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Crafting a Winning B2B Engagement Strategy: The Complete Guide

Engaging prospects is an art and a science. Master both, and you hold the keys to the revenue kingdom.
In this guide, you’ll learn battle-tested strategies to craft a winning B2B engagement strategy. We’ll cover how to research your audience, build genuine connections, orchestrate omnichannel journeys, develop rock-solid rules of engagement, implement the ideal sales model, and measure effectiveness.

You’ll walk away with a blueprint for driving growth through strategic, metric-driven engagement across your revenue engine. So buckle up, and let’s get started.

Page Contents

Understanding Engagement and Why It Matters

Engagement is a bit like jazz – you know it when you see it, but it can be hard to define. At its core, engagement refers to establishing meaningful connections and interactions between a business and its priority stakeholders.
In a B2B context, this usually involves developing relationships with prospective customers to drive new business. Engaged prospects are more likely to convert to sales opportunities and become long-term clients.

So why does engagement matter so much? Here are 3 key reasons:

1. Engagement drives business growth

Engaged customers buy more, promote more, and stick around longer. According to Harvard Business Review, companies with high customer engagement retain 5x more revenue from their customers than companies with poor engagement.

The numbers speak for themselves:

  • Engaged customers buy 90% more frequently and spend 60% more per transaction (Salesforce)
  • Engaged customers have a 306% higher lifetime value (Doofinder)
  • Engaged customers are 5x more likely to purchase again (Forrester)

It’s simple – engaged prospects and customers drive more revenue, lifetime value, and growth for your business.

2. Engagement builds trust and loyalty

Engagement fosters lasting connections between your brand and your audience. With meaningful engagement, you become a trusted advisor rather than just another sales rep.

This trust boosts customer loyalty. Research shows that engaged customers:

  • Are 38% more likely to recommend your brand to others (CrowdRiff)
  • Have 60% higher retention rates (Aberdeen Group)
  • Are 18x more likely to want to continue their relationship with your brand (Motista)

Loyal, engaged customers provide a steady stream of referrals, repeat business, and revenue.

3. Engagement makes sales and marketing more effective

With engagement, your sales and marketing teams can gain actionable insights into what resonates with your audience. You can refine messaging, personalize interactions, and improve conversion rates.

Consider that:

  • 89% of companies compete mostly on customer experience, not price (Gartner)
  • Organizations that invested in CX had 3-year revenue growth 1.6x faster than others (Bain & Company)
  • Companies that leverage user engagement data improve marketing ROI by 15-20% (Aberdeen Group)

Engagement data is like rocket fuel for your go-to-market strategy. You can optimize quickly and outperform competitors.

Key Engagement Goals and Outcomes

Now that you appreciate why engagement is so critical, let’s discuss some best practices for setting engagement goals and measuring performance.

Build a Unified Engagement Strategy

A common pitfall is having siloed engagement initiatives across sales, marketing, and customer success teams. This leads to disjointed experiences and missed opportunities.

Strive to create an omnichannel engagement strategy that aligns your entire company around common goals and desired outcomes. While tactics may vary across teams, unite them behind the same vision.

Identify Your Ideal Engagement Cycle

Map out what your ideal engagement cycle looks like, from initial prospect outreach to retention and expansion of existing clients.

Assess strengths and weaknesses across your funnel to focus engagement efforts. Eliminate friction points that cause prospects to disengage.

Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Apply the S.M.A.R.T. framework to articulate actionable engagement goals:

Specific – Target a specific audience and metric

Measurable – Choose quantifiable metrics to track

Achievable – Set realistic goals

Relevant – Align goals with overall business objectives

Time-bound – Bind goals to a specific timeframe

Example S.M.A.R.T. goal: “Increase engagement rate by 20% among VP-level prospects in manufacturing sector within 9 months.”

Choose Key Performance Indicators

KPIs are quantifiable metrics that mark progress towards your goals. Common engagement KPIs include:

Pick 1-2 KPIs per goal and track them relentlessly. Analyze trends to optimize engagement.

