Hello Fellow B2B Marketers, this weekly blog post highlights our ongoing research focused on B2B revenue acceleration, as well as an exclusive look into what outputs you can expect in the coming weeks. Kick off your week here every Monday to get a burst of support for your professional success.

Forrester hosts its Sales Enablement Forum in Scottsdale, Arizona, on March 4 and 5, 2013. Attendees will engage as a community with a shared focus on driving revenue, hear success stories in process from leading practitioners, become immersed in the latest research outputs and survey data from Forrester, and enjoy one-on-one conversations with analysts and each other, all in the comfort of the Camelback Inn Resort & Spa. This week, Marketing Mondays spotlights some of our guest speakers.

One of the unique things we do at our Forum is to feature some of our Sales Enablement Ambassadors as key note speakers.  Ambassadors are, first and foremost, leading examples of how to create SE as a strategic function.  At the event, they engage proactively with attendees in conversations about what they are learning, what they plan to do, and what they want or need that is missing.  That way, they can connect attendees to other Ambassadors, each other "oh, I heard a similar story from John B., you two should find time to talk," or to someone at Forrester in a one-on-one meeting.  In addition to their connecting role, they will help Scott Santucci wrap up the event by sharing the distillate of what was valued and the "ah has" of others in a structured final session. 

 

Tamara Schenk, Vice President, Sales Enablement, T-Systems and a Sales Enablement Ambassador, has made exceptional progress with her executive team in assembling the end-to-end systems of support for distinct sales teams at her company.  On the main stage, she will share both that journey, with its highs and lows, and her plans for 2013 so we can all have some rich conversations with her offstage as well.

 

 

Another focus in our events is on the value of sponsors who, like you, are in the trenches working to figure out the new practices and disciplines to effective revenue acceleration. All our sponsors are compiling case studies of Forrester's design so you can readily understand who they help, what they help with, and what impact they have had for other companies.  Furthermore, we structure the "Revenue Lab" to maximize useful sharing of stories and ideas that the sponsors have gleaned from working with others. We view our sponsors and brothers in arms in the battle for revenue acceleration, and they prepare to share in that vein.

  

Mark O'Connell, President and CEO, SAVO Group (left) and Kevin X. Strange, VP, Sales and Channel Sales Enablement, Verint Systems, will be presenting on the main stage and exemplify the value of learning from the experiences of others.  Mark will set up Kevin who will share how Verint tackled its enablement challenge, including the highs and lows, and what role SAVO played in their progress to date.  I know you will find this approach to our main stage presentations refreshing.

 

 

In our track sessions, we also feature leading practitioners, with a more focused look at one area of execution as the goal.  That way, attendees can hear from and interact with their peers and really dig into the details of how things got done at a given company working on a specific initiative. We leave plenty of time for Q&A and welcome the interruption, because we know these are the practical insights you need to go home and take action.

 

David Barber, Vice President, State and Local Government, Software AG, is a great example of digging in and doing something differently, with an impressive result to boot.  I won't spill his story, but if you have had the experience of a great plan, and near zero success, in going after a new audience with your great products, you won't want to miss learning from Dave what it took to turn that around with a specific sales team going after a specific new set of buyers.  

                                  

 

One more example of our great lineup of practical advice comes from the world of demand generation. Lots of you are investing in automation of your lead management process, and many of you share how the silos of activity and multiple handoffs are a source of both complexity and a lack of end-to-end control or results.  But it can be done!                           

 

Kristin Wagner Steinmetz, Director, Demand Generation, Perceptive Software, will present in our track on lead-to-revenue management along with Lori Wizdo of Forrester in this tell-all session on what it took to change minds and processes both at Perceptive, and get results that most of our clients would love to duplicate.

 

 

 

Thank you for reading. Tune in next Monday for more previews for the SE Forum.

 

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If you wish to learn more about a topic, schedule an inquiry by visiting the respective analyst’s homepage.  Also, explore the linked content on this First Look and look at our Planned Research to keep track of all the content being published over the next few months.