B2B Lead Generation Blog

Fear not! Think like a savvy investor with lead generation

This morning I was talking to a marketing leader about his 2008 strategy and he brought up some concerns he had about the economy and its potential impact on him and others. Can you blame him?

In years past, marketing has been favorite target for cuts by CFOs and CEOs as they look to conserve cash and reinforce their balance sheets for tough times.

I’m less concerned about budget cuts and more interested in opportunities for him and other B2B marketers who choose to bring focus to their marketing efforts. We have to remember that regardless of the economy, sales people are still expected to perform. I seldom find sales quotas are lowered to fit the news headlines.

If you want to flourish regardless of the economic conditions, you need to look for ways to help your sales team execute and improve performance.

I’m convinced that one of the best ways to do that is to focus on lead generation. Yesterday, I read a Kate Maddox's article in BtoB Magazine, "IDC: Tougher times for tech marketing," which supports that other B2B marketers are doing just that.

Much like a savvy investor who buys when the market is down, smart marketers can capitalize on this opportunity (and beat competitors), by bringing focus and attention to their lead generation efforts.

Maddox’s article highlights IDC's recent tech marketing barometer research. IDC showed that fewer tech marketers are increasing their budgets this year compared to last year. But I think the bigger story is how those dollars are being allocated. Maddox writes, “According to the [IDC] report. Lead generation is the top marketing priority for tech marketers this year…”

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.

For this reason, marketers should direct their budgets away from traditional awareness building campaigns that quickly eat up budget and instead expand and optimize lead generation programs that bring measurable results. Finding better tools and processes for managing the leads or inquires that they already have is also a good investment in a turbulent economy.

You will optimize lead generation immediately if you can honestly answer “yes” to all of the following questions:

• Do sales and marketing agree on what the word “lead” means? 
• Are you tracking the conversion rates of leads to sales opportunities?
• Can you/Do you close-the-loop on all leads that are being passed to sales?
• Does your sales team pass back early stage or "cold" leads back for lead nurturing?

You may also want to check out my complementary webinar archive based on the ebook "The One Piece Of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without" by RainToday titled, “More Is Not Better If You Don't Know How To Nurture”

B2B 2.0 marketing expo by MarketingProfs

The gang at MarketingProfs put together conference that's worth checking out. Now here's the best part... no conference travel required. The B2B 2.0 Marketing Expo is March 5, 2008 and you can register here.

MarketingSherpa Demand Generation Summit 2007

Click here now to buy a ticket to the Demand Gen Summit and get a copy of my new book: "Lead Generation for the Complex Sale" Register by 9/28 For a $100 Discount

You're invited to join me at MarketingSherpa’s Demand Generation Summit at your choice of Boston (Oct 15-16) or San Francisco (Oct 29-30.) I’ll be speaking on “Blogging, Podcasting, Speaking Gigs, & Book Authorship: How to Generate Leads and Measure ROI as an Authority.”

Some of the other topics include: New B-to-B Search Marketing; Maximizing White Papers, Ezines Webinars & Podcasts; Marketing to Fortune 500; Video, Viral & Web 2.0 B-to-B Marketing; How to Measure & Manage Leads and more.

I hope you can make it. Register here

Webcast: Closed-Loop Lead Generation & Management

Join me for a complimentary webinar on how to "Achieve a Closed-Loop System for Lead Generation and Management."

In this webcast, you'll learn how to:

• Identify and overcome the 5 barriers to closing the loop
• Get feedback on all leads to “close the loop” 100% of the time
• Qualify leads and hand them off with out "dropping the baton"
• Identify your lead generation tactics that drive the most leads
• Make sure that all qualified leads are fully pursued by sales 
• Develop a measurable marketing pipeline that drives the sales 
• Connect your tactics together for better ROI measurement

Update: the event went really well. And I've got a lot of great feedback and questions.

You can now watch the recorded archive

Thank you to ON24 for sponsoring and to the AMA for hosting the event.

