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There sure are a lot of songs about rain. What is it about rain that makes us want to sing about it? After last week’s blog, I’ve had tons of feedback and comments from rainy day people about weather-related songs. Keep ’em coming! I love to hear from you.

Pick a rain song from the list below and give it a listen as we see what the experts are saying this week…

Eurythmics – Here Comes the Rain Again

Led Zeppelin – The Rain Song

Alice in Chains – Rain When I Die

The Who – Love, Reign O’er Me (different ‘reign’, I know)

The Cult – Rain

Prince – Purple Rain

Billy Talent – Rusted from the Rain

CCR – Who’ll Stop the Rain

Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains

The late Gordon Lightfoot – Rainy Day People

B2B Summit

Who’s going to #b2bsummit this year? I’m showing my age by saying that I’ve been going to Summit for over a decade (since it was still #SDSummit). It’s always a great opportunity to connect, see what your B2B peers are doing, and learn from smart analyst types. And – it’s also a great way to hear about the new obsession and see the who’s who of B2B tech vendors all in one place.

Let me know if you’re attending – I’d love to connect.

Hopefully, Forrester’s earnings announcement last week won’t rain on the parade at Summit. Earnings were missed and word is there have been layoffs.

But they’re not an anomaly. Here comes the rain (of layoffs) again: Shopify announced (also last week) another round – 20% of their global workforce – and we’ve been seeing cutbacks from other organizations in the past few months. The market, however, reacted very favourably to Shopify’s announcement – indicating that we’re okay with layoffs as long as they’re helping to streamline the business (or correct previous over-hiring).

How is this impacting B2B sales and marketing? How are you dealing with smaller budgets in your organization – and where are you prioritizing your spending? I’d be really interested to hear what kind of five-year plans and new deals B2B organizations are focusing on when budgets are cut (or frozen). Is the focus on growth? Retention?

Artists in Residence

Skechers announced recently that they’re creating a new Artist in Residence role. But what exactly will an Artist in Residence do for Skechers? Roles like this rise and fall (I remember Alicia Keys’ short-lived stint as Blackberry’s Global Creative Director), but there have been many instances of tech companies trying to bridge the gap with artists…

If you’ve ever been to Salesforce’s #dreamforce conference, you’d see firsthand that tech loves to hobnob with music and the arts. In fact, SFDC is known to consistently involve Matthew McConaughey and will.i.am in strategy and consulting sessions!

This might just be a case of tech CEOs wanting to hang with the cool kids. Or is it time we all reach out for something new and take a page from these big players’ books? There could be real value in involving artists in the business direction of these companies… What do you think?

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

The post Let the Rain Fall Down and Wake Your (Sales) Teams appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

I’ve been on a kick since I was at #forrb2bsummit in Austin. I’ve been inspired – in many ways. Re-evaluating our marketing tech stack; implementing some new strategies with our clients; sharing some of the benchmarks provided. And of course, listening to music from some cool bands from Austin…

Give this song by another of Austin’s own – Spoon – a listen as we see what the experts are saying this week.

Tech, Entertainment, and Breakup Fees

As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, I’m a big fan of tech and B2B intersecting with music/entertainment. I love looking at business lessons learned from various industries.

I think we’re all caught up (or maybe fed up) with the Twitter/Elon Musk news these days – and how about the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial? Musk stands to lose $1 billion in a ‘breakup fee’ if he walks away from his Twitter deal – and with this deal on hold, perhaps everyone is staying on their side after all. And in the meantime, there’s new evidence regarding Musk’s involvement in a mysterious donation to the ACLU on behalf of Heard.

Famous-sounding words (and people) make your head feel light… They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. What do you think – are you part of ‘they’?

Fun Musical Updates

Some quick updates from Alan Cross to keep you hanging around:

A Spinal Tap sequel is coming. It’s been forty years since the original movie came out. But the key question: Who will be the drummer?

Supermassive Black Hole. The big astronomy news this week was the release of the first-ever photo of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. But what does the singer of Muse think about this?

Pink Floyd looking to sell their catalogue. Looks like Pink Floyd, one of the most successful acts in the history of recorded music, is looking to join the list of artists that have sold their catalogues. Could the current high-water mark of $550 million (Bruce Springsteen) be surpassed?

Maybe finding a lesson we can apply to B2B from a photo of a black hole is a bit of a stretch. But when it comes to business strategy… Bet you got it all planned, right? Well, maybe not quite – things are always changing. What ideas can you get from these musical updates? I’d love to hear them!

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello.

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

The post Breakups: Hard Lessons Made Easy for B2B appeared first on Virtual Causeway.