In Marketo, a Revenue Cycle Model or RCM gives you a comprehensive view of your customer journey. It improves your workflow and helps you predict your sales pipeline. However, many businesses struggle while setting up an RCM for their marketing initiatives. Here, we will look at some tips in which you can effectively create an RCM for yourselves and avoid common obstacles in the process.
Understanding the Revenue Cycle Model (RCM)
At its core, an RCM is a strategic framework that allows businesses to visualize and streamline their sales processes. It breaks down the sales journey into distinct stages, enabling better tracking, analysis, and optimization of each step. This not only enhances sales efficiency but also contributes to more accurate revenue forecasting.
Importance of Pipeline Predictability
Predictable revenue is the lifeblood of any business. It provides stability, improves resource allocation, and empowers organizations to make informed decisions about growth strategies. By setting up a solid RCM, businesses can minimize revenue fluctuations, reduce uncertainty, and confidently plan for expansion.
Design your RCM according to your business practices
To ensure that your stakeholders actively adapt to your RCM, mirror it according to your business practices such as sales and automation. Also, go through your existing business practices for actions that can trigger stages for your RCM.
Create a default program to manage campaign flows
Build a default program apart from the RCM to ease your troubleshooting process to manage all your campaign flows. Make sure that you include everything that may be related to the model while setting this up. This way, you would make it easier for anyone new to your system to start things right away without needing to review the RCM and program again and again.
Place your Recycled Leads Correctly
Make sure your recycled leads are placed correctly so that you can push them to the next stage in their customer journey and track them effectively. Moreover, remember to lower scores as soon as a lead becomes “recycled.” Also, the success journey of a recycled lead should be a little more restrictive than that of new leads. This will ensure that only high-quality leads are sent to the sales team for engagement.
Stick to your Goals and Resist Distractions
Strictly stick to your goals and minimize distractions as you advance on your journey. Including every lead, progression will only increase the complexity of the process. Instead, only include reports which are critical for the mission. Never forget that nurturing is a continuous process and needs to be done as a prospect advances on his purchase journey. Therefore, there is no need to pre-decide the actions you would take for each stage in the funnel. Smart list filters will help you do that effectively. Adding unnecessary transitions will only add complexity to your reporting.
Employ testing to ensure everything is alright
It is always easier to detect and fix issues earlier than update your model later. In order to test your revenue cycle model, build around 20 leads and enable program cloning. Set suitable filters and then activate your model. Check for any errors and correct them before you finalize your model for launching. Repeat this process until you are fully assured that all backlogs in the model have been identified and filled. This simple practice will save you from dealing with all campaigns, reports, and useless information you would encounter while updating your model. Once testing is done, deploy your model and enjoy all its benefits.
Measuring RCM Performance: Key Metrics to Track
Measuring the effectiveness of your RCM is vital to ensure it aligns with your revenue goals. Key metrics to track include:
- Conversion rates at each sales stage
- Average deal size
- Sales cycle length
- Customer acquisition cost
- Customer lifetime value
Scaling Your RCM as Your Business Grows
As your business expands, your RCM should be scalable. This involves adapting the model to accommodate increased leads, customers, and sales complexity. Continuously evaluate your RCM’s performance and make necessary enhancements to support growth.
The Future of Revenue Cycle Models
The future of RCMs lies in advanced data analytics, AI-driven insights, and further integration of sales and marketing technologies. Organizations will increasingly rely on predictive analytics to anticipate customer behavior and fine-tune their strategies accordingly.
Conclusion
In a rapidly evolving business landscape, setting up a Revenue Cycle Model (RCM) is not just a choice; it’s a necessity. By meticulously defining sales stages, leveraging technology, aligning teams, and continuously refining the process, organizations can achieve pipeline predictability and sustainable revenue growth.
If you are new to marketing and require assistance in setting up your revenue cycle, then let Sootra Consulting guide you. All you need is to ask or send us your business information or email requirements at support@sootraconsulting.com. So, let’s start talking!
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