Merger Provides Global Enterprise Software and Technology Companies with Deeply Integrated, Quality Pipeline Generation Services. SCOTTSDALE, AZ (Marketwire – May 4, 2011) – Today, at the SiriusDecisions Summit, Green Leads announced the acquisition of Target 250 to form the fastest-growing pay-for-performance demand generation company in the industry. The companies are combining to provide global enterprise software and technology companies with deeply integrated quality pipeline generation programs in both North America and Europe. and Europe.” MORE >>

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. 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. Words of wisdom from two industry leaders: Trish Bertuzzi, Inside Sales Expert , @bridgegroupinc : "Hiring a third party lead gen vendor is like dating… the chemistry is either there or it is not. Cost per lead is a narrow look at the success of a program. Autodialers? MORE >>

Have you revamped the way outbound lead generation is done Over the past four months Green Leads has been starting new reps on the first Monday of each month. Inside sales seems to be like that, growth and replenishment. In our case, we have pretty stringent criteria for success since we are a performance-based appointment setting company. We have to have our reps deliver. So here is what typically happens if we hire four reps, train them, get them on the floor and keep coaching them. Our goal: Get to three keepers out of four. How do you train your inside sales recruits? MORE >>

Question : If the goal of a call is lead generation and appointment setting for my sales engineer, how should I handle a prospect when they ask a tough technical question I can't answer? As Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor , says about lead generation: "Stop complaining, take action now." There was a LinkedIn Question today that I answered. It is such a valuable tip, I thought I would cross post it here. Answer : First, don't let the question drag you into a black hole or throw you off your game. Use the question as an opportunity to get what you are looking for -- a meeting. MORE >>

We talked a lot about what isn't working in b2b demand generation, and shared some stories about things that are working. Two weeks ago I hosted participated in Focus.com's Demand Gen Freestyle (replay here) discussions. Focus.com makes the world's best business expertise available to everyone, and they often run roundtable discussions several times a week. Craig Rosenberg hosted the Demand Gen centered discussion, with a panel of Adam Needles of Left Brain Marketing , Cody Young of Reach Force , and Tom Searce of Searce Market Development and myself. It was a great discussion. MORE >>