Face-to-face connection still matters, especially as AI changes content marketing. “Over the last eighteen months or so, I've probably met with 600 or 700 different marketers throughout the world delivering this research.” That’s Matt Hummel talking about his unique distribution strategy for Pipeline360’s latest data report: hand-delivery to customers through in-person meetings.
Matt Hummel believes “relationships win pipeline.” Twice a year, his team surveys more than 500 B2B marketers and turns the findings into a flagship white paper. Matt hand-delivers these insights during in-person, “therapy-style” sessions with both prospects and customers. This method, built on deep research, close work with account executives, and a focus on trust, has led to 99% net-new logo meetings and steady ARR growth for every account they visit.
Matt’s most practical advice is simple: “We're doing one-to-one ABM… we're taking long-form content, personalizing it, and delivering it at the individual account level.” For content marketers, this is a blueprint for turning research into real, relationship-driven growth.
Matt Hummel is the Chief Marketing Officer at Pipeline360, where he leads content, brand, and demand generation efforts grounded in real-world insight. His career spans top B2B brands including Deloitte, Thomson Reuters, and Demandbase, giving him a deep view into how enterprise marketing works from both the agency and in-house side.
What makes Matt unique is his hands-on work building systems that actually scale. He’s led demand gen engines through six straight quarters of profitable growth, overseen web transformation projects for global brands, and created campaign frameworks that brought results. As host of The Pipeline Brew podcast, Matt explores how content, AI, and sales alignment work in practice. If you’re handling content in a complex enterprise environment, Matt’s experience offers a practical guide to doing it right.
Matt hand-delivered a data report to 700 marketers and turned every visit into a one-to-one ABM workshop. The episode shows how relationship-driven distribution outperforms the usual digital playbook. Here are the standout moments and takeaways:
Matt points out that being in the same room builds trust and credibility faster than digital channels ever could. In today’s world of remote work and digital meetings, this highlights the lasting value of in-person connections for building relationships and trust that content alone can’t deliver.
This quote shows the scale and commitment behind Matt’s program. Meeting hundreds of marketers worldwide isn’t just about effort. It proves the approach is systematic and repeatable. It’s a clear sign of the investment needed for enterprise content engines to reach real impact.
Matt reframes his road-show strategy as account-based marketing (ABM), tying old-school relationship selling to modern content personalization. This insight connects classic sales tactics with today’s content marketing, showing how tailored, high-touch content drives engagement at the enterprise level.
This quote shows a consultative mindset. Value comes from listening and understanding, not just presenting slides. By focusing on conversation over presentation, Matt’s team becomes a trusted advisor, building deeper relationships and uncovering real customer needs — key for an effective enterprise content strategy.
Matt is honest about the trade-offs. His approach takes a lot of effort and isn’t easy to scale. This kind of candor reminds us that true differentiation in enterprise content often comes from doing the hard, unscalable work that others avoid. That’s what creates a moat around the strategy.
Here, Matt connects research directly to product. Their content isn’t just thought leadership. It’s a bridge to product value. By matching solutions to real, researched pain points, the content engine becomes a driver of both credibility and sales.
This quote shows a results-first mindset. The content strategy only matters if it delivers measurable outcomes. For enterprise teams, this means tying content efforts to account growth and being willing to change course if results don’t follow.
Matt sees relationship-based marketing as a strong answer to the rise of remote work and AI-driven automation. As digital noise grows, building real, human connections through content and conversation sets enterprise brands apart.
This season on the Animalz Podcast, we’re pulling back the corporate curtain to show you how the largest, most complex B2B SaaS teams actually get content out the door. Our mission: demystify these hidden machines and reveal what it really takes to run content at scale.
Hear from content leaders of some of the biggest names in SaaS sharing the systems they've built, the battles they've fought, and the lessons they've learned along the way.
Check out other episodes in the season here
Pipeline360 (02:35): Content-syndication and Demand-as-a-Service provider where Matt leads marketing.
The Pipeline Brew (Podcast) (32:23): Matt Hummel’s own show covering content, brand, ABM, and demand.
Deloitte (02:11): Global professional-services firm where Matt previously led brand strategy.
Demandbase (02:11): MarTech company where Matt ran demand generation before Pipeline 360.
Thomson Reuters (04:06): Another notable brand from Matt’s first-half career focus on professional services.
The Storytelling Edge (02:57): Book Matt is currently reading to refine brand-storytelling skills.
Everybody Writes (02:57): Second book on Matt’s desk, focused on effective writing.
Follow Matt Hummel on LinkedIn.
Matt Hummel [00:00:00]:
To me, that's where the world is heading. Getting out face to face is so important. You cannot replicate the trust that happens when you meet face to face. A lot of people are still working remote, and so it's almost like, oh, somebody wants to take me to dinner and come hang out? Absolutely. I don't get that engagement anymore.
