KnowledgeStorm and The Artemis Group just completed a benchmarking study of best practices for pursuing online leads (registration required). They concluded, "Leads get cold quickly, so it is vital that vendors implement prompt, effective lead follow-up processes."

I’ve closed-the-loop on thousands of leads with clients and unquestionably, the speed of follow-up and the degree of lead acceptance by the sales people has a major impact on ROI.

One of my clients; centrally qualifies all their leads (via phone) against their universal lead definition standard with in 2-hours, distributes and requires their field sales force to follow up on web inquiries with in 4 to 8-hours.  They generate 12,000 inquiries per year, mostly via their website.

If a qualified sales is not followed up by the assigned sales person with in 24-hours, they can count on a call from their sales manager. If a sales lead goes more than 48-hours before being touched, that sales person risks having that lead assigned to someone else – someone with more selling time capacity.

Does that seem a bit too militant for your taste? Perhaps. For them it works. They have an amazing lead conversion rate, which is triple the amount of their industry peers. They are successfully beating three Fortune 500 competitors who are 50 times their size.

We have discovered that 30% - 45% of leads that were not considered viable opportunities by the sales team actually became sales ready opportunities within 12-months.  They re-captured a $1million dollars per month in potential revenue by simply giving their sales team the ability to hand the baton back.

If lead generation were like a relay race - during the handoff – the baton gets dropped more often than not.  I have never seen a team drop the baton and win. 

So if you’re in a competitive race against another company, that runs the same speed as your team, to reach a potential customer, who do you think will win? The team who hands off the baton (lead) better right? 

Does your team take the baton and run when you pass a lead off or does it get dropped?  Assuming you have a universal lead definition and qualify each inquiry already, how else can improve the hand-off and increase the odds of sales follow-up? 

Four steps to garner expert referrals:

1. Map out the key players, experts, opinion molders in your industry.  Look at speakers at industry events, authors, bylines and contributed articles in trade journals, and blogs.  Now you should have a pretty good map of the people you need to know. 
2. Research them, their companies, their clients or customers.  Do they work with companies that fit your ideal customer profile?  Make your shortlist. 
3. Approach them with simple value proposition via phone with something like this.  “I’m contacting you as a recognized expert in our industry.  We’re interested in your assessment of our company’s value proposition for the [fill in the blank] industry.  Also, we’d like to understand your practice’s focus better because we are actively working this market and expect to find opportunities that need strategic expertise such as yours.  Would you be interested in exploring this further?"
4. Common ties - Another simple but powerful way of finding new sales leads is get to know your customer's trusted advisors that tie into your value proposition.  Do your research (step 2 above).  Give them a call.  You have something in common already - the same customer.  This is an effective way to expand your network and generate more leads.

Over time, as you build your lead generation program, your experts may be interested in co-developing white papers, special research reports, articles, and events with you. 

Experts pride themselves on their professional integrity, so they will likely refer business to you and a competitor (assuming you have them) at the same time.  You will still have an edge by investing in the relationship.  They are still more likely to favor someone who has shown an interest in them and given them value. 

Why does this work?  You begin by being genuinely interested in their business.  Secondly, experts - stay experts - by continually updating their knowledge of industry trends, information, key players, tools and ideas. 

They continually seek out other relevant resources that could possibly help their clients.  If you can be a good resource for their clients... they need you.

Finally, when experts are doing their consulting, writing, and speaking - they are not completely focused on new business development.  The result, many go through phases of feast and famine.  You and your company could also be sales lead referral source for them too. 

When was the last time you talked to your customers and asked how they were doing? A recent article in the Harvard Business Review, “The One Number You Need to Grow” by Frederick F. Reichheld asks, “Would you recommend our products or services to a business peer?”

It was confirmed after two-years of research that the answer to this single question is the number one indicator and correlated directly to growth rates. I submit that if you are not asking and getting the answer to this question, you could be generating word of mouth, but not the good kind.

Reichheld’s research shows us that people put their personal reputations on the line when they act as a reference or make a recommendation to someone else. When your customer’s act as good references, they show that they have received value from your company.

For the complex sale you need these enthusiastic references to help you build your reputation, differentiate yourself, demonstrate your value proposition, shorten your sales cycle, and drive revenue.