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

How Lead Nurturing Improves Lead Generation ROI

I know there's a lot of emphasis on lead generation (that's a good thing) but, getting a ton of leads doesn't guarantee that increased sales will follow. In a complex sale, my experience is, most of the selling actually happens when the sales person isn't there.

Startling as it may seem, recent research (and even studies from ten years ago) shows that longer-term leads (future opportunities), often ignored by salespeople, represent almost 80% of potential sales. You can increase your odds success by adding a lead nurturing program.

What’s lead nurturing? Lead nurturing is all about having consistent and meaningful communication with viable prospects (those that are “a fit” for your solution) regardless of their timing to buy. It’s not “following-up” every few months to find out if a prospect is “ready to buy yet?” Lead nurturing about building trusted relationships with the right people.

Continue Reading at the INSPIRE SmartMarketers.com Blog (a new blog I'm contributing to monthly) presented by Netline.

On June 6th, I’m doing a webcast on a multimodal approach to lead nurturing as part of ON24's Wednesday Webcast with Experts Series. I hope you can make it. Register here.

Webcast: How to Precisely Define a "Lead" Before Marketing Begins

If you are like most B2B marketers, lead generation is at top of your priority list. But as you may already know, generating tons of "leads" doesn’t guarantee sales will follow.

Does the sales department either ignore your hard-won leads or complain about their quality? Your problem is partly solved if you can get company-wide approval for a clear definition of what a qualified lead is prior to launching your campaign.

Watch my complimentary webcast on, "How to Precisely Define a Lead Before Marketing Begins."

In this session you'll learn:

• What works to develop an ideal customer profile
• How to handle the politics around lead definition
• What's a reasonable definition for a "hot" lead
• How to create a lead profile with useful details far beyond "whoever will buy our stuff"
• What must done to ensure your lead definition remains on target
• 9 Proven ways to get sales team to follow-up

Watch the recorded archive

See my other upcoming events here.

Thank you to ON24 Inc. a for sponsoring this event as part of their new Wednesday Webcast with Experts series.

Webinar: A Multimodal approach to Lead Nurturing for Complex Sales

Join me for a complimentary webinar hosted by the American Marketing Association and sponsored by WebEx. 

The secret to successful lead generation and marketing in the business-to-business space today is the process called lead nurturing, which converts more inquiries into qualified leads and qualified leads into sales.

During the presentation you will learn:

• How multimodal lead nurturing increases your odds of winning more sales by 69 percent
• A proven lead nurturing strategy that delivers results for the complex sale
• The most effective tactics used in a lead nurturing program
• An approach to dialog with numerous executives as trusted advisors
• How lead nurturing can help you recapture lost leads and missed opportunities

Click here to view recording

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)

Speaking at MarketingSherpa's B-to-B Demand Generation Summit 2006

I'm speaking at MarketingSherpa's Demand Generation Summit being held in Boston and SF this fall.  I've worked out a special promotion with MarketingSherpa -- you’ll get a complimentary autographed copy of my book and a $300 discount on the Summit if you register by August 31st.

This should be just in time to inspire you during your fall budget and planning season. Meet experts; mingle with your peers; and discover new data, strategies, and tactics (includes search, podcasting, email & microsites). 

Please note, you must click on this link to register so you can get the discount and free book (that's the only way our good friends at MarketingSherpa can identify you as qualifying for the complimentary, autographed book offer).

Webinar: Lead Generation Strategies for the Complex Sale

Join me for a complimentary webinar this Thursday, August 17, 2006 at 1pm EDT.  This action-oriented session will provide tips and best practices that you can put into practice immediately.

When you leave this session you will:

• Learn 3 proven lead generation strategies that deliver results
• The most effective ways to get sales and marketing alignment
• See the most effective tactics used for an integrated marketing program
• Know how to identify and prioritize your best prospects
• Hear what's working to develop a dialog with executive level buyers

Register here

This event is sponsored and hosted by WebEx Communications, the worldwide leader in online meeting applications.