Ty Magnin [00:00:18]:
Welcome to the Animals Podcast. I'm Ty Magnon, the CEO at Animals.
Tim Metz [00:00:23]:
And I'm Tim Metz, the director of marketing and innovation.
Ty Magnin [00:00:26]:
This season on the Animals Podcast, we're pulling back the corporate curtain to show you how the largest, most complex b to b SaaS teams actually get content out the door. Hear from content leaders of some of the biggest names in SaaS, sharing the systems they've built, the battles they've fought, and the lessons they've learned along the way. Today, we're talking with Matt Hummel. Matt runs marketing at Pipeline three sixty after two decades leading brand strategy at Deloitte and demand at Demandbase. But Matt isn't your average marketing leader. Today, we're talking about how Matt has been running a unique distribution playbook for his content. Matt's playbook involves him literally boarding a plane to hand deliver assets to prospects and customers. And I think there's a lot to learn and sort of stretch your mind around content distribution from this special episode.
Ty Magnin [00:01:17]:
So I'm excited for you to learn from Matt about his bold, unscalable approach that we dubbed the flying distribution engine. If you're like most b to b content marketers, you wanna lead the conversation in your industry. At Animals, we help b to b software companies do exactly that by creating standout survey driven state of the industry type reports that help you grow your brand authority, backlinks, and pipeline. In just twelve weeks, we run a process that helps uncover narratives from a unique dataset packaged into a beautifully designed flagship content asset that your whole team is gonna be proud of. Book a consult now at animals.co/whitepapers and find out how to set the new benchmark for your industry. Matt Hummel, thanks so much for joining us. Would you give us your intro? And then, the question we ask to all of our guests is what content are you consuming lately?
Matt Hummel [00:02:11]:
Awesome. Well, thank you for having me on the show. It's great to be here. And, so yeah, a little about me, Matt Hummel. I have been doing really B2B marketing my entire career. Started out, I got a marketing degree and my career has really been split in two halves. First half was really primarily around brands and professional services marketing. And then, the second half's really been more around demand and tech.
Matt Hummel [00:02:35]:
And so in my most current position, I'm running marketing at Pipeline three sixty, and I'm getting to kind of do it all. So we're very much a, you know, a company that's focused on differentiating our brand, but obviously driving demand is is wildly important. So it's been a great opportunity to kinda bring both of those things together. It's a little services, a little tech, kind of all bundled into one. So that's a little about me. And what content have I been consuming recently? So there's actually a couple books, I've been reading. One's called the I've got them over here on my desk, The Storytelling Edge and Everybody Writes. And I've really just been kind of consuming content that I can find around both storytelling, but also really using storytelling to build and differentiate a brand.
Matt Hummel [00:03:19]:
I think for better or for worse, the importance of brand kind of disappeared over the past five to seven years from a perception standpoint. I don't think the importance of it actually truly went away, but I think more and more B2B marketers focus simply on demand. We've got to drive revenue. And so brand is back and I know we're going to talk through some of that today. So I've just really been honing in on how can I learn from some people who've done this really, really well to to really create memorable and impactful brands? Awesome.
Ty Magnin [00:03:51]:
And, yeah, I see some of that coming through for Pipeline three sixty and you've been obviously, a member of other pretty well known marketing brands. I like to think you, Matt, as, like, a marketer's marketer. I mean, you've been doing a lot of MarTech marketing. Right?
Matt Hummel [00:04:06]:
Absolutely. Yeah. I spent time at, at Demandbase prior to this. And so that was really my my foray in if you will into into MarTech. But, yeah, I mean, I've worked for some great brands from Deloitte, you know, Thompson Reuters to name a couple. And so I like that a marketer's marketer that and actually that, you know, that ties directly into, you know, I know our topic at hand, and and it's it's what has been it's what has made this role in particular really fun.
Ty Magnin [00:04:31]:
Awesome. Well, let's talk about the topic at hand.
Matt Hummel [00:04:35]: Let's do it.
Ty Magnin [00:04:36]:
Holding on to this podcast for I don't know. We've known each other for more than six months, seven months. We've kind of been talking about this idea for six, seven months. Yeah. And it just struck me over the head when you told me, like, one of your most important go to market motions is, what you're doing around distributing white papers. And we are referring to it on this podcast, at least. Hopefully, we can take it beyond as the flying distribution engine.
Matt Hummel [00:05:07]:
That is a that's a great name, and our buddy our buddy Tim's responsible for that. Correct? Yes. Yes. Well done, Tim. I think marketing I see a future for you in marketing.
Tim Metz [00:05:18]: Yeah. We can talk about it.
Ty Magnin [00:05:20]:
Yeah. Help the audience understand. What the hell are we talking about, Matt?