Get the HBR article at:
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu

I'm proud to be associated with these recognized experts in business, marketing, sales, business development, and business management - Michael McLaughlin, Susan Getgood, Jill Konrath, Jim Logan, and Kevin Stirtz.  Special thanks goes to Jim Logan for assembling the team and concept.   

The the B2B Lead Generation Blog will continue - I plan to post more frequently - now that I am ready to write again! 

What is the Revenue Roundtable about? 

The Revenue Roundtable team’s saying is “Be practical, or be quiet.” So, head off to academia if you want to read jargon-laden management theory. Stick with us if you want specific advice on marketing strategy, lead generation, managing a complex sale, and expanding your business with your existing customers. And that’s just the start.

We’re focused on a single objective: helping you grow a profitable business—while maintaining your sanity. Our panel of experts will help you clear the path to prosperity by sharing winning strategies for building a business, and by pointing out the inevitable traps you’ll encounter along the way.

What is the premise of the Roundtable?

Each week a roundtable team member will write on one topic so you will get an in-depth view of an issue along with a variety of perspectives. And, of course we want your comments, suggestions and participation so we can tailor the blog’s content to match what you ask for.  Check it out

As I (anxiously) wait for my editor's feedback, I am a little unsure what to do with the extra time. Needless to say - being a father, husband, and CEO is a bit easier now!  Oh yeah, I'm blogging again too. 

The book is entitled, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale: Proven Strategies to Boost the Quality and Quantity of Leads Guaranteed to Increase Your ROI.  It currently has 18-Chapters and is 268 pages (pre-edit).  It should be in stores before year-end 2005. 

Continue reading if you want more info on the book

The book is an action-oriented account of a strategic, multimodal approach to lead generation for the complex sale. Included are strategies, tips, and best practices that can be put into place immediately for improvement of your lead generation return on investment.

Why did I write the book?

According to studies, the single biggest issue for contemporary business-to-business marketers is effective lead generation.  Conversely, it has been pointed out that 80% of marketing expenditures on lead generation and collateral are wasted because the leads are ignored by sales people.

Keeping the sales pipeline full of qualified leads is critically important in today's challenging business climate, so much so, in fact, that consistent lead generation is imperative to the survival of many companies.  The sales challenge can be downright daunting when the sale assumes complex proportions.

Though there are scores of books on direct marketing, branding, advertising, marketing tactics, PR, varied sales approaches, cold calling, etc.; I have yet to find a text that addresses the holistic approach to lead generation for the complex sale.

Unlike other books that utilize mostly traditional direct marketing tactics, I will offer the proven approach that has produced documented returns of 2000% to 5000% ROI. It will help marketers deliver the high quality leads to their sales team that will make them heroes.

Ultimately, the motivation behind this book is:

1. The complex sale requires great synergy between marketing and sales.
2. Economic conditions are such that the buyer requires a more thorough business case to justify the purchase decision.
3. Marketers are driven by necessity to focus on immediate tactics, not long-term strategy.
4. Business-to-business marketers are under-appreciated and under-trained.

And the goal is to help marketing/sales leaders feel new confidence that they have a proven roadmap to successful lead generation and the tools to increase their odds of wining new customers and meeting their growth targets. 

I'm still out of commission, just 5-days before my book manuscript is due to my publisher. 

Link: SWOT Team: Adding webinars to the marketing pool

In the meantime, I put together a list of my seven favorite lead generation tips.  I hope you find them useful.  Be sure to check out my archives, I've updated many of my previous posts with new ideas. 