Monitor Behavioral Metrics

Look beyond vanity metrics and analyze behavioral data. For example:

  • Visit frequency and recency
  • Pages visited per session
  • Conversion funnel drop-off
  • NPS or CSAT scores over time
  • Email engagement by segment
  • Service ticket causes behavioral data reveals how people engage with your brand and where processes break down. The insights can be invaluable.

Define Engagement Touchpoints

Catalog existing and desired touchpoints between your brand and audience, such as:

  • Email nurture campaigns
  • Educational content
  • Site chatbots
  • Account-based advertising
  • Sales calls
  • User conferences

Analyze performance by touchpoint and double down on what works. Optimize continually.

Craft an Engagement-Focused Culture

Engagement cannot be delegated to a department. To thrive, it must be woven into your company DNA.

Identify quick wins to demonstrate the value of engagement and gain buy-in at all levels. For example:

  • Add engagement metrics to executive dashboards
  • Train team leaders on response best practices
  • Showcase successes in company meetings
  • Reward teams and reps who excel at engagement

With a culture focused on engagement, your entire organization can drive growth.

By aligning around shared engagement goals and instilling a culture of engagement, you gain an incredible competitive advantage. Just be sure to stay laser focused on value, relevance, and outstanding delivery with each interaction.

Developing an Effective Engagement Process

Crafting a winning engagement strategy isn’t a plug-and-play endeavor. It requires upfront research, planning, and optimization to connect with your audience in a genuine way.
Follow these best practices to develop an engagement process that delivers results:

Research Your Audience and Market

The first step is getting to know your audience inside and out. Learn what makes them tick through market research, social listening, win/loss analysis, and customer interviews.

Uncover details like:

  • Demographic and firmographic data
  • Common pain points
  • Unsolved needs
  • Key purchasing criteria
  • Decision-making processes
  • Competitive solutions they use

Tools like Clearbit, DiscoverOrg, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help compile B2B prospect data. Social media listening and surveys provide audience insights.

Conduct win/loss interviews to identify why prospects choose you or competitors. And don’t just talk to customers – analyzing lost deals is equally important.

This market intel allows you to identify core buyer personas and tailor engagement accordingly.

Map the Stakeholder Landscape

B2B deals often have multiple stakeholders. Identify all the key players and influencers involved in decisions.

Typical buying group members include:

  • Economic buyers – Control budgets
  • Technical buyers – Evaluate technical fit
  • Executive sponsors – Provide final approval
  • Users – Leverage the solution
  • Referrers – Recommend vendors

Uncover stakeholder dynamics through research and asking discovery questions early in the sales process, such as:

  • Who owns the budget for initiatives like this?
  • Who determines technical requirements?
  • Who gives final sign-off on large purchases?
  • Who will use our solution day-to-day?
  • Whose feedback do you value most when evaluating options?

You need to engage with the full buying group to drive consensus and win deals.

Craft Targeted Outreach Messaging

With audience insights, you can craft messaging that resonates. Tailor value propositions, use cases, and content to each stakeholder group.

For example, when engaging technical buyers you would emphasize:

  • Technical capabilities
  • Integration options
  • Platform architecture
  • Development resources

Whereas for economic buyers, focus messaging on:

  • Cost savings
  • ROI
  • Total cost of ownership
  • Billing options

And when engaging with executive sponsors, focus on:

  • Strategic value
  • Competitive differentiation
  • Vision and roadmap
  • Executive-level reporting

Refine messaging through real prospect conversations and feedback. Double down on what resonates best.

Choose the Right Engagement Channels

Determine which communication channels your prospects prefer. Then meet them where they are.

Channels to consider include:

  • Email
  • Direct mail
  • Phone
  • Social media
  • Website (offers, content)
  • Chat
  • Events
  • Paid ads

Test channel performance and optimize your mix over time. Also explore triggering cross-channel nurture campaigns when prospects engage.

