oftentimes what I see in the
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work that I do with clients is not having the discipline of
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aligning on the North Star and translating aspirations to set
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into concrete if you want executive agreement and
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decisions. And then we don't cascade that
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alignment down, right. So in the goals and the ways we
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work, oftentimes you may see the classical example, marketing is
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creating leads and opportunities, pass them on to
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sales, but they are not accepted.
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And when you start, you see this through the lens of an
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opportunity management process. But when you start digging into
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it, often times it's a go to market issue.
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People have not agreed on this foundational principles of where
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we go and where we are not going to go.
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Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And actually we're, we live and
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die by OK Rs as a business and we've recently gone round our,
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our, our latest round of, of OK Rs.
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And it's interesting similar concept, right?
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We have those North Stars, as you say, these are the four key
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areas that matter to the business and we have to achieve
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these things. And everything else cascades
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down to, you know, other departments, dependencies,
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actions, activities with the sole goal of rolling that up and
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the overall, overall North Star. And it gets everyone in the
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business aligned and understanding what they do and
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why they're doing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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And you also mentioned dependencies, right.
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As the more we move down to become more operational focus,
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those dependencies are absolutely critical to be down
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on paper and monitored through also measurement.
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Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, fully aligned with you on
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that one. I think you've just done a study
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I think was 100 CMOS from what I can, I can remember.
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And yeah, so when you look back at that, that study, were there
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anything that particularly stood out as biggest priorities and
12:16
challenges for marketing leaders?
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Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Indeed.
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It was more than 100. It was about 110 CMOS around the
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globe. So we had a nice mixture between
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EMEA, North America and Asia PAC.
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Before I get to the priorities, let me give you a little bit of
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context of some of the other things that we have asked survey
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participants. First of all, we've asked them
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to identify their key transformational strategies or
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transformational initiatives and we gave them a list of about 9
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or 10. What came to the top is very
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much in line with the topic we are discussing today.
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It's enhancing that client centricity.
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But for me and the question was asked in that way has to go to
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market functions. It is that continuous evolution
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and to driving and infusing that client centricity novel
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marketing alone if you will or resale, but it is that
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combination of sales, marketing, product, customer service or
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across the go to market engine. The second transformational
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initiative is around finding new business models or introducing
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news business model, new ways of value and revenue creation.
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And the third one was to verticalize our go to market
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approach. Now for me, if I look at those
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3, they all require client centricity, right?
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You cannot be introducing new business value models if you
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don't understand the needs of your clients.
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You cannot be verticalizing your go to market approach if again
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you don't have a clear understanding of client
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centricity. So that was interesting, right
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to see. Then we started asking them what
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are the different growth levers that you're going to pull in
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order to achieve your aspirations and business
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objectives. Again, we gave them a range of
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about 8 different choices. The threats that I'm seeing
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there is a rebalancing between net new acquisition or net new
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sources of growth. We are targeting new markets.
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You are we're getting into new geographies.
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We are focused on a net new logo acquisition MNA.
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The more what came to the top key account growth was the
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number one growth strategy at 67%, right.
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The majority of people saying that's where I'm going to go,
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customer expansion, right, cross selling and up selling and
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retention within my existing customer base at 63%.
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And the last one was innovation, which if we put the things
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together right, enhancing the client centricity, introducing a
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new, new business models, all of that make a lot of sense.
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We need to do a better job growing our two accounts.
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We need to do a better job with our innovation and with our
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customer expansion. Doesn't make sense, Paul.
15:16
Absolutely. And it and it's interesting
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actually because I would say the majority of our customers, of
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course demand base is a tool that can help find new clients
15:25
etcetera. But at least 50% of the use
15:27
cases, probably more than that is existing customers.
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How do we ensure firstly that we renew them, secondly that we
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grow them and get the most value out of them.
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And that lifetime value is something that that we hear a
15:39
lot. So, yeah, I think it's, it makes
15:41
sense, right? It's getting harder and harder
15:43
to win those new deals and more and more expensive.
