• The SiriusStars blog series provides an inside look at how select high-performing clients use SiriusDecisions research and analyst inquiry to increase revenue, meet and exceed goals, and transform their organizations
  • In this edition, we feature Regan Yeldell, senior marketing director of demand generation at Comcast Business
  • We chatted with Regan about her typical day, her favorite SiriusDecisions model or framework, and her tips for success for marketing leaders with similar goals

SiriusStars is an exclusive community of high-performing and highly influential clients selected for their exceptional work leveraging and implementing SiriusDecisions research and advice. The SiriusStars blog series is designed to share the personal and professional world of your B2B peers. In this post, we spoke with Regan Yeldell, senior marketing director of demand generation at Comcast Business.

Regan Yeldell

SiriusDecisions: Take us through a typical day in your life.

Regan Yeldell: First, I argue with myself for 30 minutes about getting out of bed, because I’m not a morning person. When I get to work, I make sure everything I’m doing and everything I’m instructing my team to do are aligned with the charter we have to generate awareness, turn that awareness into interest and turn that interest into revenue. On any given day, we’re working on planning and executing campaigns, figuring out how to nurture leads through the funnel, and thinking through how we can make the vision for demand generation real. We have a lot of fun on my team, but every day is composed around these three things: how we do what we need today, how we plan for the future and how we build the infrastructure for the Demand Generation Center of Excellence.

SD: How did you become a client of SiriusDecisions?

Regan: A couple of years back, one of the leaders in our marketing communications department attended one of your conferences. She told us that SiriusDecisions was “on point” and she was very hyped-up – she said her eyes had been opened to best practices in marketing. She presented to us some of the things she learned at the conference. My direct VP at the time said, “Hey, there may be some legs to this – as we’re trying to evolve our marketing organization, maybe speaking to SiriusDecisions is what we need to do.”

At that time, we got access to a few advisory services, although we didn’t really know what that meant or how to use it. Then the lightbulb went off from an enterprise marketing perspective about the wealth of knowledge and research you have to offer. After that, I became one of your evangelists. As we evolve our marketing capabilities, we’ve been evolving our relationship with you. We did a few workshops two years ago, but we weren’t ready to implement what we learned. We’re definitely ready now.

SD: What’s your favorite SiriusDecisions model/framework so far?

Regan: The Demand Waterfall®, because that’s how we’re trying to run our marketing practice – not only from a theoretical perspective, but also to build the infrastructure that will become my report card. The other day, I asked my account manager, Kelly, if she had any metrics that are best practice along the Demand Waterfall. That’s how I’m grading myself. I’m building a demand generation practice – which aspirationally will become the “Demand Generation Center of Excellence” – as a direct result of SiriusDecisions, and with your help. I never would’ve figured out that we needed a demand generation engine to work hand in hand with product marketing – that came from the counsel with SiriusDecisions. It’s a testament to the gravitas you bring that we’re aligning our organization around what SiriusDecisions recommends. I’m leveraging all of the resources and models around how to build a demand generation practice and what skills are needed.

SD: When it comes to marketing acronyms, there’s a ton! Do you have some that are part of your daily vernacular?

Regan: Absolutely. The main one that comes to mind is MQL [marketing qualified lead], because that’s where we’re trying to shift our thinking. We’re trying to get away from old-world marketing and thinking about the word “lead” as an all-encompassing, catchall term. Rather, we’re trying to be more deliberate with what we call a lead. For MQLs, we want to make sure the leads we’re passing to sales are hand-raisers or people that we believe are at the ready-to-buy stage.

SD: What’s your favorite band or genre of music?

Regan: My favorite genre is hip-hop, since the age of nine. I love the beat, the cadence and the stories. Plus, I love to dance!

SD: What would you recommend to other marketing leaders who are focusing on similar initiatives or have similar goals? What tips for success would you offer?

Regan: Learn all you can about your area. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day. Sometimes I take a step back and ask myself, “What if the constraints and infrastructure for how we do things today didn’t exist? How would I do this?” I go on the SiriusDecisions portal to see what white papers are available.

Also, be a continuous learner and think differently about your area. Everyone should be an entrepreneur in his or her own role. Think about how you can have an ownership mind-set in your own space; how can you look at your own role, team and go-to-market strategy differently. If you approach your role with that mind-set and leverage the resources – SiriusDecisions or internal – available to you, then in being your own entrepreneur, you don’t have to start from scratch.

Read part two of Regan Yeldell’s SiriusStar interview here.

Interested in being featured in a future SiriusStars blog post? Email siriusstars@siriusdecisions.com!