Matt Hummel [00:05:24]:
Yeah. So, you know, it's it's it's a little bit ironic because Pipeline three sixty is a you know, at its core, of course, we don't position ourselves as this, but we we we're a content syndication provider. So, you know, we syndicate white papers and other forms of content through, you know, common syndication practices. Yet for us, you know, we have seen great success outside of that channel getting out on the road. And so twice a year, we have created a white paper through market research. So we surveyed more than 500 B2B marketers. We've all around a topic of pipeline growth and B2B marketing and just really the challenges. And it's been a very relevant topic, obviously.
Matt Hummel [00:06:09]:
There's so many things that have sort of shaped the current world of marketing from the economy to, you know, MarTech to you've got downsizing and budget cuts and yet goals are going up. And so it's it's really been it's been a great opportunity for us through this research to put together a really compelling story. And for Pipeline three sixty in particular, you know, our business is really won and lost through relationships. And so getting to take this content out and deliver it in person is really what, you know, what you're referring to as what did you call it? The, the flying content? The flying content.
Tim Metz [00:06:41]:
The flying distribution engine.
Matt Hummel [00:06:43]:
Yeah. So that's, you know, in essence what I've done. It's, you the short version is over the last eighteen months or so, I've probably met with 600 or 700 different marketers throughout really the world delivering this research. And it's not just me presenting, it's really become more of an interactive and engaging way to connect with our customers and prospects.
Ty Magnin [00:07:05]:
So crazy. How many flights do you think you've taken, to do this distribution?
Matt Hummel [00:07:09]:
Oh, man. Well, I'm not one k yet, so it's not been, you know, my wife my wife would say it's been 500. It's probably been, like, fifty, sixty. I don't know. It's probably somewhere in between, if I'm being honest. But, it's been a lot. And thankfully, you know, my wife and kids have been super supportive of it, but it's also just it's very seasonal. So we release a report beginning of year and kind of end of year, and so kind of take it out to market in spring and fall.
Matt Hummel [00:07:39]:
So I definitely am not out on the road full time, but during the those seasons, it's definitely I get shipped out quite a bit to go get to deliver this. Marketer marketer is what it really is.
Ty Magnin [00:07:51]:
Right. Let's talk about the nuts and bolts in this thing. So I'm really curious to know from, like, step one. It's like you're booking these meetings. Right? I'm sure some of them are recurring, like, hey, guys. I'm back in Paris next week. You know? Got the latest report here, etcetera. Others, maybe their prospects that the sales team is teeing up.
Ty Magnin [00:08:11]:
Let's start there. How did these meetings get booked?
Matt Hummel [00:08:14]:
Yeah. Well, first of all, I wanna I wanna shout out to my colleague, Ben, because he actually owes me a meeting in Paris. I've not gotten to go there yet, and he said he'd make it happen this year. So good call out on Paris, but it's been different almost each time. So we create the research and then like I mentioned earlier, because we're a relationship oriented business, our sales reps have great invite has been, hey. We don't we're not trying to sell to you, but we've created this really compelling research through 500 of your peers. And it's really interesting, you know, and so here's a little teaser on what what we're going to talk about. Of course, we have to talk about AI because otherwise we can't get a meeting, right? I say that a little tongue in cheek, but it's obviously the hottest topic out
Ty Magnin [00:09:04]: out there.
Matt Hummel [00:09:05]:
And then we say like, Hey, we're bringing a marketer to come talk to you about this. And so we're not only going to go through the challenges, but we're also going to talk about, again, from a data perspective, the companies that are succeeding, the marketers that are succeeding, here's what they're doing well. And so it's sort of like it's a little bit therapy in the sense of, you know, hey, we we know we know it's a challenging time out there. Let our VP of marketing come, you know, share the findings of our results, which we think you can certainly empathize with. But then also, we've seen you know, we have some great insights that we think are very relevant in helping you guys. So that's kind of the invite and then the meetings get set and the plane tickets get bought. How do you organize the schedule, like the logistics of it? We've tried actually two different approaches. So we've tried where we, you know, we said, hey, let's go to San Francisco the week of June 10.
Matt Hummel [00:09:54]:
So we say, hey, reps with that market, start scheduling every meeting possible from, you know, San Jose to San Francisco and everywhere in between. And that worked okay because I think for reps, it gave them a a a time frame which they could go and try to get as many meetings scheduled. That that worked pretty well, but then we also were were scrambling to get, you know, any meeting possible because we really wanna maximize our time in market. We've also tried where we said, hey. We're gonna be in San Francisco or or not even we're gonna be in San Francisco, but rather, hey, sales rep. Go try to schedule a meeting with a large account in San Francisco whenever that is, so over these next three months, and then let's build around that. And so on one hand, that's been good because then we have sort of that anchor meeting with the key customer or key account that we really want to meet with. But it's also hard because it's so open ended and schedules change so much.