For example, coordinate email, advertising, and phone follow-ups when a prospect downloads a key asset. Omnichannel coordination boosts conversions.

Set the Cadence

Define the ideal pace for sales and marketing touches based on your sales cycle length and lead maturity.

Some best practices include:

  • Email: 1-3 emails per week for cold outreach, 2-4 emails per month for nurtured leads
  • Phone: 1 call or voicemail per week in earlier stages, up to 2-3 calls per week for sales-qualified leads
  • Direct Mail: 1 mailer per quarter for cold prospects, 1 per month for engaged targets
  • Social Media: 1-2 quick connects or comments per week

Test different frequencies and optimize over time. Avoid over-communication, as prospects will tune you out.

Build Rapport and Trust

Make genuine human connections, don’t just broadcast marketing messages. Ask questions, demonstrate expertise, and establish mutual value.

Earn trust by:

  • Making introductions warm through common connections
  • Sharing tailored resources proactively
  • Following up quickly and consistently
  • Admitting knowledge gaps openly
  • Having candid conversations

Set clear next steps and expectations, then over-deliver on promises.

Measure Engagement Signals

Track prospect engagement through metrics like:

  • Email open and click-through rates
  • Time on page for key assets
  • Content downloads
  • Website chat and call conversions
  • Direct mail response rates
  • Event attendance and activity

These signals identify what resonates. Do more of what works and eliminate what doesn’t.

You can also gauge engagement through surveys and discussions with prospects. Simply ask for candid feedback on your outreach approach, content, and conversations. The insights can be invaluable.

Continually Refine and Optimize

Treat engagement optimization as a continuous process, not a one-off project.

Set up regular reviews to discuss metrics, prospect feedback, and new market insights. Brainstorm message tuning, new nurture paths, or channel additions that could boost engagement. Then test new approaches and keep refining.

Dynamic, agile refinement is critical to driving better buyer connections and revenue growth over time.

In summary, developing an effective engagement process requires research, planning, skillful execution, optimization, and collaboration. But the investment pays off in the form of higher conversion rates, reduced sales cycles, and stronger customer relationships over time.

Creating Successful Sales Rules of Engagement

Sales rules of engagement (ROEs) establish policies on lead routing, account ownership, and sales processes between marketing, sales, and channel teams.
Clear ROEs are crucial for maximizing revenue while minimizing channel conflict. Follow these best practices when creating ROEs:

Define Team Roles and Responsibilities

Clearly delineate responsibilities of each sales team member including:

  • Marketing: Lead generation, nurture campaigns, event promotion
  • Sales Development: Lead qualification, opportunity creation
  • Account Executives: Prospecting, opportunity management
  • Channel Partners: Reselling, implementation
  • Customer Success: Renewals, upsells, cross-sells

Document definitions for key performance indicators (KPIs) and sales processes. This alignment ensures handoffs are smooth and frictionless.

Establish Lead Qualification Criteria

Provide clear lead definitions that indicate when a lead should be promoted to a sales-accepted lead (SAL) and assigned to an account executive.

Typical lead criteria include:

  • Named decision maker contacted
  • Validated pain point
  • Stated timeline for solution purchase
  • Minimum employee count or revenue
  • Received targeted collateral

Standardizing qualification aligns expectations for sales readiness.

Build a Lead Routing Process

Map out how inbound leads will be routed from sources like:

  • Website form fills
  • Phone inquiries
  • Event sign-ups
  • Social media outreach

Define rules for distributing leads to various sales reps and territories. Common models include:

  • Rotational: Leads assigned evenly in round-robin format
  • Geographical: Leads matched to rep territory
  • Workload-based: Leads allocated by rep capacity
  • Custom: Leads routed based on rep expertise or other criteria

Automate lead assignment using round-robin or territorial routing rules in your CRM.

Establish Account Ownership Policies

To avoid channel conflict, document clear policies for sales account ownership between direct sales teams and channel partners.

