ViewPoint

JUNE 15, 2018

Increase the top line while reducing expense—it’s what every CEO wants—and what their sales and marketing leaders are looking for as well. Many execs are realizing that meeting this goal involves increasing investment in sales and marketing with a renewed focus on gaining market share instead of just stabilizing it. Companies that execute this strategy more effectively than the competition will grow faster, more profitably—and individuals responsible for these achievements will be rewarded.

Cost 136

Cost Forecasting Work Management Marketing Automation Services 136

ViewPoint

JUNE 4, 2018

Remember the old light beer tagline: “Tastes Great, Less Filling”? It was a best of both world’s brand promise, and part of a hugely successful campaign. There's another win-win value proposition that applies to outsourced tele-prospecting: “Costs Less. Generates More.” Outsourcing inside sales really does save you money while at the same time providing you the leads and revenue you need to be successful.

Cost 168

Cost Marketing Management Advertising Benchmark Paper 168

ViewPoint

APRIL 24, 2018

How can you dramatically improve ROI on marketing automation investments? Read these top three tips for when and how to use marketing automation—and when not to. Save the bulk of your marketing automation efforts for lower-level executives: Senior executives are not as responsive to marketing automation as their junior counterparts: Senior execs don’t want to be treated like the human equivalent of a pinball—capturing your attention only after hitting the right bumpers and scoring enough points.

Validation 168

Validation Marketing Automation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 168

ViewPoint

APRIL 16, 2018

Traditionally few would contest who owns the pipeline in any organization. It’s referred to as the sales pipeline and it’s owned by sales people, right? But is this still true? With the advent of new marketing automation capabilities, AI apps and other technology, marketing is inserting itself deeper in the pipeline at almost every level. I recently talked to Dan McDade with PointClear as part of a series on SLMA Radio that I’m hosting that deals with the issue of pipeline ownership.

Top of Funnel 180

Top of Funnel PointClear Work Management Sales Qualified Leads 180

ViewPoint

APRIL 11, 2018

One of PointClear’s business development representatives, working on behalf of a global software company, made 11 touches (calls, voicemails and emails) and his persistence paid off. He landed a huge lead for our client (with a $1 billion company). The timing and number and type of touches makes up what is called a cadence, which must be carefully orchestrated.

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PointClear Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 136

ViewPoint

MARCH 7, 2018

6 skills required for active listening. You’d think that the secret to having quality conversations would be being a good talker. But the opposite is true. It’s being a good listener. This is a skill that we teach our associates, who spend their days making dials (80 to 100 a day) and engaging B2B sales prospects on behalf of our clients. If you’re a regular follower of this blog, you know that we have a rigorous hiring process—I maintain that the quality of our people is key to our ability to d

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PointClear B2B Thought Leadership Lead Qualification Thought Leadership 159

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 23, 2018

Before addressing that question, let me ask another. What is a lead? Is it the name on a list you bought from a content aggregator for $23? Is it the person who signed up for your webinar this week? Is it someone who swiped their badge at the tradeshow you attended last month? While all of these scenarios have potential, none could be called a lead.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Forecasting PointClear Enterprise Management 120

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 13, 2018

Jim Obermayer is the founder of the Sales Lead Management Association , and host of the Funnel Radio Channel. Jim recently interviewed PointClear’s Dan McDade about the five most important things he’s learned in business and life—in one of an ongoing series of radio programs featuring sales and marketing industry leaders. Following is an edited transcript, or you can listen to the program in its entirety here.

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PointClear Ethics Budget Programs Business 149

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 7, 2018

How much should a lead cost? Understanding what goes into generating a high-quality B2B lead helps you determine whether you're getting a good deal. It takes a skilled team, a proven cadence, multiple touch points, message testing, market analysis — and plenty of perseverance —t o produce the leads that truly contribute to revenue generation. While most people wouldn't quibble with the above reality, many still measure marketing success based on the cost per lead.