Matt Hummel [00:10:48]:
And so it's harder to schedule a meeting without sort of that sense of urgency. So we've been kind of playing around with a couple of those motions. And at this point, it's we've kind of taken a bit of a hybrid approach, to be honest with you.
Ty Magnin [00:10:59]:
What percentage of the meetings are repeat versus net new?
Matt Hummel [00:11:02]:
Yeah. Great question. So interestingly, I would say 99% of the meetings have been net new. And the reason for that is so, you know, in 2024, we did a first half wave of the research and it was great. It got us into every customer that we could. And then we we reran the research and the results were different, but not that different where it created a brand new narrative where we could go, hey, customer, I know we met with you six months ago. We've got a new I didn't want to go deliver the new research to the same customer because they'd already heard 90% of the story.
Ty Magnin [00:11:40]: Right.
Matt Hummel [00:11:40]:
And so this year, we've taken a little bit different approach where we're gonna have an annual state of b two b pipeline growth. And then midyear, we're gonna do a deeper dive research into a specific topic. We don't know what that topic is yet, but it could be account based marketing, it could be something around data, buying groups, for example. And so we almost use a lot of the meetings to help us determine what will the next topic be. But that way, you know, because we want everything to be oriented around the customer's interests. And so that way, when we go back out to market in the fall, yes, we can certainly meet with new customers who didn't get the first wave or really the annual wave of research, but then we'll have a new stick, if you will, that if we've already met with someone, we can go do a deeper dive.
Ty Magnin [00:12:24]:
Nice. Do you show up by yourself or is there also a local sales rep in the area? I don't know how the organization is structured exactly.
Matt Hummel [00:12:32]:
We always bring the account executive for that account and that they're really the relationship owner and they're not there to sell. But I gotta be honest, I've been in more meetings than I can count where we get to the end and they're like, This is great. What can you do to help? And so we ended up evolving our presentation because it was not sales oriented at all. And then at the end, I'm sort of like, Hey, I know this isn't a sales meeting, but the last 10 people have been frustrated that we didn't come and try to sell them something. So here you go. And and the great thing is, like, our solutions were really designed to solve marketers' biggest challenges, which were identified in the in the market research. So we bring sales rep. Oftentimes, we'll bring a sales leader.
Matt Hummel [00:13:16]:
But yes, it's usually just a pretty small team on our side. Nice.
Ty Magnin [00:13:20]: Well, that way you have
Matt Hummel [00:13:20]:
a travel companion too. %. It goes a long way.
Ty Magnin [00:13:24]:
Matt, I have a pretty good sense of who Pipeline three sixty is selling to, but help the audience here. Like, what kinds of companies are we talking about? We primarily work in the tech industry, though.
Matt Hummel [00:13:36]:
You know, we have we have inventory, if you will, that supports every industry, and we and we dip into health care and manufacturing and financial services. But we work with b to b marketers, and specifically, generally speaking, folks who are in a revenue oriented role, so think digital, demand, ABM. We've recently expanded our offerings to where we still think about everything we do is demand oriented, but we've expanded our offering to where now we're kind of thinking about taking more of that supply chain, if you will. And so we know the success of our programs really hinges on a few things outside of our typically or historically that have been outside of our control. So think about the targeting strategy. If you're not targeting the right people, it doesn't matter how good your stuff is, it's not going to be successful. And then the content itself and, you know, obviously, you guys are a phenomenal content agency. And so we're looking and we've started to partner with content agencies like yourself who can really bring their expertise into our customers.
Matt Hummel [00:14:37]:
Working through us, There's a lot of it's a lot simpler, you know, when you've got a more streamlined approach. But that way, we can bring on the expertise of a content partner who can create demand focused content that we know will work. And then there's the other, you know, once the lead has been created, demand the demand's been created, it's really the nurturing, the follow ups, so on and so forth. So we recently launched what we're calling demand as a service, which is really taking a more holistic approach to creating demand outside of our offering. And so that means we're now getting in front of content marketers, brand marketers, even some VPs and CMOs who really understand, I need help. At the end of the day, I really just want the output. My MarTech stack's inefficient. It's not really working for me.
Matt Hummel [00:15:22]:
So how can we work with you know, companies like yourself to help drive, better impact?
Ty Magnin [00:15:27]: Give me the leads. Right?
Matt Hummel [00:15:28]: Like Give me the leads.
Ty Magnin [00:15:29]:
Right. Yeah. Smart. So you're kind of taking this sort of end to end approach nowadays.
Matt Hummel [00:15:33]:
%. So it's less yeah. It's less give me the leads and it's more give me the pipeline. Right.
Ty Magnin [00:15:38]:
Yeah. Fair. Okay. Next chapter. Take us inside the meeting room. K? So Yeah. You're walking in. Usually, these companies have an office, I imagine.
Ty Magnin [00:15:49]:
How does it all go from there?
