Episode #31 of the Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast comes from the live stream Data Center Go-to-Market, Sales, and Marketing Q&A 8.
- Learn how to engage with data center providers to manage sustainability initiatives like greenhouse gas emissions
- Discover strategies for defining an ideal client profile and understanding buyer personas
- Gain insights into addressing low sales by convening a cross-functional team and identifying potential issues
- Develop a full buyer's journey program to close more sales
- Understand the product manager's role in collaborating with sales to address customer needs
- Maximize the impact of marketing events and follow up proactively with attendees
- Align sales and marketing to improve campaign results
- Discover perspectives on sales roles evolving to serve modern data center buyers
- Identify the right sales professionals based on experience and company fit
Host:
Joshua Feinberg, CEO
DCSMI
Special Guest:
N/A
Joshua Feinberg emphasized the importance of engaging with data center providers to manage greenhouse gas emissions and carbon data. He discussed the need for a comprehensive approach to data center sales, including understanding product/market fit, identifying ideal client profiles, and addressing blockage points in the sales pipeline. Feinberg also highlighted the importance of product management in larger organizations and the need for a dedicated product manager to guide sales efforts. Additionally, he discussed the importance of understanding modern data center buyers' journeys and empowering marketing and sales teams to work together effectively.
Action Items
- Define the ideal client profile based on existing successful clients
- Convene the full GTM team to brainstorm causes of low sales and identify blockers in the sales process
- Develop a full buyer’s journey program supported by email marketing, events, and webinars
- Attend sales meetings and gather feedback on product gaps to inform the roadmap
- Create a post-event engagement plan to maximize value from field events
Outline
Engaging with data center providers for sustainability.
- Joshua Feinberg warns of dangerous delegation strategies in sales and marketing.
- Addresses sustainability questions from data center providers, including managing greenhouse gas emissions and carbon data.
Engaging with data center providers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Identify successful engagements through website analysis and case studies.
- Outlines steps to build a go-to-market strategy for data center providers
- Understanding stakeholders' needs for help with greenhouse emissions and carbon data crucial
- Highlights the importance of understanding stakeholders' priorities, goals, and struggles to build trust and educate them on topics relevant to their decision-making process.
- Suggests meeting stakeholders where they are and providing helpful information to anticipate their future needs and guide them through the decision-making process.
Low sales of data center infrastructure, potential causes, and solutions.
- Suggests convening a full team to address low sales of data center infrastructure, including representatives from marketing, sales, customer success, product strategy, and channel strategy.
- Identifies product/market fit as a potential issue, emphasizing the importance of understanding who the ideal clients are, what they buy, and how much they pay.
- Highlights the importance of understanding client needs and prioritizing buyer personas to address slumping sales.
- Emphasizes the need to identify the specific areas of the go-to-market strategy that are breaking down, such as marketing or sales development.
Closing more sales for data center, cloud, and hybrid IT services.
- Identify ideal client profiles and buyer personas to accelerate sales.
- Develop premium content and email marketing tailored to each persona.
- Emphasizes the importance of educating and building trust with buyers throughout their journey.
- Companies neglect post-event marketing, leaving 364 days of the year without engagement.
Product management's role in supporting sales in the data center industry.
- Develop a full journey program for staying with buyers throughout their journey.
- Product expertise is crucial in the data center ecosystem, especially in mid-size companies.
Aligning product and sales teams for successful customer outcomes.
- Product manager research involves studying client interactions, social media, and conference talks to understand their mindset.
- Sales and product teams must collaborate to close deals and address product roadmap gaps.
- Customer success account managers play a crucial role in managing client relationships after deals close.
Improving data center sales results through targeted marketing campaigns and post-event follow-up.
- Identify ideal client profiles and buyer personas to maximize event impact.
- Proactively schedule meetings and educational experiences with key attendees.
- Emphasizes the importance of post-event follow-up to build trust and educate potential customers.
- Advocates for proactive investments in segmentation, CRM, marketing technology, and sales technology to stay with customers throughout the buyer's journey.
Marketing strategies for data center sales, including AI and multi-cloud storage.
- Emphasizes the importance of understanding the modern data center buyers' journey and empowering marketing and sales teams to participate in it.
- Stresses the need for marketing campaigns to provide valuable content and build trust with buyers throughout the journey.
- Identifies ideal client profiles and buyer personas for AI-enabled multi-cloud data center storage.
Sales agents' role in AI and multi-cloud data center storage.
- Transactional sales agents may not have a future in self-guided buyer journeys.
- Sales professionals in AI and multi-cloud data center storage will resemble Big Four consultants.
- Hiring experienced sales professionals with a track record of selling to SMBs and mid-market companies is crucial.
- Discusses finding the right sales agents for AI and multi-cloud data center storage companies.
- Considerations include company size, deal size, ramp time, and sales cycle length.
Guest Resources
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