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Cost per Lead Cost Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 245

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 21, 2017

With today’s business instability and volatility, B2B marketers are well aware that business marketing data degrades quickly. Although correcting basic data fields is an ongoing commitment of time and resources, it’s critical to lead generation success that marketers execute data segmentation and prioritization activities on an ongoing basis as well.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales PointClear SIC Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

JANUARY 2, 2018

A 2017 MARTECH TODAY infographic lists the almost 5,000 companies that are part of the marketing technology landscape, up from just 150 in 2011. Yet, according to CSO Insights , despite the new tools, the mobile devices, the potential of social, and so on, many salespeople are working harder than ever just to achieve the same old results or worse. Quota attainment averaged across all geographies, industries and company sizes has dropped from 63% of salespeople in 2012 to 53% in 2016 – and 2017 w

Lead Scoring 217

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Budget Programs 217

ViewPoint

JANUARY 4, 2018

I review a lot of content on this topic and am amazed at what I find written about lead cost. For example: “The average cost per lead across all the companies surveyed is almost $200 ($198.44).Admittedly, that’s a useless statistic, as these figures vary quite dramatically depending on industry, company size, etc.” (see marketing charts analysis of HubSpot’s “2017 Demand Generation Benchmarks Report” ).

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Cost per Lead Cost PointClear Sales Qualified Leads 204

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 15, 2017

Our own Kimmy Netterville made the Sales Lead Management Association’s “Most Inspiring” list of 40 outstanding individuals in our industry, announced today. Kimmy was recognized in the category People in Lead Generation Companies for her many contributions in the last decade-plus helping PointClear clients as Program Director. She’s worked with scores of technology, healthcare, business services and other B2B companies grow their businesses by managing the agile processes that result in high-val

PointClear 0

PointClear Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads 0

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Last week a prospect told me that he needed higher quality leads than were currently being provided by two third-party outsourced solution providers. His definition of a lead was the loosest that I have ever heard. An employee of a targeted company needed only to download some content to be qualified as a lead. It did not matter if they were ready to buy – or even qualified to buy.

Sales Qualified Leads 189

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Buy 189

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 7, 2017

It’s truly strange when companies enter the stealth mode. They hide phone numbers, dial-by-name directories, and employee names, but still imply you’re important to them! I called someone I know, but had not spoken to in some months. The result pushed me over the edge in frustration. This is how it went. Them. “Hi, we’re very interested in talking with you; please press 1 for sales and 2 for customer service.

Paid Search Agency 168

Paid Search Agency Companies Lock-In Press 168

ViewPoint

NOVEMBER 20, 2017

Delivering a superior sales experience is the best way to increase B2B sales success, and the RAIN Group sales training folks have the statistics to back it up. Their new infographic is an interesting and timely read—highlighting what differentiates top performing sales organizations. For example, the ones that win consistently share key characteristics, like driving value (81%) for their prospects, listening to buyers (75%), and understanding prospects’ needs (73%).

Differentiation 149

Differentiation B2B Sales Statistics Training 149

ViewPoint

NOVEMBER 17, 2017

The age-old issue of how Sales and Marketing work together (or not) is still on the table. While everyone agrees the two organizations must be in sync to meet revenue goals and scale, the finger pointing continues. Marketing complains that Sales doesn’t follow up on their leads; Sales contends that the leads Marketing sends their way aren’t any good.

Conversion 120

Conversion Work Management Sales Qualified Leads Inbound Marketing 120

ViewPoint

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

There’s plenty of mediocrity in lead generation—both in-house and outsourced. However, there are a lot of things good insourced operations and lead generation companies do well. While lead generation (or teleprospecting) is not rocket science, there are a lot of moving parts in a well-run lead generation machine. Failure to execute and coordinate all of the moving parts leads to poor results.

Lead Generation 378

Lead Generation Work Management Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Management 378

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 24, 2017

In 2015, I wrote this blog for Sales & Marketing Magazine: Dead is Dead (in Sales & Marketing). It seemed like, suddenly, a lot of things were dying: cold calling was dead; telephone prospecting was dead; outbound marketing was dead … many said that even marketing was dead. Maybe I was just sensitive. I mean, I grew up at a time when Paul McCartney was supposedly dead (he, thankfully, lives on).

