From Priming The Pipeline To Engaging Buyers: The B2B CMO's New Role In Sales Enablement

Advances in automation increase visibility and accountability surrounding lead-to-revenue processes. Despite this, tensions between marketing and sales persist concerning the quality of support that marketing brings to the revenue-production equation. To progress from open hostilities to collaborative détente, CMOs will need to reimagine sales enablement programs and strategy around the journey that spans the customer's lifetime. This means creating a more interdependent relationship with sales that puts the customer at the center of the conversations that marketing and sales create, talks more about the problems and issues that buyers face, and aligns lead-to-revenue planning and processes around outcome-focused goals. Top business-to-business (B2B) CMOs achieve this by 1) shifting from passing leads to sharing the buyer's context; 2) making sales the face that buyers see; 3) developing narratives that spark conversation; and 4) supporting customer success management with ongoing marketing-led communications.