2024 will be remembered by ML for the significant impact it had on the world of B2B sales. As we worked through the market slowdown and the resulting change in buyer behavior, we cultivated a unique blend of new tools and practices to improve the way we approached our markets.
Here are our Top Five Predictions for which of these will have the most impact on building predictable sales pipelines. Our “crystal ball” for identifying these is simple. It’s a blend of qualitative and quantitative evidence from our regular client surveys, intel we gather from every client program interaction we have, and from our position on the front lines of B2B sales.
ABM involves strategically selecting accounts that afford the most opportunity and then curating programs to attract them. It’s a great business practice. However, what has been missing is an ABS strategy to turn those MQLs into revenue. ML has been practicing ABS for years. In 2024, we saw many of our clients really begin to invest in our ABS services to move their ABM strategies forward.
In late 2023, we conducted a Client Quality Assessment survey to understand how our clients planned to respond to economic uncertainty, and they said they would invest more in ABM. And that is exactly what happened. But the most forward looking also integrated ABS into the mix. Clients that engaged our team to provide ABS services, saw an ROI that has led to a continuation and expansion of projects. Their sales teams benefit from our prework on their behalf and, in response, are collaborating more closely with us and winning deals.
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And speaking of Client Quality Assessments, these along with other VoC initiatives like Win/Loss Analysis and Market Research, are on the rise. New market conditions and technologies caused a change in the needs and behaviors of buyers. Hearing directly from your target market is the best way to understand what you need to do in response. VoC programs support data-driven decision-making.
In 2024, we saw a revival of VoC programs to re-establish connections with existing clients, to better understand the competitive landscape, and to support expansion into new markets. Some of these were conducted by in-house resources, but many clients retained ML to conduct them, recognizing that participants are often more forthcoming with intel when speaking to neutral third parties. One notable client has conducted VoC programs through us for years and cited that staying close to their client base was one reason they successfully navigated these volatile last few years.
Related Content: Why Should You Conduct Client Quality Assessments?
A.I. technologies have been widely adopted by ML. Last year, what became evident was that A.I. alone isn’t enough. A.I.’s real power is unleashed when combined with the experience your people bring to the table. Incorporating a human element before using A.I., throughout the process, and then again at the end to properly apply the outcomes elevates ROI. This is where seasoned, experienced sales and marketing team members are invaluable.
Proof Point – We have found that combining seasoned sales expertise with the power of A.I. leads to better outcomes, faster execution, and more consistent and strategic building of your sales pipeline. We’re continuing to test and improve our strategies here and will be doubling down in this area in 2025.
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MQLs from sources like trade shows, digital marketing efforts, and existing relationships will get the attention they deserve in 2025. These warm leads have a higher potential to turn into new business but have been traditionally overlooked for a variety of reasons.
ML builds out a strategic list of net new targets for our clients, but we always encourage adding their warm leads from other marketing activities into our pipeline to accelerate success. We find quicker traction comes from proactive outreach to leads that have reacted to marketing efforts or been exposed to your brand and offering in some other way.
The results of “accelerating” these warm leads were eye-opening in 2024. In one case, the ML team converted over 40% of the leads we reached by phone to discovery calls (this is double the typical conversion), and over 70% of those discovery calls entered the sales pipeline.
Related Content: These 3 Things Are Working Right Now to Build Sales Pipeline.
LinkedIn Post: A La Carte Services to Accelerate your Leads
This is perhaps our biggest learning from 2024. Existing clients that had established trusted relationships with ML, extended and even expanded programs with us. This on its own is nothing new (although we broke records here last year), but what was new was the change in signing net new clients. Predominantly driven by even tighter budgets, it was harder than usual to convert our prospects into clients. It wasn’t enough for us to say, “We Are the Experts You Can Trust;” we had to do a better job of proving it.
ML introduced an option to conduct POCs to build confidence that an investment in ML would pay off. To date, we are seeing remarkable results. For one client, the POC we conducted in Q2 was so successful they tripled the size of their project in Q3 and have extended it into 2025.
I’m going to borrow this closing from our CEO, Lara Triozzi’s last blog because it summarizes perfectly how we do business.
“At ML, our best-in-class processes, our investment in technology, and our commitment to data analytics are all designed to proactively drive conversations. But it’s the human element led by our highly skilled and seasoned professionals that gets our customers in front of the right people at the right time.”
We believe that this intelligent approach will create success for you, too! If you have questions, drop me a line. We would be especially interested in hearing what strategies you believe will be successful this year!
Thanks for reading.
Mary