Revenue Disruption: Game-Changing Sales and Marketing Strategies to Accelerate Growth

Chapter 8

A Research-Based Perspective on Superior Revenue Growth

When researching the ideas presented in this book, I wanted to find out which kinds of marketing and sales best practices companies with superior revenue growth shared in common. So I commissioned a survey in which we asked more than 100 top executives from public companies how they ran their marketing and sales functions. Their responses provided a number of key insights into the marketing and sales practices associated with sustainable revenue growth.

As part of the survey, we asked executives about their experience, revenue management practices, and marketing and sales spend patterns, as well as specific practices such as marketing metrics, lead management, and technology adoption. In addition to examining the specific results for each question, our research team used a multiple regression model to see if combinations of practices correlated with the critical question of revenue growth.

Based on the survey responses, we found that high-growth companies were more likely to have the following characteristics:

• They have relatively experienced sales executives, yet comparatively younger and less experienced marketing executives.
• They spend more on marketing as a percentage of revenue, with the best spending at least $.50 on marketing for every $1 spent on sales.
• The companies’ top marketing and sales leaders discuss revenue directly with the CEO, either together or separately.
• The most senior sales leader typically ...