use LinkedIn Company Pages to see for yourself). After hearing the two examples, ask for references at both companies). There are so many demand gen vendors out there, and if you are a demand gen professional in sales or marketing, we've probably called you. Outsourcing some or all of your appointment setting or lead generation activity to a third party vendor is a task that shouldn't be undertaken by responding to one cold call. Craig Rosenberg, The Funnelholic , @funnelholic : "If they charge less, be more skeptical – Believe it. What quality controls do you have in place? MORE >>

How can upstart, small- to mid-sized companies build a tribe? How can even large companies with very specific offerings build a tribe? Gather, grasp and retain every prospect or client, every user or remote individual who touches your company and bring them together virtually. recently saw a Fortune 500 company do this and, whadda ya know, 55 unique twitter addresses tweeted the exact same text at the exact same moment (sounds like an ingenious agency idea to me). What thoughts do you have for tribal building in a smaller universe than companies such as Apple MORE >>

On a recent sales call, the prospect told me he is working with a pay-for- performance appointment setting company like Green Leads. The difference, and the reason for the call, is that he wants more meetings per month, but the other vendor is " dictating the pace " at which he gets them. Was I dreaming? Did I hear that right? If you are paying for performance after the meeting takes place, isn't the vendor incentivized to deliver the exact number of meetings you ask for? Establish and manage to a Service Level Agreement (SLA). That's their problem, not yours. Is there a skill issue? MORE >>

They really are, in my opinion, the best and the brightest in the industry: Lenny - When calling a list rather than starting at the top with the "A" companies, work the list in reverse starting with companies that begin with "Z". That way you most likely will hit the companies that get called the least. When I was in college, one of my roomates used to watch The Baseball Bunch. It was designed for kids, but I loved it. What I loved most about the show, though, was the advice that each guest shared with the team. What does all of this have to do with B2B sales and marketing? MORE >>

That said, two great blogs: Marketo's Modern B2B Sales Blog - Marketo, the marketing automation company, has several blogs , but its Modern B2B Sales blog hits the mark. Inbound Marketing is all the rage these days, and why shouldn't it be? It works, right? At least, that's what HubSpot clients are saying (and we're clients, so I can vouch for it). Inbound Marketing's goal is to pull potential customers in by all different methods, whether it's compelling content, savvy SEO execution or community interaction via social media. Where do you turn? Definitely worth checking out. Great stuff. MORE >>