Understand your sales lead requirements. This one is crucial, because if you don’t understand how many sales leads you need, you can’t properly support the sales organization and your company’s revenue objectives.  If you want to learn how to do this, read our article, How Many Sales Leads Do You Need. Tune or replace your sales model. The objective of the sales model is to produce the maximum amount of new customers and revenue at the lowest cost. If you are in direct sales mode, perhaps you should consider incorporating a channel program. MORE >>

I use the word “perception” because it is the marketplace’s perception of who you are that gets you invited to the sales dance, and not your actual competitive differentiation. You get invited to more sales engagements and face few, if any, competitors. I recently attended an excellent presentation by David Avrin, who is known as the Visibility Coach and author of It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You. Like other first-class marketers, Avrin understands that marketing is way more effective when you have established yourself as a branded authority.  endoscopic brain surgery).  MORE >>

Is your marketing and sales model fully optimized?  First ask the big question: Is the sales model your company is using the most effective at generating the most revenue at the least cost, or are you simply following the established path?  It may be time to look at a new sales model, perhaps incorporating channel, phone sales or the web.  And even if you are convinced that you have the best sales model, it can probably be streamlined.  Better to address the sales model now, instead of waiting until you are under pressure to produce results in Q1. MORE >>

Here are five of the most important: Improves sales close rates by 50% or more. Shortens the sales cycle by 20-40 percent. As I mentioned in that post, you can’t make the sale if you aren’t invited to the dance. Since pull marketing depends heavily on fresh content, you need to have one or more people in your organization dedicated to creating a steady stream of content (social media, web content, sales collateral). You have no doubt heard of the many benefits of pull marketing, also called inbound marketing. First, let’s briefly recap the benefits of pull marketing. MORE >>

In my former life as a software company marketing executive, and in my current life as a B2B marketing consultant, I have used database marketing techniques to dramatically increase lead flow, lower the cost per inquiry, and improve sales close rates. This means making sure that you send plenty of non-sales information that is aimed at helping your prospects do their jobs better, and less of the sales-pitch variety. 'I’ve been practicing the B2B marketing thing since the late 1980s, when the term “database marketing” first started being mentioned. MORE >>