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James Schoensiegel’s expertise in helping execute data-driven ABM campaigns that convert is well documented. Along with guaranteeing Tegile Systems has the account insights required to go to market, Schoensiegel is helping his marketing team cross the aisle to help sales coordinate its messaging to better engage and convert top-tier prospects.
Using technographic data embedded in his company’s CRM, Schoensiegel can identify the accounts that are 64% more likely to turn into revenue for Tegile. Tegile is using this data to target the right accounts for their outbound marketing and sales. Tegile also uses this data to conduct target market assessments, create SDR pitches and enhance their alliance strategy by co-selling into accounts with complementary tech stacks.
Can you share any particular achievements you are most proud of in your current role?
I had the unique opportunity to architect Tegile’s SFDC marketing operations: from nascence as a $4M/year startup, to acquisition by Western Digital, and now beyond as we scale within Western Digital. I’m very proud of the robust, scalable marketing engine we have built. Our demand generation and ABM strategies are now driven by technographic/intent/engagement intelligence, funded with predictive modeling, measured by precise KPIs at every waterfall stage and centered around a unified sales/marketing methodology. Our tech stack is fully integrated such that every process speaks to the complete picture.
How have you helped try to foster a culture of innovation within your team and organization?
One of my most important meetings each week is not with the marketing team; it’s with sales. I want to keep my heart close to folks on the front lines. This sales-centric mindset has pushed me to innovate solutions that, though not top-of-mind for marketing operations, boosted marketing ROI most significantly. I think innovation begins when there is an internal recalibration around this question: whom am I serving?
What does the future have in store for your efforts? Anything interesting planned?
As the legacy Tegile Salesforce instance merges into the broader Western Digital organization, we will be evaluating ABM and data vendors, and one of my main objectives will be to ensure that we have a concrete plan for centrality of data and processes in Salesforce. Salesforce Lightning App Exchange means that we can secure our data acquisition through native integration with the Salesforce platform, so I’m excited about how that will help our consolidation efforts. I’m also looking forward to taking advantage of Salesforce 360 to gain stronger insights into our complete customer journey.
Any fun facts/interesting personal notes you would share that other B2B peers may find interesting?
In my other life, I make music that has been licensed for commercials by companies like Ford Motors, The Washington Post and (a personal favorite) TOMS Shoes. This year, I spoke at Dreamforce. Someday, I would love to perform at Dreamforce!
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From late 2017 to mid-2018, Logi Analytics, and in conjunction with B2B Fusion, transformed a high-volume and high-transaction lead generation group into a hybrid marketing strategy to include ABM and traditional demand generation. Led by Kevin Alansky, the historical culture of the organization was to hit demand generation full throttle with both an inbound and outbound effort.
Alansky and his team’s ABM initiative had a major impact on the company’s success. From Q3 2017 to Q2 2018, Logi Analytics saw its set meeting-to-opportunity rate increase from 11% to 26%. The company also saw its pipeline coverage increase 3.5X and its win rates increase by 140% during the same period.
Can you share any particular achievements you are most proud of in your current role?
We are most proud of moving from a volume play to a more targeted approach focused on quality. This required a heavy dose of sales and marketing alignment with shared metrics (opportunity creation) and a set of cadences and SLAs to make it stick.
Can you share any details about how your team, or individuals on your team, have helped drive innovation? How has your whole team helped achieve results?
Previously, we leveraged mass email marketing and telemarketing services. By innovating and up-leveling the marketing team, we have been able to have a deep understanding of our personas, focus on target accounts (ICP) and key messages mapped back to our positioning. This has led to using new technologies in our tech stack to make it more specialized and drive towards our revenue goals.
How have you helped try to foster a culture of innovation within your team and organization?
Every quarter we do a start, stop, continue framework as well as analyzing what’s worked, what hasn’t worked and what can we do better. Each team lead presents their respective area and that helps drive innovation.
Why do you think innovation is important in today’s B2B marketing landscape? Do you see a need for traditional approaches to be transformed?
We typically see everyone gravitate towards the latest product or methodology. Then those channels, programs and processes burn out when everyone is doing it. You must stay ahead and experiment with new ideas and programs. You must innovate or die.
Any fun facts/interesting personal notes you would share that other B2B peers may find interesting?
I volunteer on a non-profit board called Playworks. It’s rewarding, yet challenging to give back in an area that you are passionate about and can contribute to in a meaningful way.
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Scott Cannon and his team at HP were tasked with building out the company’s account-based strategy. They were assigned to a segment of the database called the “cold, dead and hostile accounts.” These were the accounts that had no interest engaging with the company, but the HP team were expected to close. But this didn’t stop them from creating an innovative ABM initiative that helped HP get a foot in the door at the hardest accounts to crack.
Cannon and his team’s work to formulate, execute and measure the success of the company’s ABM initiatives has had a major impact on closing new business. It has resulted in several millions of dollars in revenue from new logos within their corporate account segment. Also, 70% of the accounts won were significantly engaged by HP’s team.
Can you share any particular achievements you are most proud of in your current role?
I am most proud of the progress we have made as a company in implementing ABM. We began the journey in late 2015 and have rapidly built our ABM platform and capabilities from the ground up. What began as a few standalone campaigns targeting a small group of accounts has now proliferated into a companywide initiative with ABM campaigns executing in every region and business unit. I’m very pleased with the alignment and collaboration we have achieved between sales and marketing. Sales jumped onboard with us from the beginning and together we have worked closely to develop our capabilities to target and engage the right accounts at the right time. It has been quite astounding to watch the growth and impact of this program with hundreds of millions of dollars in pipeline and revenue influenced. To be less than three years into our ABM journey and to receive recognition in the industry for our work is quite an accomplishment.
How have you helped try to foster a culture of innovation within your team and organization?
We learn more from failure than we do from success. So, we try to minimize the risk of trying new things. As a company, we typically devote approximately 10% of our marketing budget to taking risks and trying new approaches. It’s OK to fail if the lessons learned eventually lead to success.
There is no marketing cookbook for our business. What works for one company may not work for us. We also encourage our team members to keep abreast of industry trends by reading, learning, adapting and testing different approaches. Everyone has an annual development plan which includes continuous education and growth. This is how we support our team members to innovate.
Why do you think innovation is important in today’s B2B marketing landscape? Do you see a need for traditional approaches to be transformed?
To stay relevant, you must innovate. It is becoming increasingly difficult to engage in a meaningful dialog with prospects. Research shows customers are progressively delaying and limiting their outreach to suppliers during the buying cycle. There is also a lot of “noise” in the marketplace which can be difficult to cut through in order to reach the right prospects. For these reasons, you must be relevant and personalized with the right messages at the right time along the buyer’s journey. Innovation is key to achieving this. A complete departure from conventional ideologies and strategies is not required. You must surround traditional, tried and true marketing approaches with newer innovation.
Any fun facts/interesting personal notes you would that other B2B peers may find interesting?
At the beginning of my career, I knew I ultimately wanted to be a marketing professional. However, I spent the first five years of my career in high-tech sales to large corporate accounts. Although it’s been several years since then, that experience in a customer-facing role still influences my approach and decision making today as a marketer. It has also helped me to align with sales more closely throughout my career.
