Why CEOs Focusing On Marketing, Sales And Growth Should Be Thankful

Square 2 is coming up to its 20th year in business. That’s a lot of conversations and a lot of good work for a lot of solid companies. But one thing is clear – not all CEOs look at revenue through the same lens.

Some are comfortable with its inconsistent flow and the ups and downs. Others are not worried about it at all because they have a tiger by the tail, and everything is green across the board. But what I’ve found is most are simply confused about what to do and how to do it.

This last group is you if you’re asking what’s wrong with revenue on a regular basis. I’m here to tell you there is a lot to be thankful for, and you should be considering all of it in 2023.

Be Thankful Tougher Economic Times Are Going To Be Hitting Your Competitors Too

This might sound strange. Why would you be thankful for tougher economic times? What I’m suggesting is we’re all facing tougher times, including your competitors. This means the companies that navigate these times successfully can get significantly ahead of all their competition.

This opportunity is worth being thankful for.

Companies that double down now on lead generation and ongoing marketing execution are going to leapfrog the competition when things start getting easier — and as history tells us, they will get easier.

While I’m not an economist, many indicators are pointing to the fact that this economic downturn might not be as tough or last as long compared to previous ones.

This means that what you do now and in 2023 is going to have a big impact on your business next year too.

You have to find a way to continue marketing, working on your sales efforts and getting better at the new tools available to businesses today.

• Automate – The more you automate, the more efficient you’ll be and the less you’ll need to invest in keeping your revenue generation machine running. The tools for automating marketing and sales execution today means you need fewer people on both teams. This makes a lot of sense when the economy gets tight.
• Analyze – You have to analyze everything and make data-driven decisions about what’s working well, what’s working OK and what’s not working at all. Cut the stuff that’s not working, but cut it based on data, insights and a solid plan for how to reallocate that investment into the tactics that are working so they produce even better results.
• Build Your Database – Data is getting more and more important. With privacy concerns, new regulations and enhanced ways companies can flag you as a spammer, first-party data (the data you collect on your own) is quickly trumping any third-party data (data you purchase). Buying lists, sending cold emails and trying to get attention from people who don’t know you is going to be obsolete. Now is the time to double down on building your own database of people who have given you permission to market to them. This should be one of your major corporate initiatives. Build, don’t buy names in 2023.
• Tell Your Big Story – Generic, vanilla and straightforward stories are not going to cut it. Prospects want companies that are working to connect with them, tell them something different and grab their attention. You have to tell an emotional, compelling and engaging story to get and keep their attention.

Be Thankful There Is A New Playbook You Can Use

We’re all seeing it. You’re exhausted from all the digital outreach. Your prospects are also exhausted. Our email boxes are littered with garbage. Our LinkedIn feeds are useless. People are resorting to text messages to cut through the clutter, and now people are blocking and reporting SMS spam messages at record clips.

You have to think differently.

Your website experience has to be fantastic. Your content has to help build a community for your customers and prospects. You need a solid social media presence that engages your audiences, and you have to make sure you can nurture your entire database in a way that isn’t interruptive or salesy but rather helpful and educational.

Your sales process has to stand out when compared to your competitors. The stories and tools the sales team uses have to be engaging. The content the sales team shares with your prospects has to get them to say wow.

The company that executes the best sales process is going to be the company that grows, and that process has to be repeatable and scalable, so you can execute it with fewer reps while producing more revenue.

All these upgrades and changes won’t be easy, and you’ll want to systematize them so that they produce results month over month.

Be Thankful There Are Now Systems For Revenue Generation

Systems are in almost every part of your company except marketing and sales. Why? I think it’s primarily because marketing and sales have always been considered more of an art than a science, but that has changed dramatically over the past 10 years.

Today, a revenue generation system is mandatory if you want to grow.

This system should help you plan your strategy, select your tactics, design and optimize your campaigns, and leverage technology. This system should stretch across marketing, sales and customer service — all the areas that need to be perfectly aligned to optimize revenue generation.

The system should include tools and techniques that help you and your team organize around and make decisions about how you generate revenue.

This system should be something you can teach to your entire organization, and it should connect to any other systems you’re using inside your company today.

If you want to learn more about a revenue generation system, read this article, What Is A Revenue Generation System?, or watch this video, What’s Wrong With Revenue? You Need A Revenue Generation System.

Be Thankful You Don’t Have To Do It Alone

This entire effort might seem like a huge lift for you. It might also seem like something that doesn’t need your immediate attention right now.

In both cases, you’d be wrong. First, the lift can be managed and supported in several creative ways. But more importantly, this does need your attention now. If you continue to put it off or neglect what’s going on in the marketing and sales areas of your business, then once it becomes an immediate issue, it will be too late to fix it quickly.

This is something I strongly recommend you get help with. Get the tools and use them on your own, find someone to help you use the tools and guide you, or work with an agency that can support the entire build from strategy through tactics and even help you on the technology portion of the system.

As a new initiative, this is going to take time. The more you do on your own, the longer it’s going to take. In fact, it might take you two years to get through everything on your own. It might take you one year to get through everything with a coach or guide. It might take months to get through it with an agency helping you.

This is a major change in the way you market and sell, and so it won’t be done in a few weeks.

However, when it is done, it will be a sustainable competitive advantage. It’s going to take your competitors just as long to catch up, and in that time, you’d be continuing your journey and getting smarter, faster and more efficient at how you generate leads.

You’d be easily able to maintain the distance you created by leveraging a first-mover’s advantage.

Going into 2023, this is the perfect time to start considering digitally transforming your entire revenue generation effort. You don’t want to look back in a few years and wish you had acted sooner, and you don’t want to wait for a competitor to read this article and get a head start.

Now is the time to act.