Sales Engine

AUGUST 13, 2015

Paul Rafferty, co-founder and CEO of Sales Engine Media, was a recent guest on the TechnologyAdvice Expert Interview Series. In this episode Paul went over modern marketing, lead generation, and how important storytelling is for the buyer's journey. The sales team used to go out and win the battles. They don't do that anymore.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Storytelling Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Many B2B marketing leaders have resisted Facebook and other social media platforms, believing that they can’t be successful in getting leads there. So the question is not whether we should use Facebook, it’s: How do we use it to actually get results for both content distribution and lead conversion? Well, that’s changed too.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation Facebook Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

Sales Engine

MAY 11, 2016

We all know that the buyer’s journey has changed—people are avoiding initial conversations with sales people and performing their own research online. As most B2B sales people can attest to, the problem is that prospects will most likely misdiagnose their own problems and prescribe themselves the wrong solutions.

Webinar Metrics 149

Webinar Metrics Sales Qualified Leads Demand Generation Agencies Marketing Automation Services 149

Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 5, 2016

Since it’s become more difficult for sales people to get in front of prospects, many B2B companies are relying heavily on content marketing to supply top-of-the-funnel leads that can be converted into closed business. In fact, the strongest close rates occurred when marketing accompanied the sales pursuit process.

Marketing Qualified Leads 120

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking MQL Top of Funnel 120

Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 5, 2016

Since it’s become more difficult for sales people to get in front of prospects, many B2B companies are relying heavily on content marketing to supply top-of-the-funnel leads that can be converted into closed business. In fact, the strongest close rates occurred when marketing accompanied the sales pursuit process.

Marketing Qualified Leads 120

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking MQL Top of Funnel 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 30, 2016

One of the biggest failure points in content marketing is not actually in marketing—It’s the handoff from marketing to sales. That’s because most sales and marketing organizations are not properly aligned. Does this sound familiar? If someone has downloaded your white paper, that simply means that they are interested in that topic.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Allocation Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking 120

Sales Engine

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

But how much of that exposure translated into leads and sales? But that’s just not enough—it has to translate into appointments with qualified prospects and sales conversations. Less is more if there are more qualified leads for salespeople to follow up on. Marketing works in tandem with sales on an ongoing basis.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead Conversion Paid Search Agency 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 18, 2016

Specifically, are dollars best spent on sales or marketing? While we were pleased with the lead generation effort, the sales resulting from those leads were disappointingly low. So was it a quality of leads issue or a sales/opportunity conversion issue? One of our recent clients faced a similar question.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Cost per Lead 120

Sales Engine

JULY 29, 2016

You’ve seen the Internet decimate industries such as record labels, newspapers, and cable TV—and in case you haven’t noticed, it’s crushing the B2B sales rep’s ability to get in front of qualified prospects. (If Sales reps need leads, and it’s marketing’s job to get at least some of them—a majority would be nice.

Buyer Personas 120

Buyer Personas Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel Leads 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 5, 2016

You’ve seen the Internet decimate industries such as record labels, newspapers, and cable TV—and in case you haven’t noticed, it’s crushing the B2B sales rep’s ability to get in front of qualified prospects. (If Sales reps need leads, and it’s marketing’s job to get at least some of them—a majority would be nice.

Buyer Personas 120

Buyer Personas Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel Leads 120

Sales Engine

MARCH 31, 2016

These same brands are leading with product and brand rather than experience and utility.” By taking our customers out of context we’re only focusing on what we, the marketers, need, and we must do a better job at being contextual if we expect to generate qualified leads. If you do this right, the sales will be inbound.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Process B2B Marketing Automation Services 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 14, 2018

In the not-so-distant past, scaling a B2B company meant hiring more sales people that were responsible for all their own business development. For example, if you had one sales rep carrying a $1 Million quota, and it cost $200K in salary and commissions for that resource, adding an additional sales rep could double the business.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Paid Search Agency Content Marketing 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 1, 2016

Your Sales team will come into the office tomorrow morning and begin the Q4 push. If your company has a 90 day sales cycle, Marketing had better be focused on the 2017 plan October 1st 2016! That's 25 leads per quarter. But, a 90-day sales cycle means a lead generated by Marketing in Q4 '17 likely won't close until Q1 '18.