1. Build a ideal customer profile – Focus your energy on leads that best fit your ideal customer profile.  What separates your best and worst customers?  What are their attributes and demographics?  What magazines do they read?  What organizations do they belong to? 
2. Talk to you best customers – How much do you really know about your customers?  A simple phone call can generate plenty of useful information.  Ask your customers why they chose to work with you?  Is that the same reason they keep doing business with you?  How has working with you helped their business?  Would they refer you to other people?  Use this information to refine your message to gain more leads just like your best customers. 
3. Know the needs you can solve – once you under stand why clients chose your products or service you can tailor your message around the needs you solve.  Why are you relevant?
4. Define your goals for lead generation – Be clear on what you want.  Do you want 200 more leads to your database?  Do you want to generate $600K in new business in revenue this year?  Do you want to add 26 new customers this quarter? 
5. Define what is a qualified lead to your sales team?  Savvy marketers know that the fastest way to fail is to not get buy-in from their sales team before they start their lead generation.  I repeat, it’s essential to get your universal lead definition written and agreed upon by all parties.  Typical definitions include the following criteria:
   a. Is there a defined need or initiative for your solution?
   b. Do they have the authority?  Are they a decision maker?
   c. When is their decision going to be made?  Time frame?
   d. Do they have a formal/informal budget? 
   e. What’s the potential size of the opportunity?
   f. Are they ready to speak to a sales person? 
6. Have a follow-up plan – While you may generate leads from your initial campaign, you will generate more by following up with additional touches.  What kind of follow-up plan does your sales team follow? 
7. Develop a good house list – purchased lists have limitations.  Even the best lists are not 100% accurate.  During the planning phase you should make sure your list fits your ideal customer profile.  Even if you doing a direct mail campaign it is important that you purchase a list that includes as much information as possible so that it can be used for future marketing campaigns.  Enlist your sales team to help you update your database with new information as they follow-up on leads. 

Effective lead management is the key to building a solid sales pipeline.  Why add gasoline (more leads) to a fire (poor lead management) that may only consume your budget and leave you with a pile of smoldering ashes (wasted opportunities)? 

I read a good article, "10 Ways to Better Manage Sales Leads," in Entrepreneur.com.  Greg Anderson, contributing writer, provides some helpful tips on how to optimize your lead management process. 

Here's my short summary:

1. Create a universal lead definition
2. Leverage your CRM to manage your process
3. Track the source of each lead
4. Distribute leads rapidly
5. Use lead nurturing
6. Pump up your sales team to follow-up on each lead promptly
7. Refine each lead with additional info to help the sales team sell
8. Treat leads like customers
9. What gets measured gets done.  Measure what is important.
10. Close-the-loop with your sales team regularly

Other Related posts:

How to ensure every single lead is followed up on

Better lead management leads to bigger marketing budgets

Success with sales leads

Last year, the B2B Lead Generation Blog (yours truly) received honorable mention for the "Best b-to-b marketing-topic Blog."

It's sure nice seeing positive input from readers like you.  If I merit your nomination again, let them know. 

Want to see who won last year?
Nominate your favorite blogs now

Lead generation starts the dialog with the right people within the right companies to find more immediate opportunities.  Lead nurturing keeps the conversation going with relevant and meaningful personal touches regardless of their timing to buy. 

In today's commoditized business climate, the one thing that is setting companies with a complex sale apart is how well their sales people create and develop relationships.  Why?  Economic buyers know, "How you sell me is how you will serve me."

Roughly 70% of final customer brand image and preference are determined through direct contact with a sales person.   

Yet today’s economic buyers increasingly avoid talking to sales people if at all possible.  They simply don't have time or trust sales people as much, and they don’t want to be sold, period. 

Readily available information from the internet and other sources delay the need and value of face-to-face contact until later in the buying process.  And at that point the sales person must be recognized as a trusted advisor to be successful. 

A recent study found that sales people who came to be regarded as trusted advisors are 69% more likely to come away with a sale.  I wrote an article a while back on how to develop a lead nurturing program which will do just that. 

Chris Baggott's Email Best Practices Blog has a great post that talks about the science of humanizing your communications. 

A study by Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, reports that recognition benefits go back to hunter gatherer societies of more than 10,000 years ago.  We are hardwired to pay attention to those that are familiar.   

Humans unconsciously feel that people we see frequently are our friends (which explain celebrity endorsements).   Kanazawa says: "It makes us more susceptible to product messages, because we're designed to trust our friends."

The Science of the "From" Side

Chris points out an article by Business 2.0 writer, Thomas Mucha too.
Why The Caveman Loves The Pitchman

The best lead generation techniques are:

• Your website
• Search engine marketing
• Outbound telemarketing
• Direct mail
• Trade shows (if the audience is highly qualified)

Nigel includes a link to Ruth's PPT slides via PDF. 

Selling IT: Are you using the Best Lead Generation Techniques?

