B2B Lead Generation Blog

Podcast: How to Optimize Teleprospecting Vendors

More companies than ever are using third party providers for teleprospecting and lead management operations, however there is little information on how to select, engage, and measure these vendors who will add that essential human touch.

I just interviewed Sridhar Ramanathan, President of Pacifica Group, on how to evaluate and optimize outsourced teleprospecting partnerships (aka inside sales, telesales, telemarketing). 

Sridhar is an industry thought leader in marketing and former HP executive that grew HP's Managed Services unit to $1B in revenue. He has spent that last seven years advising his clients at Pacifica group on how to implement successful marketing strategies that increase revenue. 

If you are involved in lead generation for a complex sale, this podcast offers practical information you won't want to miss.

During the interview you will hear Sridhar discuss:

• Why his client's decide to outsource
• What to have ready before engaging a firm
• The criteria companies should use when hiring a firm
• Success metrics used to evaluate effectiveness
• Pitfalls to avoid in a partnership
• Co-sourcing or Outsourcing?
• Best practices that make teleprospecting partnerships very effective

Listen to podcast now (27 minutes MP3 9.58 MB)

Podcast: How to Select and Optimize Teleprospecting Partnerships

Podcast: A new role for sales as expert content filters

I just had a great interview with Robin Carey, co-founder of the Customer Collective.

Salespeople have become the second choice for information among buyers who'd rather just go to the Internet. This trend actually creates an opportunity for those who think and act like trusted advisors.

You can listen here

In the interview, I share how I got my start and how the Internet has shifted control away from marketers and salespeople. I also describe how today's sales people can add value to the buying process by becoming expert content filters for prospects. This is the key to lead nurturing with a human touch.

What's The Customer Collective? It's a new business outreach community for sales and marketing executives. It was built in collaboration with established media companies like Business Week, ZDNet and BNET. I see it as a social media site (that doesn't focus on social media) but rather looks at real meat and potatoes sales and marketing. We need more sites like this.

Podcast: Interview with MarketingSherpa's Anne Holland

Would you like some inspiration or some fresh ideas for your marketing and lead generation strategy?

If so, MarketingSherpa just released their “Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007-08” and I had the privilege to interview Anne Holland about this year's findings. Very useful stuff. Download the Executive Summary

During our in-depth interview, Anne shares some terrific insights and helpful data on numerous marketing and lead generation tactics.

Three data points that I found particularity interesting:

1. Teleprospecting works. As we all know, tech buyers are a notoriously tough crowd to cold call. Sherpa's findings contradict the "calling doesn't work" line we've heard for years. Their data shows that over 50% of tech buyers admitted to short listing a vendor after receiving a well timed and relevant phone call.

2. Sherpa's data shows that more decision makers (not just influencers) are attending webinars and watching archived events. This indicates the importance of relevant educational events and online content for lead generation.

3. Companies who provided fewer but higher quality "sales ready" leads to their sale people have better sales conversion rates than those that send lots of early stage leads and that creating a "cost per lead" culture just does not work.

Listen to podcast now (31 min MP3)

Show Agenda  

• Benchmark data that B2B all marketers must know
• Fresh ideas and best practices for lead qualification
• Why you should capture and track all web inquiries in your CRM
• How many buyers/influencers in the typical F500 buying process (hint: it's big!)
• Sherpa's unexpected data on B2B telemarketing (teleprospecting)
• Useful data on lead management and lead nurturing
• How webinars are reaching more decision makers than you would expect
• Common email mistakes (and why mobile devices matter more than you think)
• How and why high quality content is important and influential to buyers
• Why fewer leads is better (the CEOs role) and why "cost per lead" budgets fail
• Distinguishing characteristics of top performing marketers
• Unconventional research that will improve your corporate website homepage

The Business Technology Benchmark Marketing Guide features data on numerous marketing and lead generation tactics especially valuable. They also have practical data on search, email, PR, direct mail, lead generation, trade shows, podcasting, telemarketing, budgeting and more. They interviewed over 1000 marketers, plus this year they gathered in-depth research from 4,658 actual business technology buyers.

If you are a marketer for a company that sells technology, I encourage you to get a copy of this report. It will definitely help you better budget, forecast, and benchmark your marketing results.

MarketingSherpa: Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007-08

Podcast: The New Rules of Marketing & PR Interview with David Meerman Scott

Before the Internet and social media tools, companies could only communicate through the filter of advertising or media ink placed by a PR firm. But fortunately the rules have changed.

I just interviewed David Meerman Scott author the new book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly. The book was officially released on June 4, 2007.

David also writes the Web Ink Now blog and has been named to the MarketingSherpa Viral Marketing Hall of Fame for the past two years in a row. During our interview we cover a variety of topics that are relevant to lead generation, PR and marketing.

