Vent: Our VP killed the case study program because 'nobody reads long PDFs' and our win rate fell 14 points in two quarters | B2b Marketing Discussions - Opinions Matter
Vent: Our VP killed the case study program because 'nobody reads long PDFs' and our win rate fell 14 points in two quarters
When our VP of Marketing canceled all customer case studies in January, she said buyers only want short videos and one page flyers, so we walked away from a program that had been running fine for three years. I pushed back hard, and honestly I looked like the guy clinging to old stuff, because everyone nods along when a leader says 'attention spans are shrinking.' Well, our sales cycle got longer by 18 days on average and our close rate dropped from 31 percent to 17 percent by June, based on the pipeline review I sat through in Chicago. The reps told me directly that prospects kept asking for proof from companies like theirs, and we had nothing to hand over except a glossy two pager that said nothing. What convinced me I was right was a deal we lost in Denver where the buyer literally asked 'do you have anyone else in manufacturing who switched to you' and all we could do was talk. Turns out people do read, they just will not read fluff written by someone who never talked to a customer. Curious if anyone else has watched a leadership 'modernization' move backfire this fast, and what numbers did you use to get it reversed?