m-hance is a reseller of Microsoft and NetSuite cloud software solutions. I joined in a strategic marketing role, working closely with the senior leadership team to drive profitable growth following a challenging FY13.
Challenges I inherited
- The quality of leads passed from marketing to field sales were inconsistent and often not sales-ready. The sales team tended to ignore marketing qualified leads, leading to frustration on both sides.
- The m-hance brand and website were a visual mashup of seven or eight brands that had been acquired by a venture capital firm. Communications during the mergers had been poor, contributing to customer churn.
- As is often the case, as a business we were so busy implementing Dynamics CRM for clients, that our own internal CRM instance was out of order.
What I did
- Rebranded m-hance following market research to better understand our target audience and what kept them up at night. The result was a more professional and emotionally engaging brand that stood out from other tech providers.
- Organised a major UK customer conference to re-engage frustrated clients and communicate our new direction of travel. The one-day event attracted over 130 attendees across five content streams and generated £380,000 in qualified sales opportunities. It was a turning point in how customers perceived the business.
- Worked with the sales team to define lead stages and agree criteria for when a lead was ready for field sales engagement, then built the framework in Dynamics CRM.
- Some leads still weren’t being followed up, so I restructured the telemarketing team, and shifted their focus from cold calling to lead nurturing to ensure all leads were owned until truly sales-ready.
Results
Generated a £9 million pipeline of qualified sales opportunities over two years.