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So if you've taken the time to to win a customer, you've got to
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make sure it's a good fit customer.
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We have lots of people who who talk to us about, oh, I've got a
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poor quality pipeline, so when I close deals, I can't retain
15:55
them. That's important.
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But once you've got that customer, you've got to make
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sure you're giving them the value and and everything that
16:02
that you want to make sure. As the business models evolve,
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right, we are moving to a different world of consumption
16:09
of products and services, so that post sale is becoming
16:12
increasingly more important, which then has implication about
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the role of the CMO, the role of the marketing function itself.
16:21
Yeah. And we're hearing that renewal
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rate is becoming more and more a key metric in, in the revenue
16:26
side of most businesses. Yeah.
16:29
Absolutely. We tend to hear a momentum, I'd
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say may we talk about the five Rs, if you will.
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So it is about revenue, it is about reputation, it's about
16:42
relationships, it's about real tension, right?
16:45
And then the final hour for me is going right back to the
16:49
discussion we had around dependencies and alignment
16:53
readiness, right? We are saying we are going to do
16:56
certain things. Are we ready?
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Do we have the data? Do we have the processes?
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Do we have the skills? Do we have the right interlocks
17:01
to be able to execute and achieve our objective?
17:05
Yeah, absolutely. All, all very relevant points.
17:07
I think. So we're we're talking about
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driving growth and and maybe shaping the impactful GTM
17:12
strategies and businesses. Do you see the role of the CM OS
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changing in this at all? Yeah, I do.
17:18
I do. And I think it is fascinating
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for me. First of all, I've always left
17:22
being in B2B and I think there's a lot of opportunity in B2B
17:27
marketing. Let me refer to again some of
17:29
the results that we had from the CMO study because one of the
17:33
questions we asked is where the CMO is reporting today.
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So 11%, if I remember well, yes, 11% of CMO said we are reporting
17:44
into the CRO. Now if I think about it, maybe 3
17:48
or 4 years ago, we had a lot of hype around the Chief Revenue
17:53
Officer. So maybe the hype is dying down,
17:56
right. So to 3% are reporting to the
18:00
CEO or the General Manager. So how I translate this is
18:04
pretty much the CMO sitting at the decision making table,
18:08
right? But the jury is still out right
18:11
because there is a balance that are reporting into the Chief
18:16
Customer Officer, into the CFO, into the Chief Operations
18:21
officer, which then has a direct implication about the role, the
18:25
scope of marketing. But again, if I bring another
18:29
perspective here, the other question that we ask is what is
18:32
the average marketing budget right for 2025, Not a few what
18:37
where you landed if you want the actual marketing budget and it
18:41
was about 6% on average, which is pretty much in line with what
18:46
we have been hearing. Usually organizations without
18:49
they do planning assumptions, the foresters, the gardeners of
18:52
this world right back then it was about 8% of for 2025 S 6%
18:58
actual marketing budgets for 2025.
19:02
But what was interesting for me as we started digging into the
19:05
data because we have the ability to separate the survey
19:09
participants into what we call high growth organizations.
19:12
They are growing more than 6% on revenue year on year and then
19:17
they're kind of flatter or declining actually growth.
19:22
What was interesting for me there Paul, is that
19:26
organizations that are the high growth invest more in marketing
19:32
and the difference was quite substantial, about 35% more in
19:37
marketing. So if I bring all that together,
19:40
right, it starts to speak to an opportunity for the B to BCMO to
19:45
build the decision making table, to be helping the organization
19:50
to define and shape the growth strategies, not only where we're
19:55
going to go this year, but longer term, right, provide that
19:59
longer term perspective and balance.