Anne and her team recently published the Landing Page Handbook which gives step-by-step instructions (based on proven data) on how get up to 40% more sales leads.  I read it and it is terrific!

I interviewed Anne Holland on how marketers can improve their landing page conversion rates and attract more sales leads. 

Show Agenda

1. Why are landing pages such a hot topic?
2. How exactly would you define a good landing page? 
3. What are the essentials of great landing page design?
4. How do you develop a compelling B2B landing page?
5. What low budget tools can we use to measure landing pages?
6. Other landing page resources? 

Listen to interview with Anne Holland (File size is 7.45 MB)

Show length (16:17 minutes)

Show notes
Links to companies and articles mentioned in the podcast:

• Taguchi Method for marketing measurement
• Elance
• Offermatica
• Vertster
• MarketingSherpa: Landing Page Handbook

Tell me what you think! Share your comment below.

Get my podcast feed

When it comes to word of mouth marketing (WOM), I've observed that many B2B marketers, marketing blogs and the media seem overly concerned about brand building.  They have it wrong.  Instead they should focus more on reputation building especially, if they have a complex sale.

Why? Word of mouth is all about our reputation.  Our reputation leads others to make conclusions about our brand but our brand doesn't create our reputation. 

Recent research shows that reputation makes a huge difference for B2B companies in the following areas; demand creation, lead generation and overall revenue growth.

Sirius Decisions, a leading B-to-B research firm concludes,

"While brand isn't dead, we believe it has become a byproduct of reputation, the first of three overall outputs today's b-to-b organizations must systematically produce in order to be successful. Reputation has a direct link to the second output – demand creation – and indirectly helps to drive the third output (revenue) by building a foundation of trust and credibility that should be revisited as needed throughout a sales cycle."

Read my post on defending thought leadeship. 

So if you want to build a WOM marketing program, you must look at your reputation first - not your brand.  "Build it and they will come." - Field of Dreams. 

Should reputation take a back seat to branding?  Why or Why not? 

Sirius Decisions: The Real Link to Demand Creation

Link: A Penny For: Using Blogs for Word of Mouth Marketing.

In response, marketers have allowed free downloads but, added registration forms inside their PDFs.   

Now you can track PDF documents without making people register. New PDF Tracking Gives Us Pause.

Link: Daily Doses: Land more writing clients by taking advantage of the latest (and easiest) marketing tool.

This is a true story about one of my clients.  We'll call her Kristin.  At the mid-year point, in 2003, Kristin's marketing budget was cut by 50%.  Amazingly, her CEO still expected her meet her revenue contribution goal.  She had 2-choices...either quit or get creative. 

In the final 6-months, with a smaller budget, she exceeded her total revenue targeted by 25%!  Here's her secret...

Listen to podcast on trigger events

(File size is 5.58 MB) (Show length 12:07 minutes)

Show notes
Links to companies and articles mentioned in the podcast:

• Technorati watchlists
• Google news alerts via email
• Yahoo! RSS feeds & via email
• HillSearch online Business Library

View my podcast feed

Woods is VP of Enterprise Solutions for NewsGator.com, a leading news aggregator.  By using RSS, Woods has eliminated the time consuming task of lead notification, distribution and keeping his management team up-to-date.   

He writes, "I don't have to spend my day with my head buried in Salesforce.com.  Instead I'm notified of new leads through a variety of desktop, online, and mobile RSS aggregators."  Here is his original concept.

It will probably take somewhere between 12 to 18-months for RSS to reach critical mass for the following reasons:

1. RSS is still bleeding edge especially for non-bloggers.  I read that just 20% of all web users have read a blog and just 5% of regular blog readers use RSS.  The number of RSS readers is infinitesimal compared to the general population of web users.  It will take time. 

2. RSS requires you do something different. Your computer doesn't come with a RSS reader installed but it comes with a browser.  RSS requires you do install something, add something, or log into a web based aggregator. 

I prefer to use hosted news aggregator, Bloglines, because I can catch up on my reading with out having to recreate/copy my feeds at home PC, work PC, and PDA.  There are many others that are just as good such as NewsGator.

3.  Bloggers over-hype RSS.  An average web user could care less and most don’t see it as relevant. We have to remember that 80% of all web users have never read a blog. 

