Who is Hana Abaza
Hana Abaza is the head of Marketing for Shopify Plus, Shopify’s eCommerce platform for big-name online stores and brands. Hana has had years of experience in a variety of leadership roles, including being both the Head of Strategy and VP of Marketing for Uberflip, a content marketing software that aggregates a business’s content into one powerful user experience.
The Truth of the Marketing Funnel
With her years of experience marketing to both individual customers and businesses alike, Hana has developed some valuable insights about the marketing funnel and the true buyer’s journey. She has found that a person’s journey is not so linear. In reality, people will switch back and forth between stages, drop out entirely only to re-enter later, or simply sit stagnant in a stage. With this in mind, how you engage with customers can (and probably should) be different than how you are currently. Basically, rather than have the customers conform to your sales process, consider your customer’s process and adapt to them.
Unifying Marketing and Sales Objectives
Working with large brands at Shopify Plus means that Hana and her marketing team have spent plenty of time collaborating closely with sales teams. When working closely with a sales team, the most important key to being successful is to set shared goals. Hana’s sales and marketing teams share what’s called a “revenue playbook”. Essentially, a revenue playbook is a shared document that defines objectives, goals, and actions in response to both hitting and missing goals. Unlike a service-level agreement (SLA), a revenue playbook unites the sales and marketing teams into one unified team. As Hana puts it, acting as one team driven by the same goals leads to stronger communication and greater success. At OCG Creative, every day we are inspired by leaders in the marketing industry. For more information on Hana Abaza, visit her website to follow her work.