Matt Hummel [00:15:51]:
Yeah. Well, it sounds like did you ever see the Hamilton Hamilton the Play? The Musical? Yeah. It's like take me the room where it happened kind of a thing, if you remember that song. Yes.
Ty Magnin [00:16:01]:
Yes. I won't sing it for you, but Yes. That's what I'm asking. Yes.
Matt Hummel [00:16:06]:
Well, I don't know if it was that exciting, but it has been really fun. So we get to the room, and, yes, we're always meeting in a customer's office. And the most important part of the entire meeting is what happens when we get in the room, which is the introductions and just getting the customer talking. And the reason that's important, one, it shows we care, which we do, but it allows us to hear what's on their mind. And so first of all, just even the basic introductions, hey, you're an ABM marketer, you're a field marketer, you're a digital marketer. I start to I'm taking notes and I'm starting to process, how do the data and insights that I'm going to present really, how do they speak to that person specifically? And then from there, again, being a marketer, I can start to ask questions around like, Hey, how do you measure success? What's your attribution model? What's your content strategy? What's your campaign strategy? And so, again, I can start to understand both experientially what they're doing and what I think is probably working or not working as well as what the data again is showing us is working or not working. And so it allows me to tailor the ensuing discussion you know, to be more specific to them. But it also gives us, you know, at the end of the day, we're in business to make money.
Matt Hummel [00:17:24]:
It gives us the ability to better understand their challenges and pain points and ultimately how we can help serve them. So I always tell the sales rep, because they're pretty eager a lot of times like, Oh, we have an agenda. We need to stick to it. And I'm like, Look, if we get them talking for forty five minutes of an hour or of an hour and a half, that's great. That means they trust us and they value us. And at the end of the day, if I don't even present the research because we have them talking, it's a win for me. So once we get through that, then we get into the research. And I always say it's not me presenting, it's me leading a discussion.
Matt Hummel [00:18:02]:
And that's what I want it to be because I'm a marketer. I'm also living and breathing the reality of what the state is sharing. And so it's really a great way to, you know, just to connect and share the research. And I always say, This is not me. This is 500 of our peers who have said this. So don't shoot the messenger. This is not I'm not trying to lead the witness here. It can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour, depending on how deep they want to go.
Matt Hummel [00:18:30]:
And I love it. I mentioned this earlier, a lot of times it's like a therapy session where you just see these, oh, yes, or, oh, I'm not alone. It looks like other companies out there struggling with the same things. And yet the great part too is it's kind of when you can help. And it really is like a therapy session where sometimes people just want to be heard and sometimes they want answers. And so, you know, again, we have answers in many of the cases, whether it's through, again, what the research is showing where companies who are succeeding, sort of their recipes to success. But then also just because I've got experience working in different industries, as well as different size companies and challenges that I faced, I can often just speak anecdotally around my own personal experience. This is so cool.
Matt Hummel [00:19:10]: I anecdotally around
Ty Magnin [00:19:13]:
my own personal experience. This is so cool. I mean, I'm comparing this to how most data reports, white papers, that kind of material gets distributed. A, it's, you know, you just blast it over email and people skim it, whatever. B, you know, a lot of companies do a decent job of presenting a webinar to release the report, and maybe they walk through it with some commentary. But this is quite a level deeper, right, where you're really facilitating a long form conversation in person with these folk? I mean, just the relationship points you earn on that has got to be a hundred X.
Matt Hummel [00:19:49]:
Oh, to me, it's and it's funny because it took me six months to realize what we were doing. We're doing one to one ABM. You know, we're taking long form content, we're personalizing it and delivering it at the individual account level.
Tim Metz [00:20:04]:
Does the customer experience in that way like, how special is it to them? Like, do do they feel do they really see it as an almost as an event? Or is it more like, okay, he's stopping by? Like, how's how's the how's the response from the customer?
Matt Hummel [00:20:18]:
Yeah. Tim, I like I like your questions a lot. That's, that that would get me thinking. I think it's been a little bit of both. So early on, we were meeting with oftentimes literally just one customer at a time. And when I say one customer, I mean one person at that account. Part of our challenge is that really post pandemic, no one's in offices anymore. And not only that, but nobody lives in the same city.
Matt Hummel [00:20:45]:
So I always I always use the example, and I don't know that this is accurate, but take a Salesforce. Salesforce, we always knew was in San Francisco. Now we have people who work for Salesforce who live in Austin and Milwaukee and certainly San Francisco. But, my point is we can't just hop over to San Francisco and expect to meet with the entire Salesforce team. In a way, early on, it was less of an event. And I kind of liked that because it made it more sort of organic and personal where it wasn't, hey, the Pipeline three sixty show is coming to town. If you want to be part of it, buy your tickets. It was more, hey, we're going to be in town.