Cold Calling 470

Cold Calling B2B Marketing PointClear B2B 470

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 21, 2017

There is no such thing as a good list. I am sure that my opinion about lists makes purveyors of lists unhappy, but it is the truth. For the most part, lists suck. There are reasons: Chief among the reasons is that lists are incredibly expensive to keep clean. People change jobs, big guys buy little guys. Big guys buy big guys. Big and little guys shut down.

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Marketing Automation Services Validation Broadcasting Deliverability 149

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 20, 2017

This is the second of a 2-part series that borrows Miller Lite’s super successful Tastes Great, Less Filling campaign theme to make a point about sales lead generation. Just as the beer pleases two constituencies (those who want their beer to be both full bodied and light), the outsourced approach to lead generation, qualification and nurturing pleases two kinds of marketing and sales leaders.

Sales Qualified Leads 149

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Sales Leads Lead Scoring 149

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 19, 2017

Tastes great, less filling—that’s not only one of the greatest campaigns ever ( AdAge says it’s 8 th on the list), it has a corollary in the sales lead generation space. Just as Miller Lite excels in two conflicting arenas (palatability and how full it makes you feel), outsourced teleprospecting does as well. By outsourcing your lead generation, qualification and nurturing activities you get better results for less cost, and I can prove my claim.

Lead Generation 149

Lead Generation Cost PointClear Generation 149

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 12, 2017

To make your forecast for the new year, look at sales for the coming year in terms of units. How many units must be sold? Review the existing pipeline and your closing ratio. Now you have the number of units that will be sold in the coming months without lead generation. This is the basis for projecting the number of leads needed to make the forecast from sales leads for the new year.

Forecasting 166

Forecasting Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 166

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 3, 2017

Standard B2B lead-generation programs produce an average 5% lead rate while advanced lead-generation programs (which include lead nurturing) produce an average 15% lead rate—three times higher. When you and your team are focused exclusively on “lead” outcomes, immediate costs are misleading and long-term costs increase dramatically. Here is why: You have heard the expression that to a hammer everything looks like a nail.

Top of Funnel 168

Top of Funnel B2B Sales Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads 168

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

James Obermayer, founder of the Sales Lead Management Association , recently spoke with SLMA Radio program host Paul Roberts on how lack of a sales lead management process hampers company growth. Following are highlights of the interview. JO: If you've got 10 or 12 departments, and you've got 15 different software programs that this inquiry is going through, and you've got artificial intelligence spitting out results all along the way, someone has to figure out what that process is going to be a

Lead Management 149

Lead Management Sales Leads Marketing Management Sales Qualified Leads 149

ViewPoint

AUGUST 29, 2017

Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. In 1943 Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others.

Buy 240

Buy Forecasting Fulfillment Lead Ranking 240

ViewPoint

AUGUST 15, 2017

“I ignore the quota,” Theresa the salesperson said. “No one loses their job here if we don’t make the numbers, which are totally unrealistic anyway.”. Steve piped up, “We don’t worry about the quota; it’s a yearly number and no one tracks it.”. Amad said, “Yeah, they give us quotas, but the sales managers don’t have the same numbers, and the systems engineers aren’t on the same system; so no one gets punished but us.”.

Forecasting 136

Forecasting Consulting Work Management Paid Search Agency 136

ViewPoint

AUGUST 2, 2017

The answer to this question is a lot more complicated than it looks. There are many factors that impact the percent of leads that should be closed by sales. This blog will take you through five factors that impact lead close rate and a calculation you can use to determine the minimum close rates your product or solution requires. The five main factors in lead close rate are: Market definition.