20:02
What a bit what we're doing this year to grow and then where,
20:04
where we need to go and continue our growth forward year 2, year
20:09
3. Yeah, yeah, interesting stuff.
20:11
And 6% doesn't seem enough to from, from what I'm, you know,
20:15
you think about it and the ones spending more and getting more
20:17
success. I've always wondered why if, if
20:20
things are tough cutting the marketing budget seem is seen as
20:24
the right move. I don't agree with that, but I
20:26
think sometimes marketing budget just needs to be spent more
20:30
wisely. And I think there's a lot of,
20:33
you know, talk about B to B versus B to C There's a lot of
20:35
budget that is still spent targeting and reaching companies
20:39
that the business can't and doesn't want to sell to.
20:41
So I think aligning what marketing are trying to achieve
20:45
with what sales are able to do and focusing on the same
20:48
companies with the same messages should end up with a, you know,
20:52
stronger pipeline and therefore better close rates and down the
20:55
line better renewal rates, etcetera.
20:56
Yeah, correct. Don't cut marketing budgets,
20:59
just make it make it more effective I think would be my
21:02
message. Yeah.
21:04
And it takes us right back to that more strategic conversation
21:09
for a lack of better words that we need to have aligning the
21:11
north are aligning the go to market.
21:13
I think and what you just said, where my mind is going is
21:17
oftentimes I see a focus on optimizing the channels rather
21:21
than optimizing the audiences. And of course based on that, we
21:26
need to re align the channels to the preferences of the audiences
21:31
that we are going after. So can you think maybe it's from
21:36
your your research or maybe just from your knowledge over the
21:38
years, but are there particular skill gaps you still believe
21:42
there are in marketing that teams need to address if they're
21:45
really going to have this transformation work effectively?
21:48
Yeah, absolutely. And then fun enough, it was also
21:52
validated through the research that we have done.
21:56
We had a whole section around the research about skills and
21:59
what skills are becoming more critical for the marketing
22:02
organization. But let me tie the conversation
22:05
and experience and also bring some of the results of the
22:08
survey. The one skill that I have seen
22:11
that needs to be improved and strengthened is that translation
22:16
throughout the strategy setting, if you want of the organization,
22:19
the alignment of the marketing strategy with the business
22:22
strategy and increasingly cascading those decisions down
22:27
from strategic down to the operational plan.
22:30
So that's the scale, that's something that marketing
22:33
organizations and CM OS in fact in our study reconfirmed that is
22:37
a key priority. Another host of the the skills
22:42
is how do we make sure that we pivot from what we want to say
22:47
to customers and write messaging and content and valuable
22:50
positions based on our capabilities, based on what we
22:54
want to sell. Flipping that around to exactly
22:57
the discussion that we have today, how it is more client
23:00
centric right there is we don't start with a product with the
23:04
features, We start with the outcomes with the needs of the
23:07
customer. So driving that centricity on
23:10
messaging content is another area.
23:14
Now of course, in order to be able to do that, you need to
23:17
have the client knowledge, right.
23:19
So think about market and competitive insights, think
23:23
about bio journey mapping, think about buyer insights.
23:27
All of these things again validated also from a study.
23:31
Now if I take that a little bit further down, the key area that
23:35
I have seen many organizations struggling is breaking all that
23:40
go to market decisions downstream in a connected way.
23:48
And oftentimes the the word that we oftentimes use in our
23:51
industry is campaign strategy. But for me a campaign strategy
23:56
is not a demand program. That's a little bit different.
23:59
A campaign strategy if you will, is a big canvas of we're going
24:03
against this audience, here are our revenue and objectives.