Matt Hummel [00:21:21]:
We'd love to connect with you and really take you to dinner or grab a coffee or something. And there's still a big part of that, but honestly, it's really evolved to where now we have entire marketing teams who are building us into their off-site. And so just two weeks ago, I was in California and I met with one of our customers and their entire demand organization. And we were built in, we had a couple hours with them as part of their two day worksite or off-site. And, you know, talk about trust earned to be able to get invited to that. They only These folks get together every couple years. Many had not ever met each other. We took them to dinner the night before.
Matt Hummel [00:22:03]:
We show up the next morning and we have two hours with them. And so it's evolved where, again, it's not really an event, but we really want them to see us as not a friend per se, but really a part of their an extension of their team.
Ty Magnin [00:22:19]:
I assume the feedback you get reinforces what you're saying here.
Matt Hummel [00:22:23]:
Yeah. Well, it's funny. So I mentioned this meeting in California and this was definitely the exception, not the norm. But after I finished presenting on our new demand as a service offering, really as our response to the current market challenges, I kid you not, everyone in the room started clapping. And I'm like, well, this is awkward, but also really awesome. And so feedback in general has been, thank you, this is great, super helpful. And that then translates into, hey, let's do some follow ups from a sales perspective because we really see a clear path for how we can either expand or continue to work together. And so I always say, you know, proof's in the pudding, right? If we're if we're not growing the accounts we're investing in, then it's not working and we'll stop doing this.
Matt Hummel [00:23:09]:
But right now, you know, whether it's anecdotal through, like, hey. Thank you. This was great. But really more importantly, are we seeing growth? And and the answer is, you know, a %.
Ty Magnin [00:23:18]:
Well, yeah. Can you speak to some of those numbers that maybe you're seeing in terms of conversion from these meetings to I mean, I guess there are already kind of opportunities or at some stage in the sales process, but, yeah, what results are you seeing from that?
Matt Hummel [00:23:31]:
Yeah. And it it it is interesting because you could make the I'm I'm a cynic on attribution in general, so you can make the case, well, they were already a customer. How do you know if what you did actually worked? It's a few things. And I won't go super deep for time's sake, but when you think about ABM and how you measure it, there's different ways. And like anything, the lagging indicator is both pipeline and or revenue. And you know, I can definitively say that the accounts that we have met with in general have continued to grow and continued to spend with us. And in many cases, it's opening up doors for us to sell different services into them. There's also other benefits that we're that we're seeing that are sort of more of the near term success metrics when you think ABM.
Matt Hummel [00:24:18]:
So for example, you know, one of the one of the big ABM metrics is, you know, what's your sort of reach within an account. And so we'll meet with these accounts and and we'll start talking about how we have capabilities across the brand area of their business. Or, we have a partner program and they're like, oh, do you know our partner marketer so and so? And we're like, no. And so they say, well, let's facilitate an introduction. And so all of a sudden, we now have a warm introduction that we've we would have never otherwise had. And so, you know, that's a longer tail term in terms of us getting in and selling into that maybe new area of the business, but it's a win because we've identified new contacts, we've had the warm introduction. And so in a few cases too there, we've seen success come from it.
Ty Magnin [00:25:02]:
That's awesome. Who do you think this kind of distribution play is right for?
Matt Hummel [00:25:08]:
And are you talking about companies sold to or companies selling?
Ty Magnin [00:25:12]:
Other companies selling like you. Like, yeah. What kinds of companies like a Pipeline three sixty would you maybe recommend trying this sort of flying distribution engine?
Matt Hummel [00:25:22]:
Yeah. Well, first of all, there's no company like Pipeline three sixty.
Ty Magnin [00:25:27]: Of course.
Matt Hummel [00:25:27]:
But But with that said, you know, I would not recommend any of our competitors try this because it's exhausting and really inefficient. I think it could work for any company who, at the end of the day, you know, relationships play a key role in in their buying process. And arguably, that is every b to b company out there
Tim Metz [00:25:47]: Sure.
Matt Hummel [00:25:48]:
Excluding maybe a a product led growth type company. Right. Relationships, frankly, are becoming increasingly important. One of my favorite marketers who I've worked with, you know, earlier in my career, he he and I were both demand. Like, we were the science guys, you know, building the campaigns, driving all the numbers to get the get the results. He is now in a customer, like, truly, like, experiential marketing role where he's developing these programs that orient around creating these high memorable touch points for customers or prospects and really seeing great impact from that. And so I think, you know, that's to to me, that's where the world is heading. And again, this is just one channel.
Matt Hummel [00:26:27]:
Obviously, we do other things and I would always recommend other companies don't put all their eggs in one basket. But I think getting out face to face is so important. You cannot replicate the trust that happens when you meet face to face. And the other piece too, I mentioned, you know, post pandemic, a lot of people were still working remote. And so it's almost like, Oh, somebody wants to take me to dinner and come to hang out? Absolutely. I don't get that engagement anymore.