Sales Qualified Leads 192

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking ROMI 192

ViewPoint

JULY 24, 2017

A competitor in the teleprospecting business recently published a list of B2B companies based on how easy or hard they were to work from a lead-generation standpoint. They listed those that they had had success with on top. At the bottom of the list were what they called “uncloseables,” meaning these were companies that this competitor was not able to generated leads from.

Sales Qualified Leads 149

Sales Qualified Leads PointClear Lead Qualification High Quality Lead 149

ViewPoint

JULY 19, 2017

“What could derail this project?” a prospect asked me, following our discussion about PointClear’s lead generation, qualification and nurturing services. We had just finished talking about the importance of marketing and sales coming together to mutually define a lead prior to starting a lead generation program. We’d spent some time on the persistent yet professional cadence we employ.

Lead Generation 149

Lead Generation PointClear Sales Leads Generation 149

ViewPoint

JULY 12, 2017

I read and reread Andy Paul’s book Zero-Time Selling , and gave it to my sales reps. We discussed the 20 chapters in sales meetings each week, with a different representative taking 2-3 chapters and highlighting what he or she had learned. We expected everyone in the sales team to chip in. In the book, Andy discussed 10 essential steps to accelerate every company’s sales.

Top of Funnel 149

Top of Funnel Forecasting Pricing Price 149

ViewPoint

MAY 23, 2017

I’ve read and heard (from a well-known industry analyst firm) that best-in-class companies close 30% of sales qualified leads while average companies close 20%. Those results factor in lead leakage of between 52% to 86% of the marketing qualified leads put into the top of the funnel. If you do the math, this tells us that sales reps are expected to work 1000 marketing qualified leads down to 14 to 48 sales qualified leads and close 20% or 30% of those leads respectively; and end up with 3 to 14

Sales Qualified Leads 192

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Top of Funnel Work Management 192

ViewPoint

MAY 16, 2017

When it comes time to exploring how you can increase lead generation ROI, that is, produce better leads more cost effectively, move "technology" to the bottom your to-do list. Technology is great at automating best practices, but you have to have them in place first. So start by engineering your processes to focus on lead quality not quantity. Then implement the workflow that encourages both sales and marketing to be acccountable for their role in revenue generation.

Sales Leads 202

Sales Leads Process Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 202

ViewPoint

MAY 11, 2017

PointClear was recently given a verbal approval for a pilot program by the SVP of Sales for a technology solutions provider. He liked us. Trusted us. Told us we had the deal. Then we got turned over to sales operations and purchasing (supposedly a formality). After a few additional conversations, we were told that a competitor provided a quote for half of what we charge for “the same services.

Lead Generation 168

Lead Generation Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads PointClear 168

ViewPoint

MAY 5, 2017

Why it’s Important: “The companies that lag behind in adopting new ways of selling and marketing are slated for the trash heaps of failed businesses.”. At the Funnel Media Group we believe that AI is the future of sales and marketing operations. Because of this, CRM Radio and the sister program SLMA Radio, have been interviewing executives on the subjects of the marketing and sales uses of Artificial Intelligence.

Marketing AI 136

Marketing AI Marketing Analytics Tools Top of Funnel Enterprise Management 136

ViewPoint

APRIL 28, 2017

An embolism is a blockage caused by one or more bubbles of air in the circulatory system. These bubbles can travel to your brain, heart, or lungs and cause a heart attack, stroke, or respiratory failure. Stopping or slowing down lead generation, qualification and nurturing programs creates what I call a “bubble-in-the-funnel.” It may not kill you, like an air embolism could, but it can be dangerous to the health of your company.

Top of Funnel 149

Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads Fulfillment Marketing Funnels 149

ViewPoint

APRIL 14, 2017

Last week I published a blog that provided five ways to avoid getting burned by outsourced B2B sales lead generation, qualification and nurturing. You can read the blog here. In that blog, I wrote: “When the pipeline is weak, desperation and fear take over. Sales/B2B Marketing execs feel intense need to do something, but are afraid to risk budget. So, they settle for a cheap solution—which is how mediocre sales lead generation firms survive.

Lead Generation 176

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Generation 176