Show Notes

• The New Rules of Marketing & PR
• Strategies for reaching more buyers directly via the web
• The role of content in reaching people earlier in their buying process
• Building your online credibility and authority
• Thought leadership and the changing role of media and journalists
• PR tactics that work

Listen to podcast now (MP3 27 min 12 MB)
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David is a friend and colleague so I'm happy to see his book is doing so well. As I write this post his book is ranked in the top 100 of Amazon Best Sellers. Congrats David! Get your copy of The New Rules of Marketing & PR on Amazon.

Lead Generation via Podcasts: An Interview With Paul Dunay

Did you know that podcasting can help you generate more leads and nurture future customers? Research shows that Podcasts do impact B2B purchase decisions.

Buyers want to know you understand them and that you’re relevant to their specific needs. They also want to know the people behind the company. An excellent way to reach them is by developing thought leading (educational) content in the form of podcasts.

If you provide your prospects with high quality thought leading content as part of your lead nurturing process, then you will find that your prospects are calling you first when they are ready to buy.

I interviewed Paul Dunay, Director of Global Field Marketing for BearingPoint. Paul also writes the insightful Buzz Marketing for Technology Blog. I really enjoyed learning from his experience in the trenches. This year he's going to do over 120 podcasts!

Show Notes

• Where podcasting fits in the multimodal lead generation portfolio
• How podcasting helps establish and reinforce thought leadership
• Where podcasts can help your lead generation ROI
• Why podcasts are perfect for lead nurturing (I was flattered to learn that Paul found inspiration in my book to develop his strategy.)
• Outsource podcast production or do-it-yourself
• Hints and tips for marketers to start podcasting for lead generation

Listen to podcast now (MP3 22 min 5.6 MB)
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Now Announcing the "Start With A Lead" Podcast Show

I am pleased to announce that I'll be hosting a new podcast show called "Start with a Lead" debuting in April. 

The show will have content specifically for marketers and those who care about B2B lead generation, sales leads, and marketing strategies focused on the complex sale.

In the show, you’ll hear from thought leading experts on a variety of marketing and lead generation topics. You'll get the latest tips and strategies; and learn what really works and what doesn't to generate high quality leads in the complex sale.

Why a new show? Over the past few years, I’ve experimented with podcasting, (you can see my old podcast here) but now like Emeril, I’m ready to 'kick it up a notch’ and apply what I’ve learned from experience and listener feedback. 

Also, I’m  going to “open the phone lines” to listeners who’d like to ask questions in advance of the show so we can be more interactive and get your specific questions answered.  I’m looking forward to learning with you as I interview leading experts (and ask your questions) to get the latest contemporary thinking on lead generation. Stay tuned!

Podcast: Use Feedback to Boost Lead Generation

Ever feel like the results of your lead generation efforts aren't being fully utilized? You’re not alone. Without a solid process in place an astonishing eighty percent of marketing expenditures on lead generation are wasted because the leads are lost, ignored or discarded by sales. But there are steps you can take to improve lead acceptance and generate better ROI.

I was recently interviewed for a story by Marketing2IT's Ginna Hall on the subject of "Closed loop feedback" which is a vital to improving any lead generation program.

Agenda

1. Why closed loop feedback is so important to lead generation.
2. The best way to gather feedback.
3. Who needs to be involved.
4. Who owns the feedback process: marketing or sales?
5. Three obstacles and how you can avoid them.

Listen to podcast now (MP3 16:55 min 5.5 MB)

Podcast: What Sales Really Needs From Marketing

John Jantsch, small business marketing expert and author of Duct Tape Marketing recently interviewed me and sales expert Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies about what sales really needs from marketing.

This podcast was conducted for the marketing alliance partners for Sage Software, makers of ACT!, Peachtree and SageCRM software.  John originally hoped that Jill and I would debate or lock horns (Jill from the sales viewpoint and me from the marketing viewpoint). Instead, we could almost finish each others sentences : )

This is one of my favorite podcasts. I share more ideas on what marketing can do to create and nurture leads before handing them off to the sales force.

Listen to podcast now (MP3 60 min 45 MB)

P.S. I just read John Jantsch's new book, Duct Tape Marketing. If you're a small business owner (or plan to be one in the future) you'll want to put this book on your reading list. It’s great. If you decide to get a copy, you should check out his bonus offers. I'll be posting my Amazon review soon.

Podcast: Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way

It's been well documented that quality of collaboration between sales and marketing directly impacts ROI. 

The challenge that many organizations face is that their sales process is a black box.  No one except the sales team knows what is going on inside the black box until a proposal or sale happens.  Worse still, 80% of the leads that go into the sales black box are rarely seen again. 

