The data doesn't lie: If you are not in the consideration set for a buyer before they begin their buying journey, you have less than a 5% chance of closing that deal.

It pays to be top of mind, and B2B marketers do that with brand awareness. In this episode of Closing Time, Insightly CMO Chip House speaks with Dale Harrison, a B2B marketing strategist, on why sales leaders should support and encourage their marketing team’s efforts in branding and brand awareness.

Not sure how to communicate the value to your CFO? As a former finance leader, Dale knows how to get buy-in for branding. Find out how in this episode!

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Dale Harrison: LinkedIn

• Chip House: Twitter // LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

When is the right time to review your go-to-market motions for effectiveness? When is a change of motions in order? Many go-to-market leaders get this wrong by waiting until a crisis or downturn and pivoting in a panic.

In this episode of Closing Time, Chris Rack, a sales leader and CEO of the demand gen firm MPR, shares his insights from decades of experience in B2B sales and marketing to help viewers audit their marketing strategy and choose the right go-to-market motion(s) for their business.

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Chris Rack: LinkedIn // MRP's Website

• Val Riley: LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

Increasing Average Contract Value (ACV) can help your business grow faster while staying efficient. Think of it this way: all deals take time, but a $10K deal doesn’t take ten times more work than a $1K deal.

By increasing your ACV, you can grow your revenue without adding more people or technology. As such, ACV is a key metric in the health of a business - particularly in a recurring revenue SaaS business.

In this episode of Closing Time, Insightly CMO Chip House is joined by Hannah Ajikawo, CEO of Revenue Funnel, to talk about 4 ways to increase ACV in your business.

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Hannah Ajikawo: LinkedIn // Revenue Funnel's Website

• Chip House: Twitter // LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

Your company is on a roll; you’re selling your product and beginning to expand, but you’re struggling to align on what to do next.

How do you decide on messaging? In what order should you execute your marketing plan? What is your unique value proposition, and how can you add marketing as a strategic partner to your go-to-market plans?

Jennifer Zick, founder and CEO of Authentic, joins Closing Time to help B2B marketing leaders "Overcome Random Acts of Marketing®" and move toward a marketing strategy that drives your business forward.

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Jennifer Zick: LinkedIn // Authentic's Website

• Chip House: Twitter // LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

Can you afford to do audience research? The better question may be, can you afford NOT to? Most marketers are doing typical market research right, but when it comes to audience research, they're missing the mark.

Audience research is exactly what it sounds like: Discovering who your audience is, what they pay attention to, and what sources influence them (publications, podcasts, YouTube channels, etc.). The better you know your customers and how their purchasing decisions are being influenced, the better you can serve them.

In this episode of Closing Time, Insightly CMO Chip House welcomes Rand Fiskin, CEO of SparkToro, to talk through 3 free or cost-effective audience research options that every marketer can put in their toolkit. 

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Rand Fishkin: LinkedIn // Twitter // SparkToro Website

• Chip House: Twitter // LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

B2B buyers are making one thing clear: They want to research on their own before engaging with a salesperson. What’s shocking is how far into the funnel they get alone, as much as 83% of the way.

We call this the ‘dark funnel’ (also referred to as dark social), and on this Halloween episode of Closing Time, we’re going to break down how marketers can unearth and track what’s going on in the hidden shadows of B2B marketing.

Jen Allen-Knuth, a marketing consultant and evangelist partner at Lavendar.ai joins Val Riley to explain the impact the dark funnel is having on marketing metrics and give you tips on how to simplify your lead categorization in and around it. The dark funnel isn't scary when you know how to make it work for you, instead of against you. Find out how in this episode! 

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Jen Allen: LinkedIn // Social Social // DemandJen // Lavendar.ai

• Val Riley: LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

When done well, a product launch can propel your business forward, engage your prospects, and drive adption. In fact, 79.5% of companies reported launches had a significant impact on revenue.  The challenge?

Orchestrating a successful product launch can be a painful process for product marketers – they require robust research, careful collaboration, and (ideally) a well-thought-out launch checklist to keep your GTM strategy on track and stakeholders aligned. 

Karthik Suresh, co-founder/CPTO of Ignition and former product lead at Facebook, joins Closing Time to guide listeners through an effective launch process where stakeholders from different teams work towards one common goal: Smoothly launching the best product possible that customers will love. Watch the episode on YouTube. 

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Karthik Suresh: Ignition's Website // LinkedIn

• Chip House: Twitter // LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

The perfect sales call…does it really exist? The team at Gong Labs might be able to answer. They have analyzed one billion sales calls to help sellers like you build trust, keep buyers engaged, and, ultimately, close more deals.

On this episode of Closing Time, we welcome Udi Ledergor of Gong, who will provide actionable tips that you can start using tomorrow to make your next sales call better. How to open a call, how to talk about pricing, and is it OK to swear now and then? You learn all this and more.

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Udi Ledergor: LinkedIn // Gong Labs

• Val Riley: LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

In the age where personalization and understanding sales prospects shows a big improvement in close rates and deal sizes, why is it that most reps still don’t do enough research?

In this episode of Closing Time, Chip talks with Justin Fite of J3 Consulting about a new way to conduct sales prospects research, how sales and marketing can align on ideal targets, and how sales reps can use this information to optimize every opportunity. Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Justin Fite: J3 Consulting // LinkedIn

• Chip House: Twitter // LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a powerful tool for salespeople, but like any app, you’ve got to stay up to date. Recently released features have resulted in some changes that can help sellers streamline the process of finding new leads and making more connections.

In this episode of Closing Time, we welcome Mandy McEwen, founder of Mod Girl Marketing, to talk us through LinkedIn Sales Navigator tips and new features that will turn the platform into a lead-feeding machine. 

Everything from leveraging buyer personas to tracking changes in buyer intent and building hyper-targeted lists – be prepared to level up your prospecting game with these tips. Watch the episode on YouTube.

Want to better align your go-to-market teams? Get a free demo of Insightly's modern, scalable CRM.

Connect With: 

• Mandy McEwen: LinkedIn // Mod Girl Marketing

• Chip House: Twitter // LinkedIn

• Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube