B2B Lead Generation Blog

Think more, do less

Are you too busy to think? Many of us feel that way at times. As simple as it seems, finding time to think effectively is vital to developing a solid sales, marketing and lead generation strategy. Without question, our mindsets ultimately influence our strategic choices.

Which is why I think Michael Webb’s post on the subject of thinking differently and banishing waste from sales and marketing is very compelling.

Michael explains that one of the most valuable questions he asks sales and marketing teams is, “What kinds of things clearly add no value to your sales and marketing operations?” Webb has found that people react strongly to this question. He often hears the same feedback over and over. Such as:

• Time spent on administration, reporting, and menial tasks (leaving little time for customers)
• Trade shows and events that generate boxes of “leads” not worth calling on
• Marketing literature that no one reads
• Wasting time with the wrong prospects

I see these same things too. So, instead of spending time looking at ways we can to create more of the same activity, why not think about how you can focus on what your internal and external customers really care about?

This involves asking provocative questions about the lead generation status quo such as:

• Will creating more activity for sales people really drive more revenue?
• Do I really want to know what my sales team is doing (or not doing) with our leads?
• Where is our sales team getting stuck in advancing our leads?

Also, I think you’ll find this post by Ed Batista on Strategic Quitting relevant. He highlights some thoughts from Seth Godin's book The Dip and he ties in some ideas from Peter Drucker.

Ed shares these questions, “Where can I deliver excellence? Where should I expect excellence in return? And how can I focus my time and energy to make this as likely as possible? This allows me to do some strategic quitting--or even better, not to start misguided efforts in the first place--and substantially increase the return on my personal investments.”

Some of your lead generation tactics may generate more inquiry activity than others but that doesn’t mean they are more valuable.

For example, I’ve talked with marketers who have analyzed their lead generation results and found tactics that generated the most activity often proved less effective at driving actual ROI, while others that didn’t produce as much activity did. These types of insights and ROI measurements can only be gleaned over the long term but if your status quo is to continue driving more campaign activity; then you may never know the difference.

At some point, if we are willing to stop and examine our decisions and the status quo, we will likely catch ourselves starting more low value activities and quit before we pursue them in the first place. Now, that’s time well spent!

Where's the passion in B2B marketing?

I spoke yesterday at MarketingSherpa's Demand Generation Summit and I felt led to go off topic for a bit to address why I do, what I do. Personally, I've been pondering the idea of passion and what role it plays in our careers as marketers or leaders.

Read Mike Volpe's summary of my presentation at the the Small Business Hub Blog.

In my short aside, I ended up talking about things we marketers often don't talk about. Our heart. What drives us? What role does the heart play in our job as marketers?

How do we create relevance for ourselves, our colleagues, and those future customers we hope to reach and influence?

Can you market something without passion and still be successful? If so, why would you want to?

I've wondered how we can be passionate advocates to others outside our companies if we don't have close relationships and trust inside our companies?

To me, disharmony is the enemy of execution. I liked something Seth wrote a while back, "...just about every successful venture is based on an unoriginal idea, beautifully executed." I agree.

In this age of automation, depersonalization, scoring and measurement, I'm not seeing the "human touch" in B2B marketing. So how can we humanize the process and actually build relationships?

I'm sincere in my vision to profoundly change the way people think about marketing and lead generation for the complex sale.

I believe the complex sale presents a set of unique sales and marketing problems that benefit by a shift away from the traditional lead generation mind-set to a new way of thinking centered on the following tenets:

• More ROI is reaped from the patient tending of potential customers (relationships) over time. Customers for life.
• Lead generation is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns. 
• Build relationships with the right people and companies regardless of their timing to buy.   
• Engage people early (preferably before) in their buying process as possible so you can create and influence their vision. 
• The first impression matters.  So does the second.  So does every single touch after that.  Consistency and relevancy is key.
• Sales and marketing must work together as one team.  Seeing each other as internal customers. 
• A multi-modal and multi-touch lead generation portfolio will always outperform marketing tactics that stand alone.
• Sales and marketing should have a unified understanding and consensus in their language on things like ideal customers and universal lead definition.
• If used properly, the phone is the single best way to reach decision makers and to begin a dialog when you have a complex sale.   
• Buy-in from sales and marketing as well as executive leadership is critical to the success of any lead generation program.
• Be willing and prepared to close the loop with every opportunity that is identified.
• The purpose of marketing is to help the sales team sell.
• Trusted advisers win more sales than slick brands.
• Companies don't buy - people do. Don't ever forget the human touch.

Again, I think the complex sale requires the human touch as a central element. It starts with our individual heart and our passion (Do I believe in what I'm doing?). Then we orient ourselves to our companies collective heart and passion (Do I believe in my company and what my company does?). Finally, we carry heart and passion outside our companies (Do we believe in what we're doing?).

Lead reengagement gives you more out of your investment

The year-end push is on and I know you may be wondering what else can I do to drive more revenue with little or no remaining budget?  I've found the best way is to focus on the leads you already have.

Lead reengagement is one of the most powerful ROI tools marketers have available to them. Why? You're getting more out of the money you've already spent by going deeper within the opportunities you already have. It seems like common sense, but the reality is, I know of very few companies that think about it, because they assume it's the salespeople's job.

That's why I thought you'd find these two articles published this week in BtoB Magazine relevant. They each explain a little known aspect of lead nurturing called lead reengagement.

In the following article, I'm interviewed by BtoB writer Christopher Hosford and share some trends in what he calls lead recycling (I prefer to call it lead reengagement) and I explain what we do at InTouch.

Read Effective Re-Engagement Gives You More Out Of Your Investment

In this article, Hosford interviews my friend and client Mikel Chertudi, senior director, online marketing and demand generation at Omniture. Mikel shares what Omniture is doing to optimize their lead reengagement process and drive more revenue.

Read Omniture Practices What It Preaches