Why MQL is a Terrible Metric?

Shownotes

In this episode, Peter discusses the problems with the traditional “marketing qualified lead” (MQL) metric, arguing that it doesn’t accurately reflect the relationship between marketing and sales, and suggests focusing on “marketing qualified accounts” (MQAs) instead. Bregman emphasizes the importance of aligning marketing, sales, service, and product teams around a shared go-to-market strategy and customer-centric approach. He also provides recommendations for using AI in marketing to empower sales teams, as well as books, podcasts, and industry experts that listeners should check out.

Best Moments

• 04:12
  Peter Bregman discusses his background in marketing automation and go-to-market strategy, including his experience building demand generation teams and managing large Salesforce deployments.
• 07:35
  Peter argues that the concept of "lead generation" is flawed and that marketers should focus on educating prospects and aligning with sales, rather than just generating leads.
• 11:41
  Peter shares his perspective on using AI in marketing, emphasizing that it should be used to empower sales teams, not replace them and that it requires a specific use case and enough data to be effective.
• 15:50
  When asked about the biggest challenge in B2B marketing, Peter emphasizes the importance of aligning sales and marketing teams as the foundational step for addressing other challenges.

About the guest

Peter Bregman is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience propelling organizational growth across diverse sectors. Peter has expertly navigated complex business landscapes, assisting various companies, from startups to Fortune 150s, in both B2B and B2C markets. His approach emphasizes collaboration and building strong alliances across Marketing, Sales, Product, and Tech teams to ensure success. Committed to delivering actionable strategies, Peter empowers businesses to drive substantial growth through strategic innovation.

Connect with Peter Bregman

Key takeaways

• The traditional “marketing qualified lead” (MQL) metric is flawed and doesn’t accurately reflect the relationship between marketing and sales. Marketers should focus on “marketing qualified accounts” (MQAs) instead.
• Aligning marketing, sales, service, and product teams around a shared go-to-market strategy and customer-centric approach is crucial for successful B2B growth.
  
• AI can be a valuable tool in marketing, but it should be used to empower sales teams, not replace them. The key is finding specific use cases and having enough data to train the AI models effectively.

Quotes

“Quality Matters way more than quantity, prospects have to be at the right place in their buying cycle, the ideal customer profile has to match, and generating a whole bunch of leads is really just resulting in bad conversion metrics, distrust between marketing and sales.” -Peter Bregman

Highlights from this episode

What is the problem with marketing qualified leads (MQLs) as a metric, and how should organizations think about replacing it?

According to Peter Bregman, the main problem with marketing qualified leads (MQLs) as a metric is that it is based on the outdated idea that marketing and sales are completely separate, with marketing’s sole purpose being to generate leads for sales to close. Bregman argues that this leads to a focus on quantity over quality, poor conversion rates, and distrust between marketing and sales.

To replace MQLs, Peter suggests that organizations should focus on “marketing qualified accounts” (MQAs) or move towards a revenue operations approach that aligns marketing, sales, service, and product teams around a shared go-to-market strategy and customer-centric approach. The key is to identify the ideal customer profile, understand the customer journey, and work collaboratively to educate and nurture prospects rather than just generate leads. Metrics should focus on engagement, intent, and how well prospects match the ideal customer profile, rather than just lead volume.

How can AI be used effectively in B2B marketing, and what are the key considerations?

According to Peter Bregman, AI can be used effectively in B2B marketing, but the key is to use it to empower and assist human teams, not replace them. Some of the key considerations he mentions include:

• AI works best when there is a specific use case or problem to solve, rather than just using AI for the sake of using it.
• Organizations need to have enough high-quality data to properly train the AI models for them to be effective.
• AI can be used to provide sales development representatives (SDRs) with valuable insights and intelligence to make them more effective, rather than trying to replace SDRs with virtual AI agents.
• The customer experience should always be the top priority when using AI, ensuring that it enhances the experience rather than detracting from it.

Overall, he emphasizes that AI should be used as a tool to complement and empower human teams, not as a replacement for them and that organizations need to have a clear strategy and sufficient data to use AI effectively in their B2B marketing efforts.

Should sales development representatives (SDRs) report to marketing instead of sales, and what are the pros and cons of that approach?

According to Peter Bregman, whether SDRs should report to marketing or sales depends on the size and structure of the organization:

Pros of SDRs reporting to marketing:

• In smaller organizations, it can work well to align the outreach teams (SDRs) with marketing, especially for prospects in the awareness and research stages.
• This can help ensure tight alignment between marketing and inside sales teams.

Cons of SDRs reporting to marketing:

• In larger organizations, it can be more challenging to maintain alignment between the SDRs reporting to marketing and the field sales teams.
• There needs to be careful consideration of how the SDRs are compensated and organized to ensure they are still effectively working with the sales teams.

Overall, Bregman emphasizes that the most important thing is to ensure there is tight alignment between marketing and sales teams, regardless of the reporting structure. Regular meetings and a shared go-to-market strategy are key, even if the SDRs don’t report directly to marketing.

Resource recommendations

Books

– “Invisible Rulers” by Renee de Resta – A fascinating look at how influence and ideas spread on the internet and the creation of “bespoke realities” on social media.

Podcasts

– “Planet Money” – An entertaining economics podcast

– “Hard Fork” – A podcast covering the state of technology

– “In Depth” from First Round Capital – Interviews with founders of companies they’ve invested in

Shout-outs

– Tiffany Gonzalez – Runs revenue operations at Microsoft and has been writing insightful content about complex sales and marketing issues, as well as metrics.

– Charlie Liang – Previously the head of marketing at Engagio (acquired by Demandbase), and now VP at Kula. He writes a lot of great content on go-to-market strategy, engagement, martech, and outbound sales.

– Abby Kelsey – Specializes in helping B2B companies with social selling, particularly on LinkedIn, which is becoming an increasingly important platform for B2B sales.