Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 5, 2016

Since it’s become more difficult for sales people to get in front of prospects, many B2B companies are relying heavily on content marketing to supply top-of-the-funnel leads that can be converted into closed business. In fact, the strongest close rates occurred when marketing accompanied the sales pursuit process.

Marketing Qualified Leads 120

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking MQL Top of Funnel 120

Sales Engine

JULY 7, 2016

In the not-so-distant past, scaling a B2B company meant hiring more sales people that were responsible for all their own business development. For example, if you had one sales rep carrying a $1 Million quota, and it cost $200K in salary and commissions for that resource, adding an additional sales rep could double the business.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Paid Search Agency Content Marketing 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 20, 2017

MARKETING AUTOMATION AND LEAD MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS have allowed for a near-scientific breakdown of the sales funnel. But you can’t fully automate the sales funnel, especially for complex, research-heavy purchases in the BtoB world. Sales reps are as important as ever—it’s just that their role has changed.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 11, 2017

As a marketing leader, have you been tasked with building a demand generation program designed to funnel leads to salespeople? For most B2B companies with a complex, relationship based selling process, a demand generation program that provides actionable sales intelligence is one of the best options at their disposal.

Demand Generation Agencies 136

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Budget Programs Demand 136

Sales Engine

JUNE 7, 2016

But if the function of content is to generate and nurture your leads through your sales funnel, how do you create content that is good enough to comply with the demands of your sales team? The creator gains increased brand awareness and (ideally) action on behalf of the consumer that will lead to a sales conversation.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Content Demand Generation Agencies Barriers 120

Sales Engine

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

So if one of the posts is a thinly veiled sales pitch, and another one is a 1000-word article that includes charts, graphs, videos, and third-party references, guess which one Google is going to reward? But don’t forget that there are people that might be searching for more top-of-the-funnel problems, such as “how do I solve problem XYZ?”

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel SEO Content Marketing Long Tail Marketing 120

Sales Engine

JULY 29, 2016

You’ve seen the Internet decimate industries such as record labels, newspapers, and cable TV—and in case you haven’t noticed, it’s crushing the B2B sales rep’s ability to get in front of qualified prospects. (If Sales reps need leads, and it’s marketing’s job to get at least some of them—a majority would be nice.

Buyer Personas 120

Buyer Personas Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel Leads 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 5, 2016

You’ve seen the Internet decimate industries such as record labels, newspapers, and cable TV—and in case you haven’t noticed, it’s crushing the B2B sales rep’s ability to get in front of qualified prospects. (If Sales reps need leads, and it’s marketing’s job to get at least some of them—a majority would be nice.

Buyer Personas 120

Buyer Personas Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel Leads 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 27, 2015

What’s the right way to follow up on content to turn leads into sales conversations? Remember, people at the beginning of the sales process don’t want to talk to a salesperson — and they don’t have to anymore. This of course will vary in every organization depending on your overall sales process. Nurture, nurture, nurture.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Buy 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 18, 2016

Specifically, are dollars best spent on sales or marketing? While we were pleased with the lead generation effort, the sales resulting from those leads were disappointingly low. While we were pleased with the lead generation effort, the sales resulting from those leads were disappointingly low. Only $22,000—ouch!) Not good.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Cost per Lead 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 23, 2016

Calculating Total Cost of Customer Acquisition Because buyers are engaged with both sales and marketing as they move through the sales funnel, it no longer makes sense to draw a hard line between sales and marketing expenditures. In other words, for every four sales cycles, you’re going to win one of them.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 23, 2016

When it’s all over, you ship the booth and collateral boxes home and collect the leads for sales. The world has changed, and the internet is now crushing a sales rep’s ability to generate their own leads. So, marketing’s new role as lead generators for sales requires more than just project management and stellar execution.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Process B2B Thought Leadership Work Management 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 8, 2015

When it’s all over, you ship the booth and collateral boxes home and collect the leads for sales. The world has changed, and the internet is now crushing a sales rep’s ability to generate their own leads. So, marketing’s new role as lead generators for sales requires more than just project management and stellar execution.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Process B2B Thought Leadership Work Management 120

Sales Engine

MAY 5, 2016

If you’re talking about content creation for the bottom-of-the-funnel, where prospects are closer to making a decision for purchase (such as sales sheets, product marketing materials, comparison documents, technical white papers), a writer without subject matter expertise may quickly find themselves in the weeds.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel B2B Thought Leadership B2B Business 120

Sales Engine

APRIL 27, 2016

But, if there’s not a natural bridge for a sales rep to use to follow up on the consumption of that content and turn that into a sales conversation, you’re really just creating content for branding and awareness. Why are these funnel distinctions important? There’s your foundation for a consultative sales conversation.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Webinar Metrics Paid Search Agency Companies 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Measuring content marketing’s return on investment in B2B companies can be a complex calculation, especially if your solution is expensive, requires committee-based decisions, and has long and unpredictable sales cycles. Sale intelligence includes information such as: Who is involved in the decision? Increased web traffic.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads B2B Marketing Marketing Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

DECEMBER 22, 2015

But eventually you will cap out, and the only way to generate more leads for your sales team is to grow your database —and that comes with its own set of challenges: deliverability, segmentation, acquisition, and so on. This looks exactly like the sales funnel, which is why top-of-funnel has largely shifted to marketing.)

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Marketing & Strategy Marketing Strategy Funnel Advertising 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 12, 2016

Now with the rise of content marketing , we’re wondering if salespeople will be replaced—or, in other words, will we be able to automate marketing processes to the point where we can lead people all the way through their buying journey, eliminating the need for sales reps? So what do they do?

