Sales Engine

AUGUST 25, 2016

In this webinar clinic, Presenter Mike Vannoy, Co-Founder and COO of Sales Engine Media will diagnose three of the most common mistakes that B2B companies make in their content strategy that results in lost opportunities.

Webinar Metrics 120

Webinar Metrics Conversion Content B2B Sales 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. While we were pleased with the lead generation effort, the sales resulting from those leads were disappointingly low. Only $22,000—ouch!) Not good.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Cost per Lead 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

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. After several months, we were able to track a significant uptick in the number of SALs (or Sales Qualified Leads) we got on a monthly basis.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead Conversion Paid Search Agency 120

Sales Engine

NOVEMBER 12, 2015

If you’ve been prospecting for sales recently, you may have noticed some differences in our culture—most importantly the fact that disruptive marketing and sales is out. The Internet is crushing a sales rep’s ability to get in front of prospects. So what is a sales rep to do? That means cold calls.

Cold Calling 120

Cold Calling Allocation Youtube Internet Marketing 120

Sales Engine

MARCH 31, 2016

But (and this is an important caveat) marketing software alone will not deliver enough sales-ready leads. If you do this right, the sales will be inbound. This turns out to be a real challenge for digital marketers. It’s the only way to effectively monitor and nurture each lead through the complex B2B buying journey.

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

MAY 19, 2016

In the context of digital marketing and demand generation, lead intelligence is the sales rep’s ability to predict high probability pain points that a prospect may have before trying to establish contact so that they may have a more fruitful consultative conversation. How can sales use lead intelligence used to get in front of prospects?

Sales Qualified Leads 159

Sales Qualified Leads B2B Marketing Webinar Metrics Marketing & Strategy 159

Sales Engine

AUGUST 2, 2017

Most marketing and sales leaders in the business-to-business world know that nurturing leads is important. The reason: it’s essential to maintain a digital connection with buyers who want to learn about a business pain, product, or service—but who are not yet interested in talking to a sales person.

Lead Ranking 168

Lead Ranking Case Studies Case Study Marketing Qualified Leads 168

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! But, a 90-day sales cycle means a lead generated by Marketing in Q4 '17 likely won't close until Q1 '18. Let's do the math. Permalink.

Planning 179

Planning Sales Cycle Sales Qualified Leads Paid Search Agency 179

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

JUNE 20, 2016

Most marketing and sales leaders in the business-to-business world know that nurturing leads is essential to maintain a digital connection with buyers who want to learn about a business pain, product, or service—but who are not yet interested in talking to a sales person. But can the sales impact of nurturing be quantified?

Lead Ranking 174

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring 174

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. Nurture, nurture, nurture.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Buy 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

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? 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

JANUARY 11, 2017

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. The result is that sales is frustrated because they don’t have as much control as they used to. We call this a “sales accepted lead” or “SAL.”)

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. Not necessarily.

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! But, a 90-day sales cycle means a lead generated by Marketing in Q4 '17 likely won't close until Q1 '18. Let's do the math. Permalink.

Planning 120

Planning Sales Cycle Sales Qualified Leads Paid Search Agency 120

Sales Engine

AUGUST 24, 2015

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. Content is how you take back control of the sales process. More Relevant Posts from Sales Engine: What's Your Strategy for Content Development?

Demand Generation Agencies 120

Demand Generation Agencies RFP Thought Leadership 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. Meanwhile, your business leaders still expect you to increase sales.

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. Meanwhile, your business leaders still expect you to increase sales.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Conversion Marketing Automation Services Sales Qualified Leads 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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

AUGUST 20, 2015

Because the sales process has become more consultative in nature, storytelling is important to communicate your message. It’s a primary driver around why we at Sales Engine Media use video interviews to capture information from experts as a large part of our content development process with clients.

Storytelling 120

Storytelling Work Management Acquisitions Marketing Management 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

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

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Search engines have a vested interest in helping you find exactly what you’re looking for—and people aren’t looking for sales pitches. Besides, you’re not ready to hear an overt sales pitch—you’re simply trying to get a handle on the nature of the problem and see how others have solved the same issue. Let's Go to The Zoo!

SEO 120

SEO Content Keywords Opinions 120

Sales Engine

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

And back then, sales people could book appointments based on that name recognition. Be in constant contact with sales. Many companies make the mistake of developing content like it’s just another marketing campaign. But campaign-driven approaches worked when the goal of marketing was branding and awareness.

Content 120

Content Thought Leadership Custom Publishing Segmentation 120