Now the SVP and GM of Pardot, he has been in the enterprise software business for more than 20 years. During an in-depth interview, Kostow talked to us about the future of marketing, how Einstein will affect Pardot’s capabilities, and whether marketers should rely more on data or intuition. A lot of that, from my perspective and talking to customers, is driven by the B2B cycle changing dramatically. We believe that marketing and sales alignment are the most important things to that customer experience. For example, say you’re a salesperson: We’re going to be able to score leads in a way where it’s predictive, so salespeople are going to be able to follow up on the right leads at the right time and prioritize their work based on all of that rich information that Salesforce captures. It’s funny because I talk to customers all the time and I get the question, “Hey, what does Pardot do for ABM?” and my retort to a lot of them is, “What exactly do you want to do?” I think it’s really important for companies to think about what it is they’re trying to accomplish before deciding whether or not an ABM strategy is the right one for them. We have a product called Salesforce Engage, and with it a salesperson can actually see in real time how her prospects interact with her content. When that salesperson has a conversation with that prospect, that conversation is a whole heck of a lot more relevant because she knows exactly what that prospect is looking at. But again, you can do all of the lead generation you want—what it really comes down to is how do you convert those leads that you are generating through a place like social media into someone who actually turns into a customer? When I talk to our customers, they’re really focused on how do I bring marketing automation and CRM closer together because when I bring those things more closely together, I know what’s happening in all phases of that buyer’s journey.
The more that martech evolves, the more it sounds like some far-off future. Automation, AI, predictive analytics—what was once the realm of science fiction has now become reality for marketers.
One company leading that futuristic charge is software giant Salesforce, which announced its new AI late last year, aptly named Einstein. Though the project is still in its early stages, the company, like many Silicon Valley giants, sees AI as central to its future. This is particularly true for Salesforce Pardot (pronounced par-DOT), the company’s marketing automation software product, which has data and advanced analytics as core features.
Mike Kostow, who has been working at Salesforce for six years, is certainly no stranger to the complicated world of enterprise software. Now the SVP and GM of Pardot, he has been in the enterprise software business for more than 20 years.
During an in-depth interview, Kostow talked to us about the future of marketing, how Einstein will affect Pardot’s capabilities, and whether marketers should rely more on data or intuition.
To start off, can you run through how your year went with Pardot and what you’re excited for in 2017?
We have had an amazing year at Salesforce and an amazing year at Pardot. We are now the fastest growing and most widely deployed marketing automation solution for Salesforce customers, which is really exciting.
As I look to 2017, we’re seeing a lot of change in the marketplace. A lot of that, from my perspective and talking to customers, is driven by the B2B cycle changing dramatically. Now by the time prospects are coming to a company to buy something, they’ve done a lot of their research online, and they’re really close to making a purchase. Because of that changing behavior and because they’re able to do all that research online, it makes those engagements that companies are having with these prospects even more important than before.
I’ve been reading a lot about this movement where marketing becomes less about selling and more about creating this customer experience. How are you thinking about that with regard to Pardot?
Pardot is really centered on customer experience. We believe that marketing and sales alignment are the most important things to that customer experience.
If you have marketing and sales working off a single platform—if you have them operating in the same place—then that handoff between those two teams is critical to being able to actually close business, right? Because if marketing and sales are disconnected and operating out of different systems, then it’s very difficult in this new B2B buyer’s journey to convert prospects into customers. That’s really what we see.
As we look forward, we see that buying cycle changing even more. There’s the buyer’s journey change. That’s really one phase. The next phase is about AI and predictive analytics. That’s a big deal for our customers, and it’s a big deal for us.
For example, say you’re a salesperson: We’re going to be able to score leads in a way where it’s predictive, so salespeople are going to be able to follow up on the right leads at the right time and prioritize their work based on all of that rich information that Salesforce captures.
Is that all part of the Einstein AI program?
Exactly. With Einstein we’re able to look at all of this information that’s being generated across all of Salesforce’s customers to then see whether or not it’s the right lead for a salesperson to follow up on. Then salespeople and marketers can make much better decisions based on all of this rich data that we are able to generate and accumulate.
Another big trend has been account-based marketing. How are you building it into the platform—if you are—and how important do you think it is to B2B marketing’s future?
It’s funny because I talk to customers all the time and I get the question, “Hey,…
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