ViewPoint

OCTOBER 23, 2012

Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, consultant and sales thought leader, who has guided hundreds of companies and more than one hundred thousand frontline salespeople and sales leaders towards optimum performance levels. He is the Senior Partner at Jonathan Farrington & Associates , Chairman of The JF Corporation and CEO of Top Sales Associates , based in London & Paris.

Bandwidth 212

Bandwidth Consulting B2B Sales Opinions 212

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 18, 2012

My guest today is Anthony Iannarino, President and CSO for SOLUTIONS Staffing. Anthony is also the Managing Director of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, a boutique sales coaching and consulting company. In addition, he is author of The Sales Blog , where he writes about sales and selling, sales management, the sales process, and what it takes to succeed.

Lead Ranking 201

Lead Ranking Work Management Business Marketing Management 201

ViewPoint

JANUARY 17, 2012

Are marketing resources or sales reps the right resources to do lead qualification and lead nurturing in the B2B complex sale? The answer is clear, and may surprise you. But first, let's take a look at some lead generation challenges. Cahners Research has shown that 45 percent of qualified leads will end up buying a solution from someone within a year.

Lead Qualification 196

Lead Qualification Lead Nurturing Sales Qualified Leads Leads 196

ViewPoint

JANUARY 31, 2012

Tony Zambito is Founder and Principal of the buyer research and strategy firm Buyerology ?. He is also the originator of the buyer persona research and creation methodology as well as Business Buyergraphics ™ that are widely used to make informed decisions from buyer insights. Tony also served in the role of Vice President in Sales and Marketing capacities for TRW, Knight-Ridder, and Compaq (HP).

Process 195

Process Work Management Lead Ranking Enterprise Management 195

ViewPoint

JANUARY 24, 2012

Jason Falls is an author, speaker and CEO of Social Media Explorer. He is also co-author of the book No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide To Social Media Marketing , available on Amazon and in bookstores everywhere. Marketing to the business consumer takes a special pedigree. The complexities of the non-commercial arena often overwhelm even seasoned marketers from the consumer-facing world.

P2P 193

P2P B2B Youtube Social Media 193

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 30, 2012

Today's guest blogger is Jeff Molander. Jeff is the authority on making social media sell, adjunct faculty at Loyola University business school, author of, Off The Hook Marketing: How to Make Social Media Sell for You and a social sales training speaker. Is your business-to-business (B2B) content marketing plan creating re-action beyond sharing? I’ve been using LinkedIn and blogging to generate B2B leads and sales very effectively lately.

Planning 191

Planning Marketing Plans Top of Funnel Content Marketing 191

ViewPoint

JANUARY 12, 2012

Contrary to popular belief, reps don’t need more sales leads. They need fewer leads—or more accurately, fewer raw, unfiltered, unqualified leads. Best sales lead management practices continually show that reps need qualified leads that have been carefully vetted, properly and consistently nurtured and appropriately developed, increasing the likelihood of a completed sale.

Sales Leads 191

Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Lead Scoring 191

ViewPoint

AUGUST 30, 2012

My guest today is Craig Rosenberg, Vice President, Sales and Marketing and Co-Founder at Focus. He is also author of a popular sales and marketing blog, Funnelholic , where he shares B2B content with an edge. Craig specializes in lead generation, lead qualification, and B2B marketing and sales. Below, you can read highlights from our discussion or use the links to start the video from different parts of the conversation. 2012 Trends: Social Marketing Gaining Real Traction & Growth Hacks.

Enterprise Management 189

Enterprise Management Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 189

ViewPoint

JANUARY 19, 2012

When qualifying and nurturing sales leads, the lead farmer (prospect development professional) has a challenging job. The starting point in lead management is usually an inquiry consisting of a name, title, a company, a phone number or email address. The lead farmer must have the patience, discipline and skill to engage the inquirer in a conversation.

Sales Leads 188

Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads B2B Sales Leads 188

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Over the past few months I have had the pleasure of interviewing nineteen influential B2B sales and marketing leaders to discuss their views in areas like traditional and new media strategies, current and future trends, B2B lead generation, and sales lead management. I came away with at least one new piece of insight from each and wanted to share some of my favorites with you.

Sales Qualified Leads 188

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads 188

ViewPoint

APRIL 10, 2012

I’m really pleased to introduce you to PowerViews, a new series of Q&A video interviews that are all about providing solutions to the marketing and sales challenges we face today. It’s an honor for me to have as my very first guest Jonathan Farrington who is the CEO of Top Sales Associates and the Managing Director of Jonathan Farrington & Associates.

Paid Search Agency 187

Paid Search Agency Work Management Marketing Automation Services Forrester 187

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

In this three-part series, the first article on marketing analytics looked at predictive targeting best practices, and the second article cited two sales lead generation programs to show how these processes actually drive improved results. This third and final article shares findings uncovered during an overall review of our lead contact strategies.

