ViewPoint

DECEMBER 27, 2016

Per Julie Schwartz, senior vice president, research and thought leadership at marketing research, consulting and training firm ITSMA : “It’s widely believed that 60% to 70% of the buying process is over before prospects want to engage with a salesperson. ITSMA’s data says that for high consideration technology solutions, this is a myth.

Top of Funnel 189

Top of Funnel B2B Sales Account Based Marketing B2B Thought Leadership 189

ViewPoint

MAY 23, 2018

That’s more than triple the number of leads generated without a built-in nurturing process. Here’s what Julie Schwartz, SVP at marketing research, consulting and training firm ITSMA says: “It’s widely believed that 60% to 70% of the buying process is over before prospects want to engage with a salesperson.

Sales Qualified Leads 149

Sales Qualified Leads ROI Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 149

ViewPoint

AUGUST 25, 2016

Sales should expect to receive leads that are qualified, nurtured and ready to begin the closing process. Just as vital to the success of a program such as this is their role in providing the information sales needs to turn these prospects into customers.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads Budget Programs B2B Sales 120

ViewPoint

APRIL 28, 2015

You have, no doubt, read that prospects are impatient with sales reps that ask a lot of discovery questions (especially if the information can be found with a little research). When (notice I said when, not if) you go to LinkedIn for background information, look for recommendations made by your contact’s peers. Find a relevant article.

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads 120

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 4, 2016

John asked two questions: Which stage of the buying process should a salesperson engage with a prospect? I don’t want to spoil the 30-minute YouTube video (it is packed full of great information and advice), but I will provide an overview of my responses and then hope you will watch the video for a deeper dive: Stage of Buying Process.

Webinar Metrics 136

Webinar Metrics CRM Thought Leadership Sample 136

ViewPoint

MAY 13, 2016

20,000 companies with multiple contacts and verified technical environment information—but with no email addresses. 20,000 companies with multiple contacts and verified technical environment information—but with no email addresses. Decision making process and timeframe. Identification of decision makers and influencers.

Allocation 174

Allocation PointClear SIC Ideal Customer Profiles 174

ViewPoint

MAY 6, 2014

CRM may have been well intentioned—meant to centralize information—but it wasn’t designed specifically for sales. Sales Process B2B Sales'

CRM 120

CRM B2B Sales Intent B2B 120

ViewPoint

MARCH 1, 2016

This is Part One of a two-part blog about how organizations with a complex sales process can improve accuracy in lead/revenue projections. In January, 2016 Julie Schwartz of ITSMA stated: “It’s widely believed that 60-70% of the buying process is over before prospects want to engage with a salesperson.

ROI 159

ROI Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads MQL 159

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

These companies have a very high demand for their products and services, but they still need strong lead generation and qualification processes. These companies are successful because of their established roles, processes, and responsibilities for their marketing and sales departments. Find the Pain.

Sales Leads 159

Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 159

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 8, 2016

He has a goal to streamline their global credit decision process. Prospect has multiple regions, each with their own process and nuances. He has been reaching out to the regions, collecting information on their needs and pain points. The industry has been down so they need to grant more credit, and (most importantly).

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Tips Account Based Marketing ABM 120

ViewPoint

JUNE 2, 2016

Per Julie Schwartz, senior vice president, research and thought leadership at marketing research, consulting and training firm ITSMA : “It’s widely believed that 60% to 70% of the buying process is over before prospects want to engage with a salesperson. ITSMA’s data says that for high consideration technology solutions, this is a myth.

Lead Nurturing 120

Lead Nurturing Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 120

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

Is 60-70% of the buying process over before prospects want to engage with a salesperson? It’s essential to be able to inform the sales team about: our reason for existence, the direction of the company and why it’s the correct course, what we sell and why we sell it, which markets to pursue, the competitive landscape and the pricing model.".

Lead Ranking 149

Lead Ranking Demand Generation Agencies Account Based Marketing Paid Search Agency 149

ViewPoint

MAY 21, 2015

On Tuesday, May 12, 2015, I had the pleasure of hosting Linda Richardson on PowerViews LIVE for an informative discussion on Changing the Sales Conversation: How to More Effectively Sell in Today’s Hyper-digital World. They must be all the more knowledgeable and skilled to convince the buyer of the value they can add to the buying process.

