marketing's silent killer...
the great resignation

How executive changes are challenging marketing’s effectiveness more than ever before.

By Nick Miles

A few weeks ago, while following up with a client that we had been working with for years, I received notice that they were no longer with the company. While their departure did come as a surprise, the bigger shock was learning that several more key contacts had also resigned.

Enter the Great Resignation of 2021

Around the globe, millions of forward-thinking disruptors, including senior level executives and VP’s, are leaving their jobs at warp speed. Many of them are moving into new companies, in new roles that are fully remote, or present better opportunities. In this article by the Harvard Business Review, global researchers deep-dive into the staggering statistics.

What’s the impact on business?

This accelerated human resource reallocation is weakening the agility of key account contact data in B2B businesses across industries.

Contact data loses its accuracy by 2% each month. With the great resignation, we’ve seen that number triple to 6%. Compound that by 12 months and suddenly it turns into a shocking 72%!

While the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we hosted coffee meetings and conducted face-to-face sales interactions, this ripple effect is now intensifying the fight to connect with the right people digitally.

If you don’t have accurate details of VP and C-Suite contacts, then you’re going to lose to the competition very quickly.

The fundamentals never change (Right Data + Right Message = Right Opportunities)

Sales and marketing teams must remain focused on fuelling the strategic objectives of the organization by reviewing their data strategy, conducting a thorough audit, and enhancing their contact data with the most up to date information to secure quick wins.

How well these teams can manage and maintain this data will determine the degree of their long-term success.

Fix your data or your ROI will fail

Sales won’t win in the short run unless they are meeting the right people at the right time in the buyer journey. Not only do sellers need to have complete coverage of their target market to run a successful ABM strategy, but to also maintain a healthy sales pipeline. Having all the right contacts in the right roles has a direct impact on the revenue, ROI, campaign metrics and KPI’s. The numbers don’t lie.

Marketing with precision

Going to market with outdated contact information is as dangerous as going to war at night with rubber bullets and no night vision goggles.  To give your marketing the edge that it needs to survive the great resignation, your data needs to be complete, up-to-date, and aligned with your strategic objectives so you can focus on driving your campaigns that get in front of the right people. Your sales pipeline will thank you.

Leveraging the great resignation

Time isn’t on your side, don’t waste it by contacting the wrong people, it’s not a good look for you or your company’s brand.

Make your time work for you by getting your message delivered with absolute certainty – to the right people the first time around.

If your contacts have left, or moved on, don’t panic, follow the double play:

1. Expand your network within the existing account to build new relationships with relevant decision makers.

2. Don’t lose the old with the new – Follow your key contacts to their new companies and build leverage within the new market.

As your contact data grows manage it in real time so that it becomes highly targeted ammunition to fuel your ABM engagement strategy.

The most brilliant marketing and sales message is useless if it fails to reach your audience.

So, before you deploy your next outreach, think about the best way to stay ahead of those executive changes and communicate with absolute confidence knowing that it’s reaching the RIGHT people.

To learn more about how the great resignation is affecting sales and marketing, contact Nick Miles.

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In time of dramatic change, with technologies and behaviors changing faster than ever before, our core principles and experience enable us to provide a timeless framework to deliver results where others repeatedly fail. Based on years of research, centering on deep fundamental truths and taking our own knowledge and customer successes, the alignment and awareness of these 3 focus areas, working independently or seamlessly together, we ultimately deliver a greater return on investment for our customers.