Hugh Macfarlane, Author at align.me

How to build a great business (from a good one)

Standing out from the crowd is tough when your competitors are also working towards the same end. Occasionally, though, a business that has been doing 'fine' suddenly starts doing better than fine. In fact, it goes from being good to great. For some, this success is temporary and they soon slink back into the pack. A select few make a significant shift and go on to achieve sustained greatness. How does a good business become a great one? Hot on the heels of his groundbreaking work with co-author Jerry Porras on the bestselling management book Built to READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

How to leak your sales funnel gracefully

Deals can drift, delay or simply disappear. For many buyers, ‘do nothing’ is a legitimate option – and a popular one. Sure, you can also make mistakes, or do well and still lose to a competitor. Whichever the case, how you exit that ‘thanks but no thanks’ conversation is just as important as your opening call. Think about the most common conversations at the point of exit, and what’s really going on: “This is not a priority for us right now” At some point it will be. You need to be the one they call (or receive READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics, Velocity|

How many leads do you need per campaign?

Calculating the number of leads needed for a B2B marketing campaign seems simple. You can do it on the back of an envelope: firstly, work out the real target - consider your revenue target, reduce this by any annuity revenue to get your "sales target". Then reduce this by the weighted probability of opportunities you can already see, and you have your revenue gap. Divide this revenue gap by your average sale value, and you have the number of sales required. Easy right? Well, not so fast. Why quick calculations aren't enough to forecast leads Quick calculations READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Velocity|

How to build mobile-friendly websites and emails

Your target market is increasingly reading your website on small devices, which means much of your designer's hard work is wasted. If your pages are not formatted with mobile viewing in mind, chances are your users will click away quickly. Some will argue that this is a consumer phenomenon, but that's a cop-out. The reality is that your audience is becoming less patient by the day, and if your content can't be digested easily, it won't be. Even for sites that enjoy a good proportion of patient, desk-bound visitors, the emails that promote your web copy and READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics, Velocity|

Do face-to-face meeting quotas work?

Salespeople have a reputation for avoiding paperwork and administration. They are also traditionally resistant to the idea of working to a meeting quota. But getting busy and recording the results is precisely the path to sales success. Face-to-face sales calls are the preferred method of making a sale. Yet, because they are also seen as expensive, they should ideally be used only when there's a good chance of achieving the outcome. While the marketing department has many tactics that will move the prospect along the buying path, the truth is that many businesses use salespeople when READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Sales|

How to make recycling pay

In sales and marketing, we celebrate winners - the salesperson who returns with the signed contract is a hero, as is the marketer who exceeds their quota of qualified leads. Even the customer gets a look in: We send them a letter of congratulations from the President of the company. Yet the celebrations usually cover the 5 per cent success and avoid confronting the fact that the other 95 per cent no longer in our sales funnel can actually be counted as failure. Why do we spend so much time on the 5 per cent of buyers READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Velocity|

How to dominate a market

Many businesses do their b2b marketing strategy in the rear-vision mirror. That is, they slide into a space by accident, and then seek to justify their position with a retro-fitted "strategy"! Often, opportunities are uncovered in a random way, and the business is so grateful for the business that they stretch their strategy statement to accommodate this diversion, arguing that a larger market gives greater coverage. But is "coverage" necessarily good? Just how big is your ideal target market? The common fallacy is that "you can't say no to business". Any expanding business cannot afford to leave READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

How to make your strategy more buyer-centric

All businesses strive to recognise the needs of buyers when developing strategies for sales success. Well, at least you should. You research met and unmet needs, teach your salespeople to understand business requirements and take pride in meeting those customer demands. How, though, can you more fully acknowledge buyers when shaping your strategy? Remember that businesses buy products and services, in essence, to solve problems. They may have too much of something that is undesirable, or too little of something that is good. The problem is the gap between where they are now and where they want READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Sales, Strategy|

Define a B2B marketing strategy the team understands

In business, there is endless debate about 'strategy'. Yet the term is often confusing or misunderstood. In many businesses, strategy refers to anything ranging from business goals and target markets to specifics such as website management. A scattergun approach often ensues. There are broad business strategy considerations for any business before it develops a go-to-market strategy. Will you be a cost leader, will you gain an edge through differentiating yourself from rivals, or will you take a highly targeted line? Whatever you do, don't try to have a bet each way. Bring into play a consistent strategy READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

How to play right

Strategy is about deciding what to do and what not to do. In the same vein, choosing how to play is inextricably linked with choosing where to play. For a business, it comes down to choice - that is, assessing which markets are attractive and which the business is best placed to target. Managers must then select the right strategies. In essence, this requires answers to just three questions: what are you going to sell? to whom are you going to sell it? through whom are you going to reach that market? How do you choose the READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

About Hugh Macfarlane