Common account ownership models:

  • Named account: Key strategic account assigned to a specific rep
  • Geographical: Accounts mapped to sales rep territory
  • House accounts: Critical accounts retained for internal team
  • Channel-owned: Accounts routed through reseller partners

Outline policies regarding changing account ownership, such as after selling a new product line into the account.

Set Opportunity Ownership Rules

Define what constitutes a sales opportunity and when account ownership transfers from marketing to sales.

Outline how opportunities are claimed and credited to specific reps through actions like:

  • Scheduling a discovery call
  • Creating a proposal
  • Entering an opportunity into the CRM

Set policies for opportunity ownership changes, like after an account reassignment.

Establish Channel Partner Processes

Document partner account assignment rules and renewal ownership policies to avoid channel conflict. Outline compensation terms for channel-sourced deals.

Consider requiring partners to register deals early in the sales process to protect their interests.

Manage Exceptions and Holdovers

Define exceptions for extending account or opportunity ownership, such as:

  • Ongoing discussions with engaged prospects
  • Near-final contract negotiations
  • Major strategic accounts

Require manager approval for exceptions with clear timelines. Limit to high-value, highly-progressed deals to avoid conflict.

Foster Ongoing Alignment

Build bridges between sales, marketing, and partners through:

  • Cross-team training on processes
  • Shared KPIs and reporting
  • Co-branded campaigns
  • Regular alignment discussions

Collaboration and communication ensure consistent execution of the ROEs.

Review and Optimize ROEs Regularly

Revisit ROEs at least quarterly to confirm they still work as intended. Survey sales and partners for suggested improvements.

Refine ROEs to reflect process changes, new products, account shifts, and expanded channels.

Well-designed ROEs allow sales teams to work cohesively at scale while keeping the customer experience polished. They reduce redundancies, accelerate revenue, and align all go-to-market functions to growth goals.

Implementing the Right Sales Engagement Model

Choosing the optimal sales engagement model for your business can have a major impact on efficiency, productivity, and revenue growth. Here are key considerations when selecting your approach:

Transactional vs. Consultative Sales

Transactional sales focus on efficient lead conversion with minimal touchpoints. This model works for simple, low-cost products with shorter sales cycles.

Consultative sales build an ongoing advisor relationship across longer sales journeys. This suits complex B2B solutions.

When choosing between transactional and consultative models, assess:

  • Deal complexity: Is your product easily understood or require ongoing education?
  • Sales cycle length: Do buyers make quick purchases or conduct lengthy evaluations?
  • Price point: Is your offering high or low ticket?
  • Buying team size: How many stakeholders are involved?
  • Industry practices: What sales models do competitors use?

Blend both approaches if you have a mix of simple and complex products or sales cycles.

Inside Sales vs. Outside Sales

Inside sales reps work remotely while outside sales engage prospects face-to-face. Hybrid models leverage both.

Factors to weigh when choosing an inside, outside or hybrid approach:

  • Geography: Can your team access prospects locally or do they span regions?
  • Meeting preferences: Do prospects prefer remote or in-person meetings?
  • Sales cycle stage: Does your offering require on-site demos or proofs of concept?
  • Cost and scalability: How quickly do you need to scale your team? What are the budget constraints?
  • Buyer level: Are you targeting executive buyers who prefer face-to-face?

Typically, a hybrid inside/outside model works best for coverage, flexibility, and scaling. But ensure roles are clearly defined between the teams.

Omnichannel Sales Integration

Today’s buyers expect seamless omnichannel sales experiences spanning:

  • Email and social media outreach
  • Website and product demos
  • Phone, video, and in-person meetings
  • Retargeting campaigns and ads

To deliver omnichannel experiences:

  • Equip reps with tools and skills to connect across channels
  • Break down silos between marketing automation, CRM, and other tech stacks
  • Coordinate messaging across channels to tell cohesive stories
  • Enable hand-offs between teams and channels
  • Provide consistent data via CRM integration
  • Automate engagements with triggered cross-channel campaigns

Omnichannel orchestration keeps prospects engaged and sales efforts coordinated.

