Insights and Research for Marketing, Sales Development and Sales

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’re excited to announce TOPO’s first newsletter: the TOPO Weekly Brief. Every Sunday morning, members receive a roundup of the week’s most important sales and marketing news, recently published TOPO research and tools, and announcements about upcoming events and research initiatives. If you’re a sales, marketing, or sales development professional, the TOPO Weekly Brief has to be on your reading list.

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.

Every day we talk to organizations in various stages of adoption of account-based. In 2017, we are seeing account-based quickly mature, with many organizations putting dedicated account-based resources in place in both marketing and sales development.

In 2017, Account-Based is moving from cool idea to reality. The results for early adopters have been exciting – 82% of organizations executing account-based marketing for 1+ year(s) are meeting or exceeding their objectives (TOPO research on behalf of ABMLA). As their peers see success, more organizations are moving to account-based.

For many (this author included), culture has been relegated to an HR topic, not something a sales or marketing leader would take time defining and enforcing. That mindset is changing.

We surveyed our sponsors for TOPO Summit 2017 and asked them to identify three trends their companies are following in 2017.  Based on those responses, we will be publishing a series of blog posts over the next several weeks, categorizing their thoughts into five themes: Account-Based, Sales Development, Data, Tech Stack, and Sales Enablement.

Last week marked my one year anniversary at TOPO. For most of that time, my work has involved helping companies transition to account-based go-to-market strategies. I’ve observed that people within these companies bring diverse perspectives on what account-based is, what it does, and what it means. That diversity is actually important to preserve, and even embrace. Based on functional roles, the way account-based programs are designed and executed will vary. The diversity of perspectives makes marketing and sales outreach more compelling and engaging.