2009 November «

Archive for November, 2009

Lead nurturing — critical but poorly understood

Published November 28, 2009 Lead Nurturing Leave a Comment

I had the opportunity to be interviewed two times last week. Both of these interviewers want to speak with me about lead nurturing.

What’s lead nurturing? It’s process of sharing compelling and interesting information that builds trust with target clients, regardless of their timing to buy.

One of my favorite questions was this: Is lead nurturing hard to do? My answer surprised the interviewer.

“Yes and No.”

As Brian Halligan of HubSpot stated so well, companies compete on width of brain today, and not width of wallet.

Lead nurturing takes little money, but a lot of research, thinking, testing and tuning.

Last week we also created a short video to share the upcoming events for Insiders. (This is my first attempt to put a video in a blog post. Sure hope it works.)

Jeff Ogden is the President of Find New Customers, “Lead Generation Made Simple” He’s also known as the Fearless Competitor. The author of the highly acclaimed white paper entitle How to Find New Customers, he’s also the co-author of Prospect-Driven Marketing with Arthur Germain of Communication Strategy Group. He can be reached at jogden at findnewcustomers.net.

6 Marketing Tips from the Fearless Competitor

The world of today is so different from the world most of us grew up in. So let’s share 6 key tips to growing your business in this tough economy. And I’ll also share a great quote from Brian Halligan CEO of Hubspot

“Today businesses compete on share of brain, and not share of wallet.”

It does not take money. It takes brains.

Tip 1: Become a publisher.

More than ever, you need to publish remarkable content, using blogs, podcasts, video, webinars, speaking, ebooks, and news releases. Remarkable content is not about you or your company, but rather content that people find so interesting that they remark to each other about it. (thanks to Seth Godin for that term). Write a blog and update it frequently. I also invite you to visit our partner companies, Avitage and Communication Strategy Group, who specialize in content marketing strategies.

Tip 2: Promote your remarkable content

The Internet makes it easy. Twitter, FaceBook, Linkedin, StumbleUpon, FriendFeed. You need to be out there. And as Brian Halligan said, links that come from people sharing your remarkable content are permanent. So if you get 5 links a week, that’s 20 a month and 240 a year. It becomes a flywheel.

Tip 3: Get the consumer of your content to do something

Think about what you want the consumer to do. Offer something of value, like a phone consultation. Click through to read and learn more. Make it easy to do. Put it above the fold, so it’s easy to find and to take action.

Tip 4: Unleash the hounds

Networking is work. Doing it all yourself is a mistake. Let everyone write a blog or post to Twitter. Set a basic rule “Don’t be stupid.” But by using your whole team, you can generate vastly more links and content, speeding up your flywheel.

Tip 5: Measure and Refine

Your new marketing will need continual refinement and tuning. So you need to measure your results. To learn how HubSpot measures results, watch the CEO’s Guide to Internet Marketing webinar with Brian Halligan.

Tip 6: Create a new Marketing team

The traditional marketing process is broken, so we need a new model. Content is important, so put someone in charge. Calls to action. Partners. Customers Insights. Evangelist. Those are a few of the roles in the new marketing paradigm.

Jeff Ogden is President of Find New Customers LLC. “Lead Generation made simple” He’s also author of the highly acclaimed demand generation white paper, How to Find New Customers and the co-author of Prospect-Driven Marketing. Find New Customers specializes in helping businesses implement marketing programs to find and acquire new customers. Companies need sales leads, so they turn to lead generation companies like Find New Customers. Services including universal lead definition, target account definition, value proposition, lead nurturing, lead scoring, appointment setting and more.

Published November 19, 2009 Demand Generation Leave a Comment

New and slightly campy video introduction to Find New Customers. Hope you enjoy it. http://bit.ly/4aLcAQ

The similarities between 9/11 military response and business

Published November 14, 2009 CEO Action Items , Demand Generation , Easy lead generation , Fearless Competitor , Lead Nurturing , Management best practices , Sales knowledge , lead generation , marketing campaigns , marketing sales , sales leadership , sales leadership selecting salespeople , sales process Leave a Comment

In his new book The Lies They Told, author John Farmer explains how years after the Cold War ended, the government was set up to fight the Russian threat.

Three F-16′s were scrambled to form a combat air patrol over Washington, but the radio quality was so poor, the pilots had no idea why the Pentagon was burning. They scanned the horizon for evidence of a cruise missile that had sneaked by. But they saw no planes.

Norad, with its antiquated radar systems, could not see large areas of the Continental United States. Both Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and VP Dick Chaney insisted they had been ready to shoot down any planes targeting the White House, but in reality, no planes were in place to intercept them.

The only decisive reaction taken on 9/11 came not from the military, but from the courageous passengers who stormed the cockpit of United Flight 93, leading the hijackers to crash the plane before it could hit its intended target in Washington.

What’s the point and what does it have in common with business?

