vs. General Business (L.G.) Which to consider: lead generation or appointment setting? Answer: both. Both approaches are highly effective for building sales pipelines. Appointment Setting gets you in the door, while Lead Generation not only gets you in the door but gives you the right hot buttons to press with prospects that are actively evaluating solutions. In other words, with Lead Generation you only get appointments with accounts that are pre-qualified when the appointment is being set according to a robust list of qualification questions. Lead Generation = L.G., vs. SMB (L.G.) MORE >>

The size of company is the same and the roles may be similar, but the pace of business will drive very different marketing behavior. The tech start-up marketer at the venture funded start-up will share many of the same business ethos as the founder… a marketrepreneur of sorts.    This marketer will be tactical  on the fly yet strategically-grounded, make decisions with limited information, take risks with limited budgets and resources, measure outcomes, fail fast, take corrective action,  and scale marketing successes rapidly. MORE >>

Channel partners will benefit from a 20% increase in MDF funding and expanded support in the field in sales and service with a new general business group of 100 staff. As Cisco focuses on core business markets, the Juniper will be tested by its rival who is ten times its size. The mood was buoyant at the Juniper Networks Americas Partner Conference , held April 11 – 13 in Phoenix. Juniper Networks is on a roll after coming off a strong 2010.   Revenue and operating margin in calendar/fiscal year 2011 is expected to grow by 20% and 23% respectively. MORE >>

Unfortunately research on buyer behavior is neither affordable nor feasible for many businesses. For example, lifetime value may be more appropriate for your business than yearly revenue.   In earlier post entitled the Top Five Reasons to use Segmentation , I wrote about the importance of segmentation in B2B marketing. Segmentation requires an in-depth understanding of customers generated through analysis and research.   Many large organizations either buy research from consultants and analysts or commission their own research. RFP), displaced competitor, organizational needs etc. MORE >>

Given the dynamic nature of business, you are probably facing a dizzying array of business challenges every day. Have you faced a new business problem that you tried to solve with a legacy perspective? Maybe you found that old rules don’t solve new problems. Existing frames of reference may hinder not help. would like to tell you about a new experience. couple of weeks ago, Southern Ontario plunged into a deep freeze. While the North East USA got hammered with a couple feet of snow, Toronto got away with a foot. It was a frosty cold day but beautiful. MORE >>