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B2B Lead Generation Articles on salesforce
- What is lead nurturing?
The Innovative Marketer | Nov 21, 2010 | Permalink
Salesforce.com’s big Dreamforce conference is over. The keynotes have been distilled down to talking points for the media. The hangovers from the after parties have been dealt with. The Black Crowes have flown away, the hangovers from the after parties...
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- Salesforce 101: a cautionary tale on successfully implementing a CRM
Inside Sales Tips Blog | Nov 21, 2010 | Permalink
Salesforce.com is a CRM database tool that's become the standard for many companies' inside sales teams, and I've seen it used many times when I coach team members during my inside sales training courses. It's powerful, but like most robust tools, it needs to be tweaked for the characteristics of the team using it, based on use cases. Generally, I encourage my clients to either have a dedicated Saleforce.com expert on staff, or utilize a consultant to assist in making the best use of the CRM. One of my blog correspondents is going nuts over how her company has implemented Salesforce, and she's made a very cogent, if impassioned, statement about how it's not working as well as it should at her company. What triggered her correspondence to me was the ongoing discussion on the blog based ...
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- Turn Web Analytics Into B2B Web Analytics - Final Week of the Summer Webinar ...
Demandbase | Sep 24, 2010 | Permalink
The series concludes on Tuesday 9/28 with Adam Greco, Senior Director of Web Analytics and Insight at Salesforce.com. Adam manages all aspects of web analytics for various Salesforce.com websites, was previously one of the leaders of the Omniture Consulting team, is the author of the popular Omni Man Blog, and is one fo the hosts of the BeyondWebAnalytics podcast. In a nutshell, he knows analytics and he knows CRM. Who better to speak about how they can work together?
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- B2B Social Media and the Upside Down Funnel
B2B Sales & Marketing Knowledge Sharing | Sep 08, 2010 | Permalink
In my post on 6 Steps to Getting Control of Social Media, I mentioned the concept of an “upside-down funnel�. I thought I’d spend some time explaining it in this post. As with most new technologies, social media is starting to “settle in� and common applications of the platforms are becoming known. In many large B2B organizations, that means social media is finding a home in the marketing communications group, often landing in PR. That seems fine for B2C organizations, however, I’m convinced that it’s the right spot, and/or the only spot for social media in B2B companies. The Upside Down FunnelIn most B2B organizations corporate marketing’s role is related to driving “top-of-the-funnel� activities. From advertising, PR, and now social media, the focus is on c...
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- Cloud Computing - Vaporware?
B2B Sales & Marketing Knowledge Sharing | Sep 08, 2010 | Permalink
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- 9 Principles of Building a Sales Machine
Build A Sales Machine | Mar 02, 2010 | Permalink
I love getting and answering questions, as it helps shape my thoughts into useful forms to share. Here's a recent answer I posted on ExpertCEO (a private online community for CEOs), to a question that was along the lines of..."Do you have any advice for a company with a strong services practice that has sold mostly through partners in the past, but who is now looking to build their own Sales Machine? Any advice would much appreciated."That's a pretty broad question, so here's a broad answer. principles I feel would help anyone get going in the right direction:1) Be PATIENT. Developing a sales engine that predictably generates revenue can take 12-24+ months, depending on the state of your company. Even any one new program in b2b sales can take 3-6 months to be defined, show measure...
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- DataSalad: "Fresh B2B Marketing Data"
Build A Sales Machine | Mar 02, 2010 | Permalink
Last year, Brian Mackley of Tech Advocacy and I started a business called DataSalad, to offer marketing lists based around the user and customer lists of vendors (such as lists of salesforce.com or NetSuite customers).We created DataSalad because we were sick of all the "junky" lists and data sources out there. DataSalad creates databases of contacts and companies through primary data-gathering and research, and guarantees them. Like organic food, which costs a little more but is worth it, we build quality lists, not quantity lists, that deliver more bang for your buck.So many companies now want to sell add-ons to platforms (again, like salesforce.com or NetSuite), but can't find decent customer lists. DataSalad helps solve that issue: want a list of salesforce.com customers? ...
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- Marketo's Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing
Build A Sales Machine | Mar 02, 2010 | Permalink
(Want expert help - based off of salesforce.com's $1 billion best practices - in building your B2B Sales Machine? See Build Your Sales Machine)I'm a big fan of Marketo, mostly because of the people there like Jon Miller, Kelly Abner and now Maria Pergolino. Marketo's application and the team's knowledge and practical experience around demand generation and lead nurturing is A+!So when they shared their new "Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing" with me, I knew it'd be something worth sharing with you, dear readers :) Below is an excerpt from their post about it, and get the full post and guide here.And now...Marketo's Definitive Guide To Lead NurturingInformative and practical, The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing offers useful, qualitative insight from today’s marketing thought le...
