Sales Marries Marketing was an organic outgrowth of our individual careers and relationship / partnership.

We share an office, and often collaborate on our individual projects and naturally discuss the subjects of sales and marketing throughout our days together. Sales Marries Marketing is our shared vision and we bring it to life on our podcast where we share with you our passion, affinity for working SMART, teaching/sharing our knowledge and experience, living authentically, supporting others, creating a catalyst for your growth, and giving of service to others.

Nicholas
Nicholas has been a consummate team player and Bon Vivant his entire life. His personal mantra is I hate losing more than I like winning.  His leadership qualities were honed in the United States Marine Corps as a 0311 Infantry Marine. There he developed a focus on improvisation, adapting and always overcoming obstacles put in his path and in front of his team.  Semper Fidelis is not a just a saying, it is a way of being.

As a Sales Professional with high emotional intelligence, and 25+ years of successful strategic enterprise sales experience, he consistently exceeds quota while driving market share for leading SAAS, software and technology organizations.  He has proven account-based marketing skills with the ability to develop, manage and whitespace within large complex strategic accounts.

The preparation and presentation of specific targeted business use cases; based on client-specific critical success factors as always been central to his success. He manages professional relationships and presentations to C-suite executives in these industries: retail, media, finance and healthcare. Nicholas also posesses a deep understanding of executing Agile Methodologies.

He played college football and track and rugby in the Marines. He continues to be an avid sportsman, skier and hiker with his rescue dog Hank Dombrowski.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

“Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from Mediocre Minds” – Albert Einstein

Donna
A huge fan of inbound marketing, Donna has helped clients grow their web traffic through blogging, email marketing and social media. Mostly through the use of blogging, one of Blue Circle’s clients raised their website traffic by over 400% and leads by 200%.

During a stint as a Senior Digital Strategist, Donna created digital, website, brand and marketing strategies for clients in B2B and B2C companies, both traditional and eCommerce.

Basically a homebody and computer geek, Donna enjoys being social from the comfort of her desk. But she will go out to teach seminars on Social Media, including Linkedin, facebook and Twitter.

Recent speaking engagements include Fashion Digital, The CEO Network, Shopify / Refersion Meetup and the Digital Innovation Conference in NYC on on topics such as eCommerce, Influencer Marketing and Digital Marketing.

Join us as we drink wine, share what we are reading, ruminate about business and what excites us about the future of marketing and sales. We are always interested in opening a dialogue and hearing about what gets you fired up. If you have something extraordinary that you want to share, we would love to invite you to contact us for a guest spot on the podcast.

Sales Marries Marketing Using a Multi-Channel Account Based Digital Strategy
The best scenario is that marketing is going to deliver high-quality leads to sales, sales  is going to follow up on the leads, and turn them into revenue for  the company.

For all the time marketers and salespeople spend refining and optimizing their team processes, it’s worth devoting just as much time to improving their alignment with each other..

Think about this: Companies with closely aligned sales and marketing teams have a 38 percent higher sales win rate, and 36 percent higher customer retention rate, according to MarketingProfs.

Buyers use social media to research purchases and evaluate brands.

72% of buyers use social media to research before making a purchase. They’re looking up product and brand information. They’re checking references. They’re asking the opinion of their connections and your customers.

Source: DemandGen 2013 B2B Buyer Behavior Survey

Your social media presence is your introduction to these buyers. In fact, 81% are more likely to engage with a strong, professional brand. The social selling model ensures that your company’s brand will encourage buyers to  seek you out.

Source: LinkedIn Global Survey of 1,500 B2B Decision Makers and Influencers, May 2014

Why Social Selling?
Multiple decision makers are becoming  more prevalent.

The single-threaded approach—a salesperson forming a relationship with one decision maker—is becoming less effective. Research shows the average B2B opportunity  has 6.8 decision makers involved. Helping buyers reach  a decision requires multiple points of contact in the company. Instead of following through with only one prospect, sales professionals must go deeper into the buying team’s structure, creating and building many relationships. Social selling enables you to leverage extended networks to find those multiple contact points.

Disruption can be a good thing.
There’s no denying that it takes some work to restructure an entire business around social selling. It’s just easier to keep doing what you’ve always done.

Fortunately, digital disruption means it’s no longer an option to maintain the status quo. Traditional sales and marketing methods are becoming less and less effective. Businesses that embrace social selling are increasing organizational success. It’s time to adapt and thrive.

Sales and marketing both can use social selling to influence the buyer at any point of their journey. Read on to learn the value of social selling, who owns it, and how to implement it to achieve optimal organizational alignment and social selling success.

“The key to digital transformation is re-envisioning and driving change in how the company operates. That’s a management and people challenge, not just a technology one.”

—   Capgemini Consulting, Digital Transformation Report