24:07
But in order to get to those revenue objectives, we have
24:10
reputational objectives, we have demand creation objectives,
24:14
customer engagement objectives and of course the internal
24:17
enablement of all these parts and functions within the
24:21
organization. And we'll come together to
24:23
create the programs in inside that canvas to be able to
24:27
execute right. So that I call it go to market
24:31
campaign registration is oftentimes really a critical gap
24:37
within the organization. We start with demand programs
24:39
with Brainer reputation programs, with customer
24:43
expansion programs. But what is the connecting
24:46
tissue, right? And how do we think about a
24:48
traffic tower, if you want a traffic control to ensure that
24:53
this hit the customer in a way that creates an experience that
24:57
is consistent rather than I want to talk to you about product A
25:02
today and I'm going to hit you with that and I product A
25:04
tomorrow and I'm going to shoot you that, that the whole
25:08
orchestration is oftentimes a critical gap.
25:11
And then as we go down again based on the growth strategy
25:15
going after key accounts, we are seeing a lot of emphasis and
25:19
focus on developing those skills within marketers to think about
25:25
key accounts to account based marketing is a critical skill
25:30
both in the central teams but also in the field teams.
25:34
And interestingly, we have a lot of conversations with
25:37
organizations who start to pivot the role of the field, right,
25:41
because some of the digital becomes more centralized.
25:44
So the field and now is more focused on high value
25:47
activities, high value clients. So increasingly they are driving
25:52
and their key component in driving that key account growth.
25:57
Yeah, makes sense. And we're seeing a lot of the
25:59
similar things going back to your your comment around the bio
26:02
journey. I think that is undervalued so
26:05
much by by organizations because you know, if you, if you see
26:08
someone out there and you're getting really good intense
26:11
signals that says that's the company's in market, that's
26:13
great. But if they've never been on
26:16
your website, never spoken to anyone in the business, not
26:19
responding to emails, probably don't know your brand, handing
26:22
that over to a salesperson at that stage is way too early.
26:25
That's the time you need to be raising awareness and nurturing
26:28
them, getting them understanding you're a you're a trusted
26:31
company they should talk to sometime down the line.
26:34
It's only when they're showing the right levels of engagement,
26:37
etcetera, you hand that over to sales and being able to map all
26:40
of those steps to your own business buyer journeys is so
26:44
critical and sometimes overlooked.
26:45
So yeah, really. It is, it is and it's changing,
26:48
right? We've always talked about that
26:50
70% of the buyer journey is digital.
26:54
I'm going to refer very quickly. We do in parallel of our
26:58
marketing priority study, we do another study, our customer
27:02
buyer index, which is essentially the study that we do
27:04
to understand the buyer journey and the evolution of the buyer
27:07
journey. So what was interesting for me,
27:09
there is 71% of buyers said we are the winning provider is
27:16
emerging. Before shortlisting buyers,
27:19
shortlisting suppliers, excuse me, let's think what that means,
27:23
right? It means that I have gone out, I
27:27
have done my research, I have spoken to others, I have
27:32
formulated opinions about the capabilities of the different
27:35
suppliers. I haven't yet necessarily
27:37
engaged face to face. But even further, I have
27:42
actually started to make buying decisions, say this is the
27:46
winning provider versus someone else.
27:48
So that 70% for me starts to evolve from just research to
27:53
actually moving to a buying decision without interacting
27:57
necessarily. Always face to face.
28:00
I'm interacting with other ways and I'm engaging with the
28:03
content, with your expertise, with what you're putting out as
28:06
thought leadership throughout my buyer journey and early on.
28:11
Yeah, absolutely. And I think a lot of it's sort
28:13
of really counter affront when COVID happened and there were no
28:17
trade shows, no field to field field events, no face to face
28:20
marketing, the only way you could find the information you
28:24
wanted was online. And now people are are digitally
28:27
savvy and that's the way most people work.
28:29
I was at a dinner last week, actually it was earlier this
28:31
week at the Gartner event and someone was saying that if they
28:35
can avoid speaking to the vendor at all, they will.
28:38
And that's, but if we sit there and wait for someone to come to
28:41
our website and they don't even know who we are, we've lost that
28:44
opportunity. And to your point, we'll never
28:46
even get in the running. So I think it brings all the
28:49
intent and all that to the fore. You need to be able to identify
28:52
and get in front of these companies.
