Insights and Research for Marketing, Sales Development and Sales

Sales engagement, interactions between sales reps and buyers or customers, is overwhelmingly named by sales leaders as their top priority. They are focused on the quality and volume of sales reps’ engagement with buyers as they look to drive higher conversion rates and larger average deal sizes. Sales engagement is such a high priority that 90% of sales leaders plan to invest in technologies and methodologies to help their sellers engage effectively with prospects and customers.

We’re excited to announce that TOPO Summit 2019 will take place April 17 – 18 in San Francisco. TOPO Summit is the only event where the world’s best companies share exactly what they do to achieve scalable revenue growth. With over 2,000 sales and marketing professionals in attendance, Summit is a great opportunity to learn about the specific best practices, insights, and behaviors that drive exceptional growth.

According to TOPO’s 2018 Sales Benchmark, 60% of companies lack a well-designed sales process. That’s a remarkable statistic given that the sales process provides sales reps with a specific, prescriptive framework to manage opportunities from prospect to close. Without a standard process, individual sellers are on their own and the organization simply cannot scale. Moreover, a standard sales process is backed by data and experience which will result in higher close rates, larger average deal sizes, and shorter sales cycles.

Account-based marketing (ABM) is the hottest topic in B2B marketing. While the hype around ABM can seem overwhelming, in reality, less than 20% of companies are running mature account based marketing programs. Marketers name various obstacles when it comes to getting started, including lack of resources, strategy, and technology. The fact that account based is so nascent makes it hard for marketers to just get started – lack of confidence in the strategy, second guessing technology options, and often struggling to secure the resources required to make account based marketing work.

We surveyed our sponsors for TOPO Summit 2018 and asked them to identify three trends their companies are following in 2018.  Based on those responses, we will be publishing a series of blog posts over the next several weeks, categorizing their thoughts into six themes: AI and Data, Everything Account-Based, Content and Experience, Sales and Marketing Alignment, Marketing and Sales Development Orchestration, and Sales Focused.

Want to hear more from these companies? Be sure to meet with them at TOPO Summit, where these topics, and more, will be covered by our speakers and our sponsors.

We surveyed our sponsors for TOPO Summit 2018 and asked them to identify three trends their companies are following in 2018.  Based on those responses, we will be publishing a series of blog posts over the next several weeks, categorizing their thoughts into six themes: AI and Data, Everything Account-Based, Content and Experience, Sales and Marketing Alignment, Marketing and Sales Development Orchestration, and Sales Focused.

Want to hear more from these companies? Be sure to meet with them at TOPO Summit, where these topics, and more, will be covered by our speakers and our sponsors.

We surveyed our sponsors for TOPO Summit 2018 and asked them to identify three trends their companies are following in 2018.  Based on those responses, we will be publishing a series of blog posts over the next several weeks, categorizing their thoughts into six themes: AI and Data, Everything Account-Based, Content and Experience, Sales and Marketing Alignment, Marketing and Sales Development Orchestration, and Sales Focused.

Want to hear more from these companies? Be sure to meet with them at TOPO Summit, where these topics, and more, will be covered by our speakers and our sponsors.

We surveyed our sponsors for TOPO Summit 2018 and asked them to identify three trends their companies are following in 2018. Based on those responses, we will be publishing a series of blog posts over the next several weeks, categorizing their thoughts into six themes: AI and Data, Everything Account-Based, Content and Experience, Sales and Marketing Alignment, Marketing and Sales Development Orchestration, and Sales Focused.

Want to hear more from these companies? Be sure to meet with them at TOPO Summit, where these topics, and more, will be covered by our speakers and our sponsors.

The sales demo, or product demonstration, is a critical piece of the sales process—and it’s easier than ever to deliver via a variety of channels, such as video or a web conference. A demo can mean the difference between closing a deal and losing a prospect.

Every day on LinkedIn there is a post with a long comment string discussing how some prospecting methodology is “dead” –  cold-calling, social-selling, etc. These provocative arguments dominate our LinkedIn feed. It’s understandable because cracking the code of prospecting in today’s world is the holy grail. The real message here is that prospecting is hard and many techniques in isolation are frustratingly inefficient and ineffective.