Lead Generation 185

Lead Generation Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads Analytics 185

ViewPoint

MAY 10, 2012

Today's PowerViews guest is Christopher Hosford. Christopher is an award-winning business writer and editor based in New York City. He is East Coast Bureau Chief for BtoB Magazine. He is former editor-in-chief of Sales & Marketing Management magazine, and has written for Architectural Record, Inc. Magazine, Multi-Housing News and Hospitality Design.

Marketing Automation Services 183

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Automation Resource Management BtoB 183

ViewPoint

JANUARY 10, 2012

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. An important skill in playing poker is being able to read the opponents at your table. A “Tell”* is a physical reaction, sometimes called a habit, or behavior that tells others information about you and your hand.

Blogger 183

Blogger Marketing Prospects Act-On Consulting 183

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. There are many marketing managers blithely tripping along feeling confident about themselves and their accomplishments who have never proven the return on investment for lead generation.

Budget Programs 182

Budget Programs Work Management ROI Blogger 182

ViewPoint

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Today's guest blogger is Jeff Molander. Jeff is the authority on making social media sell, adjunct faculty at Loyola University business school, author of Off the Hook Marketing: How to make social media sell and a social sales training speaker. In 2008 LinkedIn introduced Groups and for years now B2B marketers have been tortured by inappropriate, low-value comments and linking—people trying to promote "their thing.

Linkedin 181

Linkedin Work Management Peer-to-peer Marketing Management 181

ViewPoint

MAY 29, 2012

This year's SiriusDecisions Summit was attended by over 1,100 executives and had to be their most successful event yet. While there, I heard that they plan for 1,500 attendees next year. Wow! Rich Eldh kicked off the general sessions at 1:00 on Tuesday, May 22 stating that marketing and sales aligned companies enjoy 5.3 times more revenue and 6.2 times the profit of average firms.

Multi-Channel 179

Multi-Channel Demand Generation Agencies Class Webinar Metrics 179

ViewPoint

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

I am pleased to have as my guest today Linda Richardson, the founder and chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales performance company that delivers sales process strategies, curricula and tools to help salespeople drive more positive business outcomes. She teaches sales and management courses at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center.

Demand 179

Demand RFP Work Management Buying Cycle 179

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 19, 2012

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. As we plan for the New Year, it’s time to stop following and start leading. Time to step out from behind the lead cow, scrape the mess off your shoes, and start setting your own course.

Forecasting 178

Forecasting Lock-In Leads Lead 178

ViewPoint

APRIL 17, 2012

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. I know what you’re thinking, you’re saying to yourself, “Is he serious?” But in a recent post on the Sales Lead Management Group on LinkedIn, Kevin McArdle, the regional sales manager for Eloqua (Chicago), advocated that sales departments should take over lead gen and he makes the following points: Sales

Lead Generation 177

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Generation Leads 177

ViewPoint

AUGUST 2, 2012

We're pleased to have Ginger Conlon join us as a guest blogger today. Ginger is editor-in-chief of Direct Marketing News. Contact her at ginger.conlon@dmnews.com or @customeralchemy. Tales of the disconnect between sales and marketing have long been told. Misaligned goals, differing definitions of qualified leads, blame games, and more. One underexplored area that can help to increase collaboration and improve alignment among sales and marketing teams is compensation.

Sales Qualified Leads 177

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Qualification Buying Cycle High Quality Lead 177

ViewPoint

JULY 12, 2012

Today's guest is Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs and co-author of Content Rules. She also writes the MarketingProfs "Daily Fix" blog. Her focus is on the conceptualization, development, and management of content for both B2B and consumer publications, particularly for the Web. Below, you can read highlights from our discussion or use the links to start the video from different parts of the conversation. 2012 Challenge: How to Tell Stories, Create Compelling Content and Drive

Marketing & Strategy 177

Marketing & Strategy Broadcasting Mobile Advertising Inbound Marketing 177

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

My guest today is Dave Munn who has been President and CEO of ITSMA since 2000, having led ITSMA's global expansion to become the leading B2B marketing association for technology, professional services, and telecom companies. Prior to joining ITSMA in 1995, Dave held field marketing and sales positions with Oracle and Apple and started his career in 1984 as a market research analyst at The Ledgeway Group, now part of Gartner Group.

Organization 176

Organization Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Budget 176

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. “Of course,” you say. “We create a marketing plan every year.” But do you really? Do you create a marketing plan that drives sales based on the sales forecast? Is your lead generation plan based on the forecast by product?

Lead Generation 176

Lead Generation Planning Sales Qualified Leads Generation 176

ViewPoint

AUGUST 30, 2012

Brian Carroll is Executive Director of Revenue Optimization for MECLABS and spoke midday here in Orlando on Day Two of the MarketingSherpa 2012 B2B Summit. Some key takeaways all organizations should think about are: 64% of leads generated go directly to field sales without filtering or prequalification. Nurturing leads increases revenue by 125%—yet most companies don't do it. 80% of marketing generated leads are ignored, lost or ineffectively followed up by field sales (66% of sales people stop

Marketing Qualified Leads 176

Marketing Qualified Leads Leads Lead B2B 176

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

I’m an avid reader of Bob Apollo’s “Accelerating Revenue Growth” blog. Bob is the founder of Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, a UK firm that engages with B2B companies to improve their sales and marketing strategy and drive revenue. He does a great job of clearly presenting, assessing and recommending solutions for today’s pressing sales lead management challenges.