28:54
If you just sit and wait for them to come to you, the chances
28:56
are they won't. So yeah.
28:57
And that's, that's really a useful insight.
29:00
Yeah. And it is important to also use
29:02
some of that data to put together the the buying group,
29:06
right? Because as well, no, it is no
29:08
longer an individual. It has probably never been an
29:11
individual to be buying. It's now.
29:14
It's just that we have the technology and the ability to
29:16
connect the dots and understand the dynamics of the decision
29:22
making unit or the buying group, whatever name we want to give
29:25
it. Yeah, now, absolutely.
29:27
And buying groups is one of those topics that again is
29:29
coming up more and more. You're working trying to get
29:32
into a big enterprise just because one person in that
29:35
business as maybe come to your website and filled out a form
29:38
that's not enough. You need to have you know that
29:40
through 360° view of all those buying group members.
29:43
So yeah, yeah, that's a whole different subject.
29:46
I'm going to have to get you. It is a.
29:47
Whole different subject. In fact, recently I heard the
29:50
new terminology of the buying network.
29:53
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I think we we will set up
29:56
another session matter you and I am also.
29:58
Absolutely all. Around the buying group, but
30:01
just just going back to, to stay on on topic to a little bit.
30:05
We've already talked about alignment and collaboration.
30:07
They're so critical in these GTM strategies.
30:10
Have you got any advice how CMOS can effectively get that
30:14
alignment with their teams and stakeholders to make sure that
30:17
their focus is is definitely client based?
30:19
Yeah, great question. I think the first thing that is
30:23
important to do is take the emotion out of the conversation
30:27
and we do that by bringing the data in, right.
30:32
It could be data in terms of performance, It could be data in
30:37
terms of where the gaps are in the the experience that we are
30:41
delivering in with a target audience.
30:44
It can be data in terms of capabilities and competencies to
30:49
get to the true client centricity.
30:52
So one of the things that that we do with our clients, we have
30:54
built our client centric framework where we have
30:57
documented all the capabilities that need to be in place in
31:01
order to be truly client centric.
31:04
And it's a wonderful tool because CM OS and we have CM OS
31:07
using that tool across the executive team and the
31:09
leadership team to really pinpoint where are we, where are
31:14
some of the strengths because we all have strength, right?
31:16
There are things that we are doing already well, but where
31:19
are some of the critical gaps that we will all need to focus
31:23
on to drive that client centricity.
31:24
So bring that objectivity, bring that data-driven view.
31:28
It's not my opinion, it's not your opinion.
31:30
It is where we are. It's an important aspect, I
31:34
think of the conversation. The second thing I would say is
31:39
let's leave the marketing jargon out and let's be sensitive when
31:44
we have conversations. If we have a down quarter,
31:48
marketing cannot go in and have a conversation.
31:50
We've been great. We have delivered all us all
31:53
these things. We need to be very sensitive
31:55
about where we are again as a GTM organization and not go in
32:00
with the marketing jargon. Yeah, yeah.
32:04
We hear lots of people complaining about the the
32:06
there's too many acronyms out there and we need to be a little
32:10
bit more sensitive, I think definitely to the real world.
32:13
Yeah. And the last, which is it is for
32:15
us to be those change agents and catalysts of driving that client
32:21
centricity, bringing the client back into the center of the
32:24
conversation right through either qualitative or
32:28
quantitatively put the customer back in the decision making.
32:32
Why are we doing this? What is the impact that we're
32:34
going to deliver to the customer if we go down that path?
32:39
Yeah, makes a lot of sense. And I'm sure there's lots of
32:41
listeners on the call today who will be thinking, yeah, this is
32:45
something I would like to implement.
32:47
I want that client LED GTM strategy.
32:50
I want to drive the growth that we need.
32:52
Can you mention maybe some actionable steps you think they
32:54
should take to get going today? Yeah.
