I think one mistake many marketers make is to think of their lead management requirements too narrowly — and to be honest, quite a few demand generation vendors make this mistake as well. As I wrote back in December, 2006, the fact that today's buyers take control of their buying processes using search, social media, and other online tools means that marketers need to move away from a mindset of "generating leads" and towards a model of " managing leads ". Lead scoring to know when to pass leads to the sales team – and when to keep them in marketing for further nurturing. MORE >>

by Bill Binch B2B companies don’t have the same luxury that businesses had in former years, when sales controlled consumer behavior. Now the digital marketplace has put the buyer in the driver’s seat and some sales forces behind the eight ball to keep up with consumer habits. As we venture into a new year, we’ll continue to see dramatic changes in the ways sales teams operate.  Cutting edge technology combined with expanding online channels will offer sales teams countless strategic and operational choices to connect and convert leads. Sales 2.0 MORE >>

by Carol Fox We recently reviewed Conversations that Win the Complex Sale , a book aimed at helping sales people rethink their messaging, as part of our B2B Sales and Marketing Book Club. Authors Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer, who run a consulting company called Corporate Visions, say rethinking your messaging to sales leads is key. Basically, with Power Messaging, a sales person concentrates on telling the buyer a story from the buyer’s point of view, rather than his or her own corporate message. How to engage customers more effectively? MORE >>

The ultimate objective of marketing is to increase revenue performance , and one key way to achieve this is to optimize the entire sales funnel. Brian Carroll, CEO of InTouch and author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale , addressed the critical hand-off between marketing and sales as he spoke to a group of marketing professionals at MarketingSherpa’s 2010 B2B Summit. In his presentation, he covers a five-step process to optimize lead management, get marketing and sales alignment , and make the most of your entire sales funnel. MORE >>

Barry is co-founder of CSO Insights , an analyst firm that benchmarks the challenges faced by today's sales and marketing organizations, tracking the trends in the usage of people, process, technology and knowledge to improve sales effectiveness. Barry is also a member of the Marketo Board of Advisors. Barry is also presenting his latest research about marketing and sales alignment at an exclusive webinar titled Using Marketing's Insights to Close More Deals Faster. How did you get into sales and marketing, and what you like most about it? Sign up today! MORE >>