Conversion 120

Conversion Buying Cycle Forrester Consulting 120

ViewPoint

JUNE 18, 2013

An inquiry is a name with some information (title, phone number, email, company name), but little else. A genuine sales lead has qualifying information. The value of inquiries is initially judged by the amount of BANT information they contain. Those with qualification information (BANT) can be sent to Sales immediately.

Sales Leads 120

Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

AUGUST 18, 2015

Proper alignment is the result of a documented, effective, efficient and measurable process for capturing, engaging, nurturing, managing and converting leads into customers. Unfortunately, few B2B organizations focus on creating, implementing and executing a defined marketing and sales process. Did you hit your sales goals?

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Top of Funnel Leads 120

ViewPoint

JANUARY 22, 2016

Trish Bertuzzi – The Bridge Group: 2016 is the year we will modify our sales process to truly reflect how our buyers want to buy. No more making them “earn” the right to information. Smart company leaders will look for ways to remove the process, technology and fluff that keep their company from growing.

Top of Funnel 149

Top of Funnel Work Management PointClear B2B Thought Leadership 149

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 5, 2018

20,000 companies with multiple contacts and verified technical environment information in the right verticals (no email addresses). Pain, Priority, Process, Environment. Uncovering the decision process is necessary before you can say this target’s a lead. So, we’ve talked about what isn’t a lead, now let’s delve in to what is.

Sales Qualified Leads 136

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 136

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

It's a sales AND marketing strategy supported by a process managed by people and enabled by technology. As with other technologies, automating a bad process just leads to more bad results. It may be that contact information and marketing intelligence OR leads come before revenue. You don’t have control over quantity and quality.

Account Based Marketing 120

Account Based Marketing Lead Generation ABM Lead Scoring 120

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

57 – 90% of the buying process is complete before a sales rep needs to get involved. Today we will take on the second of the three lies: 57 – 90% of the buying process is complete before a sales rep needs to get involved. Here are their comments: Dave Brock: “The customer is wherever they are in their buying process.

B2B Thought Leadership 120

B2B Thought Leadership Cold Calling Thought Leadership Business 120

ViewPoint

APRIL 11, 2018

However, it is important to come to an informed conclusion about all targets to help us determine how marketing and sales resources are prioritized in future contact cycles. We continually test the timing, the number and the type of touches so that we can optimize the process. As always, we invite your comments.

PointClear 136

PointClear Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 136

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 27, 2016

Laws include important elements such as an agreed upon lead definition, hand-off processes, metrics, and reporting. This led to informal agreements with sales reps to accept almost all leads with little inspection in order to keep the business development rep focused on spending more time on the sales rep’s territory.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead Marketing Automation Services Act-On 120

ViewPoint

MARCH 7, 2018

If you’re a regular follower of this blog, you know that we have a rigorous hiring process—I maintain that the quality of our people is key to our ability to deliver high quality leads that sales will follow up on. Learn to mirror the other person’s information and emotions by paraphrasing key points.

PointClear 159

PointClear B2B Thought Leadership Lead Qualification Thought Leadership 159

ViewPoint

MAY 28, 2015

I’ve broken down the information into a 3-part blog series—with each part addressing one of three critical steps you must take to set your lead generation program up for success: Part I: Executive sponsorship and periodic reinforcement. (For For example: Sales process information, updated client lists, active opportunities, messaging, etc.)

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation PointClear Generation Leads 120

ViewPoint

MAY 1, 2013

Embedded analytics can make marketing more efficient by providing timely new insights with previously unknown information about how your leads perform once they enter the sales pipeline as opportunities. These analytics can provide critical information on volume and velocity trending from your pipeline at each stage in the sales cycle.