32:57
I think the first one is Doug knows where you are because you
33:01
cannot fix everything at one time.
33:03
So diagnosing where you are is critical.
33:07
Second is find the pockets where you already have some successes
33:14
and bringing them to the to the front, right.
33:18
Third is about making sure you look at that cross functional
33:23
alignment. And if you are very close with
33:26
let's say sales, how about product, How do we start to
33:29
extend that alignment, create shared perspective of success to
33:36
make sure that you are aligned cross functionally this is what
33:40
success looks like. And then of course translate
33:43
that into what marketing is going to do, what sales is going
33:46
to do, what product in the different teams are going to do.
33:51
And the last thing I would say, we are CM OS and the B2B CMOS
33:55
have that opportunity back to the role of the CMO of driving
33:58
that and mobilizing resources beyond just marketing, which
34:03
then gets us to what are some of those critical processes where
34:07
we need to drive a client centricity and alignment.
34:11
It could be your opportunity management processes could be
34:14
the way you are taking those go to market decisions and you
34:17
activate them into the market through program planning and
34:21
execution. We are seeing also a lot of
34:24
emphasis around enablement of the sales organization, right.
34:30
Do they have the right understanding of the personas,
34:33
the messaging, the audiences that we are going after?
34:35
Do they have the right understanding of those sort
34:38
leadership messages that we are taking out to their market in
34:43
order to be able to deliver that consistent experience that our
34:46
clients are demanding from us? So I gave you 5 things, right?
34:51
That's a good amount for people to get started out, and as we
34:54
always know, when people are trying to implement different
34:58
strategies or change things in there, there's always
35:00
resistance. Have you got any advice you'd
35:02
give to CMOS how to overcome that that resistance?
35:06
Create shared terminology, create those shared views of
35:13
success and find the pockets where there is good alignment or
35:20
there is that client centricity and that alignment is coming
35:24
through. Double down and understand how
35:27
you can replicate that across the organization.
35:32
Makes sense. And when you look back at the
35:35
the research you've done, can you, have you identified any top
35:38
trends you think that will take the future of the GTM strategies
35:42
in the B2B world? Yeah, we did.
35:44
We ask things like what are some of the key priorities for the
35:48
marketing organization. Reputation came right at the top
35:52
strengthening the reputation and thought leadership of the
35:56
organization we heard and we are seeing also this into from our
36:00
conversations is strengthening that post sale.
36:04
So going back to it is not just the acquisition, but once we
36:07
have that, how do we make sure that the post sale experience is
36:11
a client centric. And the final one which we
36:14
didn't attach a lot today is around how do you accelerate
36:18
your growth via the channel partners because in often, in
36:22
often times this is an untapped if you want opportunity.
36:26
So how do we make sure our ABM programs are executed through
36:32
our channel partners? So how do we make sure that we
36:35
use that capability as an extension of, if you want our
36:40
ecosystem? Yeah, great point.
36:43
And and partner channel especially in Europe is such a
36:46
key, a key driver for for most businesses and ignoring it is
36:50
you're just missing a huge opportunity.
36:52
I think so. Yeah, really, really good point.
36:55
Yeah, I suppose this is how can you just give one, but it could
36:58
each of you could give one key take away for marketing leaders
37:01
who are looking to transform their transform their GTM
37:04
approach. What would that be?
37:06
A that I believe this is a great time to drive that go to market
37:12
alignment and client centricity because of what we are seeing in
37:18
the market from the perspective that we discussed right at the
37:21
beginning of our call, some net new sources of growth are
37:26
diminishing and we are moving and we are hearing this from
37:30
CEOs and the boards. We are moving away from that
37:33
mindset that existed a few years back.
37:35
Growth at all costs, right? No, that's no longer growth at
37:40
all costs. It is growth that is
37:42
sustainable, that is profitable, right?
