Many of us will remember when we used to process raw Excel lists, handing over hundreds of names with job titles and companies to our sales department, only to find that leads weren’t being followed up on. Recent advances in marketing automation and sales CRM software have made it easier to streamline the whole process.

In fact, given the role of the Internet in today's complex purchasing process, it's almost impossible to operate in a customer-centric fashion without it. said they would “better prepare their organization by building proper processes and content offers to feed the automation system.” Technology is an enabler - and a great one.

Most recently, Marketo just announced their lead management solution. 4) “Pure play” lead management – this group is lead by Eloqua , but there are a LOT of firms throwing their hat into this ring including Vtrenz, Hubspot, Manticore, Market2Lead, Marketo, LoopFuse, einsof, iHance, Precience, among many others. Exciting times.

The main problems targeted are keeping the pipeline full of marketing-qualified leads and automating the process of nurturing demand not yet ready to buy. would put the lead management automation crop here: Eloqua, Loopfuse, Manticore Technologies, Market2Lead, Marketo, and Vtrenz. I’m sure I forgot a few. Among other stuff.

Marketing automation software vendor Marketo today announced the launch of its Marketo Lead Management 3.0 additional profile is requested as a prospect moves through an interactive process); Native integration with Salesforce.com ; Web visitor profiling; and Automated duplicate lead removal. software suite.

offering a white paper or promoting a Webinar) and the larger process of managing the flow of treatments. d already noticed that the simplicity-focused vendors ( Marketo , Infusionsoft , OfficeAutoPilot and, as of yesterday, Genius.com ) build their campaigns as a list of steps with no branching flows. But they hide it well.) Sorry.)

I’m going to diverge just slightly from my current obsession with usability to talk about a conversation I had today with Marketo President and CEO Phil Fernandez, who previewed the 3.0 Although I actually think that quite a few demand generation vendors share the Marketo philosophy, it’s still helpful to hear the distinction made clearly.

If it turns out once you drill into details that two are missing some small-but-critical feature, you have to either go with the one remaining or start the process again with another set of candidates. So, the bottom line is that you really do need to look at product details early in the selection process. Now you’re really in trouble.

My new obsession with Twitter (follow me as @draab) has led to several messages from people who seemed to have trouble choosing between Eloqua and Marketo. do recognize that they are the best known vendors in the space (with apologies to Vtrenz , whose identity is somewhat blurred since its purchase by Silverpop ). Just kidding.or

Software like Marketo , Manticore , Eloqua , Genoo , Genius , or VTrenz (to name a few). It will be an iterative process. Marketing Interactions Search The Blog About Contact Me Ardath Albee B2B Marketing Strategist Marketing Interactions phone: 612.865.7707 Me - On Twitter Twitter: ardath421 See how were connected Top Blog!