Still, it is exciting for me to watch new ideas take hold.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this all develops.  I’ll share some best practices of lead distribution and notification (with out using RSS). 

Reick shares the following tips:

• Get buy-in from executives and sales
• Create your follow-up plan first
• Offer something valuable and free
• Get your offer to the right people
• Track everything
• Focus on ROI
• Review progress regularly

DMNews.com: Give Lead Generation Some Respect

You don't need to spend a ton of money on direct mail to reach top executives.  A simple, well written letter (hand addressed) in a #10 envelope can be just as powerful as flashy packaging or expensive 3-dimensional mailings.  What ever you do - do not execute a direct mail campaign like this creative lead generation blunder.

If you need a resource to help you get started with reaching executives with direct mail, here's a decent book, The Power to Get In by Michael Boylan.  He explains step-by-step how to write executive access letters that leverage your contacts sphere of influence (most people can skip the first 4 chapters).

Check out, Lead Generation Via Direct Marketing is Coming Back, and read the section on how to prevent bad data from trashing your sales lead ROI. 

Kevin Stirtz's post, How to Make Cold Calling Work for Your Business, has some good points but - there is a better way.

Peter explains that we can use a bit of marketing ESP by combining our shared knowledge from various mediums such as email newsletters.

He writes, "One of the best ways to pre-qualify your leads is to work off a list of those contacts that have subscribed and clicked thru on the content of your email newsletter marketing efforts. Properly written and distributed an email marketing campaign can provide incredibly detailed information and customer intuition that will help your sales staff know what your customers are interested in."

Absolutely - we just need to be judicious with how we use that information.  Don't say, "I wanted to speak to you about [topic they clicked on] because you clicked that link a dozens times."  I’ve received calls like that and it feels a bit… creepy. 

If you must cold call, how do make each call relevant?  How can your phone call be plus in that person's day rather than another unwanted distraction?

I did a webcast with Jeff Thull on how to have relevant conversations with executives in mid-size to Fortune 500 companies.  Jeff is the author Mastering the Complex Sale® and The Prime Solution®. 

The challenge of cold calling is make sure each conversation we have is relevant and meaningful.  That's what this webcast is about. 

My company uses Jeff's approach for many of our lead generation programs and it works.  Why?  There's no manipulation, pitches or trickery - it is simply about authentic communication.

Watch the webcast How to have relevant conversations with top executives (Executive Level Selling)

Okay - I'll give you my vignette:  These marketers managed their leads really well.  They measured their response - used phone qualification - worked closely with their sales team - sent on only sales ready leads - closed the loop on each lead - increased revenue - cut costs - gave remarkable reports.  Now look like heroes. 

A CEO I know said, "small budgets foster maximum creativity."

This also ties in the post Tracking ROI From Web Generated Leads

I had a bit of writers block as I was working on my book last night.  I went back my earlier mind map and I revised it.  Hopefully I made it better.  (Click image to enlarge)

Are there any tactics/modalities that I'm missing? 

Download lead generation map.pdf

Okay back to writing...

Flitter writes, "I've listed below the more popular on-line lead generation techniques employed by marketers today. We'll examine each and provide tips on how a Blog or RSS strategy can compliment what you are doing today." 

Bill addresses the following lead generation modalities; white papers, search (SEO), display ads, email newsletters and public relations.

I agree that Blogs and RSS will continue grow in importance (as lead generation tools) but, I'm not sure that they will replace any of these modalities - at least not yet.

Big companies are big targets.  As a result, they must to deal with much higher level of scrutiny (Sarbannes-Oxley, SEC disclosures, etc.) and thus, blogs are simply another risk to mange.  Can you imagine having your corporate counsel review each draft (for compliance) before you post it online?

So for now, blogs will not bode well for the Fortune 500 crowd.  As more big companies do join the blogosphere, they will need to balance the risk of authentic communication - just like a circus performer would delicately balance on a high wire - without a safety net. 

Blogs are a boon for small and midsize companies

Smaller companies on the other hand are not as constrained by formality, hierarchies and scrutiny.  This naturally allows them to be more nimble - they can make their size to an advantage. 

Debbie Weil’s points out that Small and Midsize companies have a competitive advantage to attract customers via blogging.  Her post points to an interesting piece by WSJ.com.