Planning 179

Planning Sales Cycle Sales Qualified Leads Paid Search Agency 179

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 27, 2015

What’s the right way to follow up on content to turn leads into sales conversations? Remember, people at the beginning of the sales process don’t want to talk to a salesperson — and they don’t have to anymore. This of course will vary in every organization depending on your overall sales process.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Buy 120

Sales Engine

JULY 7, 2016

In the not-so-distant past, scaling a B2B company meant hiring more sales people that were responsible for all their own business development. For example, if you had one sales rep carrying a $1 Million quota, and it cost $200K in salary and commissions for that resource, adding an additional sales rep could double the business.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Paid Search Agency Content Marketing 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 11, 2017

As a marketing leader, have you been tasked with building a demand generation program designed to funnel leads to salespeople? For most B2B companies with a complex, relationship based selling process, a demand generation program that provides actionable sales intelligence is one of the best options at their disposal.

Demand Generation Agencies 136

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Budget Programs Demand 136

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 2, 2015

On October 1, the sales team began Q4 and the pressure is high as reps try to make club and hit accelerators while organizations try to hit revenue goals. If the sales team has a cycle time of 90 days from opportunity create date to close, then they'd better be getting leads from marketing TODAY to impact Q1 of 2016.

B2B Sales 120

B2B Sales Paper Fulfillment B2B Marketing 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 1, 2016

Your Sales team will come into the office tomorrow morning and begin the Q4 push. If your company has a 90 day sales cycle, Marketing had better be focused on the 2017 plan October 1st 2016! That's 25 leads per quarter. But, a 90-day sales cycle means a lead generated by Marketing in Q4 '17 likely won't close until Q1 '18.

Planning 120

Planning Sales Cycle Sales Qualified Leads Paid Search Agency 120

Sales Engine

JULY 13, 2016

Ah, the sales funnel. As a marketer, you’re no doubt familiar with this ubiquitous image: contacts fall into the top and by some kind of magic become leads, then qualified leads, then sales-ready leads, and eventually, (you hope) closed sales. Define your sales funnel. Now you can create the content.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Conversion Marketing Automation Services Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

JULY 13, 2016

Ah, the sales funnel. As a marketer, you’re no doubt familiar with this ubiquitous image: contacts fall into the top and by some kind of magic become leads, then qualified leads, then sales-ready leads, and eventually, (you hope) closed sales. Define your sales funnel. Now you can create the content.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Conversion Marketing Automation Services Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 7, 2016

How many car dealerships have had to change their sales approach because people are more informed about what the car should cost before they ever take a test drive? So how can you use content to generate more leads at the top of the funnel? The Internet has crushed a sales rep’s ability to get in front of enough prospects.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Features B2B Thought Leadership Digital Marketing Funnels 120

Sales Engine

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

If you’ve been in the sales game for a while, you’ve probably noticed some differences in both the ways that customers are buying and the ways that sales cycles have become less and less predictable. The sales rep could easily fill their calendar with appointments leveraging off of that branding.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Thought Leadership Demand Generation Agencies 120

Sales Engine

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Savvy B2B marketers are recognizing the limits of today’s email marketing and web analytics applications for generating qualified sales leads and are switching to a demand generation solution to ensure a continuous stream of qualified leads.

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies Marketing Budget Demand Generation Demand 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 22, 2016

We’re uniquely positioned because of our diversity in product offerings, but we compete with large firms that have more resources available to their marketing and sales team. Once the rebrand of the website was complete, First Rate implemented their content strategy in conjunction with Sales Engine and experienced immediate positive results.

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Generation 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 22, 2016

We’re uniquely positioned because of our diversity in product offerings, but we compete with large firms that have more resources available to their marketing and sales team. Once the rebrand of the website was complete, First Rate implemented their content strategy in conjunction with Sales Engine and experienced immediate positive results.

