Marketing Superstar Q&A: Mark McCary on Platts’ Revenue Strategy

Over the past six months, there’s been a lot of talk about Revenue Performance Management (RPM) thanks to its potential to make revenue generation a predictable science. Today, one of our most successful clients, Platts, shares their experience with RPM and the strategies they use to improve revenue performance.

Mark McCary, Senior Director of Global Marketing for Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies and the leading global provider of energy information in the physical and futures markets, explained how the company is optimizing its entire revenue cycle through better sales and marketing visibility and alignment.  The results have been nothing short of amazing:  Over the last five years, Platts has sustained double-digit revenue growth and has consistently ranked among the top performing divisions of The McGraw-Hill Companies. A closer look at the Platts’ RPM strategy reveals the source of corporate success: steady and significant performance gains throughout the marketing and sales funnel. Platts has improved lead qualification rate from 30% to 70%, increased lead to opportunity conversion rates from 23% to 31% and increased marketing revenue contribution rate from 22% to 28%.

Platts’ success earned the company a Markie Award this year’s Eloqua Experience, and Mark has been central to the organization’s accomplishments. Following is a brief summary of our conversation with him – I encourage you to download the full interview as well:

What does the term “Revenue Performance” mean to Platts?

Quite simply, RPM means understanding where and how our company is driving revenue. Which sales and marketing channels are contributing and for us driving that all the way back to a marketing and or sales team and eventually to a marketing campaign. It’s important because it pinpoints where and how we can improve as well as where to invest more or less resources.

What led your executive team to demand a more comprehensive view of the revenue cycle at Platts?

There were a few key drivers that lead us to take a hard look at our RPM strategy.  For one, we simply wanted to establish benchmarks for sales and marketing that would enable us to determine where we are today (Sales Acceptance Rate, Lead Follow Up Time, Opportunity Conversion Rates, etc.) so that we could set improvement goals for the future.  Secondly, we are taking a hard look at our sales channels right now and needed to understand which channels were paying off vs. those that were not.

How did you personally become involved in the project? How does this focus at Platts compare to your previous experiences with marketing measurement?

This started out as a Business Process Management project and I was tapped to be the sponsor of the program, which was geared toward improving our lead management process. Having a technology integration between the “unknown” (Webtrends web analytics platform), known prospects (Eloqua’s marketing automation platform) and active buyers (Oracle On Demand CRM) is key to understanding what is and isn’t working at each step in the buying process. The experience really was a departure from what I had done in the past because of the incredible level of detail provided through this integration. My team has access to not only more data, but also more data in context – actionable analysis that we can use to quickly change strategy or redirect marketing and sales resources.

How much attention does your RPM strategy get by the executive team at Platts?

A great deal of attention. The executive team looks at these numbers in detail at least once a month. They understand that the metrics uncovered by our RPM strategy are key drivers to future revenue so they pay attention to them, and, more importantly, to how sales and marketing are taking action based on the results. They are also reviewed in our Sales and Marketing Monthly Operating Reports.

Do you think your quest for “one view of the truth” at Platts is part of a broader, more fundamental change in how the marketing and sales functions collaborate in business today? How do you see these teams evolving at Platts?

It’s certainly a big shift in thinking for sales and marketing. We (marketing) have gone from a one dimensional demand generation engine to a more strategic part of the organization. We are looking at the customer buying cycle beyond just the top of the funnel to how marketing can help with sales velocity and increasing close rates.  As I have said many times, sales and marketing alignment is a journey not a destination so it’s constantly evolving.

Download the rest of the interview to read about:

-       Key metrics tracked as part of the Platts’ RPM strategy

-       One View of the Truth at Platts – sample dashboards

-       Key process changes required for RPM

-       Challenges on the road to RPM and how they were overcome