Align Models to the Buyer’s Journey

Map your sales models and org design to the natural buyer’s journey for your offering.

For example, a typical complex B2B journey might involve:

  • Marketing: Lead gen and nurture campaigns
  • Sales Development: Initial prospecting and opportunity creation
  • Business Development: Long-term strategic account management
  • Account Executives: Transactional deal-closing
  • Customer Success: Onboarding and adoption

Structure your org, roles, and responsibilities to align with the steps prospects move through. Eliminate gaps or redundancies across the journey.

Right-Size Your Sales Organization

When scaling your sales organization, consider factors like:

  • Market size: Assess your total addressable market (TAM)
  • Customer segment: Are you selling SMB, mid-market or enterprise?
  • Sales cycle length: Longer cycles require more patience for scaling
  • Sales rep ramp time: How long to train new reps?
  • Specialization needs: Do you need distinct prospecting, farming, and closing roles?

Typical sales development rep-to-manager ratios range from 6:1 for fast sales like SaaS to 15:1 for long enterprise sales cycles.

Right-sizing establishes efficient span of control for managers while meeting coverage and revenue goals. Ramp new pods gradually as managers prove effectiveness.

Choosing the right engagement model for your sales organization sets it up for scalable success. Be sure to revisit as your offering, audience, or industry landscape evolves.

Writing a Powerful Engagement Strategy Document

An engagement strategy document aligns your entire revenue engine around shared goals and processes for engaging ideal customers.
Follow these best practices for crafting a winning written strategy:

Align the Strategy to Company Goals

Ensure your engagement strategy ladders up to core company goals around:

  • Revenue growth
  • Market expansion
  • New customer acquisition
  • Loyalty and retention
  • Brand awareness

A strategically aligned engagement plan rallies your customer-facing teams to business growth priorities.

Identify Target Audiences and ICPs

Clearly define your ideal customer profiles (ICPs) and target audiences for engagement.

For each audience segment, capture details like:

  • Firmographic data
  • Demographic data
  • Behavioral and psychographic profiles
  • Common pain points
  • Reasons for purchase
  • Key success drivers

Drill down into various buyer personas under each ICP, such as technical, executive, and end user roles. Outline their unique engagement needs.

Develop Tailored Value Propositions

For each target audience and persona, craft tailored value propositions focused on their core needs.

Value propositions should highlight:

  • Critical business issues you address
  • Tangible outcomes and impact
  • Proven success through metrics
  • Unique strengths vs. alternatives
  • Emotional connections to their goals

For example, your value proposition elements for a CFO might focus on cost reduction, ROI, and risk mitigation – while for an end user persona, emphasize productivity, ease of use, and support.

Build a Cohesive Messaging Framework

Develop a messaging framework that packages your value props into compelling stories for each audience. Construct messages focused on:

  • Relevance to the prospect
  • Business impact
  • Emotional connections
  • Proof through metrics
  • Calls to action

Messages should ladder up to your overarching brand positioning and core differentiators.

Map Engagement Journeys

Map the ideal cadence of sales and marketing touches required to convert each audience type. Document the full journey from initial awareness to advocacy.

Key elements to capture for each customer journey:

  • Channels used at each stage
  • Content consumed
  • Response rates and conversions
  • Sales actions and outreach
  • Timeframes and repetition
  • Metrics driving progression

Optimization opportunities will emerge as you map journeys. Address areas with high falloff.

Set Communication Channels and Cadence

Specify your omni-channel engagement mix and recommended outreach cadence for each ICP – including details like:

  • Email: Ideal nurture frequency, regular sales rep check-ins
  • Phone: Recommended prospecting and sales call cadence
  • Social media: Ideal connection requests or ad frequency
  • Events: Recommended exhibitions, speaking sessions
  • Direct mail: Nurture mailers, sales follow-ups

Consider required repetition to break through the noise for each channel and audience type.

