AffiniPay is an online payment processing solution that seeks to combine technology with exceptional service to ensure a seamless payment experience for businesses. Founded in 2005, the company collaborates intimately with its partners and clients to develop technologies and foster relationships that redefine the operation of professional services businesses with a focus on security, reliability and customer-centric features.
To help support its growth, the company planned to increase the number of scheduled prospective meetings and facilitate multi-threaded meetings that would involve multiple representatives from the client’s side to lead to more fruitful discussions and successful outcomes.
The Challenge
AffiniPay wanted to implement an account-based strategy to support its meetings-focused endeavors but faced uncertainties in the execution, primarily due to a lack of alignment among operations, sales and marketing teams. That misalignment produced a lack of trust and inefficiencies, which included misunderstandings of marketing qualified accounts and platform integrations within existing workflows.
Moreover, foundational data issues in AffiniPay’s CRM plagued its systems across 6sense, Salesforce, Gong and Adobe Marketo, which contributed to lower conversion rates, prompting AffiniPay to seek ways to maximize its ROI.
The Solution
AffiniPay turned to B2B Fusion, a B2B sales and marketing performance firm, to facilitate the transformation of its operations, team cohesion and training processes and guide its shift from a transactional B2B approach to an account-based experience (ABX) motion strategy.
First, B2B Fusion helped AffiniPay develop a model qualified account (MQA) framework for consistent organizational management and established fundamental segments in 6sense for accurate targeting to boost conversions. B2B Fusion assisted with this by getting all parties in a room to align definitions and processes and, once that buy-in was achieved, the firm then installed that philosophy into the systems.
AffiniPay also wanted to reset its 6sense pilot program, so B2B Fusion crafted tailored marketing campaigns within the platform to streamline the sales funnel and devise a comprehensive omnichannel outreach plan. Following this, the sales and marketing performance firm developed a cohesive messaging framework for AffiniPay to help the company land more meetings with relevant stakeholders in prospective accounts. Then, B2B Fusion assisted in pinpointing and rectifying core challenges within the initial 6sense pilot program.
Next, B2B Fusion helped develop a full-funnel demand generation campaign framework focused on cross-selling opportunities among AffiniPay’s diverse product lines. By analyzing customer data and insights, B2B Fusion helped customize marketing campaigns for 6sense, including operationalizing the sales funnel and creating an omnichannel pilot plan. This enabled AffiniPay to create targeted campaigns to address specific customer needs and interests, thereby increasing the relevance and appeal of cross-selling propositions.
Other strategic contributions from B2B Fusion included:
- Designing seamless business processes that allowed marketing and sales to act effectively on MQAs;
- Conducting a thorough 6sense keyword audit for enhanced performance;
- Implementing integrated campaigns across various channels to optimize the full sales funnel;
- Enhancing the usability of 6sense to align with operational needs, which is still a work in progress; and
- Reporting assistance in defining ABX pilot launch criteria and objectives for future success.
The Results
Collaborating with B2B Fusion positively impacted AffiniPay’s operations, leading to significant growth in its business outcomes.
“We’re in early stages of the rollout but see some promising early results already,” said Paul Hernandez, Director of Lifecycle Marketing at AffiniPay. “This includes a nearly 70% MQA acceptance rate by sales, with an extremely high sales qualified lead-to-win ratio of 33%, which is indicating ABM is much more effective versus traditional lead generation techniques on a per-unit basis.”
Other key benefits from the partnership include:
- Strengthened sales and marketing alignment;
- Improved data quality across all departments and streamlined decision-making processes; and
- Cohesive processes and campaigns that moved beyond traditional lead generation and focus on high-value accounts; and
- Expansion into new markets and industries.
Looking ahead, AffiniPay wants to increase the model qualified account volume to make an even greater impact on revenue heading into 2025.