Ty Magnin [00:26:53]:
Yeah. Well, you mentioned some of the downsides too, right? You mentioned your wife, you've got two boys. Would you speak to that a little bit? Like, you know, what does it cost? And, you know, this thing doesn't really scale.
Matt Hummel [00:27:04]:
So it's been something of focus for us because while it doesn't seem like it would scale, it it has an opportunity to it still it still requires humans, though. And so we've tried to create scale in a couple ways. One is if it's a one off meeting, maybe it's just a prospect, or it's a one off meeting that we just cannot get to. There was a meeting in the middle of nowhere and there were no other accounts that would make sense for us to meet. We just scheduled it via Zoom and we delivered it virtually and that was great. It was not the same, but we've done that a lot. That's one way we've tried to create scale. The other is the research in and of itself doesn't require me or even a marketer to deliver it.
Matt Hummel [00:27:48]:
And so I will enable our sales organization to deliver the data. The difference is, you know, I can bring an experiential perspective or overlay to deliver it. And so our sales leader always says, I can do it. I just can't do it like you can. And that's not flattering. I'm not patting myself on the back. Like, he's not a marketer and he's not living in this day to day, nor has he for the last twenty five years like I have. So it's really I think it's been just picking and choosing where it makes sense for me to travel and then, you know, working with and and equipping our other sales reps or sales leaders to go out and deliver it, you know, when they can as well.
Matt Hummel [00:28:26]: Nice.
Tim Metz [00:28:26]:
And how much I'm actually curious, like, how much of your time does it actually take during those periods?
Matt Hummel [00:28:32]:
Yeah. So when I travel for these, it it can go it's usually a full week, and there's a lot of prep, you know, because we'll do we'll do two or three prep calls before really every meeting. You know, who's who within the account? What are the goals? What do we know about what they're facing? How do we want to tailor the overall content. And more often than not, the research is just part of the agenda. It's the bulk of the agenda. It's certainly the hook. But if we're delivering a QER, for example, we can bring some data on their latest performance, or if we wanna if we wanna talk about a new offering. So there's a lot of prep that goes into each.
Matt Hummel [00:29:10]:
And then afterwards, you know, there's less follow-up for me. That's really where the sales reps come in and and and do what they're really good at. But it you know, when I'm out on the road, it's pretty all consuming.
Tim Metz [00:29:22]:
And the last thing I wanna know is, like, what's been the most memorable trip or the most memorable thing that has happened to you in one of these?
Matt Hummel [00:29:28]:
Yeah. Well, it's really cool. So we did, we had an event in Tuscany last year and it was actually it was a customer event and so it was different than a roadshow. So we had 15 of our wonderful customers in Tuscany, really tough place to meet. And I presented the research. And so it was the first time I delivered the research to a different collection of customers. And it was well received, but one of the customers said, this was awesome. We wanna get you out to meet with our entire team in Munich, you know, later this year.
Matt Hummel [00:30:05]:
I'm like, that sounds awesome. And since then, we've had a team in Amsterdam bring us out, a team in London bring us out. I I mentioned California. There's been a couple different teams in different cities there. So we're really starting to see this move towards, you know, like I said earlier too, just that workshop. Tim, though, the the I had there was one funny moment that happened at that Munich meeting. So when we did our research last year, we only segmented the respondents in The US and The UK. And because that's really where our business has been and now we've expanded, you know, really well into APAC and really broader Europe.
Matt Hummel [00:30:41]:
And so I'm delivering this research and I'm walking them through the when we surveyed 500 respondents and 50% were in UK and 50% were in The US and blah, blah, blah. And our key contact there who I adore, she goes, and I won't use her accent, but she said, Hey, Matt, I'm going to interrupt you. We don't care about The US or UK. Go on with your research, but just know if you want to do this again, maybe tailor it for the rest of Europe because we don't really care about anybody but ourselves. And I could just I don't get embarrassed often, but I could just feel my face turn red and I'm like, Okay. And so, yeah, when we started our new wave of research, I said, All right, we're segmenting at US, UK, Continental Europe, and APAC. And so, you know, we'll make sure that it resonates with the broader global audience.
Ty Magnin [00:31:30]:
Matt, I've got an idea for you. Take it or at least, okay?
Matt Hummel [00:31:33]:
Let's hear it.
Ty Magnin [00:31:34]:
For the next report, when someone goes to download the thing, instead of a button to download it, it's a button to, like, you know, hey. Hand deliver this to me. Next day air.
Matt Hummel [00:31:46]:
Oh my gosh. I I gotta be honest. I love it. I think the icon should the CTA icon should be an airplane.