Create Conversation Templates and Tools

Arm your team for engagement by providing:

  • Persona messaging templates with tailored value props and stories
  • Email and social media templates with examples tailored to the journey stage
  • Call scripts and playbooks with discovery questions and talking points
  • Event attendee research forms and buyer persona tip sheets
  • Presentation decks with audience-specific slides to convey relevance

Equipped with the right templates and tools, your team can deliver consistent and compelling messages.

Set Performance Benchmarks

Define KPIs and metrics for tracking engagement program performance, such as:

  • Sales contact and response rates
  • Inbound form completion rates
  • Content downloads, site engagement
  • Email and ad engagement rates
  • Pipeline metrics and deal velocity
  • CRM data hygiene and compliance
  • Customer satisfaction and NPS

Benchmark metrics allow you to measure the business impact of your engagement strategy and optimize accordingly. Monitor leading indicators that detect changes quickly.

Build an Execution Roadmap

Plot an execution roadmap that sequences cross-functional engagement programs and tracks interdependencies.

Identify important milestones like:

  • Target account list finalization
  • Campaign readiness reviews
  • Content development and testing
  • Ongoing response analysis
  • Monthly engagement reporting
  • Quarterly strategy adjustments

A detailed roadmap drives cross-functional alignment.

Estimate Required Resources

Determine budget, staffing, and resources required to execute planned programs, including needs like:

  • Software platforms and tools
  • Content creation bandwidth
  • Paid media budget
  • Event support requirements
  • Sales reps and SDRs
  • Program management overhead

Resource planning ensures you can meet strategic programs at scale.

In summary, a written strategy provides a playbook for your revenue engine to drive growth through orchestrated engagement. By maintaining a living document, you can adapt it as market conditions evolve.

Key Elements to Include in an Engagement Strategy Document

While engagement strategy documents vary in structure, several components are consistently key for success:

Target Audience Profiles

Document your ideal prospect profiles in detail as discussed earlier, including firmographic details, buying groups, pain points, and motivations. The richer your audience understanding, the more relevant your engagements.

Value Propositions

Outline tailored value propositions by buyer persona focused on the outcomes most important to each. Lead with the impact to capture attention fast.

Messaging Framework

Build cohesive messaging across channels that ladder up to your core brand positioning and strengths. Maintain consistency while matching to buyer needs.

Channel Mix and Cadence

Define your ideal channel mix and recommended frequency of sales and marketing touches by stage for each audience. Optimizing cadence and orchestration is crucial.

Conversation Templates

Make engaging your audiences easy by providing tailored templates, email copy, call scripts, and tools matched to buyer needs.

Metrics and Reporting

Track benchmark metrics aligned to strategy goals and share reports regularly to diagnose opportunities and issues quickly.

Execution Roadmap

Plot programs on a timeline to drive cross-team alignment, monitor interdependencies, and hit key milestones.

Required Resources

Identify budget, staffing, and resources required for strategy execution. Resource planning enables flawless delivery at scale.

Incorporating these core elements creates a powerful strategic engagement plan. Next let’s explore tips for activating your strategy successfully.

Tips for Executing Your Engagement Strategy

The best strategies fail without solid execution. Here are proven tips for driving strategy adoption across your organization:

Gain Executive Buy-In

Earning management endorsement is key to fueling successful strategy activation. Make the case for your plan through:

  • Financial impact: Project revenue lift and highlight ROI
  • Competitive advantages: Position benefits against key competitors
  • Employee impact: Share how the strategy empowers sales and marketing teams
  • Risk mitigation: Identify risks if engagement lags competitors
  • Customer insights: Illustrate frustrations and demands directly from buyer interviews

Secure executive air cover and participation to build momentum.

Train Client-Facing Teams

Your sales and marketing teams are your strategy ambassadors. Invest in training them on:

  • Target audiences and messaging
  • Ideal engagement workflows
  • New software or automation capabilities
  • Updated sales and nurture processes
  • Performance metrics and reporting

Set clear expectations then train for success.