37:45
So, so in order to to there client centricity is your way to
37:52
get there, right. It is about focusing on the
37:54
client and being ruthless on where you're going to go when
37:57
you're not going to go because that drives efficiencies
38:01
downstream. So that will be my advice.
38:04
Yeah, good advice. And I've always been one of
38:08
these frustrating leaders, if you like, that wants to grow as
38:11
fast as possible. My CFO and my CEO told me
38:15
there's no point growing fast if you're losing money.
38:17
And and I've always battled that.
38:18
But actually over the last couple of years, I've gone to
38:21
realize that they were right and I was wrong.
38:23
So I think it's really important.
38:25
It makes you more successful business, but also a much more
38:28
stable business for your employees.
38:30
You know, we're not, we're not in that Hiram Firam phase that
38:33
you often get with Southgrove's companies.
38:35
So definitely agree with you on that one.
38:37
Yeah, we've, we've been there, right.
38:39
And again, we are seeing an increasing focus on because
38:43
you've mentioned employees, we if I change a little bit the
38:46
lens here, we are seeing an increasing focus on that
38:50
employee retention. It's really important you take
38:54
the time and effort to train someone to work in the way you
38:57
want them to work. You've got to look after them,
38:59
and as I say, that stable environment is a key part of
39:02
ensuring. It's.
39:03
It is. It is.
39:05
People, Yeah, Now this is really interesting.
39:07
I just want to slightly change the topic because we could.
39:10
I can't let you go without at least mentioning AI because that
39:13
is top of everyone's mind. Can you say think of a
39:17
particular area where you think AI is going to change the
39:20
account based GTM as we go forward?
39:23
Yeah, a couple of things. And we have done a lot of work
39:26
on AI. We continue to do a lot of work
39:29
on AI with our clients. Obviously with AI, we can
39:32
accelerate some of the steps in order to surface the the, the
39:38
buying group, surface the needs of the buying group, align our
39:43
capabilities to those needs, right.
39:45
There are agents that we can create and we are creating and
39:48
using with our clients to help them do that faster.
39:52
And then of course, then you get into a value proposition
39:54
creation and a content creation much, much faster.
39:58
So that's great. I think we should absolutely
40:01
continue to experiment, to learn, to innovate.
40:07
But there is the reality that it is a hybrid, right?
40:11
So we need to make sure that the human aspect is part of those
40:16
processes right at the right time.
40:19
Plus, for me, it goes back to the conversation of the
40:23
importance of getting your strategy right and that strategy
40:27
right. AI cannot necessarily take it.
40:29
They can give you faster inputs to cut to get to your strategy,
40:33
but you need to get to your strategy and then leverage the
40:38
AI capabilities in the execution.
40:41
And I think using AI to automate that, that time consuming
40:45
resource heavy activities to allow people to have the time to
40:49
think about strategy and plan it, I think is really important.
40:51
We're hearing a lot interesting that people certainly on from
40:55
the sales side of of B to B are getting a little bit frustrated
40:59
with AI. You know, often it's, it's used
41:01
to drive salespeople, SDRS, etcetera to after this and go
41:06
for that without any reasoning behind it.
41:09
And and they're finding that a lot of it isn't right.
41:11
And then the, the sales team are getting to the point that they
41:14
don't want to look at the AI signals anymore because they're
41:17
losing trust in them. I, I come up with a term,
41:19
whether it, whether it will stick or not is like AI without
41:22
the Y is a real risk. Someone says go after that, but
41:25
doesn't give you the reasoning behind it.
41:27
I think it can be a risk. But yeah, AI is something we're
41:30
all going to utilize a lot. I think we just need to make
41:33
sure that it's, it's not just this black box thing and it's
41:36
something that actually has real insight behind it.
41:39
So it it's something that can be used and also trusted.
41:42
Yeah, absolutely. And I think we have seen a
41:44
little bit an over inflation of expectations, right.
41:47
And then we are starting to see some correction in the market.
