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Revenue Growth Suffers Throughout Corporate America

Growth is the number-one challenge facing corporations and their management teams worldwide.  Yet revenue creation – arguably the most important thing any business does to facilitate growth – remains one of its most expensive and inefficient processes.  

“Companies today must undertake a fundamental change in the way they create, manage, and generate revenue,” warns Phil Fernandez, CEO of Marketo, in his new book, REVENUE DISRUPTION:  Game-Changing Sales And Marketing Strategies To Accelerate Growth.  “Most organizations will likely spend 20 to 30 percent of their total revenue on marketing and sales to create more revenue.  This means that even a small improvement in the productivity and effectiveness of these processes can boost any company’s competitiveness, growth, and profitability,” he continues.

In REVENUE DISRUPTION, Fernandez shows readers how to enhance productivity by discarding obsolete sales and marketing models, and replacing them with Revenue Performance Management or RPM.  This ground-breaking process is based on the cold truth that when it comes to sales, the power has forever shifted from seller to buyer.  With the help of the Internet and related technologies, today’s buyers can easily research companies and products, determine their own brand preferences, ask friends about vendor qualifications, learn about pricing, and consent to talk to a salesperson only when they want to.

Therefore, instead of searching for customers, businesses now need to make it easy for customers to find them.  This means that the marketing and sales functions must become so aligned that they’re able to engage together with the buyer – on his or her own terms.  According to Fernandez, “every sale starts with the marketing department, only later does it find its way over to the sales team.  A salesperson might think they’ve initiated a sales cycle by placing a cold call; however, the buyer has almost certainly been primed to take the call as a result of his or her earlier interaction with a website, an ad, or some other marketing-sponsored activity.”

By implementing RPM, companies not only transform the way their marketing and sales teams function, but they are able to monitor each step in the revenue process.  This starts when a prospective buyer is just learning about a brand or product, and continues to the moment when a salesperson earns the deal, and even beyond that, through the full customer lifecycle.

Although in concept, a company can implement RPM without using technology, Fernandez reminds readers of the beloved I Love Lucy episode when Lucy and Ethel get jobs working in a candy factory.  As the assembly line speeds up, they are overwhelmed and the process breaks down.  The same is true with RPM.  “While it’s theoretically possible to manage marketing leads and programs manually, the Internet-driven acceleration and the volume of lead data require help from automation,” Fernandez explains.  Moreover, with the proper technology, RPM becomes a complete business process with defined, repeatable steps that affect the entire revenue cycle.

Throughout REVENUE DISRUPTION, Fernandez concentrates on the human side of implementing RPM recognizing that it can seem like a daunting and overwhelming task.  He provides reassurance for both marketing and sales professionals, showing how the process will enhance their capabilities, emphasizing that the arts of branding, creating great content, and selling are still very much alive.  No amount of technology will take these away.  REVENUE DISRUPTION explains why these skills must be supported by a new process and technology framework.

Fernandez also calls on CEOs and other C-level executives to lead the RPM journey, suggesting that companies appoint a Chief Revenue Officer or CRO.  That person would be responsible for overall revenue performance – from meeting prospective buyers, through creating awareness and nurturing leads, on to closing the sale and beyond – to managing the full life cycle of customer retention and renewals.

REVENUE DISRUPTION is the complete guide to breaking through the last frontier of outdated business processes, and fundamentally transforming the way corporations create, manage, and accelerate their revenues.  As Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of salesforce.com says, “A social revolution is underway.  Companies must change the way they market to leverage the increased importance of search and social engagement.  In REVENUE DISRUPTION, Phil opens the door for the next generation of global leaders as he explains how to harness this revolution to transform businesses.”