Monitor Data and Optimize

Keep strategy momentum going by analyzing engagement data and buyer feedback consistently for improvement opportunities.

Urge teams to share anecdotes of what is and isn’t resonating with prospects. Workshop messaging changes, new offers, or channel shifts that could boost performance.

Agile, data-driven optimization allows strategies to stay relevant.

Maintain Brand Consistency

While tailoring engagement, ensure brand touchpoints remain on-message. For example:

  • Review new content pieces and campaigns for brand continuity
  • Audit messaging used by reps in sales conversations
  • Assess events and promotional items for consistent branding
  • Survey prospects on brand recollection and perceptions

Consistent experiences drive emotional connections.

Leverage Automation

Identify manual touchpoints to automate for greater efficiency and scale. Options include:

  • Automated lead assignment and routing
  • Triggered multi-channel campaigns
  • Tailored email engagement based on behaviors
  • Personalized web experiences
  • Customized direct mail and gifts

Intelligent automation amplifies human engagement.

Keep the Strategy Dynamic

Treat your document as a living blueprint, not a static artifact.

Revisit quarterly to realign with market shifts, new products, competitive intelligence, and customer feedback. Keep it fresh and relevant.

By maintaining your strategy as the cornerstone for customer engagement, it will continue delivering results.

Key Takeaways

Engaging your ideal customers is not easy, but worth the investment. Here are the key lessons to help craft a winning engagement strategy:

  • Clearly define your target audiences and map detailed buyer journeys. Meet prospects where they are.
  • Build genuine connections through two-way dialog. Make it conversational versus just broadcasting messages.
  • Develop tailored value propositions and messaging for each audience and persona. Hyper-relevance drives engagement.
  • Orchestrate touchpoints across channels for an omnichannel experience. Eliminate silos between teams.
  • Set SMART engagement goals and rigorously track performance data. Continuously optimize and improve.
  • Create polished sales rules of engagement to maximize revenue and retention. Reduce conflicts.
  • Implement the sales model best aligned to your product and customer lifecycle. One size does not fit all.
  • Rally your entire company around engagement – don’t just delegate it to sales and marketing.
  • Treat your engagement strategy as a living document. Adapt it regularly based on market insights.

With a strategic, metric-driven and customer-centric engagement strategy, you gain an unbeatable competitive advantage. The payoff will be game-changing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How often should you refresh your engagement strategy?
A: Review your engagement strategy at least quarterly and make updates as needed based on market insights, new products, changes to your ideal customer profile, and performance data. The strategy should remain a living document.

Q: Who should be involved in developing the engagement strategy?

A: Cross-functional collaboration is key. Bring together sales, marketing, customer success, and executive leadership to align on the strategy.

Q: What metrics should you track for engagement programs?

A: Leading indicators like campaign response rates, sales inquiries, marketing qualified leads, content consumption, and sales pipeline velocity. Also monitor lagging indicators like revenue and customer retention.

Q: How do you calculate the addressable market for an engagement strategy?

A: Estimate your total addressable market (TAM) by determining the number of your ideal customer profile prospects that could realistically buy from you. Then segment the market into penetrated and unpenetrated categories.

Q: What are some common sales engagement models?

A: Transactional, consultative, inbound, outbound, inside sales, field sales, channel sales, and hybrid models. Assess which aligns best to your business.

Q: What should you include in value proposition messaging?

A: Summarize the outcomes and impact your solution drives for specific audiences. Lead with customer needs versus product features.

Q: How do you determine the right sales cadence?

A: Test different contact frequencies by channel and optimize based on response rates, prospect feedback, and revenue outcomes. Avoid overcommunicating.

Q: What makes an engagement strategy document effective?

A: Clear audience profiling, tailored messaging, mapped journeys, optimized channel mix, templated conversations, KPIs, execution roadmap, and resource planning.