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- The Problems with "Lumping"; Separate the Four Core Sales Functions
Build A Sales Machine | Mar 01, 2010 | Permalink
This post builds off a prior one, “We have a different sales structure here, the sales people just sell!� Building a highly productive, modern sales organization requires increasing specialization - and frankly, it's a big reason salesforce.com has such an amazing sales organization. Though they take it to the extremes - you wouldn't believe the number of different kinds of sales groups, inside and out, that salesforce.com has :) One of the biggest sources of lost productivity is the practice of lumping a mix of different responsibilities (such as raw web lead qualification, cold prospecting, closing, account management...) into one general "sales" role. Issues contributed to by lumping Lack of focus: Salespeople juggle too many responsibilities, reducing their ability to get things...
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- What is lead nurturing?
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Lead Generation Topics
. Companies should be actively pursuing strategies and tactics to retain, expand, grow and then leverage customer accounts to win business. </div><div class='MsoNormal'>This is where I think the “sweetspot� is for social media in B2B. Here’s why: social media is about “consumers selling to consumers�, or “professional-to-professional.� If a company does its job of nurturing and retaining customers, it should be able to transition from having a relatively unknown prospect, to a known customer, to hopefully, a well-understood customer advocate…at least that’s the goal. </div><div class='MsoNormal'><b style=''>The Opportunity<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class='MsoNormal'/><div class='MsoNormal'><a href='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sTe-XmR7Luc/S-QvQO9mCkI/AAAAAAAAAa4/9jaPej_KzmM/s1600/Slide2.jpg' style='clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'><img src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sTe-XmR7Luc/S-QvQO9mCkI/AAAAAAAAAa4/9jaPej_KzmM/s320/Slide2.jpg' border='0'/></a>If a company enables those customer advocates with social media it gives them a platform to spread the good word. The potential of this opportunity is huge, and for the most part, being missed at most companies today. </div><div class='MsoNormal'>As we all know, word of mouth is the most effective marketing there is, enabling it with technology creates scale, and the ability to track it. </div><div class='MsoNormal'>To do this successfully, companies have to first identify this opportunity within their organization; second, they have to change their current way of thinking about social media beyond its present use in marcomm and PR. </div><div class='MsoNormal'>It means finding uses and opportunities within sales and customer service. Yes, listening to customers chat about your service on Twitter is important, but I’m talking about creative ways to use it for: 1) customer-to-<a href='http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/customer-service-acquisition/turn-customers-into-your-sales-force.aspx#Turncustomersintoyoursalesforce'>customer referrals</a>, 2) c<a href='http://www.communityspark.com/'>ommunity building</a>, and 3) facilitating <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Users%27_group'>user groups.</a> The goal is to find ways to emotional connect avid customers to the company and/or products, and then provide them with an outlet to communicate that passion. </div><div class='MsoNormal' style=''><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-weight: bold;'>What to Do</span></div><div class='MsoNormal'><o:p></o:p></div><div class='MsoNormal'><a href='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sTe-XmR7Luc/S-Qu51AwThI/AAAAAAAAAaw/VboU19Uq0OI/s1600/Slide3.jpg' style='clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;'><img src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sTe-XmR7Luc/S-Qu51AwThI/AAAAAAAAAaw/VboU19Uq0OI/s400/Slide3.jpg' border='0' height='300' width='400'/></a>As relationships deepen, customers begin interacting in more personal channels. Through those interactions they are likely to share more intimate details about themselves, and their relationship with products/services and the company. Companies have to be able to collect this information across channels to create a complete profile of a customer. If this can be achieved, an organization will have everything it needs to begin enabling, influencing and studying cusomer advocates. <o:p></o:p></div><div class='MsoNormal'>Finally, watch out for the “silo� effect. Typically, at least three different organizations will be interacting with the customer as the relationship develops. But it’s only one customer interfacing with what the customer expects to be one company. The organization has to be “in sync� because the last thing a company wants is to provide a customer with a platform for communicating the wrong message. Turning an advocate into an adversary is not the goal. </div><div class='blogger-post-footer'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5066045252169973135-5981668969621658659?l=www.b2bknowledgesharing.com' height='1' alt='' width='1'/></div>)
</span><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'><span id='goog_239307100'/></span></a><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'>. </span></div><div class='MsoNormal'><br/><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'>These figures may entice you to conclude that this is a great opportunity for a salesforce to provide value in explaining the Cloud and define a company’s solution; a rare situation where the salesforce can be “solution sellers�. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case, according to a Forrester’s </span><b><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'><span id='goog_1083551803'/><a href='http://www.blogger.com/goog_439980908'>Technology Buyer Insight Study</a></span></b><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'><a href='http://www.blogger.com/goog_439980908'>: </a></span><i><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'><a href='http://bit.ly/9MXTlT'>Are Salespeople Prepared for Executive Conservations?