We’re voracious consumers of content around enterprise sales, and we’ll pass the best of what we read along to you.
Welcome to the new Emissary Sales Digest, a weekly round-up of the most useful, insightful, and informative content out there—aside from what’s already on our blog, that is.
Dig in.
30-day trial? 14-day? Freemium? Here’s why it probably doesn’t matter (MadKudu)
We’ve discussed the travail of trials before, but Tomasz Tunguz brought this 2016 piece to our attention this week. We missed it when it originally ran—and you probably did, too. The folks at MadKudu broke down conversation data from nine different companies with different sales and customer acquisition strategies. Their goal? To see how the length of free trials or “freemium” features influenced when and if leads converted. The answer was not what we expected. (Spoiler: longer trials aren’t more effective. Just FYI.)
Networking Myths Dispelled (HBR)
Networking is key to selling into the enterprise. After all, having an insider on your side can mean the difference between closed-won and “thanks, but no thanks.” But how do you build a proper network that will bear fruit when it’s time to make the ask? And what should your network look like, anyway? In this HBR podcast, professor and author David Burkus busts some longstanding myths about networking. It’s worth a listen.
MarTech Bloat? How Much is Too Much? (CMS Wire)
Suffering from MarTech overload? We know the feeling. With so many tools and so little time, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of tools on the market—and in your own MarTech stack. In fact, the average enterprise has 91 tools in the stack (yep, you read that right: 91). So how do you know what’s adding value, and what’s just a waste of budget? This piece will help whittle down your stack so it’s a little more manageable.
Spring Clean Your ABM Data with These Tips (ListenLoop)
You’ve spent a lot of time and money on your ABM strategy—but ABM isn’t a “set it and forget it” thing. You’ve got to maintain your data regularly, lest you end up with poorly personalized outreach, inaccurate segmentation, and a whole host of other unpleasant outcomes that’ll impact your bottom line. ListenLoop offers some best practices for how to tidy up your data for optimal outcomes.
You Suck at Sales Forecasting and I Can Prove It (Inside Sales)
Why is forecasting so hard? Why is almost everyone so bad it? To find out, the fine people at InsideSales looked at 270,912 closed-won opportunities—and their forecasted close amounts—at more than a dozen companies. That’s a lot of deals. The data in this report (the download button’s at the bottom, and well worth entering your email to get) is as compelling as it is concerning.