41:51
But the reality is that AI is an important tool when it is used
41:56
correctly in combination with the human and as you said, the
42:00
right why in the organization. And we are seeing some great
42:04
results for organizations that we are helping to put AI into
42:08
their strategy and leverage it to propel that forward.
42:13
Yeah, AI is the future for sure. So you sound better like someone
42:17
who consumes lots of content. Is there a particular book, A
42:20
blog, or a podcast you'd recommend to our listeners?
42:24
Yeah, so funny enough, we were just talking about AIA.
42:27
Book that I really enjoyed reading some time ago is Co
42:30
Intelligence living and Working with AI from Ethemolic.
42:34
And I love just the pragmatic approach and how simple he was
42:39
talking about AI and the coexistence of AI and humanism.
42:46
Another book that comes to mind completely different is
42:50
Deliberate Calm. I don't know if that is
42:52
something you have come across. It's a beautiful book, a
42:55
leadership type of book from McKinsey.
42:58
But the reason why I liked it and I find it that is very
43:01
pertinent to where we are. It explains how at times that
43:06
there is a lot of fluidity. We need to be most adaptive and
43:10
there is a paradox of oftentimes leadership teams clinging to
43:13
what they know versus leadership teams that are open with diverse
43:18
perceptions in the leadership team to drive that if you want
43:23
adaptability and to kind of fresh way of thinking things
43:27
within the organization. So I really enjoyed reading that
43:31
book. Yeah, I'll have to look out both
43:34
of those. I think you've been an awesome
43:36
guest mess so this is a bit of a cheeky ask, but could you share
43:39
the names of anyone inspirational you think we
43:42
should also bring to the show? Absolutely.
43:44
You don't want the person that comes to mind for me because
43:47
ultimately when we talk about client centricity, when we talk
43:51
about how our market is changing so fast, that has important
43:56
implications of change and how do we deal with change.
44:00
So one person that I really follow you talked about podcast,
44:03
you talked about a number of things is an individual called
44:06
Elysium. She's the Co founder of Nguzi
44:11
Change, which is specializing on how we are enabling our middle
44:17
managers to embrace the change because oftentimes that's where
44:22
the change becomes hard and that's where change initiatives
44:26
oftentimes fail down right fail, don't are not successful.
44:32
And I love Elise because she also comes from the B to BCMO
44:36
perspective. She used to be AB to BCMO and
44:38
then she decided to change careers and bring her experience
44:41
with the change in organization. So I'm sure you will have a
44:44
fascinating conversation with Elise.
44:47
Yeah, we'll definitely try and get her on and thank you for
44:49
that recommendation. Look out for it.
44:51
We'll let you know when when we get her booked in.
44:54
This has been a really informative chat matter and I'm
44:56
I'm sure many of the listeners will probably have follow up
44:59
questions. If so, is there a best way they
45:03
can get in touch with you? Yeah, absolutely.
45:05
I'm happy to share my LinkedIn, right via LinkedIn or my e-mail
45:09
address and momentum. Itis amaze
45:11
metaandeta.karajanimysurname@momentumitisma.com. So I look forward to continue
45:19
the discussion either in another podcast or outside of the
45:22
podcast. Absolutely this, this has been a
45:24
great session matter. And I actually think we only
45:26
scratched the surface. I think we opened three or four
45:28
cans of worms that we we could dig into more.
45:31
So I almost certainly I think we'll get you back on.
45:34
But for now, I just wanted to thank you for your time.
45:36
It's been a really fun session. Thanks everyone who was
45:39
listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
45:41
And as I always say, don't forget there's about 520 other
45:44
episodes. Check out some of those as well.
45:47
I look forward to hearing and speaking to you all again soon.
45:50
And in the meantime, thanks very much and Jerry O.
45:53
Thank you, Paul. Thanks for joining us for On
45:56
Base. If you enjoyed this episode,
45:58
please be sure to share, rate, review and subscribe on Spotify,
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46:11
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