This makes it particularly challenging for marketers who are trying to measure their revenue contribution and lead generation ROI.  So what can be done about it? 

Process mapping is a well-known technique for creating a common vision and shared language for improving business results.

I had the chance to interview Michael Webb, founder of Sales Performance Consultants and an expert on sales process improvement on his excellent book, Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way. Michael gives some great input on how sales and marketing can use the six sigma process to create better sales and marketing results. 

Show Agenda

• How is six sigma relevant to the sales and marketing process?
• How can sales and marketing apply a six sigma process and what are some problems the process can address?
• What are the barriers in helping to create the six sigma process?
• How do you encourage people in sales and marketing who have tried to create a process that hasn’t worked, to give it another shot and how can you help them create one that works?
• Provide examples of companies with complex sales that applied six sigma to the sales and marketing process.

Listen to podcast now (MP3 24 min 5.5 MB)

Podcast: Tradeshow and Event Marketing with Ruth Stevens

Are you finding that trade shows or events are a “waste of time” for lead generation? You may want to think again. I interviewed Ruth Stevens, author of Trade Show and Event Marketing, to get her views on what marketing and sales can do to increase the effectiveness of their event marketing and she gave some helpful insights.

Show Agenda

• Why did you write Tradeshow and Event Marketing and what were you hoping to address?
• What are the critical success factors in effective event marketing?
• What are the issues that marketers are facing in event marketing?
• What are some tips to improve event marketing?

Listen to podcast now (MP3 24 min 5.51 MB)

Podcast: Marketing and Sales for Big Complex Selling (pt 3)

I wanted to share the final installment from the podcast series I did with 800-CEO-READ.  In this podcast, Todd interviewed me and Jill Konrath on the critical interface between marketing and sales. 

Here's what Todd says about it:
"Here is the final installment to our podcast series on marketing and selling to big companies. We again have Jill Konrath and Brian Carroll talking about the topic. What we try to spend time on in this call is "space" shared between marketing and sales. Brian leads the call with the stat - "80% of leads sent from marketing to the sales organization are lost, ignored, or discarded." You can see why this is a good topic to explore."

Listen to podcast now (MP3 35:56 min 24.68 MB)

Visit 800-CEO-Read Podcasts to hear the complete three part series

Podcast: Marketing and Sales for Big Complex Selling (Pt 1)

I had a great time chatting with Todd at 800-CEO-READ on lead generation. This is the first of three podcasts 800-CEO-Read is doing on B2B sales and marketing.

Here's what Todd says about it:
"In this podcast, I talk with Brian Carroll, author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. Next week, I interview Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies. In week three, I bring Jill and Brian together to talk about the interface between marketing and sales."

Like many of Todd's podcasts; this one is a high-level discussion geared for business leaders and those who support sales people. While you're there, I encourage you to take some time to visit 800-CEO-READ's other websites. They are a super resource for anyone who reads business books.

Listen to podcast now (MP3 43:47 min 30.1 MB)

Podcast: Duct Tape meets Lead Generation for the Complex Sale

I'm a guest on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast today hosted by John Jantsch.  John's Duct Tape Marketing Blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for small business and was twice named "Best Small Business Marketing Blog" by the readers of Marketing Sherpa. While you're visiting John's blog, be sure to subscribe to his newsletter. It's terrific. 

Listen to podcast now

How a Blog Turns Into a Book Deal: The Story of my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale

With my book just being released, I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I got my book deal.  I’m delighted to tell them that it all started with my blog. A number of bloggers I know have become or are in the process of becoming published authors after starting a blog.

In this Podcast, which is part of a PRWeb podcast feed, I give the scoop on how it all came together for me.

Listen to How a Blog Turned into a Book Deal (MP3 7:43 min 7.12 MB)

Also, an interesting article "It's Not Too Late To Start Blogging (But It Will Be Soon),"was just published on RainToday.com by Larry Bodine. If you're still debating on starting a blog sure to read it.  His Professional Marketing Blog is good too. 

New Book: Lead Generation for the Complex Sale is officially released

The wait is over! My book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, was released this morning. You can read the press release or listen to my podcast about it. 

I liked what Bryan Eisenberg, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Call To Action and the new book Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? had to say: 

"The lead generation game has changed in the age of the Internet. If you don't have this new playbook your competitors will. Brian Carroll closes the loop on lead generation, taking you from defining a lead, thinking like your prospects, tactics to increase lead generation, passing leads from marketing to sales, measuring the results, and nurturing the leads for increased revenue. If you don't read and then apply lessons from Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, then let me know how things work out for you."

Read the book announcement press release

Listen to the book release podcast (7:43 min 7.12 MB)

Download a free chapter

For the real thing, order on Amazon. You can find the book at your local Borders or Barnes & Noble and other bookstores. For multiple copies, order on 800-CEO-Read (Call Meg at 800-236-7323 ext. 206 CST.)  For the buzz on the book, read reviews and news. More about the author.

