No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls. with Latane Conant, Chief Market Officer 6sense

Conversation with Latane Conant on pre-buying journey optimization.

Understanding the pre-opportunity buying journey

How many times have you visited a B2B website and cringed at it being “gated” and being asked to provide your contact information, including your email just to download a white paper or watch a video?

I sat down with Latane Conant, Chief Market Officer of 6sense, on the Metrics that Measure Up podcast to discuss her recent book. During our conversation, she discussed how marketers are falling short in the  "pre-opportunity process" which affects the ultimate outcomes of pipeline and revenue. Why is this a reality in 2023 on most B2B SaaS websites? Because "leads" are still the primary measurement of Marketing success. B2B Saas companies are focused on potential customers downloading content marketing assets, attending events, or raising their hand with a contact form. The result? Missing many other pre-buying process signals.

Latane defines the pre-opportunity buying journey as having these characteristics:  

1. A majority of the pre-opportunity journey is anonymous.

2. There are multiple resources and people touching the early phase of the journey.

3. There is resistance to getting buyers to engage and reveal their identity at this early stage. 

Understanding pre-pipeline activity is essential. Too often, companies are either missing opportunities or getting to the potential customer too late. By understanding the pre-opportunity journey, a company is better positioned to engage with potential buyers in a more personalized and impactful way.

The “sweet spot”

Let’s take a look at Latane’s pre-opportunity buying journey.

Engaging with the customer as early as possible in the journey is crucial, ideally in between the “awareness/consideration” phase. This could look like many things to the buyer- consuming your content, learning your POV, customer testimonials, watching your educational videos, etc. Once a company moves into the "decision" of which company a buyer wants to engage in a sales process is the best time for companies to proactively reach out to a potential future customer. 

You can best shape the narrative if your company is the first point of engagement in a competitive landscape.

Understanding the difference between ICP and IICP

Investors often have a sharp focus on Target Addressable Market (TAM), Service Addressable Marketing (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) during the funding stage. However, it is not practical in terms of sales and marketing alignment. It’s all about ICP, and more specifically the IICP. 

The concept of "IICP" takes the Ideal Customer Profile to another level by introducing the "In-market Ideal Customer Profile”. By understanding that an account is actively researching and evaluating a specific market category that your company plays in. Taking this concept to something that "Sales" cares about includes being able to provide the Sales organization with real-time leads that are actively "in-market" and thus have a much higher conversion rate to qualified opportunities.

“No Carrot, No Stick”, Maximizing Workflow for SDR Teams

A majority of B2B companies are not actively or consistently using "intent data" to prioritize outreach when an "ICP" account is actively in-market. 44% of B2B tech companies had some use of intent data, but only 18% of companies were using intent data to help build a prioritized list for the SDR team. 

Latane emphasizes that data isn’t a workflow. Companies need to combine data with a workflow, especially in the collaboration between Marketing and Sales. There should be a process to ensure that the Sales Development team comes in each morning with a complete, prioritized list available for them to start the day off productively...versus spending their time researching and building a prioritized list for outreach. Then, expectations must be set for what is considered “working an account” to minimize confusion and missed opportunities. 

Optimizing the account and contact outreach within a workflow will give your sales team a better understanding of what is “not enough” or “too much”. Too many touches on a lead could diminish personalization and relevance. 

It’s all about staying within the four factors of relevance. 

1. Relevant at the account level 

2. Relevant at the persona level 

3. Relevant at the behavior level 

4. Relevant with the Customer’s timing

Once a workflow is set, the SDR team just needs to take the time to craft their message using the four factors of relevance as a guide, while still adding their “flare”. Although this may take a little time, it's not just “hunting and picking on the world wide web” which can lead to several rat holes.

Defining 6Sense Qualified Accounts

Taking the traditional idea of a  Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) A 6QA (6Sense Qualified Account) takes into account multiple factors to determine when sales should reach out. The account fit, research, persona, behavior, and timeline work to trigger the workflow and signal the sweet spot.

Learn more about Latane Conant and her book: No Forms, No Spam, No Cold Calls

If you are responsible for engaging a target market and buyer to generate high-quality leads and are interested in how to take advantage of intent data, account-based programs, and the dark web to increase pipeline quality - Latane is a great follow and her book NO FORMS, NO SPAM, NO COLD CALLS is a great read! 

To learn about these topics more in-depth, listen to the Metrics that Measure Up podcast, including this episode with Latane Conant.