Webinar: Eight critical success factors for lead generation

Join me for a complimentary webinar the Eight Critical Success factors for Lead Generation Success.  During this event, I will share my perspective on the most critical – and often overlooked - factors in successful lead generation including:

• How to align sales and marketing to optimize the number of leads
• Developing Universal Lead Definition (ULD) and ideal customer profile (ICP)
• Improving lead management to convert more leads to sales
• Building, maintaining and growing your database
• Multi-modal lead nurturing - a crash course
• And more

Watch the recorded archive

This event is sponsored and hosted by Onstream Media (Nasdaq: ONSM), a leading online service provider of live and on-demand, rich media communications.

New complimentary e-book - Start with a Lead: Eight critical success factors for lead generation results

My latest project is ready! I just published a complimentary new e-book titled Start with a Lead: Eight critical success factors for lead generation. Please download it and pass it on.

According to studies, the single biggest challenge for contemporary B2B marketers is effective lead generation. Conversely, it has been pointed out that 80 percent of marketing expenditures on lead generation are wasted because the leads are lost, ignored or discarded by sales people.

Marketers today are constantly reminded that the company needs more sales leads...now. Unfortunately, that immediacy is quite often at the direct expense of quality. Instead, marketers should adopt and tailor lead generation programs that will increase the odds of creating better sales leads and relationships that will ultimately result in long-term, happy and profitable customers.

In this e-book, you will learn how to develop high-volume, high-quality lead generation programs for your company. It was written for business leaders, managers and marketers who want to help their sales team sell with highly qualified business opportunities, because sales people should only be brought in when a lead has been qualified as “sales ready.” 

Download Start With a Lead: Eight critical success factors for lead generation

MarketingSherpa Data on the Best & Worst Lead Generation Offers for 2006

I've been quiet here for over a week, but not because I don't have a ton of things to write about. Actually, I'm focused on getting a special project ready that I’ll be releasing to tomorrow. Stay tuned. 

In the meantime, I do want to quickly share some interesting research from MarketingSherpa. They conducted their third annual study of business technology marketing.

Their results show that thought-leading content that's educational in nature performed best as a call to action.  In addition to webinars, this data shows that blogs and podcasts are evolving into key elements of the B2B marketer's lead generation toolkit. 

You'll find a link below to the complete study, but they made this interesting chart available immediately: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/images/leadgenoffers.gif.

MarketingSherpa: Best & Worst Lead Generation Offers for 2006

If you're interested, I also highlight how thought leading content influences the lead generation process here and here. 

How Podcasts Impact B2B Purchase Decisions

A key aspect of lead generation is to engage people as early in their buying process as possible, because that's where you can make the biggest difference. Simply put, engage early and often. 

An excellent way to reach people early is by developing thought-leading content. Yet most companies lack thought provoking, educational content; instead, they emphasize sales content. Sales content is most relevant in the later stages of the buying process. 

Your content should be specifically designed to help support and pull your potential customer through each stage of their buying process. How? By helping people find the answers to their questions and being a resource to them, regardless of their timing to buy.  Also see: Using Thought Leading Content as a Lead Generation Tool

Podcasts are a great way to share your thought leading content which is why I found this report by KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann very compelling.  They just announced the results of a joint research study on the emerging role of new media, particularly podcasts, on B2B technology purchase decisions. 

Key Findings from the Study Include:

• 41 percent of survey respondents claim they have listened to podcasts on more than one occasion, while 13 percent stated that they “frequently” download or listen to them.
• 32 percent of survey respondents stated their usage of podcasts has “Increased” or “Significantly Increased” in the last six months.
• 72 percent claimed that they have downloaded or listened to podcasts on technology topics on more than one occasion; 23 percent do so “frequently.”
• Nearly 60 percent of respondents said that information on business or technology topics, currently delivered as white papers or analyst reports, would be more interesting as podcasts.
• 55 percent of respondents would be more likely to consume white papers and analyst reports if they were delivered as podcasts.
• 57 percent of the frequent podcast users stated their biggest challenge with podcasts is the scarcity of interesting content.
• 65 percent responded that they listen to podcasts for both personal and business interests.

