Unleashing Your Revenue Engine – Eloqua Experience Keynote

Right from the start, it’s clear that Eloqua is a creative, innovative and fun company as CEO Joe Payne entered the keynote dressed as Juan Eloqua, grower of coffee, grower of revenue.

Joe’s keynote focused on the importance for marketers to expand their to contribution to the company’s they work for by helping their CEO deal with the number one thing they care about the most – revenue growth.

Joe explained through both his informal polling of customers and Conference Board research, that CEOs care more about revenue growth than anything else. Hence, Eloqua’s introduction of the discipline of,

Revenue Performance Management – The Future Of Revenue

After discussing revenue performance management, Joe then introduced the “C-Suite 16.” A new, standard set of sales and marketing reports with the intent of offering “One View Of The Truth” into revenue performance. Joe explained the importance of sales and marketing working from one set a metrics and information that is consistent and commonly agreed to.

He called for a consistent methodology and framework for marketers to communicate their contribution to revenue. Eloqua vision is that these reports will be adopted across industries and labeled them GAAP for Sales and Marketing (TM)

Two key principles of the C-Suite 16 report framework:

1. Focus on the Entire Funnel
2. Be consistent. Use a framework.

The reports are broken into three areas:

1. Value – “How Much” Questions — Tracking $$$ out
2. Performance – “How Well” Questions — Tracking conversions
3. Effectiveness – “What Cost” Questions – Tracking $$$ in

Why Eloqua? Why are they the right company to introduce these reports? For one, 10,000 months worth of benchmark data. Eloqua just introduced the Marketing Automation Trends, Benchmarks & Best Practices. This data was vital in identifying the reports that are most important to c-level executive and boards. Secondly, Eloqua is willing to take the bold step forward to advance the discipline of marketing and “no one else has!”

Eloqua Product Innovation

Joe then turned the stage over to Andre Yee and Matt Grantham to talk Eloqua product innovation. Andre gave a quick update on numerous enhancements that have been made to Eloqua9 and then moved on to the much anticipated, introduction of Eloqua10.

Admittedly taking some inspiration from Apple, the underlying vision was to make the software “a joy to use.” Eloqua10 is a complete redesign of the architecture and user experience. Repeatedly Andre and Matt mentioned the desire to make it as easy as Powerpoint to use. “Everyone can use Powerpoint, right?” (Looked easier than Powerpoint to me.)

We watched as Matt quickly went through a combination of dragging and dropping and built and scheduled a campaign in just minutes. There is no need for any level of technical knowledge, you simply open it up and are ready to go. The UI is super clean and crisp, though that’s not all that is new in Eloqua10, enter Eloqua Insights. The reporting and analytics engine that sits underneath the surface and quickly provides marketers the data needed to report and adjust as necessary. While I haven’t gotten my hands on Eloqua10 just yet, it does look like it will be a joy to use. Well done, Andre, Matt and team.

Joe came back on stage and asked, “So Andre, when will it be ready?” Andre’s answer, “NOW!”

That’s right Eloqua10 launched today at Eloqua Experience. Take The Eloqua10 Tour.

It will be ready for general availability in November. Joe then answered two more key customer questions:

• When will I have to upgrade Eloqua9 to Eloqua10? Answer: Never. If you are happy with what you have, no need ever to transition.
• How much more will Eloqua10 cost? Answer: Nothing

When the applause stopped, Joe made some final remarks and introduced Eloqua’s new mission:

To make our customers the fastest growing companies on Earth.

All in all, it was a great way to begin Eloqua Experience 2010 and with the introduction of Eloqua10, it appears Eloqua is well on their way to achieving their new mission.

Author: Jeremy Victor | Website | Twitter

Jeremy's the founder of Make Good Media and Editor In Chief of B2Bbloggers.com. B2Bbloggers.com is a B2B Marketing online magazine discussing the evolution of B2B marketing. Topics include content marketing, B2B social media, demand generation, marketing automation, and more. Sign up. Get all the articles via email.