Efficiency 120

Efficiency Analytics Work Management Marketing Management 120

ViewPoint

JULY 16, 2013

They discovered that 42% of IT Decision-Makers found it extremely or very challenging to find trusted information. Their main concern was how vendor bias would impact the information quality. Most leads from inbound marketing provide basic demographic information on forms to download or access content. Environment documented.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead Budget Programs 120

ViewPoint

JUNE 2, 2015

While it’s ultimately the vendor’s responsibility to execute the program, clients—whether they realize it or not—also play an integral role in the process. When we engage with a client we begin with a discovery process. provide us with unfiltered and unconsolidated information in response to our discovery questions.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation Generation Work Management Leads 120

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 9, 2016

57 – 90% of the buying process is complete before a sales rep needs to get involved. The ability to get quick access to information means that it’s possible – more than ever before – to find out information about buyers that eliminates the “cold” from the call. Cold calling is dead. Marketing and sales are aligned.

Cold Calling 120

Cold Calling Ideal Customer Profiles Business B2B 120

ViewPoint

MAY 24, 2016

Has the decision process and timeframe been uncovered and documented? I tell them that they need a whole lot more information than that (decision makers and influencer data and business issue, compelling event and a sense of urgency) to call a lead sales-ready and worth sales’ time to pursue. Have all contacts been engaged?

Sales Qualified Leads 174

Sales Qualified Leads Cost Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads 174

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

In addition, prospect databases usually lack critical opportunity information including the following: Current "pain" or challenges at the company. Correct decision making team and buying process. This process would also call for the probable decision to eliminate the bottom two segments of the list.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Database Marketing Budget Programs 120

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 23, 2018

Because the chances are pretty low—probably 3% to 4% at best—that any of these names are bonafide opportunities if you are a B2B company with a complex sales process. Let’s start by talking about agile processes. They won’t get followed up. Sales won’t spend the time it takes to cull through 100 so-called leads for 3 to 4 good ones.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Forecasting PointClear Enterprise Management 120

ViewPoint

MARCH 24, 2015

Mike’s passion is backed up with information that is clear, direct and concise. You’ll walk away informed and, dare I say, inspired. They claim that buyers are 70% of the way through the buying process before engaging a salesperson. No riddles, no secret codes—no puzzles to complicate matters. He is spot on.

Peer-to-peer 120

Peer-to-peer Work Management Tips Inbound Marketing 120

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Chatter essentially provides a private social network that promotes collaboration, connects people quickly and accelerates information sourcing and sharing. In a sense, Kenandy and PointClear function in similar ways to move strategic business processes out to more efficient and cost-effective resources.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation PointClear Sales Qualified Leads Generation 120

ViewPoint

APRIL 25, 2011

PC: Ardath, you’ve written a lot about the importance of using lead nurturing to engage leads across the entirety of the buying process. Yet B2B marketers seem to be more focused on lead generation than the rest of the process. If marketing is only focused on the first, they’re leaving the bulk of the process to sales.

Lead Gen 120

Lead Gen Emarketing Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 31, 2013

Twitter is more of a running conversation, where people relax and divulge more personal information. Lori agreed that if marketing does have a process and they feel they’ve qualified a lead through that process, but sales doesn’t follow up, then yes, someone else should look at it and see what the issue is.

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Cross-Selling Best Practices 120

ViewPoint

JANUARY 19, 2012

Many of the best sales opportunities turn out to be those that have been contacted five or six times using a lead management process that includes voicemails, emails and direct mailings over a period of months before a conversation finally occurs. He is also creative and informative. This step alone can take weeks or months.

Sales Leads 120

Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads B2B Sales Leads 120

ViewPoint

AUGUST 29, 2011

Jim Dickie is the Managing Partner with CSO Insights ; a research firm that specializes in benchmarking how companies are leveraging people, process, and technology to optimize the way they market to, sell to, and service customers. Formalize Lead Scoring: Only 29% of the firms surveyed have implemented a formal lead scoring process.

Acquisitions 120

Acquisitions Allocation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

APRIL 4, 2013

Social media helps sellers develop a professional persona on a number of ubiquitous communications platforms and disseminate information about their company’s products and services. He lists 12 solid tactics for reenergizing the cold calling process.' Cold Call, revisited: Best practices for getting in the door.

Cold Calling 120

Cold Calling B2B Sales PointClear Work Management 120