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Q&A
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Go to www.b2bm.biz/technology for more on technology
Bridging the gap
Steve Woods, chief technology officer at demand generation technology company Eloqua, says
new applications have the potential to fundamentally and irrevocably change the nature of the
relationship between sales and marketing – for the better. He spoke with Joel Harrison
Joel Harrison: What’s your role at JH: How does this compare with the JH: So is this about making sales
Eloqua, and how long have you been traditional model of how software has redundant?
there? been utilised in marketing? SW: No, it is about making them more
Steve Woods: I’m one of the three SW: Our earliest clients, such as Sybase effective. In the old days, marketers might
founders of the company, so I’ve been who we’ve been working with for five take a stand at an exhibition and come
here since the beginning about eight years have continued to grow and evolve back with a basket full of 200 business
years ago. As chief technology officer in terms of how they use our solutions. cards, and present these to sales as
I’m not just focused on the technology We keep asking them to challenge their ‘leads’. Sales would respond that these
side of the organisation; I also work very assumptions. This is very different to the were almost useless as they are totally
closely with customers and with the field ‘install-and-leave’ model of technology. unqualified. Our solution is designed to
sales team. My aim is to find out what On the other hand, we have other help marketers provide qualified leads, to
marketers – who are our customers – clients who just want the technology. We help sales perform better and help them
are going through, and then translate have different ways of working with fill the gap.
this into something which we can build different clients.
in order to assist them. So it’s an JH: Traditionally there’s been a big
external role with an internal focus, JH: How has marketing changed since divide between sales and marketing,
and I’m really enjoying addressing your solution first became available? which sometimes suits both parties.
these challenges. SW: The fundamental change is that the How do marketers typically respond to
web has become the dominant force and your philosophy? Are they warm to it?
JH: What are the issues that marketers key information resource in what we call SW: We’re seeing more and more
are currently facing? the ‘considered purchase’ environment. marketers switching on to it, and a steady
SW: Marketing is a creative profession at Considered purchase is where the buying growth of interest over time. The
heart. To date, they’ve not had the process is complex and the decision audience which has been most
support in terms of technological maker requires lots of information to enthusiastic most quickly are the
infrastructure that other senior functions reach their conclusion. Such clients are a technology marketers. They have an
of the organisation have enjoyed. perfect fit for our platform. This includes advantage in that they understand
Accounts, for example, would always B2B areas such as technology and technology. They are often also under
work with a system of record to assist financial services, but also business-to- pressure to achieve challenging growth
them in their work. consumer markets such as real estate. targets to meet with shareholders’
Eloqua’s objective is to provide this expectations. They’ve been the perfect
infrastucture, but that’s a big challenge JH: Why is the web so important? client base for us. More recently we’ve
for a function such as marketing which SW: Websites, blogs, social media, had more interest from other sectors such
has lots of different business processes downloads etc. are the tools which people as finance.
and different ‘moving parts’. We need to use to help them with decision making.
show them that technology can help This has had a significant impact on sales JH: There are lots of marketing
without creating additional constraints. and marketing. Previously it was down to applications already in use – is it hard
the face-to-face salesman to use the body to convince marketers that they need
JH: How do you help marketers use language and nuances of behaviour and another one?
technology? Do you tailor solutions to speech to understand the attitude and SW: There are lots of individual
their specific requirements? response of decision makers. But the applications or marketing components
SW: It’s important to recognise that move online means there is no longer any out there, and often companies are using
technology is only part of the solution – physical body language to analyse. Our several different systems that may not be
it’s also about the people and the technology is aimed at helping companies compatible. The unique value that we
products etc. Depending on the to effectively see the digital body offer is that we pull them all together in a
organisation, we can offer guidance to language of their prospects and really way that makes sense. This allows
help them change their processes. understand their activity online. For organisations to view all of their
We work with clients to help example, how did they respond to your marketing activities coherently sense,
benchmark their activities, and then set email? When did they go to your website? rather than needing to stitch something
measurable objectives. We can then How long did they spend there? Which together themselves.
demonstrate accountability and pages did they look at?
deliverability. It’s about showing the This then allows companies to see JH: That kind of solution must require
impact of marketing, and it’s very which leads are worth following up with a significant ongoing investment in
important to get feedback and foster a sales call or visit. Those leads which are development.
collaborative approach with clients. We not worth following up can be kept in the SW: It does. We’re very focused on
benefit enormously from the collaboration marketing cycle, aiming to spark their development and innovation. We’ve got a
– we learn a lot from each client. interest in future. development team in Toronto, and we
B2BM MAY 08 – www.b2bm.biz
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