To learn more about the Emerging Media Series study visit, Podcast Study Report. 

Podcast: Interview on the Cullinane & Green Report

I was interviewed by podcasting experts Joe Cullinane and Roger Green on the Cullinane & Green Report. I encourage you to check out their other interviews with Mike Bosworth, author of Solution Selling and co-author of CustomerCentric Selling and Jackie Huba co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists too.

During this podcast, I share my thoughts on how to use technology tools like podcasts, blogs and RSS for new business development and lead generation. 

Listen to podcast now (36:26 minutes)

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

Why Most B2B Sites Fail to Convert Sales Leads

Most people coming to your website aren't coming to your website to buy. They are coming to your site for information. Do you have your web site’s good content under lock and key? 

Research shows shows that if you require registration on your website to download content such as articles, white papers, studies or other "free" resources, you could be losing 75%-85% of your potential leads! 

I saw a press release for a study last week completed by the Nielsen Norman Group, which also supports this finding. According to their study, the practice of making users register before providing them with deeper information will send sales prospects running.

You'll do better by thinking of lead generation as a process of micro-conversions that build an opportunity profile over time, such as requesting an email address, then asking for first and last name, later requesting a phone number, and so on. 

There should be a balance between collecting information and providing value; i.e., be careful about requiring registration to receive anything worthwhile. Your thought-leading content can be a lead generation tool, but only if it is easily accessed.

Almost every company has at least some decent content for leads who are in the later stages of their buying process, including:  brochures, case studies, success stories, sell sheets, etc. 

The key is to reach people as early in their buying process as possible. That's where you have the biggest influence. It's not effective to wait until they are narrowing their short list.

What most companies lack is thought-leading content that addresses needs of people who are in the early stages of their buying process.  KnowledgeStorm made this same point in their recent report on evaluating and scoring web leads. And interestingly, those who do have good, relevant content lock it up behind registration pages.

Ardath Albee over at the Marketing Interactions Blog has some great thoughts on this too. Marketing Interactions: B2B Websites Not Effective

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. 

Lead Generation for the Complex Sale on wsRadio.com

I just did a 40-minute live interview on the Online Marketing show with RSS Ray broadcast by WS Radio.com, the world wide leader in internet talk radio.  A podcast version of the show is available via iTunes or the host website RSSRay.com.

During the interview, I share new ideas for generating B2B customers and talk about my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, that's being released next week.

Click here to listen to the recording. 

Book Cover and Advanced Praise for Lead Generation for the Complex Sale

We're quickly approaching the official release of my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale : Boost the Quality and Quantity of Leads to Increase Your ROI.  Also, my book got a new cover!  (click image to enlarge) 

I'm humbled by the incredible endorsements that I've received for the book so far. You can read the advanced endorsements here, more here, and via my new book website before they're posted on the major on-line bookseller websites. 

For those who pre-ordered the book, it will arrive with the new cover in June.  I just got my first shipment of author copies and they look great!  Thanks again! 

Webcast: 8 Critical Success Factors for B2B Lead Generation

Join me for a complimentary webcast on Thursday, March 16th at 2pm EST.  I'm speaking on the "8 Critical Success Factors for B2B Lead Generation Success" along with Mark Organ, CEO of Eloqua.   

Watch the recorded webcast archive now

During this webcast, I will share the most critical – and often overlooked - factors in successful lead generation including:

• How to combine sales and marketing to optimize the number of leads
• Preventing lulls in your sales cycle
• Developing Universal Lead Definition (ULD) and ideal customer profile (ICP)
• Building, maintaining and growing your database
• Multi-modal lead nurturing - a crash course
• Ready yourself for what's next - new and promising tactics
• and more...

