There’s a lot to like about the email campaign I received (image below) recently from Infusionsoft , a maker of sales and marketing automation software for small businesses. It would be better phrased as something like: “How to capture, nurture, and convert leads more efficiently, with or without sales follow-up”. It’s not perfect by any stretch (the copy could use some improvement – more on that later) but many of the techniques on display are simple, straightforward best practices you can easily apply to your next lead generation campaign. Make the offer look like an offer. MORE >>

In an ideal world, all B2B sales leads would be pre-qualified and ready to buy. And though recent studies suggest that a large chunk of the sales cycle may already be over by the time many prospects talk to a live salesperson, the reality is that inbound sales leads will always occupy a wide spectrum of sales readiness: tire-kickers, hot leads, and everyone in between. Lastly, because the campaigns weed out all but those prospects in active-purchase mode, it leaves the sales pipeline empty once those deals have been either closed or eliminated. MORE >>

In a phone call this week I was swapping war stories with a well-known sales and marketing consultant, who, like us, works with B2B companies to improve their return on marketing automation. In the case of our agency , though we still get our fair share of calls from companies who find themselves saddled with what amounts to an expensive email broadcast system, a growing percentage of our engagements are with companies who have yet to even purchase the software. And that fact, I would propose, is a good sign for a maturing market. emphasis mine). No, not necessarily. MORE >>

Fewer companies, however, can claim to have adapted their sales process as readily. Now as founder and principal consultant at TrellisOne Consulting , she helps B2B companies transform marketing practices, aligning them with business objectives in order to improve sales performance. The vendor sales person was the primary gateway to information the buyer needed to decide – a tremendously powerful position. The Internet and social media have triggered a turbulent change – the rich dialog has shifted on-line and away from the sales person. Fast forward to today. MORE >>

Throughout the conference there was plenty of cheerleading from our hosts on the topics of “revenue marketing,” “revenue performance management,” “revenue cycle management,” “sales and marketing alignment” and other similarly lofty phrases aimed at casting marketing automation as the tool to convert us marketers from what one speaker amusingly referred to as “arts and craft people” to vital corporate contributors accountable for incremental revenue. For one, I can report that no companies are coming to our firm asking us to help them align sales and marketing. Email? Really?). MORE >>