This article was originally published in Demand Gen Report.
Qualified, a conversational marketing platform, announced a $12 million Series A funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners and other participating investors, including Salesforce Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. The funding brings the company’s total to $17 million and will be used to continue to develop conversational marketing offerings to meet growing demand in the Salesforce ecosystem.
"The conversational model is simply a better way to connect with new customers,” said Scott Beechuk, Partner at Norwest Venture Partners, in a statement. “Buyers love the real-time engagement; sellers love the instant connections and marketers have the confidence that every dollar spent on demand generation is maximized. The multi-billion-dollar market for Salesforce automation software is going to adopt this new model, and Qualified is perfectly positioned to capture that demand. If your company uses Salesforce, Qualified will be a multiplier on your sales and marketing investment."
The goal of leveraging conversational marketing is to help sales teams turn visits on B2B websites into sales. Every year, B2B marketers spend more than $6 billion driving buyers to their website. However, sales teams have no way of knowing when a qualified buyer is on their website, and no way of speaking with that buyer in that pivotal moment. The result is that B2B brands are wasting their marketing budget and leaving pipeline and revenue on the table.
"Your website should be your brand's biggest marketing asset to drive pipeline, but instead, it's your biggest blindspot," said Kraig Swensrud, Co-founder and CEO of Qualified, in a statement. "What if your sales team could meet with your most valuable buyers at the magic moment they're on your website and ready to connect? That's the future of B2B sales and marketing."
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