Register for this webcast registration is closed. Watch the recorded webcast now

Sponsored by Eloqua, provider of the leading integrated demand generation platform for executing, automating and measuring highly effective B2B marketing programs.

Seth Godin's speech on Marketing at Google

Six time best selling author Seth Godin speaks to Google as part of their Authors@Google series. His talk is 48 minutes long and includes questions and answers from Google employees and hey, it's free.

Watch video "All Marketers are Liars" - Seth Godin speaks at Google

Teleseminar on Selling to BIG Companies with Jill Konrath

The biggest challenge most of us with a complex sale face is getting access to executives, especially those in BIG companies. Sales cycles have gotten longer and number of decision makers involved in a typical buying process has increased too.   As a result, traditional sales prospecting techniques simply don't cut it anymore.  So would you like to hear what really works? 

On Wednesday, February 22, at 1:00 PM CST, you’re invited to a free 1-hour teleseminar with me and Jill Konrath, Chief Sales Officer and author of Selling to Big Companies.   I'm going to be interviewing Jill on, what else, Selling to Big Companies. 

If you haven't read Jill's best selling book yet, you should get a copy (you can read my review on Amazon or BN).  Entrepreneur magazine (February 06) says is a must read for sales managers. It was also picked as one of the best new business books on the market by Jack Covert of 800CEORead and is #3 sales book on Amazon today. 

I liked what Ardath Albee wrote on her blog, "Here's the deal. Jill is in high demand.  She doesn't do free teleseminars.  The last few open speaking engagements she's done have sold out in record time... If you haven't heard her speak before, you're in for a treat.   Her focus is helping companies get their foot in the door at BIG companies.  She knows what she's talking about.  She hones in on how to better apply your work on building relationships that deliver results--in other words, sales."

The teleseminar is sponsored by InTouch, so it's free, but our phone lines are limited, make sure you don't miss out and register here. 

Continue reading if you want to see the questions I plan to ask Jill. 

I plan to ask Jill the following questions:   

• Why has it become more difficult to sell to large organizations?
• When attempting to sell to large companies, who is the seller’s toughest competitor?
• As a seller begins to think about selling to a big company, what’s the best way to start?
• What can marketing do to help?
• How do you develop an account entry plan?   
• What's the proper role of marketing and sales in these plans? Who should do what?
• What tactics work and which don't?
• What’s your view on the use of email? Does it work? What are the common ways to improve an email message so it gets a response?
• Many sellers are told to create “elevator speeches” that quickly describe what they do. Are elevator speeches useful?
• If elevator speeches don't work, what do you recommend?
• When sellers have difficulty getting into large organizations, is there generally a root cause for their lack of success?
• What's the best way to get a meeting with someone in a big company?
• If you were to give a seller one piece of advice on what it takes to get into big companies, what would it be?

In addition, do you have questions about Selling to Big Companies that you'd like me to ask Jill? 

Click here to register now

The halo effect and lead generation

My dad taught me many lessons growing up and one that stands out as relevant to lead generation went something like this:  He said “choose your friends carefully because we become like the people we spend most of our time with and [like it or not] we’re judged by the company we keep."  He didn't know that he explained how the halo effect works.

This new case study by MarketingSherpa demonstrates the practical application of the halo effect.  It explains how Steelwedge, "...a previously little-known software company became a trusted and admired brand in a couple of short years.  The trick? Alliances with nuts-and-bolts professors in America's heartland." 

This idea is already in lead generation playbooks for most of the largest consulting firms.  We see the halo effect demonstrated in places like the Harvard Business Review where it's quite common to see business executives collaborate on papers with a professor or sponsor research projects. 

These experts can become a source of speakers and webinar presenters.  You may want to co-market an event and share the attendees list.  There are also opportunities to post articles and materials by these experts on your web site or as links on an e-newsletter.  The ultimate objective is to have some of their credibility to rub off on you. 