WSJ.com's Riva Richmond writes, "While any size company can use such a strategy, small businesses may benefit most: Blogs offer little-known small businesses name recognition, and the chance to boost traffic well beyond what they'd get if they were simply offering goods and services for sale."

Yes - people do abuse the term "thought leader" and it can be contrived and meaningless.  That being said, I completely disagree with the definition of thought leadership as presented.

First of all, thought leaders don't refer to themselves as thought leaders.  For the same reason, I think it is silly that many marketers are trying to setup blogs because their bosses told them so.  Uh, that’s not the point. 

It's a conversation - a dialog. A friend gave me this simple advice that's served me my entire career, "just be people with people." In other words, be real, be authentic and put your whole self into what you do. That's the essence of blogging.  Okay back on track...

So what is a thought leader?
A thought leader is a recognized authority in one’s field.   Elise Bauer wrote an article on thought leadership that I referenced a while back.

Bauer writes, “What differentiates a thought leader from any other knowledgeable company [or individual] is the recognition from the outside world that the company deeply understands its business, the needs of its customers, and the broader marketplace in which it operates.”  She continues, “Trust is built on reputation and reputation is generally NOT built on advertising or looking smart.” 

I agree.  People have a natural "BS" meter.  We can sense when someone is just trying to sound smart rather than be authentic.  Most of us can recognize a charlatan, one who pontificates about their expertise.  These so called thought leaders are just trying to edify themselves. 

Thought leadership is not what you say or write.  It is a way of being.  There are just a select few thought leaders in every industry and field of study.  Thought leaders genuinely influence others by creating, advancing and sharing ideas.  Their objective is to help others. 

In business, thought leaders revolutionize the way others (both inside and outside their companies) do business.  That's thought leadership. 

Bauer concludes, “Become a thought leader in your field and it won’t matter as much how big you are. Companies and people will look to you for insight and vision. Journalists will quote you, analysts will call you, and websites will link to you.”

Thought leadership is an outside assessment based on what others say about you NOT what you say about you. 

Is the term "thought leadership" to blame?  No way!  I rather like it.  It is just being overused and abused as a hollow form of self promotion. 

After three days of walking you are cramping up - overcome with exhaustion and dehydration.  The wind beats fine sand against your exposed face and neck. 

“One more sand dune,” you say, while you climb up over the hump.  Suddenly, your legs collapse and you roll down the other side of the dune. 

You awake with blurred vision and try to wipe the sand away from your stinging eyes.  As you turn your head, you notice the sun is setting and in the distance... another mirage.  Covered in hot sand you almost give up hope. 

You have gone nearly four days with out water.  Your mind is hazy… so you focus hard again – nothing.  As the sun drops further the shadow changes. Wait - could that be a palm tree? 

Using your last burst of energy you pull yourself up and stagger towards the oasis.  There’s got to be water there!

You lean against the nearest palm tree and see a small muddy bed with some water floating on top.  You drink it up and believe you have never tasted anything so wonderful – water – water - water!

How much sweeter the water would have been with out the presence of camel dung.   

Lead Generation Moral:

Give sales people - who are dying of thirst - dirty water and they will gladly drink it... but if they are not thirsty - they will spit it right back at your face. 

Sales people’s discriminating taste depends largely on if they are thirsty or not.  If they are satiated (busy closing a big deal) then you can almost bet that even clean water (qualified leads) will be ignored.  If sales people are dehydrated - they will likely pursue poor opportunities (sometimes even if your leads are crap) - they'll still want more. 

To optimize lead generation ROI - marketers must strive to give thirsty sales people (those who are motivated to follow-up) only filtered water (qualified leads) that has been treated with reverse osmosis (a universal lead definition).

I just talked with my editor at McGraw-Hill and it sounds like my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, could be in stores mid-Q4.

Getting away was not an easy task, especially with a young family and growing company.  Thank you to my wonderful wife, business partners and clients for your support.

I liked this article because touches on two points that I've been writing and speaking about for some time. 

1. ROI measurement is the CEO's top mandate for marketing
2. Marketers who measure their performance are rewarded with bigger budgets and win more respect. 

Lead generation is very tangible way to demonstrate the value of marketing but it is by no means the only way. 

