“Do more with less.” Many B2B Marketing leaders are sick and tired of this delusional expectation to drive greater results with fewer resources. We are all feeling the pinch of limited budgets, lay-offs and reduced resources without any consideration of a decrease in revenue and pipeline goals. There is a temptation here to scale from a place of burnout. Not only is this unhealthy for you as an individual, but it’s also ineffective. Do not give in to this temptation. Do not allow yourself to model this behavior to your team and your industry.
We reject this pressure to “Do more with Less.” And commit to the notion that we can “Do less. It’s More.”
We refuse to “create a culture of urgency.”
When we operate from a place of urgency, we are driving momentum from a place of scarcity. It creates a shared feeling of constriction, breathlessness and stress. You may experience short-term results but you are making a bad investment long-term. Furthermore, most of us wouldn’t consciously want to contribute to a team’s lack of well being.
When we are feeling rushed, we aren’t taking the adequate time to slow down and make better business decisions. At DG Marketing, we often see large marketing teams operating from this culture of urgency. We see a decreased rate of employee retention, customer churn and decrease in attainment of revenue goals. More importantly, we see unhappy individuals going through the motions at work without feeling alive.
This general lack of wellbeing does not help you scale nor does it bring you closer in your goals and relationships.
It’s time for us to shift to something greater. We shift this behavior to actively working HARD to SLOW down. When we slow down, we give space for creativity, joy and acceptance. The acceptance part I find the most interesting because often when we are operating with urgency, we are not fully accepting of the current challenges we are faced with. If you’re not going to attain your enterprise revenue goals this quarter, you have to accept this first before determining solutions. You can not ignore, avoid and deny the reality in which you are faced. Many Demand Generation leaders feel an overwhelming sense of pressure to perform out of a place of fear. But from my experience working in b2b marketing, b2b Sales leaders respect you when you level with them.
From an unwavering acceptance of your current challenges, we are able to look at them as opportunities, without judgement and begin chipping away at them with new solutions. When we slow down, we operate from a place of inspiration and joy. We are devoted to our wellbeing first and in doing this, we cherish opportunities that challenge us and begin to succeed from a place of partnership, hope and creativity.
We refuse to increase the volume of marketing activities for the sake of “doing more.”
One of the most common things I see in b2b marketing roles is a flurry of activity occurring that is ultimately not impacting the bottom line. We need to refrain from the temptation to do a high volume of activities that are driven by impulsive decision making.
We move towards scaling with smart marketing strategies and drive accountability throughout the organization. We stop doing all activities that are not focused on the bottom line goals.
If you’re not sure how to effectively act on this principle, then there is opportunity to define what your priorities are. Once you’ve defined these, you can define roles and responsibilities and make clear agreements for which activities are done by each role. I personally enjoy branding this new initiative so your entire marketing organization can visibly see who is responsible for each part of your integrated initiative. This visibility drives accountability and collaboration. It unifies your team with a sense of purpose and can create meaningful connections and relationships.
By narrowing our focus, we can bring together teams and departments in a more cohesive way, working towards a common goal. Account-based marketing is one revenue marketing strategy that has helped many b2b marketing teams succeed in driving focus and collaboration throughout their organization. Other marketing strategies like integrated marketing, can be leveraged to break down silos and create a culture of cross-functional teamwork that can benefit your entire organization.
We reject delusional behavior that ignores limited resources such as our time and energy. This one always stands out to me because I have to remind myself of it often. It is in my nature to get caught up in stages of hyper productivity. I have to consciously remind myself that I am a human being… not a human doing. For me, this looks like a to-do list that denies the finite resource of my time and energy. For others, it looks like making yourself available on slack of Microsoft teams, text or email throughout your day. You may find yourself committed to a high volume of meetings that you decide not to attend last minute. When you commit to denying your limitation in time and energy, you can’t reasonably honor your commitments to others nor to yourself. And the loss in trust and reliability with your team is never worth you overpromising your time. If you truly want to show up for them, we have to commit to showing up for ourselves and honoring our need for rest.
We honor our need for rest.
Everyone has a unique way of honoring their need for rest. I find that time blocking on my calendar is incredibly helpful to remind myself to take multiple breaks throughout the day. We also believe that working in sprints towards our goals enables us to rest after a sprint and enjoy the difference in pace and rhythm.
Ultimately, it is on us as b2b marketing leaders to reject the pressure to do more with less. It’s time for us to rise up against this absurdity and honor the value in doing less. It’s more.