Just like any large organization, most business suffer from a lack of agility. They grew up in pre-Internet days. Their view of the world is the one that existed in the world of Prodigy and America Online and before — just like the Cold War. Without a 9/11 or Pearl Harbor event, most of them will realize it too late.

With that kind of world-view, companies resort to sales and marketing techniques that worked in that world-view.

Hiring “Rolodexes” — salespeople who know people — and firing them after 6 months
Blasting out product info
Touting their company and products on their website
Engaging in ‘naked cold calling’ with no content marketing strategy

Their limited world-view means they are unable to see what works today:

Creating a great website based on client needs
Developing and using a content management approach
Having a clear target market
Nurturing leads regardless of their timing to buy

If any of my readers would like a road-map to this new world, I invite you to download the highly acclaimed white paper, How to Find New Customers. You can also get a good education for free by visiting the Education tab at Find New Customers.

For companies looking for simple lead generation in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go.

CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads through great marketing campaigns and implement processes for business to business lead generation.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create marketing campaigns for their lead generation campaigns. He also publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.

How to Find New Customers turns Green and embraces social networking

Published November 13, 2009 Demand Generation , Easy lead generation , Lead Nurturing , Simple lead generation , lead generation Leave a Comment

As most of you know, How to Find New Customers is the highly acclaimed white paper sponsored by Marketo. It was written early in 2009 with the help of someone whom I respect deeply, Jill Konrath of Selling to Big Companies and founder of the Sales SheBang for women sales executives.

I’m happy to report that How to Find New Customers has new life. It’s green and embraces social networks.

What do we mean? I hope you’ll choose to read this 40+ page document on your laptop or computer, saving the trees. But even more, let’s say you really fall in love with this document (and I really hope you do), you can click the Retweet button at the bottom of any page to share your comments with your Twitter followers.

It’s new. It’s GREEN. It’s Twitter friendly.

It’s the simple guide to revenue enhancement for your business.

We make lead generation simple.

For companies looking for simple lead generation in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go.

CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads through great marketing campaigns and implement processes for business to business lead generation.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create marketing campaigns for their lead generation campaigns. He also publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.

Find New Customers can certainly help your company dramatically improve lead generation for your sales folks. Paul Dunay, Avaya and Buzz marketing for Technology

Marketo’s secret sauce for lead generation

Published November 11, 2009 Demand Generation , Lead Nurturing , inbound marketing , lead generation , marketing campaigns Leave a Comment

As you probably know, Marketo is the sponsor of How to Find New Customers. They are my business partner. And they are one of the fastest-growing companies in the USA. How did they do it?

I highly recommend you watch Jon Miller, their VP of Marketing share the Marketo Secret Sauce for Lead Generation. It’s not a sales pitch, but rather a detailed and fascinating explanation of how Marketo does lead generation.

Everyone in marketing or sales should see this.

For companies looking for marketing campaigns in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads through great marketing campaigns and implement processes for business to business lead generation.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create marketing campaigns for their lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.

Steps for creating a true lead nurturing program

Published November 9, 2009 Lead Nurturing Leave a Comment

This great post on lead nurturing appeared on Brian Carroll’s B2B Lead Generation blog. I’m a big fan of Brian’s content, so I wish to share it with my readers too. You can read the original post by clicking on True Lead Nurturing.

Sometimes in an attempt to vamp up lead nurturing efforts, misguided and well-meaning organizations simply start sending out more emails. When email is misused in this manner, companies are really just training prospects to ignore or delete their messages.

See What IS and ISN’T Lead Nurturing

If your organization lacks a well-defined process for nurturing early-stage leads and building relationships before the buying process, you are missing out on opportunities. True lead nurturing involves creating and maintaining relevant and consistent dialog with viable potential customers – regardless of their timing to buy. Your content should help you become a resource to prospects.

A true lead nurturing program will always include:

A relationship building mindset
A multi-modal approach
The human touch continue a relevant dialog and make appropriate offers based on behavior and engagement.
Lead nurturing automation tools that will support, personalization, lower volume and ad hoc delivery while tracking all touch points such as phone, email, online efforts and personal contact.

The measurement of nurturing results such as:

Depths of contacts in sphere of influence
Contacts that “opt-in” for nurturing
Contacts that become “sales ready” leads

This can seem like a complicated ordeal. It’s easy to see why organizations get overwhelmed by the time and planning required for developing an effective program, so I’ve broken down the process into eight steps.

Define the Ideal Customer Profile: Make sure you are nurturing relationships with the right people and organizations.
Define the Universal Lead Definition: Higher standards on qualifying inquiries to actual leads positively impacts conversion with lead to pipeline and lead to sale.
Lead qualification: Marketers have a tendency to require too much information from their inquiries at the first touch in an effort to qualify someone right away. The process can be broken down into steps that balance out the process.
Understand and Capture Audience: You need to understand who’s involved in the buying process so you can build a database based on your prospect’s role. The goal isn’t to build the biggest database, but to build one that is going to be most relevant.
Message Development: Message mapping is a great way for organizations to tie in what they are selling with what the buyer’s key issues are.
Build Lead Nurturing Library: Gather content that you can use to set yourself and your company up as thought leaders.
Develop Lead Nurturing Tracks: Map out tactics for sharing your content. Remember to start out slow and build your program slowly.
Executing Multi-Modal Lead Nurturing: Track all touch points (email, web, phone, social media etc.)