</a></span></i></div><div class='MsoNormal'><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'><a href='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sTe-XmR7Luc/TBZcYchWEHI/AAAAAAAAAcQ/jIfRhYB1a5Y/s1600/Slide1.jpg' style='clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;'><img src='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sTe-XmR7Luc/TBZcYchWEHI/AAAAAAAAAcQ/jIfRhYB1a5Y/s320/Slide1.jpg' border='0'/></a></div><br/>IT executives interviewed for the April 19, 2010 study, only 15% of executives believe that their meetings with salespeople are valuable and live up to their expectations. </div><div class='MsoNormal'><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'>Reasons given according to the report:</span><br/><ul><li><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'>Business leaders (24%) don’t believe salespeople are knowledgeable about their specific business. </span></li><li><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'>Only 34% of buying executives said salespeople understand their roles and responsibilities. </span></li><li><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'>And across the board, only 38% feel that reps are prepared to answer their questions. </span></li></ul></div><div class='MsoListParagraphCxSpLast' style=''><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class='MsoNormal'><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'>Could this be a case of the blind leading the blind? Confusion around cloud computing even occurs at the highest levels of leading Information Technology conglomerates. One story accounts for the CEO of a large information technology firm asking his senior executives to explain cloud computing to him. When no one could convey a clear answer, the CEO fired back that if they can’t sell it to him, then their company cannot sell it to customers.</span></div><div class='MsoNormal'><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class='MsoNormal'><br/>There is no doubt that the Cloud is making as much noise as any good thunderstorm. Companies are reallocating resources and investments to the Cloud. Countless marketing dollars are being spent to get companies in the consideration set. As with any good technology trend the hype exceeds the reality. </div><div class='MsoNormal'><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'>The real challenge seems not to be marketing the Cloud, but rather selling it. Those companies who best enable their sales people to break through the noise will reap the greatest benefit. </span><span class='Apple-style-span' style='font-family: inherit;'/></div><div class='MsoNormal'><o:p></o:p></div><div class='blogger-post-footer'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5066045252169973135-8117007490934150062?l=www.b2bknowledgesharing.com' height='1' alt='' width='1'/></div>)
, to a question that was along the lines of...</span><span style='font-style: italic;'><br/><br/>"Do you have any advice for a company with a strong services practice that has sold mostly through partners in the past, but who is now looking to build their own Sales Machine? Any advice would much appreciated."</span><br/><br/>That's a pretty broad question, so here's a broad answer. principles I feel would help anyone get going in the right direction:<br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>1) Be PATIENT. </span>Developing a sales engine that predictably generates revenue can take 12-24+ months, depending on the state of your company. Even any one new program in b2b sales can take 3-6 months to be defined, show measured progress, and<span style='font-style: italic;'> become integrated & habitual (i.e. machine-like).</span><br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>2) Experiment</span>. With everything. Constantly.<br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>3) No one-offs! </span> (Unless it's an experiment to learn something for the future). It's not worth doing if it's not repeatable. One-off efforts, even for a quick payoff, are a distraction from focusing your energy on sustainable efforts.<br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>4) If it doesn't exist in your CRM system, it doesn't exist. </span> (Sales)people must be comp'd only off data in the CRM system. Reports must be run totally in salesforce.com/CRM, whenever possible. Etc.<span style='font-style: italic;'> [Update: thank you Ken Rudin of <span style='text-decoration: underline;'> </span><a href='http://www.lucidera.com/'/>for the comment below, I agree the data just needs to be in a system and accessible. I should have said here that reports must not be in Excel whenever possible!]</span><br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>5) Can you sketch out how things work on a flow chart? </span>Even simply, on paper or a whiteboard? If not, that's a problem. What's the desired outcome, and process that leads to that outcome? Is it being done ad-hoc today? Sketching it out is the first step to bringing some order to the process...and thus outcome.<br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>6) Focus on results rather than activity</span> (ex: number of qualified opportunities created per month is much more meaningful than number of sales calls made)<br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>7) Track fewer, more important metrics.</span> It's easy to go way overboard in building reports and dashboards. Work with your team to prioritize metrics. Think in handfuls, not dozens.<br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>8) Special attention on batons that cross functions. </span><span>Whenever a process crosses teams (marketing to sales, or sales to professional services, or...), a baton is passed, and you have all the ripest conditions for problems.<br/></span><span style='font-weight: bold;'><br/>9) Babysteps! </span><span>Consistently try lots of little improvements</span>. If you keep at them, they'll add up to big changes over time. (Remember the patience part?)<br/><br/><span style='font-weight: bold;'>Additional posts</span><br/>A few other blog posts that help illustrate the kind of thinking it takes to build a sales machine:<br/><ul><li><a href='http://www.buildasalesmachine.com/2007/01/joy-of-weekly-pipeline-metrics.html'>The Joy of Weekly Pipeline Metrics</a></li><li><a href='http://www.buildasalesmachine.com/2007/03/establishing-your-sales-waterfall.html'>Waterfall Metrics</a></li><li><a href='http://www.buildasalesmachine.com/2007/01/stop-measuring-calls-per-day.html'>Stop Measuring Calls Per Day</a></li><li><a href='http://www.buildasalesmachine.com/2008/09/problems-with-lumping-separate-four.html'>The Problems with "Lumping"; Separate the Four Core Sales Functions</a></li></ul><div class='blogger-post-footer'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/11038454-9125663142020992011?l=www.buildasalesmachine.com' height='1' alt='' width='1'/></div>)
