It’s a perennial complaint we hear from B2B marketers: “We did all this work to put together a great sales tool/piece of collateral/campaign, but Sales refuses to use it! What’s going on?” ” Most marketers throw up their hands, call the salespeople a few choice names (“cowboy” is one I can repeat for a family-oriented business blog like Wide Angle) and just start plugging away again, thinking that someday those dastardly cowboys will realize what Marketing can offer. Others get frustrated and quit. So what seems to be the problem? MORE >>

Marketers have a huge opportunity with welcome emails. According to Skyline Technologies , welcome emails have an average open rate of 50-60%. It makes sense; as the double opt-in process has become more commonplace, people expect to return to their inbox and receive one or two emails that confirm their request and welcome them as a new subscriber. So with an open rate that high, doesn't it make sense to strike while the iron's hot? Your subscriber loves you right now -- they just signed up to hear from you more ! Typical Welcome Email Content. 1) Promote your lead generation content. MORE >>

Our good friend Ardath Albee and I have recently had a series of conversations about the standard funnel that is used by many organizations.  If you don’t know Ardath I highly recommend you follow her: @ardath421.) This post is a result of those discussions. The standard sales funnel for most organizations is linear with several stages: Inquiry. Closed. These defined stages which have been brought into the mainstream by Sirius Decisions are great for tracking and ROI measurement. Let me explain. According to MarketingSherpa , 70% of first time responders are not in “ready-to-buy” mode.  MORE >>

Social Media Examiner's Michael Stelzner is releasing his 2012 State of the Social Media Marketing Industry report today after his 1:00 PM EST webinar with HubSpot's Content Strategist Kipp Bodnar, where the two will review all the juicy data. Part of Michael's research included asking social media marketers whether they're outsourcing any of their social media marketing tasks, and if so, what specifically they're outsourcing. Turns out, in 2010, only 14% of marketers outsourced social media marketing. Last year, that number doubled to 28%. What Social Media Marketers are Outsourcing in 2012. MORE >>

Over the years I have had the good fortune to work with many talented sales pros. The one thing I have observed over that time and across multiple industries, is that the people with the right attitude always come out on top. Always. Sure being smart and hardworking goes a long way. As does constantly learning and improving your craft. These things won’t matter one bit if you have the wrong attitude. We have all worked with the nay sayers. The goal is too high, the prospects are too difficult, the product or service is not as good as it needs to be, they say. MORE >>