RainKing transforms Proofpoint sales strategy

The right tools can supercharge your sales team. The wrong tools can have the opposite effect, discouraging and frustrating even your top performers – wasting their valuable time and effort.

Proofpoint provides security-as-a-service solutions to block spam and viruses, prevent leaks of confidential information, encrypt sensitive data and securely archive email. Since 2002, the company’s proprietary data protection solutions technology has earned an enviable reputation in the enterprise communications security field – Proofpoint was recently recognized by Gartner as a leader in secure email gateways.

But marketing and sales faced the ongoing challenge of getting the message to IT decision makers at larger enterprise firms using outmoded targeting techniques. If ordinary list providers were even able to provide relevant contacts in that space, the data was usually stale by the time the sales team hit the phones, resulting in countless discouraging cold calls. And email campaigns frustrated marketing with high bounceback rates.

“We had tried all kinds of solutions, and we just couldn’t find a tool that delivered,” says Steve Kilian, Senior Marketing Programs Manager. “We wanted something that was always current. We wanted our sales team to feel confident that they wouldn’t be wasting their time – that they’d be contacting the correct person.”

Then Proofpoint discovered RainKing and seized the opportunity to try it out on actual accounts. The response from sales was overwhelming.

“RainKing became really popular really quickly,” says Kilian. “The reps were actually excited by the information and insight they received on key accounts. All of a sudden they could really dive into an account.”

Two years later, RainKing’s ability to get Proofpoint inside key offices within an organization has ramped up meetings and resulted in numerous sales.

RainKing’s online service lets you customize a suite of powerful tools to penetrate the IT structure at top corporations. A team of smart, experienced research analysts delivers constantly updated and accurate intelligence on the key managers and buyers of technology services and products. It maps out the technology decision making process, including who reports to whom and which hardware, software and technology systems individual decision makers manage or control. It even alerts you to specific projects within these firms.

RainKing is like adding a laser-guided system to Proofpoint’s campaign strategy, speeding up the sales cycle dramatically.

Proofpoint typically targets campaigns to a specific vertical, with an initial nurturing email followed by direct calls. Kilian can quickly filter current, precise intelligence on companies and key executives within the industry, simultaneously allowing him to refine the email message and letting the company’s business development reps pull the contacts into Salesforce and begin making inroads.

“With RainKing, that approach has become much more successful,” says Kilian. “Suddenly it’s easy to connect to the IT decision maker for our service.”

The team also significantly leverages RainKing’s team for research-on-demand. “The ability to get additional intelligence is very important to the sales team. If they’re working a key account, and they need more background or details on decision makers or technology, they can get it almost immediately from RainKing’s researchers.”

RainKing’s suite of targeting tools adds a third dimension to ordinary contact data, allowing Proofpoint to prioritize and find opportunities quickly and intelligently.

Every morning, Kilian turns to his customized Inside Scoops™ on hot sales opportunities based on new projects and management changes. “It’s really cool that you can tailor that so I know that every lead or alert is relevant to our service.”

And Kilian finds RainKing’s customer service remarkable. “I’ve heard rave reviews about quick response time. The RainKing team has been outstanding in terms of answering any questions and training on the fly.”

Additional responsibilities include:

Campaign Management and Execution

• Create, manage and execute Marketing campaigns utilizing the Eloqua platform
• Coordinate elements from multiple teams to execute on deliverables for marketing campaigns and projects (e.g. Sales, Client Success Consultants, Marketing)
• Work with our Marketing teams to model customer personas, engagement milestones, and buying cycles that shape our prospect, nurturing and expansion campaigns
• Advise marketing campaign requestors of best practices with regard to marketing automation capabilities, testing and projected results
• Plan and implement trigger-based nurturing programs in Eloqua that target all stages of prospect development, from cold nurtured leads to engagement to closed opps to expansion
• Create data segmentation filters, groups, and distribution lists for campaigns, lead scoring and nurturing programs for prospect segmentations that will minimize lead fatigue and opt-out
• Co-create integrated digital media campaigns including email, webinars, online ads, web site landing pages and whitepaper programs
• Lead the creation and management of dashboards that trend campaign effectiveness, prospect engagement, and funnel advancement

Operations and Process

• Drive marketing infrastructure for the Eloqua Marketing Automation platform including scoring, multi-touch nurture, profiling and targeted content
• Define, implement and maintain marketing automation and CRM best practices including list management, email budgets and data quality
• Co-manage the Eloqua database including integration with CRM, data quality and troubleshooting

Reporting and Analysis

• Build testing frameworks (split testing, deliverability and tracking) to optimize click-through and conversion rates across our digital media campaign portfolio
• Work closely with sales to provide closed loop reporting on campaign effectiveness, measure funnel movement and identify areas in the sales pipeline requiring additional marketing support

Experience and Skills:

• 5+ years experience in high-tech, B2B campaign design, integrated marketing and demand generation.
• 3+ years relevant marketing operations experience including an Eloqua Admin.
• Portfolio of successful automation programs, dashboards and models.
• Strong understanding of marketing processes including campaign execution, A/B testing and measurement.
• CRM – high level skills required.
• College degree in marketing or equivalent experience.
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) – high level skills required.
• Strong writing, presentation and communication skills
• Strong strategic thinking, creative problem solving and analytical skills
• Familiarity with the software and technology markets is an asset
• Working knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, CSS and other web technologies a plus
• Understanding of key online marketing strategies and concepts

This position will be located in our Bethesda MD HQ, and is not currently eligible for telecommuting.

We offer opportunities for advancement as well as competitive salary and benefits package including medical and dental insurance as well as three weeks paid time off.

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