It never ceases to amaze me how business leaders perceive marketing.

The other day on a flight from Los Angeles, I had an interesting conversation with Greg, a CEO of a growing company. Greg’s company offers B2B business intelligence software and has revenues of just under $50 million. The extent of their marketing investment has favored SEM and is augmented with a sprinkling of events and partner activities. As we taxied down the runway, the information Greg gave me made it pretty clear his business had performed extremely well, even lacking a thoughtful, well-defined marketing plan.

So with a marketing guy held captive 30,000 feet in the air, and a board of directors demanding the company take “it” to the next level, Greg wanted answers. The conversation ensued, punctuated with the question seasoned marketers hate hearing: “What is the ONE thing I can do to double the number of qualified leads in my sales funnel?”

Rather than bore you with the details, I’ll jump to the conclusion of Greg’s in-flight attempt to extract the secret marketing algorithm. You marketers know which one I’m talking about. For non-marketers, spoiler alert! You won’t like what you’re about to hear.

Small and mid-market businesses that have grown revenue organically by executing basic, but effective, marketing tactics are already harvesting the low-hanging fruit available in their market. Refinement of those tactics can improve results, but sadly there isn’t ONE thing that magically doubles the flow of high-quality sales leads.

As a business expands into more sophisticated markets, strategies and execution also must evolve in sophistication. Campaigns must recognize that a complex sale is made up of the many unique interests of multiple buyers who influence the final decision. Only by taking a holistic approach of exploiting a combination of marketing disciplines will a business experience continued growth and success. Given the complexities of moving up-stream and targeting enterprise customers, leveraging true market experience and valuable insight should be the foundation of any marketing action.

As the plane touched down, I noticed the agonizing expression of disappointment on Greg’s face. And in that moment I enjoyed a mental visual – that created an uncontrolled chuckle – of the day Greg learned the truth about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.

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