Top of Funnel 176

Top of Funnel Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy Advertising Agencies 176

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 11, 2012

I am pleased to have as my guest today Carlos Hidalgo of the Annuitas Group. Carlos is a recognized thought leader in B2B marketing and known for his keen insights on the development and implementation of lead management processes, as well as marketing automation. Carlos has been named three years in a row—from 2009 to 2011—to the Sales Lead Management Association’s 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management.

Demand 175

Demand Process Work Management Marketing Management 175

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Twice over the past two years I blogged about the dangers of using cost per lead as a metric to measure marketing. As a foundation, I published three blogs in 2012 in which I outlined three critical elements that impact B2B lead generation costs in the complex sale: 1. B2B sale complexity impacts cost-per-lead —to recap, I have heard marketers (even senior ones) state that cost per lead for anything from life insurance to a $100,000 plus software solution “should be about $300”.

Cost per Lead 175

Cost per Lead Sales Qualified Leads Cost Lead Scoring 175

ViewPoint

AUGUST 21, 2012

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. A cascading failure is a failure in a system of interconnected parts, in which the failure of a part can trigger the failure of successive parts. Such a failure may happen in many types of systems, including power transmission, computer networking, finance, bridges, sales and marketing, (the last two are our words).

Work Management 174

Work Management Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management Wikipedia 174

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

This is the third in a series of four blogs about lead generation, marketing and sales metrics, and proverbs. The phrase, "A watched pot never boils" contains a warning against giving in to impatience; it'll do you no good at all and will only serve to make you and those around you uncomfortable. A pot of water is going to boil in exactly the same length of time whether or not you watch it, but if you are so impatient that you need to keep watching in the hope it will boil more quickly it will s

Lead Generation 173

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Generation PointClear 173

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Jeff Molander is a professional speaker, author of Off the Hook Marketing: How to Make Social Media Sell for You and adjunct faculty at Loyola University Business School. He blogs at www.offthehookblog.com and can be reached at jeff@jeffmolander.com. Why is it so difficult to generate actual leads and sales using social media in the B2B world? At risk of my wife divorcing me, I decided to take a year off and find out how those brands who were succeeding with social media were doing it.

Customer Satisfaction 173

Customer Satisfaction Sample Youtube Social Media 173

ViewPoint

MAY 15, 2012

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. Formula to Predict Inquiries Needed to Make Quota i. Marketing managers regularly ask me how to predict the number of leads (really raw inquiries) needed to achieve quota (I wish more sales managers would also ask).

Telemarketing 172

Telemarketing Sales Qualified Leads Blogger Marketing Management 172

ViewPoint

MARCH 1, 2012

Lack of clarity and erroneous assumptions about demand generation, lead management and marketing automation are effectively addressed in two recent Software Advice whiteboard videos by Carlos Hidalgo, CEO, Annuitas Group , and Executive Director, Marketing Automation Institute. In part one , Carlos differentiates between demand generation strategies and lead management processes.

Demand Generation 172

Demand Generation Work Management Marketing Management Lead Management 172

ViewPoint

JULY 31, 2012

Generating sales leads that are actually followed up by sales is a basic business process that is broken in most companies. The reason is that marketing and sales are part of a Granfalloon. Kurt Vonnegut defined a Granfalloon as “a group of people who outwardly choose or claim to have a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is actually meaningless” I love this line from Neil Rackham (author of SPIN Selling) during his keynote address at the 2012 International BMA C

Sales Qualified Leads 171

Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads 171

ViewPoint

JUNE 26, 2012

Britton Manasco is a principal with Manasco Marketing Partners. His new firm, which specializes in strategic positioning and provocative sales messaging, is called Visible Impact. You can reach him at Britton@ManascoMarketing.com. When I attend conferences, I usually come with a few questions in mind that I hope to get answered. But, when I attended the recent Leadership Summit put on by the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP), I was reminded that sometimes questions can

Conference 170

Conference Enterprise Management Correlation Barriers 170

ViewPoint

MAY 3, 2012

The introductory post in this series addressed the problems and costs of applying the cost-per-lead metric to measure the success of B2B lead generation investments. In the second post, we looked at elements of a complex sale that impact B2B lead generation costs. Let’s now turn our attention to the characteristics the right marketing metrics should have and then use those characteristics to clearly identify the marketing KPIs needed to correctly measure lead value in B2B lead generation.

Cost per Lead 170

Cost per Lead Sales Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Lead Generation 170

ViewPoint

MARCH 6, 2012

Stephanie Tilton is a content-marketing consultant who helps B2B companies craft content that engages prospects and customers, nurtures leads and advances the buying cycle. She has produced hundreds of white papers, case studies and eBooks for a range of organizations, including some of the world's leading technology companies. She is a founding member of the Savvy B2B Marketing blog , and contributes regularly to the Content Marketing Institute blog.

Buyer Personas 170

Buyer Personas Forrester Lead Ranking Peer-to-peer 170