Insource or Outsource? 7 Key Roles to Create Your Revenue Machine

When I was younger, my dad liked to change the oil in our family’s cars. It would take him way too long and he looked like he was swimming in oil after he was done. And my mom would always get PO’ed because he’d get oil all over the driveway.

Insourcing or outsourcing is a decision we all make on both personal and professional levels. My dad could have easily gone down the street to Jiffylube to have the experts do it but he made things harder on himself (although he seemed to enjoy it) by doing it himself.

When it comes to marketing and sales, what is your insourcing/outsourcing strategy? In this post, I’ll cover a few resourcing approaches to developing your own marketing revenue machine.

What is a Revenue Machine?
A revenue machine refers to how leads move from their creation through to revenue in a repeatable and measurable manner. Getting there requires a mix of expertise/people, technology and processes.

Your Lifecycle is Like a Race Car

Applying this concept to your business, developing repeatable Marketing and Sales initiatives is much more complex. According to Marketing Sherpa, 68% of B2B organizations have not identified their funnel. Why? Organizations need people, processes and technology to make it work and those aren’t easy to pull together.

Forget about an oil change–we are talking about a finely tuned race car when it comes to your lead lifecycle.

The dilemma: How much of this should your organization build on its own? When should your organization bring in outside help?

Planning Resources for Success: Seven Roles to Consider

In a previous post, I outlined 6 steps to transform your lifecycle into a revenue machine. But how do you put that blueprint into action?

Whether you look externally for assistance or rely on internal assistance, the funnel is one of the most important strategy-to-execution items your organization will deploy. Here are a few roles to consider to help make your funnel a success.

Executive Driver

This is usually your CEO or President who makes sure the organization is marching towards the end goal of a repeatable funnel.

Internal or External? Internal. I don’t see too many external CEOs.

Sales Captain

The Sales Captain makes sure strategy is set with the Sales team to ensure a smooth rollout.

Internal or External? Internal. Your Sales reps listen to their leader. However, an external resource can help bring best practice insights on the importance of Sales processes.

Marketing Captain

In this role, The Marketing Captain sets the agenda for how leads should convert to revenue from a marketing perspective. This is usually the CMO, VP of Marketing or similar level.

Internal or External? Internal. (Although an external resource can help with the strategy).

The Funnel Strategist

The Funnel Strategist has done it before and should be well versed on all aspects of the funnel. This person knows where the bodies are buried and understands the political and process issues that exist with a funnel strategy. Usually, the head of Marketing Ops or Director of Marketing quarterbacks this process.

Internal or External? External. OK, maybe I am a little biased here but until you go through the ringer a few times, I’d recommend going external. Of course, if you are fortunate enough to have the talent in-house, consider internal.

The Technology Wizard

Typically, this is your marketing ops person who will translate the funnel requirements into your CRM and marketing automation platforms.

Internal or External? External. Does it make sense to fumble around building a framework that someone externally does regularly? Like the Funnel Strategist, if you are fortunate enough to have an in-house whiz that’s done it before, internal is an option.

The Process Driver

This is such an important role at rollout and beyond. This person stays on top of everyone to follow process. For example, if a Sale rep is not changing a Lead Status properly, this person is on the rep like white on rice. This role is usually someone in Sales Ops.

Internal or External? Internal. You need someone on location daily who can stay on top of employees. An external resource can certainly help with best practice workshops and training, but external usually won’t work on  a day-to-day basis.

The Insight Master

This role is responsible for putting together all the funnel reports and providing insight.

Internal or External? Internal or External. If you have an analyst that knows data (and how to interpret it), go internal. Otherwise, look externally.

Wrapup

Whether your organization chooses to go internal or external, developing a revenue machine is an investment of resources across your organization. Make sure to set strategy to ensure-long term success by creating the proper team.

Other Resources

Looking to get a few other insights? Check out a few articles here.

The post Insource or Outsource? 7 Key Roles to Create Your Revenue Machine appeared first on RevEngine Marketing.

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At Digital Pi, we use technology to connect revenue to marketing efforts. We fuse marketing strategies, processes, data and applications to make marketing technology solutions work for clients' businesses.

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