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

Driving Revenue Performance with a Common Playbook

During our interview, Wes discussed a powerful idea he had instituted at Citrix to ensure strong alignment and tight integration between the company’s global marketing and sales departments. The idea was to create a single “playbook” that both the marketing and sales teams could use to formulate joint strategies, guide their activities, and drive increased revenue at Citrix.

Here are some excerpts from my interview with Wes about the marketing/sales playbook he has been using so effectively at Citrix.

Phil Fernandez: Wes, what was the genesis of your playbook idea?

Wes Wasson: My core philosophy from early on has been to think of sales and marketing in the context of a single demand chain, an integrated process. It starts with a belief that this really is a single chain. So, in thinking about the recipe for success with this integrated approach—and this was long before technology innovations started really changing things in our profession—the key was to have a common way to measure sales and marketing success. What that means is that success on the front end of the chain is a hundred percent irrelevant if the end of the chain doesn’t deliver the finished product.

Think of a scenario like this: The marketing team at the front end of a bottling plant is celebrating and cheering and giving high-fives because it exceeded its quota in creating bottle caps and labels. Meanwhile, gallons of beer have been spilling onto the middle of ...