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies Demand Generation Demand Generation 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 7, 2016

But if the function of content is to generate and nurture your leads through your sales funnel, how do you create content that is good enough to comply with the demands of your sales team? The creator gains increased brand awareness and (ideally) action on behalf of the consumer that will lead to a sales conversation.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Content Demand Generation Agencies Barriers 120

Sales Engine

JANUARY 25, 2016

Most of us remember a day when sales reps used to be able to generate their own leads. It's not that buyers ever wanted to talk to sales reps, but it was the only way they could learn about best practices and solutions available in the market. So how do you go beyond lead generation to domination? The game has changed.

Enterprise Management 120

Enterprise Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 24, 2015

Where these goals are important, they place second and third to the ultimate goal of content marketing—to generate leads and increase revenue. Sales people wanted “air cover” - just a foot in the door so they could give their presentation. Then they would invite those vendors in and the sales cycles would begin.

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies RFP Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency 120

Sales Engine

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

It’s all about driving revenue , and to do that effectively, our marketing efforts much create actionable sales intelligence. They won’t help your sales people meet quota. They won’t help you track where your prospects entered into the sales cycle and became customers. Sales can’t control this whole process anymore.

Content Marketing 120

Content Marketing Cold Calling Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Today the Sales team begins Q4 and the pressure is high as reps try to make club and hit accelerators while organizations try to hit revenue goals. If the sales team has a cycle time of 90 days from opportunity create date to close, then they'd better be getting leads from marketing TODAY to impact Q1 of 2016.

Paid Search Agency 120

Paid Search Agency B2B Sales Organic Leads Marketing 120

Sales Engine

JUNE 13, 2016

To create a productive and sustainable content operation, the sales and marketing departments must be on board. The sales process was not developed overnight; content won’t be either. You’re trying to overhaul your marketing strategy to catch up with trends, be more competitive, and make more sales.

Allocation 120

Allocation Content Demand Generation Agencies Work Management 120

Sales Engine

MARCH 28, 2016

Many companies have focused on increasing their inbound traffic for new leads to combat tighter spam regulations and more concentrated email filters. But increasing web traffic without a thorough conversion strategy is just branding and awareness— that won’t supply enough leads to salespeople to hit your revenue growth targets.

Marketing & Strategy 120

Marketing & Strategy A/B testing Broadcasting Content 120

Sales Engine

OCTOBER 16, 2015

B2B content marketing today is really about generating leads for sales by replacing the one-to-one conversations that salespeople used to be able to get more predictably. You can’t edit the crap out of everything they produce, shifting their tone and injecting your “sales speak.” Go back and review point number 1.

Content Marketing 120

Content Marketing Lead Ranking Content Marketing & Strategy 120

Sales Engine

DECEMBER 21, 2015

In the B2B space, the number-one goal of most content marketers is to generate leads for their sales team. The message we should take away from Redbull is that, even when it comes to B2B lead generation , content marketing is not an event or a campaign. Do you see it? The focus needs to be on the buyer and not YOU.

Budget Programs 120

Budget Programs Work Management Marketing Management Allocation 120

Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Since the days of buying lists and blasting them sales messages are mostly gone, creating experience through content is becoming more necessary than ever before. But if you’re not in a position to be constantly talking to prospects as a marketer, your sales people are the next best thing.

Acquisitions 149

Acquisitions Webinar Metrics Marketing & Strategy Marketing Automation Services 149

Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

So if you’re serious about using content marketing to gain exposure and generate leads, you’re going to have to do less of the “me too” content in favor of exploiting niches with real thought leadership. And back then, sales people could book appointments based on that name recognition. Be in constant contact with sales.

Content 120

Content Thought Leadership Custom Publishing Segmentation 120

Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

So if you’re serious about using content marketing to gain exposure and generate leads, you’re going to have to do less of the “me too” content in favor of exploiting niches with real thought leadership. And back then, sales people could book appointments based on that name recognition. Be in constant contact with sales.

Content 120

Content Thought Leadership Custom Publishing Segmentation 120