3.    Align with your sales team. 4.    Identify your sales & marketing funnel. You need to be there to provide them with what they are looking for at each phase in the sales process. Sales should only contact “ready” prospects. Desire for marketing accountability: Marketing needs a way to contribute to and be accountable to Sales’ bottom line. Sales cycles are longer in a down economy: Lead nurturing engages interested prospects and helps pull them closer to a sales conversation, ultimately handing them off to a sales rep to engage in a conversation. MORE >>

One of the hardest things for us marketers to admit is that we all work in Sales. All those MBAs make us think we’re so smart that we sometimes lose sight of the simple fact that marketing is ALL about Sales.  That’s why I’m so glad to see my friends Gerhard and Larrisa Gschwandtner over at the Sales 2.0 Conference talking more and more about “Sales AND Marketing 2.0”.  Ever since I wrote the first Sales 2.0 for Dummies book and founded the Sales 2.0 Now for something practical: what does Sales 2.0 marketer, come on down with me.  Tweet This! MORE >>

Last week I gave my 5 tips for bootstrapping sales and marketing for small businesses. Regardless of the fact that you will be “pounding the pavement&# , you will need to keep a record of your prospective customer interactions and sales pipeline from those interactions. Regardless of the tool you choose, having a customer database in place is the foundation of your sales and marketing machine. Tip #5:  Use your web site to figure out your sales strategy. The fundamental question you need to answer in bootstrapping your sales and marketing is….do MORE >>

One of the hardest questions I get all the time from friends and colleagues starting a small business is “how do I get started with my sales and marketing?”  and “should I hire sales people?”. And since each business is unique there isn’t a one-size fits all answer, but there are tips for bootstrapping your Sales and Marketing for a small business. Tip #5:  Use your web site to figure out your sales strategy. As you develop and update your web site, you will be able to figure out whether you need additional Sales people to finalize the sale of your products.  MORE >>

freemium based or volume operations model requires a different sales strategy and therefore a shift in mind-set in the employee base. Successful volumes based models require automated or self service systems so that you aren’t straining your sales teams on smaller deal conversions. Last week, author and tech fan, Tom Taulli of Forbes posted “ Should Your Company Go Freemium ” , a summary of discussions we have had on the topic. The exercise allowed us to look at the results in a different light and offered new information that was unexpected. 1) Is your culture ready? MORE >>