One way to start relationships with professors is to find those that have their own consulting practices.  Think about how you help build their practice and they may be more inclined to help you. 

I previously wrote a post on "Lead Generation via Industry Experts" which gives specific suggestions to help you get started. 

MarketingSherpa: How to Impress Conservative Fortune 100 Business Prospects by Allying With Academia

Podcasts vs. Webinars which is better?

An interesting conversation started on podcasts vs. webinars at the Church of the Customer Blog. Jackie Huba argues that companies should dump their webinars in favor of videocasts and podcasts. She writes, "the self-serve nature of mobile media means people can listen to podcasts/videocasts when and where they want, not tied to a computer at a specific time."

That’s a good point, but in the context of the complex sale, I respectfully disagree.  I use podcasts and they are no doubt more “buzz” worthy than webinars.  Still, if your target audience lacks a portable MP3 player, they are tethered to their computer anyway right? 

People want different information, in different ways, and at different times during their buying process. The choices they'll make will depend on their role, their exact need, and the time frame they have to solve that need. 

Key question: Do you truly understand your potential customers buying process? 

Your way of selling and marketing must conform to the customer's buying process, driven by a clear understanding of needs and the impact of those needs on both that company and its customers. Every potential customer will have a slightly different buying process.

I have found it helpful to look at the potential customer's buying process on the basis of modalities it employs at each buying step. To that end, I've developed a model that hypothetically shows the correlation between steps in a prospect's buying process and the sales effort together with tactics that might be of interest at each stage. (Click image to enlarge)

If you want help on mapping out your customers buying process, a great source is Kristin Zhivago's book Rivers of Revenue. I cite her process on in my upcoming book. She gets it better than anyone I know.

Use Event Marketing Successfully for Lead Generation

Events are a highly visible way to demonstrate your marketing prowess.  Or the lack of it. Beyond the fact that it is more difficult than ever to attract people to live events, the events themselves require a large amount of careful planning and development, good content, and great orchestration.  The truth of the matter is, though, event marketing can deliver quite impressive return on your lead generation investment. 

If you're planning any type of event marketing, Ruth Stevens' new article on MarketingProfs.com is a great place to start.  Ruth is a super marketer and I think she's dialed in on what's working (and what's not) in event marketing today.  Her book, Trade Show & Event Marketing, is definitely worth checking out too. 

Ten Secrets of Success in Business Event Marketing| MarketingProfs.com.

Three Ways to Develop a Business-Event Marketing Strategy| MarketingProfs.com

It's a New Year for Lead Generation for the Complex Sale

Greetings and happy New Year!  Wow, I haven't posted here in a month but I promise you will see a lot more activity soon.  In the meantime, I wanted to give you an update.

During the past month, I've put all of my energy into getting my first book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, to the finish line.  I got this milestone e-mail (for a first time author) from my editor at McGraw-Hill.  She wrote, "I just put your book in production!  Congrats.  It’s in great shape.  All the final edits you made really helped to polish it off even more.  Well definitely go out and celebrate tonight.  I know that you’ve worked really hard on this manuscript and it’s turned into a fantastic manuscript."

So after 14-months of writing, editing, writing, editing, and re-rewriting again, I'm "done!"  Seriously, this has been a labor of love and I hope this book profoundly changes the way people think about lead generation and makes a huge impact. 

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 comprehensive approach to lead generation for the complex sale like mine. 

I'm awaiting an official release date but Amazon currently shows April 15th... yes that's Tax Day.  To those who have already pre-ordered the book, thanks!  You can pre-order it here. 

New Cartoon Series Depicts "Sales Lead Hell"

Building off my last post, I wanted to share something fun... a new cartoon series by MarketingSherpa called "Sales Lead Hell."  The series was created to promote the 2005 Lead Generation Summit. 