Tim Metz [00:31:54]: There you go. And
Matt Hummel [00:31:55]:
I think we need to figure out some way where they can literally just yeah. They can they can book a trip. Don't don't don't download it. Book a trip. I love that. Right. Yeah. That's it's like, what?
Ty Magnin [00:32:07]:
What do you mean it's coming
Matt Hummel [00:32:08]:
in two weeks? You know? Yeah. That's amazing.
Ty Magnin [00:32:11]:
Well, this is a great story. Thanks so much for for sharing here on the Animals podcast. Where can people find you and follow along with Pipeline three sixty and some of the other marketing ideas that you share?
Matt Hummel [00:32:23]:
Yeah. So you you could obviously learn about our company on our website, pipeline- 360.com. Pipeline 3 60 was not available. You can find me on LinkedIn. I think it's slash matt hummel1. And I also host a podcast, The Pipeline Brew, so I'm always looking for other marketers out there to talk about anything from content, brand, ABM or demand. So you can my podcast, The Pipeline Brew, on any of the the platforms as well.
Ty Magnin [00:32:50]:
There you have it. Matt Hummel, thanks for joining.
Matt Hummel [00:32:52]: Thank you guys for having me.
Ty Magnin [00:32:54]:
So, Tim, should we start buying plane tickets and flying you around the world?
Tim Metz [00:32:58]:
Yeah. Of course. Absolutely. No. I I mean, I well, I love the broad I mean, I love that, but I love the broader idea as well. Like, relationships are important, getting even more important. I like this point about COVID. Like, many people haven't had you know, there's fewer in person meetings.
Tim Metz [00:33:14]:
It's kinda special if you come out. In in AI. Right?
Ty Magnin [00:33:17]:
Like, in the day and age of AI, like, relationships matter even more.
Tim Metz [00:33:21]:
I I I what I also like was, like, that there's kind of a feedback loop into their own content and research report as well. Right? It's not just about building a relationship. You get to meet the actual people. They can give you feedback. Like, the example he gave, right,cabout people in Germany who are actually like, hey. You gotta get us to do research in Europe then. Right? I mean, that's valuable feedback. So it's not just about relationship and getting sales opportunities, but also kind of improving the product.
Ty Magnin [00:33:45]:
Another piece is it's this notion of being super long form. Right? If I'm doing the math right in my head, he talks about having thirty to forty five minutes in a meeting of just talking through what the client or prospect is going through. Then he talked about I I think it was sixty minutes of presenting the report, thirty to sixty minutes of that. And these are an hour and a half to two hour meetings, sometimes including a meet you know, dinner the night before, which, like, I don't know about you, but, like, I don't do that over Zoom. Right? Yeah. And so there's something powerful about this sort of event or format that's different than scanning the report in the fifteen minutes you have before your next meeting. And it makes you really then take it seriously and think about how it's gonna impact, you know, in the case of pipeline three sixty, their marketing strategy for the next twenty four, twelve, whatever, however many months.
Tim Metz [00:34:37]:
But it's a big lift. You know? If you add if you put everything together from what he said, it's like, well, obviously, first of all, you need to have a really good report. Right? Otherwise, you have something to talk about if it's love. And then he was also talking about, like, you know, their sales team is involved. He said there's, like, two to three prep calls. Then, obviously, there's just the logistics of, I mean, we even know just from this podcast, like, scheduling an interview can be quite a bit of work with even with three people. Right? So if you're, like, trying to coordinate with, like, high level folks and, you know, there needs to be sales folks, it needs to be a specific location, there's plane tickets involved. It's like, you know, it's it's a lot of work.
Tim Metz [00:35:10]:
So it's not everybody can can pull this off. It's it's also a big investment for sure.
Ty Magnin [00:35:14]:
I think it's a great fit for enterprise companies in general. Right? Larger companies selling to enterprise businesses because of that relationship aspect, because you can afford to spend more on an individual relationship, because the deal size is so much greater. I also like, you know, this idea of being able to kind of, like, build an entire marketing strategy almost. I mean, I know we didn't get to it in our talk, but the pipeline three sixty mass team is doing a lot more than like, around these white papers than just this hand delivery, you know, by airplane tactic. But you can kind of build a whole content strategy around this.
Tim Metz [00:35:53]:
Yeah. That's true. I mean, we we always say that. Right? When we work with customers on this kind of on this kind of content as well, it's like you get so much more mileage out of, you know, an anchor asset like this, and and Matt is kind of proof of that. Right? Like, you can build a whole, yeah, the whole Literally mileage. Motion around it. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Metz [00:36:09]:
Yeah. Literally. A lot of mileage. Air mileage. Yeah.
Ty Magnin [00:36:12]:
Well, alright. Yeah. Excited to see what we come up you know, what we hear next from our other enterprise, guests. Maybe they have some similar event plays or maybe not. Maybe they're going broad.
Tim Metz [00:36:23]: Thanks for listening.
