Summit 2013: Day 2 Recap

Today’s Summit proceedings included a full day of presentations on b-to-b sales, marketing and product strategies and best practices, including the following sessions:

• The day’s first speaker was Joe Levin, head of sales enablement and site experience for technology solution provider CDW, which won a Return on Integration Award in recognition of Levin’s efforts to optimize sales enablement strategies and capabilities throughout his organization. The benefits of the CDW initiative included a reduction in content inventory of more than 93 percent, the elimination of redundant sales portals, a reduction in the time required to find content from days to minutes, and 10 percent higher order volume.
• Next up were SiriusDecisions’ Jim Ninivaggi and Mark Levinson, who introduced a new model, the SiriusDecisions Sales Activity Framework, which analyzes sales activities in terms of their productivity, and enables organizations to apply a systematic approach to improving sales efficiency and effectiveness.
• The next session also introduced a major new model, the SiriusDecisions Content Model. Fully 60 to 70 percent of content churned out by b-to-b marketing departments today sits unused. This stark statistic underscores the urgent need for a content revolution in b-to-b organizations. The new content model, introduced today by SiriusDecisions Marisa Kopec and Erin Estep, is designed to help companies launch such a revolution.
• Next on the main stage was ROI Award winner Siemens PLM Software, a provider of product lifecycle management software. Siemens was represented by David Taylor, Vice President of Global Marketing; Chris Kelley, Senior Director of Online Marketing and Customer Advocacy; and Jeff Nercesian, Senior Director of Campaign and Content Strategy. Each member of the team described his role aligning their campaign framework with their business unit revenue goals.
• After a break for lunch, Summit attendees had their choice of six afternoon breakout tracks of four sessions apiece, covering key topics in the areas of b-to-b communications, the demand waterfall, sales productivity, the future state of sales and marketing, bringing product functions into the sales/marketing alignment fold, and maximizing value from the b-to-b channel.

To cap off a busy day of learning, the Summit crowd will visit the USS Midway for a tour of the historic aircraft carrier, dinner and entertainment.