This goes for the customer service manager, the sales manager or any other executive whose department has some stake in the results of the marketing program. These suggestions may not be simple to implement, but they seem well worth the effort and will pay off in generating more leads, quickly moving those leads to being sales-ready and eliminating lost sales by doing too little, too late. I love my clients. But sometimes I am frustrated by how long it takes from the beginning of the creation of a marketing program to its final implementation. MORE >>

Numbers such as click-thrus, cost-per-lead, cost-per-sale and ROI dominate the landscape of marketing discussions. The reason nurturing leads is critical in maximizing sales: 45% of new leads generated will buy from someone in the industry category within 12 months. Everyone — except perhaps the creative folks in advertising agencies — knows that marketing is a numbers game. like numbers. So, it makes sense to share my 5 favorite numbers to help other marketers experience the confidence and the joy that numbers bring to the strategic process. didn’t devise these numbers. MORE >>

It came from Christine Durkin of MockVideo when she commented on a LinkedIn discussion asking “Is there a silver bullet answer to shortening the technology B2B sales cycle?&#. Her comment was “One of the main reasons a B2B sale is lost is that the prospect isn’t truly aware of the cost of doing nothing.&#. Providing a calculator or quantitative numbers on what it’s costing a prospect to NOT make a decision tells a powerful story that could close a sale. In an earlier post, I talked about what motivates business buyers to buy. 2.    To save money. MORE >>

B2B marketing insight — from “sales&# no less. Colleague Casey Hibbard’s specialty is case studies. All of us in B2B marketing agree that case studies are a critical element in our success. But Casey’s July Stories that Sell Tip of the Month email revealed a very interesting story about the use and focus of case studies that is worth passing along. On a [.] is a post from: B2BMarketingSmarts MORE >>

It is NOT the product manager’s job to insist that B2B marketing messages be jammed with a list of features in the mistaken belief that doing so is all it takes to generate sales. Barrier #3: Sales Manager. As nicely defined by Rob Halvorsen , a contributing writer for Sales Careers Online , “Typically, sales managers direct a company’s sales program. They assign sales territories, set goals, and establish training programs for their sales representatives. Barrier #1: CEO. Barrier #2: Product Manager. MORE >>