Ultimately, marketers are in the driver’s seat and need to take responsibility to prove their value by showing that marketing is not only an art but also it is a science. 

DeLegge's interview with Carl Howe comes to the same conclusion, “As more companies begin to see marketing as a quantitative business tool as opposed to a black art,” observed Howe, “ attitudes towards marketing will improve and marketing spending will increase.”

Senior Execs Say Marketing Budgets Will Rise 20%, Jump 27% for Companies that Measure Effectiveness

"I look at our lead generation efforts, specifically in this economy, as a financial portfolio. If I can’t measure the tactics or programs in terms on return on invest to the organization…leads generated, business closed, opportunities in the funnel, then why should I expect the company to invest in my fund."

I agree her completely - lead generation for the complex sale requires a holistic, disciplined and multi-modal approach.

A while back, I did some brainstorming for my forthcoming book, Start With A Lead: Lead Generation Strategies for the Complex Sale, I mapped out some of the main lead generation modalities.

Here's the lead gernation modality mindmap that I came up with. (Click image to enlarge)

Are there any tactics/modalities that I'm missing? 

I got a copy of the handbook and finally had a chance to read it.  This book is the real deal.  Yes - the eye tracking heat maps (click image to enlarge) have a "wow" factor.  I'm more impressed by the amount of research and testing that went into this book. 

If you have responsibilities that involve your website (or your clients website) you need to get this report.  They have an early adopter discount until 2/28.

Landing Page Handbook: How to Raise Conversions

NEWS Alert!

I've been granted an interview with Anne Holland, president of MarketingSherpa.  Anne is a brilliant B2B marketer and I'm looking forward to get her perspective on website lead generation and landing pages.  Do you have questions about website landing pages? 

Submit your questions (via comments) for me to ask Anne.

That’s a good thing - but as many of us know – generating a ton of clicks/visitors does not mean that more sales leads will follow. 

On average, web visitors spend just 8-seconds scanning a website landing page before they decide to leave.  So what else can you do to improve the traction of your website to generate more leads?   

MarketingSherpa published a great case study that explains how landing page design impacts lead generation results.  (BTW – every page is a landing page to search engines)

The case study features, Ken Kornbluth, President MarketingPilot who says, "…People are really calling from our landing pages. Ten times more people call now. Most landing pages don't do that!"  Kornbluth’s website now generates 1000% more website inquiries! 

Lead Generation Site Redesign: How to Get More Big Company Execs to Call You

SoftwareCEO.com gives some good ideas on how to proactively generate more word-of-mouth leads in their "tip of the week" section (on their main landing page)

Kermit Yensen writes, "Sales and marketing leaders often have a clear vision of how one-to-one marketing can benefit their prospective customers, their sales force and their bottom line. So why aren’t they implementing one-to-one marketing for themselves? Or, if they have, why do results seldom measure up to the vision?"

Yensen argues that it all starts with the marketing database. 

Database addresses the symptom not the cause

Many 1-to-1 lead generation programs don't fail because of a lack of vision or strategy.  They fail as a result of poor execution.  Poor marketing/sales databases are simply a symptom of the problem rather than the root cause. 

One-to-one marketing requires tremendous synergies between marketing, IT and sales.  Simply put, most company don't have enough cross-functional teamwork to successfully execute 1-to-1 marketing.  I wrote a post about this a whle back. 

Lead Generation meets the Bermuda Triangle

The company behind the campaign does commercial leasing and counts roughly 80% of the Fortune 1000 as their customers -- so they’ve done quite a few things right.  However, this so called “creative" lead generation program might be a strategic blunder. 

The pitch
The company sells to senior executives big companies.  They created a 3-dimensional direct mail package including two baseballs signed by Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and three baseball stands.  Now, if you’re a baseball fan that sounds incredible huh?

I bet you know what’s coming… if you agree to meet with us, (no obligation of course) we’ll bring you a third base ball signed by (drums please) baseball great, Hank Aaron. 

Swing - it's a hit!
Needless to say this campaign generated a ton of executive appointments.  I wonder if these marketers (who probably are strutting around over their spectacularly program) have traced the appointments netted by the “base ball” campaign back to either new customers or new leases originated (real revenue)?  I doubt it. 