Each cartoon gives some pithy insight into the sales and marketing "feud."  I got permission to post a recent cartoon from the series. (click image to enlarge) 

Get your "Sales Lead Hell" cartoons here

Lead Generation via white papers and webinars

MarketingSherpa published a great article today on how Redhat's Director of Marketing Communications, Chris Grams, broke the rules for distributing white papers and webinars.  As a result, Grams believes that he's generating better qualified leads. 

Grams sums it up by saying, "I don't like the idea of forcing people into becoming leads. I like people to opt-in to entering our sales stream. Our sales team is very busy. They don't have time to waste with people who aren't that interested..."

I agree, we do need to strike a balance between collecting information and giving value.  If we always require people "to register" to gain anything of value, then we’re forcing them - that's not a formula for building a relationship.  So how can we do both?

I've found it is far more effective to focus on lead generation via micro-conversions that build an opportunity profile over time such as; requesting an email address, then asking for first and last name, later requesting a phone number and so on. 

Grams, suggests that marketers may want to rid their sites of registration pages for their “juicy” content.  Do you agree with him?  Why or Why not?

MarketingSherpa.com : How to Get Thousands More White Paper Readers & Webinar Attendees: Red Hat's Initial Test Results.

Using though leading content to generate more leads

If you use webinars as part of your lead generation mix, you might want to read my post "Tips for generating better ROI from webinars."

One final thought - don't rush a list of webinar attendees or white paper download registrants to your sales team and call them sales leads.  After doing numerous lead qualification programs, I've found that roughly 5% to 15% (at best) of inquiries are truly sales ready opportunities. 

Two new reports on marketing and lead generation

If you sell complex services or technology solutions I encourage you investigate these reports, I think you'll find a ton of value.  I've read both of them and they are terrific. 

Do you sell services?  Get this report focused exclusively on Business-to-Business Professional Services by RainToday.com.  They studied almost 200 business decision makers with the intention of understanding what it is like to be a buyer of your services. 

I gained a ton of insight about the mindset of various decision makers for professional services such as accounting & financial consulting; architecture, engineering, & construction; legal services; information technology consulting & services; human resources consulting; training; management consulting; and marketing, advertising, & public relations.

How Clients Buy: The Benchmark Report on Professional Services Marketing and Selling from the Client Perspective by RainToday.com

If you are a marketer for a company that sells software, hardware, or IT Services, I urge you to get a copy of MarketingSherpa's IT Marketing Benchmark Guide.   It will definitely help you budget, forecast, and benchmark your marketing results.  I found the data (from 826 IT marketers) on numerous marketing and lead generation tactics especially valuable.

MarketingSherpa's IT Marketing Benchmark Guide 2005-2006

Getting into big companies

My good friend, Jill Konrath, President of Selling to Big Companies and Leapfrog-Strategies Inc., is hosting a teleseminar series on, "Getting Into Big Companies"

The teleseminar series is focused helping sales people - get their foot in the door of large corporations.  The first event is on Thursday, July 28th, 2005 at 2pm EDT.

I suggest that both B2B marketers and sales people attend this event together.  Jill's new book, Selling to Big Companies, will be officially released in December.  Here's a link to her free articles. 

Register for Getting Into Big Companies

New Lead Nurturing Webinar

Startling as it may seem, recent research (and even studies from ten years ago) shows that longer-term leads (future opportunities), often ignored by salespeople, represent nearly 80% of potential sales.

The secret to successful lead generation and marketing in the business-to-business space today is the process called lead nurturing, which converts more inquiries into qualified leads and qualified leads into sales.

This action-oriented session will provide tips and best practices that you can put into practice immediately.  View & Listen to the webinar archive now

Marketing accountability and ROI Measurement

Most marketing ROI measurements are akin to driving a car while staring at the rear view mirror, you can't see that you are going to crash until the debris is already behind you. 

Return on marketing investment and accountability are top-of-mind for almost every B2B marketer today I meet, yet the metrics they are using to quantify their performance are woefully inadequate. 

