Hugh Macfarlane, Author at align.me

How to earn more profit than your competitors

What do you do when a tough competitor enters your space? Many businesses cut their prices, starting a 'race to the bottom' as their previously unassailed niche becomes just another commodity product or service. This strategy carries the seeds of its own destruction. In his classic book, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter outlines five forces that shape competition: New competitors enter the market Rivalry among existing competitors intensifies Substitute products arrive Buyers use their buying power to squeeze margins Suppliers assert greater bargaining power The classic case of a business READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy, Tactics|

Aligning content with the B2B Buyer’s Journey at DemandCon 2012

Great content has become the foundation stone of B2B marketing. But with the customer changing the way they buy, you have to wonder if your content plays an effective role in advancing their decision-making process, or if it misses the mark entirely. Buyers are in control (or like to think they are). They involve vendors later than ever in the decision process, and they hate the hard sell but love to learn. So what? If you are to win their business, you need engage them with content that enables you to stand out from the crowd, articulate READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Alignment|

How measuring lag can boost sales

Most businesses have an accurate handle on the length of their sales cycle - the time that elapses between a lead being qualified and the closing of the deal. If your total sales cycle is six months, or three months, or twelve months, what does that mean and what can you change to improve results? Should you measure anything else, and if you did, what would you change? The answers lie in the detail - but only a little way in. Simply reverse the usual logic and think about time from the buyers' perspective and not the READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Sales, Velocity|

DemandCon 2012: Marketing’s transitions & tensions

Marketing is on a mission to gain control of the Funnel – to effectively manage and predict demand, yet today’s research tells a different story. The story exposes prevailing tensions in every area amounting to a serious disconnect between the vision of what Marketing should be doing and what it is doing in reality. As a strategist and Research Consultant with The Aberdeen Group, Natalie Horne knows this disconnect to be a central barrier to increasing revenue and will tell you why at DemandCon. Her session ‘Demand Marketing’s Transitions and Tensions’, based on Aberdeen Group research, will READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Strategy|

DemandCon 2012: Marketing & Sales Alignment Journey

Growing bigger requires you to make big decisions about changing the way you operate and the cultural and organizational structure of your company can play an integral part in how to approach these big decisions. But where do you start and which changes should be made first? Joel Puznava, Head of Customer Success Directors at DemandGen AG, and David Dorling, Head Global Marketing at Swiss Post Solutions, know the challenges associated with rapid growth and will present the case study of Swiss Post Solutions (SPS) who successfully consolidated 40 brands under one global brand, across the fifteen READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Alignment|

DemandCon: The Changing Brand Role in Demand Gen

As Director of Align Marketing, Michelle Martin’s expertise in brand, marketing alignment and impact strategies has never been more important to her clients given the majors shifts we see in marketing today. At DemandCon 2012 her intimate knowledge, recognized by her Chicago Athenaeum ‘2011 Good Design Award’ for the global rebranding of StepStone Solutions, will be on display during her dynamic workshop ‘The Changing Role of your Brand in Demand Gen’. Michelle will explore what is meant by brand personality and why it must sit at the heart of your business, not just the heart of marketing. Using entertaining READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

Call your leads quickly, and stop calling after 20 hours

B2B marketers know how important it is to follow up leads quickly. But do we know how quickly? And can call backs actually hurt your chances? A customer sent me this link to Lead Response Management last week, and I'm embarrassed not to have seen it previously. Here's the essence: Study was across 15,000 web-generated leads from 6 large companies over 3 years. Sure, the data could be across a larger number of companies, but I'm not disputing their findings. Calling on Thursdays is 50% better than calling on Tuesdays for first phone contact Wednesdays are 25% READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

Building Global Lead Scoring and Nurturing Programs at DemandCon 2012

Do you know what your ideal customer looks like and are you doing anything to help them find their way to you when the time comes to buy? A well built lead scoring and nurturing program can help you assess the quality of your prospects and ensureyou automatically stay engaged with them so when they know that they need what you have, you are perfectly positioned to give it to them. But how do you build one? What are the major challenges? And is your marketing engine ready for lead scoring and nurturing? Ceri Jones, Marketing Director READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

DemandCon: World’s best B2B marketer all in one place

B2B marketers worship the Funnel. They spend their waking hours trying to design, control and influence its ability progress buyers but how many of us actually know the best to way manage it? The DemandCon conference in London will see B2B marketers from across the globe converge for two days for a hard-hitting education in all things Funnel. Featuring thought leaders and expert B2B practitioners, it is the world’s first conference dedicated to managing the complete sales funnel, top to bottom. Delegates will be trained in the latest techniques and best practices for accelerating revenue growth which READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Tactics|

How to size your funnel – top, bottom and middle

Market sizing is often done with a degree of rigour, but far less rigour is applied to the task of sizing your own sales funnel. The proposition that "there is plenty out there" might be true, but sizing is not just about working out if the market can support you. You need to ask yourself, "How much market do I need?" To be a small player in a big market is as frustrating as it is unprofitable - but being No. 1 generates its own awareness. What you really need is to choose a market small enough READ MORE ›

By Hugh Macfarlane|Velocity|

About Hugh Macfarlane