If you want to learn about these steps, check out my upcoming webinar “8 Steps to Optimizing Your Lead Nurturing Program,” on Tuesday, November 10. I’ll outline some simple “how-tos” for applying them and present two partner case studies that show how effective lead nurturing programs can grow your opportunities in sales pipeline.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create marketing campaigns for their lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.

Great new book on how small companies can sell to big companies

Published November 7, 2009 Demand Generation , Lead Nurturing , Sales knowledge , lead generation , marketing campaigns , marketing funnel , marketing sales , sales challenges , sales leadership , sales process , tough selling situation Leave a Comment

Recently I was invited to do an Internet Radio called The SalesBuzz. Not only was my show a huge hit, but I met a bunch of great sales experts at The Brooks Group. Very, very sharp and savvy people.

You can check out my hit show by clicking The Importance of Lead Nurturing.

The folks at The Brooks Group invited me to review their new book, Playing Bigger than You Are, by William T. Brooks and William P. G. Brooks. Just finished reading it and want to share my thoughts with my readers.

Playing Bigger Than You Are book At first look, this book seemed similar to my all-time favorite book by my all-time favorite lady (wife excepted) — Jill Konrath and her highly regarded and best-selling book, Selling to Big Companies. (Hint: That book better be in your collection. If not, click on it and buy it today.) But after reading it, I can say that this book belongs in your collection of the best sales books ever written.

These men have written a cogent and clear “how-to” manual on how even the smallest company can target and win in big companies. They explain how it can transform a business and even the advantages enjoyed by small firms.

One of my personal favorite chapters in “How Corporations Buy.” One thing Find New Customers advises all of its client is to gain a deep understanding of ideal customers.

What makes them tick?
What concerns them?
What are their challenges?
How do they find solutions to business challenges?
Whom do they trust?
What language do they use?

The bottom line is that, for most businesses, a deep understanding of these questions will enable them to become vastly more effective in marketing and sales.

In sum, buy this book, buy Jill’s book, and read both cover to cover. And when you find time to browse, head over to Find New Customers, where we believe in Lead Generation Made Simple. We’ll welcome you with open arms.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create marketing campaigns for their lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.

How to Write Proposals, Sales Letters and Reports

Published November 5, 2009 Demand Generation Leave a Comment

I’d like to alert my readers to a book coming out on November 10th. Very important topic by a great author.

We’re in a tough economic climate. Successful proposals and sales letters can be the difference between maintaining and building a business or seeing it decline.

For those who find business writing intimidating, and many of us do, this book helps remove that fear by providing a step-by-step process that’s user-friendly, clear and concise.

For those who want to improve their ability to come up with compelling proposals and sales letters, this book provides great tools and concepts to do just that.

I’ve read this book. In my opinion it’s a great opportunity for anyone to improve their business writing easily and effectively and help build their business.

Reviewers love this book

A “superb, easy-to-use guidebook recommended for business writers of all skill and experience levels.” The Midwest Book Review

“The book was very helpful in eliminating the fear of having to write/create a proposal.”Clearvision Media

“This extremely easy-to-use guidebook is a class of its own… Keeping one in the bookshelf is probably one of the smartest writing moves one can make.”BookReviewClub.com Rating: 5 Extremely Recommended

Neil Sawers has over 30 years experience as a corporate writer. He is the author of the best seller “Ten Steps To Help You Write Better Essays & Term Papers” for high school and college students. Neil’s goal? Make the writing process easier for as many entrepreneurs, business people and students as possible.

On Tuesday November 10, for one day only, Neil makes this very special offer. Buy How to Write Proposals, Sales Letters & Reports today for $10.37 (Save $6.58 off retail $16.95).

Buy it for yourself, your business, your non-profit, and recommend it to anyone you know who’s challenged or intimidated with business writing. They’ll thank you.

Learn More

For companies looking for marketing campaigns in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads through great marketing campaigns and implement processes for business to business lead generation.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create marketing campaigns for their lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.

My toast to bad sales leaders

Published November 3, 2009 Funny , sales leadership Leave a Comment

sales coaching cartoon

I have to thank Eric Blumthal of Count5 for this very humorous portrayal of the typical sales management. You’ll find more at Funny Sales Cartoons.

Their idea of sales “leadership” is simply flogging the troops. In my long career, I’ve worked for many of these. And I once worked for a very large software firm whose sole focus was “purchase order acquisition.” Unhappy customer? Not your problem. Go sell.

On the other hand, good sales leaders ask questions. My personal favorite is “What do you need from me to make your numbers? How can I help you.”