Top of Funnel 136

Top of Funnel Content Marketing Cold Calling Sales Qualified Leads 136

Sales Engine

JULY 21, 2016

There’s certainly nothing wrong with more people being aware of who you are, but there’s a big difference between people being aware of who you are and what you sell, and those people actually engaging with your sales team and buying products and services from you. That’s what a lead generation strategy is really all about.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation Top of Funnel Generation Ad Building 120

Sales Engine

JULY 21, 2016

There’s certainly nothing wrong with more people being aware of who you are, but there’s a big difference between people being aware of who you are and what you sell, and those people actually engaging with your sales team and buying products and services from you. That’s what a lead generation strategy is really all about.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation Top of Funnel Generation Ad Building 120

Sales Engine

DECEMBER 7, 2015

Now with the rise of content marketing , we’re wondering if salespeople will be replaced—or, in other words, will we be able to automate marketing processes to the point where we can lead people all the way through their buying journey, eliminating the need for sales reps? So what do they do?

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Content Marketing Cold Calling Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

MARCH 30, 2016

That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a viable sales prospect or ready to buy. Consider these research findings: Nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20 percent increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. An aggressive sales pitch early in the nurturing cycle could result in a high abandonment rate.

Marketing Qualified Leads 136

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Nurturing Lead Ranking Top of Funnel 136

Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

When the flow of wins coming out of your sales department begins to slow down, the natural thing to do is to reexamine your sales strategy—and even your sales personnel. But before you dive into more sales training, more sales hiring, or new sales leadership, stop and consider whether you're taking the right approach.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Generation Demand Generation Agencies 120

Sales Engine

APRIL 13, 2016

Additionally, 85% of the companies surveyed indicate that lead generation and sales growth was their primary objective for greater investments. Not to say it doesn’t happen, but it won’t happen enough to move the sales needle. Your content production isn’t integrated with your sales process. That’s a big disconnect.

Top of Funnel 136

Top of Funnel Content Marketing Content Digital Marketing Funnels 136

Sales Engine

JUNE 9, 2016

Creating an end-to-end lead generation process with content marketing requires that your top-of-funnel content (the content that focuses on early stage buyers and is commonly found in blogs) is tied together with your premium conversion assets. So what does the professionally trained sales rep do? But it can’t stop there.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Content Marketing Digital Marketing Funnels Lead Ranking 120

Sales Engine

MAY 12, 2016

Once upon a time, branding was an indispensable part of a company’s success in B2B sales. Marketing budgets spent on bold logos, memorable slogans, pricey sponsorships and colorful presentations were all devised for a simple overarching purpose: to get sales in the door. This relationship was not always about the sale.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Brand Identity Branding Budget Programs 120

Sales Engine

DECEMBER 28, 2015

Getting them sales ready is a different issue, but suffice it to say: better content = better leads. Analytical tools are useful in helping to determine what your audience is responding to, but ultimately if you’re converting leads that turn into appointments for sales, your executives will be hungry for more.

Budget Programs 120

Budget Programs Top of Funnel Marketing Budget Webinar Metrics 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 16, 2016

What does a perfect world B2B sales process look like? For me, that looks like marketing generating enough qualified leads so that most of my time is spent having productive sales conversations. Sales follow up on converted leads is repeatable, but the approach is not.

Sales Management 120

Sales Management Top of Funnel Cold Calling Content 120

Sales Engine

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

So how do you compete with content marketing and sales follow-up when the waters have been muddied? As buyers, we don’t need to talk to sales people to get the information we need—therefore, we don’t take phone calls (and get upset when we feel tricked). Sales follow up on converted leads is repeatable, but the approach is not.

Sales Management 120

Sales Management Top of Funnel Cold Calling Content 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 17, 2016

Talk to sales and find out how they’ve been finding leads. If you have a complex sales cycle, map out the process steps that led to those deals and see if you can identify some consistent issues. That way, you can develop content that helps sales people through the entire sales cycle, and not just top-of-funnel.

Thought Leadership 120

Thought Leadership Top of Funnel Ad Building Buyer Personas 120

Sales Engine

DECEMBER 11, 2015

Talk to sales and find out how they’ve been finding leads. If you have a complex sales cycle, map out the process steps that led to those deals and see if you can identify some consistent issues. That way, you can develop content that helps sales people through the entire sales cycle, and not just top-of-funnel.

Thought Leadership 120

Thought Leadership Top of Funnel Ad Building Buyer Personas 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 22, 2016

First, we need to realize that the sales and marketing game in large part is still being played in the 24-foot portion of the court, even though companies have shifted resources to content marketing and social media selling, because they are still are executing 2005 marketing and sales process strategies even though the tools are current.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Digital Marketing Funnels 120

Sales Engine

NOVEMBER 6, 2015

First, we need to realize that the sales and marketing game in large part is still being played in the 24-foot portion of the court, even though companies have shifted resources to content marketing and social media selling, because they are still are executing 2005 marketing and sales process strategies even though the tools are current.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Digital Marketing Funnels 120

Sales Engine

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

You have to know whether your content is going to create awareness, move people into a shopping cart, or generate leads for B2B sales reps. The person that is early in their search (a top-of-the-funnel prospect) is going to have different issues than someone that has narrowed their search to 2 or 3 vendors. It starts with the goal.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Marketing & Strategy Marketing Strategy Content Marketing 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 4, 2016

It used to be that darkening the skies with sales reps, albeit expensive, was the best way to grow a B2B company—more feet on the street equaled more opportunities. For the companies that successfully fill their pipelines with new sales opportunities, we’ve found that there are 7 common attributes. Top of the Funnel Content.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 4, 2016

It used to be that darkening the skies with sales reps, albeit expensive, was the best way to grow a B2B company—more feet on the street equaled more opportunities. For the companies that successfully fill their pipelines with new sales opportunities, we’ve found that there are 7 common attributes. Top of the Funnel Content.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 120