Although the findings are not news to me or my clients, a recent research study about increasing B2B sales lead management ROI is worth mentioning. The Forrester research study and white paper about sales lead management , commissioned by Silverpop , reports that when it comes to increasing the ROI from B2B sales lead management, there are four key performance indicators (KPIs) that pay off in more qualified leads and sales. Lead scoring. Because it validates some of what I’ve been recommending to my clients for years. MORE >>

Tweet A couple of weeks ago, I presented the webinar, “ Optimizing the Lead: A data-driven optimization process that goes beyond lead capture.” ” Lead optimization is the core of revenue optimization – making as much money as possible from your time, energy and resources. customer relationship management system (CRM), or simply an Excel spreadsheet if you can’t afford a CRM, provides a single, central location to store customer information so you can update it easily and ensure accuracy. Can lead nurturing work without sales management buying in? MORE >>

In both the instances cited above, as well as in other recently published articles, the main point is relatively the same: Today’s B2B buyer does not buy in a linear Step 1 – 2 – 3 fashion.  we go (or have moved) from a single buyer model to that of more interdependency among ecosystems and networks by B2B buyers.”. However organizations must be careful to not throw the baby out with the bath water, as there is still an internal operational component to managing leads and sales that cannot become overly burdensome or complex. The point here is well taken. MORE >>

In one of my meetings these past few weeks I was thinking of an analogy where I could break down the lead management process into much simpler terms so everyone could understand their roles - this is where football comes in. I'm going to introduce the players and coaches below and then summarize how the different parts fit together to create a Super Bowl caliber lead management process. The Players and Coaches Take the Field Quarterback : The marketing team is the QB. If you're a marketer, you're saying "I don't get paid like a quarterback". Thank you." MORE >>

My checklist for optimizing the lead generation process so far has included six steps: the mindset of not pushing ; repairing the rift between sales and marketing ; creating the ideal customer profile (and the un-ideal customer profile as well); agreeing upon a universal lead definition that fits your company’s goals and culture; importance of a well maintained database ; and, in step 6, I outlined a multi-modal approach and discussed its importance in the lead gen process. Today I’d like to discuss the aspects of an effective lead management process. MORE >>