#20 The Good Things That Come From Sales & Marketing Alignment

ABOUT THE GUEST - JENNY KNIGHTING, FOUNDER AND CEO AT THE NUTCRACKER AGENCY 

Jenny has worked with a number of ambitious start-ups, leading commercial strategy and making bold business growth plans a reality. With a wealth of experience in media, manufacturing, services and events, Jenny brings a unique creativity and perspective to every launch, scale and strategy. As founder and CEO of Nutcracker Agency, Jenny has led her team to win multiple awards, including finalist in the Best New Business at The National Business Awards. Since launching Nutcracker in 2014, the business has grown 60% year on year, helping countless clients in a wide range of industries to fulfill their vision through targeted, exciting and results-driven marketing. 

You can find Jenny on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-knighting-a948501/
 
You can find The Nutcracker Agency web site here: 
https://www.nutcrackeragency.com/
 
You can reach Jenny by email here:  
[email protected]

 
ABOUT THE EPISODE:  

Jenny has a unique perspective as the main driver of sales at an agency focused on marketing. As such, sales and marketing alignment are as much a critical internal issue as it is a service they offer to their clients. In this episode, Jenny talks about how Nutcracker adapted their approach to new business development during the changes that arose at the start of the COVID crisis in the first half of 2020 and also about some general sales and marketing alignment issues that evolved from that experience as well as the experiences of a diverse range of clients.  

0:50 - What’s the best sales advice Jenny has ever received?  

2:46 - What’s the worst sales advice that Jenny ever heard?  

6:15 - Jenny offers some background on Nutcracker pre-Covid to set up a conversation about how they adjusted to the changes that came with Covid  

9:00 - How Jenny and Nutcracker addressed the negative revenue bump that came with Covid  

11:00 - How Jenny and Nutcracker refined the approach of the BDR team to adjust to the new Q2 2020 reality we all faced  

12:20 - How sales and marketing alignment supercharged outbound efforts  

14:30 - What changed when sales and marketing became more aligned within Nutcracker?  

16:30 - David talks about the importance of clear expectations about expectations and Jenny adds to the thoughts about how proper KPIs contribute to that  

18:03 - Should the SDR/BDR be a part of sales or marketing and why?  

21:00 - How to decide if the SDR/BDR role is a sales or a marketing function in your organization?  

22:15 - How proper marketing can impact effective sales efforts and diminish the need for a high activity model, and allow organizations to move towards a more quality-focused approach?  

25:50 - What are some of the best resources that have helped Jenny along the way?  

27:45 - How to reach Jenny and Nutcracker