Update:  The book made its debut in Amazon's top 100 (sales and marketing books) today.  Debbie Weil author of The Corporate Blogging Book calls my book launch an example of Book Launch 2.0. 

Podcast: The Innovative Marketer

Steve Gershik of the Innovative Marketer Blog interviewed me for his podcast on the subject of lead generation.  During the interview I talk about my early roots in marketing, some of my philosophy, my upcoming book, and what marketers should be thinking about about to develop effective B2B lead generation programs.

Listen to podcast (right-click to save to your desktop)

Link: The Innovative Marketer: Podcast #4 - Brian Carroll, Author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale.

Podcast Segment 1: Selling to BIG Companies

If you're involved in complex sale, be sure to listen to the recording of my live teleseminar with Jill Konrath, Chief Sales Officer and author of Selling to Companies.  Over 93% of the live audience (200 marketers and sellers) strongly agreed or agreed that they found value in attending this session.  I'm sure you will too.

Listen to Segment 1: Selling to BIG Companies (17:51 min 4.1 MB)

• Why has it become more difficult to sell to large organizations?
• Who is the seller’s toughest competitor?
• What can a marketing do to help this?

Over 93% of the live audience (200 marketers and sellers) strongly agreed or agreed that they found value in attending this session.  I'm sure you will too.

Podcast Segment 2: Selling to BIG Companies

Segment 2 from my 1-hour live interview with Jill Konrath, Chief Sales Officer and author of Selling to Big Companies.

Listen to Segment 2: Selling to BIG Companies (11:29 min 2.7 MB)

• What's the proper role of marketing?  Who should do what?
• Where's the best place to start when selling to a BIG company?
• What tactics work and which don't?
• What’s your view on the use of email? Does it work?
• How can you make sure your e-mail message gets a response?

Podcast Segment 3: Selling to BIG Companies

Segment 3 from my 1-hour live interview with Jill Konrath, Chief Sales Officer and author of Selling to Big Companies.

Listen to Segment 3: Selling to BIG Companies (13:58 min 3.2 MB)

• Why do you hate unique selling propositions? 
• If they don't work, what do you recommend?
• How do you develop an account entry plan? 
• what's causes sellers to have difficulty getting into BIG organizations?

Podcast Segment 4: Selling to BIG Companies

Segment 4 from my 1-hour live interview with Jill Konrath, Chief Sales Officer and author of Selling to Big Companies. 

Listen to Segment 4: Selling to BIG Companies (7:31 min 1.7 MB)

• What's the best way to get a meeting with someone in a big company?
• What are trigger events? 
• If you were to give a seller one piece of advice on what it takes to get into big companies, what would it be?

Podcast: How to Nurture Leads

You can increase your odds of success by adding a lead nurturing program to your marketing operations. It begins with the mindset that lead generation is really a conversation rather than a series of campaigns.

I was interviewed by Marketing2IT's Ginna Hall on the subject of "How to Nurture Leads."  The interview is featured in the November 8, 2005 issue of Marketing2IT.

Read How to Nuture Leads article on Marketing2IT.

Show Agenda

• Why lead nurturing is such a hot topic.
• Who owns the lead nurturing process.
• Three key elements of a lead nurturing program.
• Nuts and bolts of contact frequency and content.
• How to decide which leads to nurture.

Listen to How to Nuture Leads Podcast (File size is 35 MB)

Podcast length (29-minutes) plus 8-minutes of bonus material 

Show notes
Books mentioned in the podcast:

Lead Generation for the Complex Sale
Selling to Big Companies
The Green Banana Papers

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Podcast: Landing Pages for Lead Generation

"Web visitors spend just 8-seconds scanning your website landing page before they decide to leave," says Anne Holland, Publisher of MarketingSherpa. 

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.

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Podcast: How Trigger Events improve Lead Generation

Have you ever wondered why some sales happen twice as fast others? 

For my first podcast I thought it would be fun to tell 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%! In this podcast, I'll tell you her secret... okay not her entire secret but most of it.

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

My Interview On KCCO Business Radio

I was interviewed on KCCO Business Radio (950 AM) on the subject of lead generation for the complex sale.

The interview was part of KCCO's Strictly Business program with Susie Jones (weekdays 4:00 to 6:00 PM).

Listen to lead generation interview (File size is 1.48 MB)

(Show length 6:28 minutes)

Show Notes

• What is lead generation for the complex sale?
• What is a complex sale?
• Ideal customer profile - why is it important?
• Strategy vs. Tactics – what’s going on?
• Relationship Mindset – lead generation is conversation
• Lead Maturation – Banana mindset – sales readiness