My experience is that most companies celebrate the quantity of appointment activity but the revenue results from the appointments are seldom measured.  If that happened here...

Foul ball! (Sorry - I couldn’t resist) 
I don’t get it? What do autographed baseballs have to do with commercial leasing?  This “creative" lead generation campaign seems very um, un-creative and a cop out.   

Marketers who use expensive premiums like this are practicing what I call “appointment bribery.”  I can only imagine that their marketing team ran out of good ideas that articluate their value proposition or they simply gave up and chose the path of least resistance – buying access.   

Getting past home plate (okay - I'll stop it)
The real goal of lead generation is to help the sales team - sell by connecting your value proposition with your audiences need.  Sales people must be meeting with those who have a clear initiative, want to do something about it and meet your lead definition of being sales ready. 

That’s not someone who wants the "free" expensive gift.  I can’t imagine what the campaign cost in dollars but I can only guess at the soft costs of wasting their sales people’s time. 

Numerous studies show that companies (with complex sales) don't see increased revenue from getting their sales people more appointments.  In some cases, it will negatively impact revenue. 

A recent report by Aberdeen Group, “Sales Effectiveness: Helping Sales Sell” concludes, “The number one issue for most CEO's and Marketers is lead generation - getting more leads to their sales team." The number one desire for sales people however, is MORE selling time with “sales ready” opportunities. 

On last thought, if I became a customer, I would wonder how they could afford to spend money lavishly marketing to me, then haggle with me over percentage points of interest on my lease?  I would rather they save their money and focus clearly demonstrating that I could trust them to help my company save money. 

Should marketers buy access like this?  Why or why not?

Can't make it to DC?  Check out the AMA's blogging event in Chicago on February 18th. Blogs: Marketing Beyond the Website

So rather than go on a screed about it, I thought I'd share some tips on what I've learned from promoting dozens of web events. 

Webinars compete for your audience's most precious commodity - time.  Don't for get your audience wants information that is relevant and meaningful.  Don't waste their time with a sales pitch. 

Where do webinars/webcasts fit into lead generation?

I'm often asked where do webinars/webcasts fit in the lead generation continuum?  To help you, I've put together a graphic which shows approximately where they fit in They also fit very nicely into a lead nurturing programs too.  (Click image to enlarge)

Don't try to "sell" me - I'm not ready!

I've seen many marketers ruin their lead generation performance by rushing an unqualified list of attendees to their sales team. 

Most Attendees are not leads!  On average, 5% to 10% of attendees are sales ready opportunities.  Plus most sales people will only call 15% to 20% of that list anyway. This presents a great opportunity for those companies who want to be positioned as thought leaders and keep their audience coming back. 

Relevant Content - a catalyst for big attendance

High quality content can dramatically build webinar attendance. Why?  Relevant content builds credibility, generates positive word of mouth (wom) and creates a buzz for future events.

The results...

By following this basic truth, InTouch, increased webinar registrations by 255% with out changing any webinar promotion tactics.

Here’s the registration results for a quarterly event series: Event 1 (280 registrants), Event 2 (495 registrants), Event 3 (995 registrants). 

Industry average webinar attendance is around 30% but by focusing on, "thought leadership", our attendance was at 41% of registrants and the total number of attendees grew by 583%. 

Example: Thought Leaders in Lead Generation

Using your archive properly boosts attendance
Don’t forget to archive your webinars/web casts and make sure they are visible to your website visitors. 

Thanks to my webcast sponsor, NetBriefings, we've generated an average of 1664% more archive attendees compared to our live events!  For example, our first event had just 85 live attendees but 14-months later that same event has tracked over 1500 unique archive attendees. 

Collect and Use Feedback
Make sure you collect feedback both during and after the event via on-line survey tools like surveymonkey.  The real-world feedback we've collected helped us make each event better.

Let your audience self qualify themselves with a "request a sales person contact me" box on your post event survey.  Those who don't qualify yet need to be added to your lead nurturing program. 

Webinar/webcast resources

HRmarketer.com Blog : Using Webinars as an Effective Marketing and PR Tool. – Tips on how to effectively promote your events. 

Webcasts for Lead Generation White Paper - by web conferencing provider Interwise provides a great white paper on the subject.

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