Marketers are cleaning their dirty and cracked rearview mirrors rather than look towards what they can do to help their sales team sell.  Peter DeLegge wrote an interesting article on the matter called, "The Bottom Line on Marketing Accountability."

The key is to look at why are we measuring our marketing ROI in the first place?  Are we measuring our metrics to simply justify our existence or are we striving to measure our contribution towards growth, revenue and profit? 

Thanks to Kate Maddox and BtoB Magazine for pointing me to the upcoming 2005 Marketing Accountability Forum.  Maddox notes that, "according to the [ANA] report, 73% of respondents reported a lack of confidence in understanding the sales impact of a marketing campaign." 

If the sales team is measured by their ability to bring in or grow customer relationships, then marketing should be measured on their ability to help the sales team get into the right opportunities (a.k.a. sales ready leads).

CEO's expect marketers to provide metrics and to be accountable just as their peers in other departments.  Marketers must remember that we're in charge of controlling what is measured. 

Relying on just on the tactics that are 'easy' to measure such as tele-prospecting, webinars, website logs, email campaigns while not measuring ROI for public relations and branding is not being fully accountable.  In fact, many marketers aren't even looking at their easy to measure tactics. 

Here are some of my other posts on Marketing ROI Measurement

Marketing to Small-Medium Businesses Via IT Consultants & Resellers

I was quoted in a special report by MarketingSherpa's contributing Editor, Dianna Huff. 

Here are just a few of the Marketing Tips in the article:

• Give them "meaty" marketing messages
• Teleprospecting works - if it's done well
• Invite consultants to demos at trade shows
• Webinars are key for consultants and VARs

Here's a few points that aren't in the article:

• Resellers and IT consultants are unique - treat them that way. 
• They are "opinion molders."  Treat them as “the customer” and help them connect with your "shared customer" - the end user company. 
• Resellers don't want 'cookie cutter' sales lead programs.  They want to co-create lead generation programs that are highly customized.
• They are more interested in working with partners that have taken the time to understand their market and their customers. 
• Start asking questions such as, "How can we help you sell more?  What do you need?  How do you plan to grow revenue?" 

Link: MarketingSherpa.com : How to Market to Small-Medium Businesses Via IT Consultants & Resellers.

Participate in MarketingSherpa's IT Marketing Metrics Survey

MarketingSherpa just launched their 2nd Annual IT Marketing Metrics Survey.  This Survey is focused exclusively on IT Marketers. 

I worked as an advisor to MarketingSherpa's metrics editor, Stefan Tournquist on the project.  Based on what I know so far, this years “IT Marketing and Metrics Guide” will raise the bar again. 

IT Marketers - if you have often wondered how you compare to your peers, make sure you participate in this survey.  Everyone who participates in the survey will receive a complimentary Executive Summary of the results. 

Participate in the 2nd Annual IT Marketing Metrics Survey

RSS Your Press Room for better search engine visibility

Lee Odden over at the Online Marketing Blog shares some interesting ideas for optimizing press releases for RSS distribution.  Lee states, "Offering RSS feeds for groups of press releases creates some interesting opportunities for the distribution of optimized press releases and SEO." 

There was an interesting discussion on PR's Value in Sales Lead Generation here a while back.   

Link: Online Marketing Blog: RSS Your Search Engine PR - Daily Search Marketing News.

SWOT Team: Adding webinars to the marketing pool

I just heard that my comments on webinars were picked up by the SWOT Team, Hank Stroll and Meryl K. Evans, contributing writers for MarketingProfs.com. There's some great comments from other marketers too. Just scroll down the page a bit.   

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

Revised Lead generation strategy map for complex sales

To be successful at generating leads for a complex sale, marketers can't rely on one specific tactic but rather they need to leverage a portfolio of tactics.  It begins with a mindset that see lead generation as an ongoing conversation - with human beings - that's both multimodal and iterative.  Not just a campaign. 

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?