Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Techniques For Lead Management Success - Part 4

Simple code on your web pages help you track prospects both anonymous and known. This helps tell you who is interested in your products. As anonymous prospects complete forms on your website or landing pages, any previous website visits can be automatically attributed to the new lead.

This is important to determine sales readiness of new leads since you'll know the entire history of the relationship with the prospect -- including which campaign helped them find you in the first place.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Techniques For Lead Management Success - Part 3

Since your prospect is in control of the buying process, you need to make sure you are monitoring their online activities to know when they are ready to move to the next stage.  Lead scoring determines where your buyer is in the funnel. Lead scoring should consider the prospects' interest level defined by their actions.
 
For example, track email clicks, ebook downloads, web page visits, etc., and update scores accordingly. Also, be sure to score assets differently depending on where they are in the funnel. You might score a pricing page much more than an entry level ebook.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Techniques For Lead Management Success - Part 2

Image result for sales lead management images
Even when you've worked with sales  to determine when a lead is ready to be contacted, there will be instances where sales has concluded that certain leads are not quite ready to engage, or sales has not followed up with these leads. 
 
To avoid these leads from falling into a black hole, you can implement lead recycling practices to make sure that you have a follow-up plan in place.  You should create a process based on two scenarios:
 
     Leads will be automatically recycled based on a set of predetermined criteria.
 
     Leads will be manually recycled by sales if they are not deemed ready.
 
Once leads get sent back to marketing, you can base sales re-engagement on a business rule, such as a lead scoring change, or sales can use its knowledge of the leads' buying interest to indicate a time-frame in which the lead should be re-engaged.
 
Next blog: Tip #3 - Score leads using implicit behavioral data.
 
 

Monday, July 13, 2015

Techniques For Lead Management Success - Part 1

Image result for sales lead management images
Lead management is the ability to capture, respond and manage incoming leads.  Unfortunately, many marketers don't employ clearly defined lead management practices.  And when they don't have processes in place, they risk decreased ROI, a leaky sales funnel, and poor relationships with leads and customers. 
 
But done right, lead management creates more educated prospects to help you better understand their
needs, and ultimately means more revenue.  So how do you do it?
 
Tip #1 - Work Directly With Sales To Determine When A Lead Is Ready
 
In order to properly create a solid lead scoring framework, work with your sales team to build criteria that determines the steps prospects should take before they are ready for a sales call.  Remember, that this needs to be agreed upon by both sales and marketing to be effective.  All leads do NOT fit into the same timeframe with the buying cycle.
 
Criteria should include:
 
     DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: Geographic location. company size, etc.
 
     LEAD SOURCE INFORMATION: Print ad, search engine, social, offer, trade show, etc.
 
     BEHAVORIAL INFORMATION: Web page visits, ebook download, webinar attendance, etc.

Next blog: Tip #2 - Make Sure To Implement Lead Recycling Practices
 
 
     

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Start The Presses

 
What should you focus on with your marketing program?  Digital or print?
 
The popularity of digital advertising and digital venues such as social media have grown and with it, marketing dollars allocated to digital. With the worldwide increase in web usage it has increased the internet's role in education and informing B2B customers prior to making intelligent buying decisions.
 
Of course, there are many benefits to digital advertising.  It's less costly per impression, and response is readily measured. When you live in such a digitally driven world, it's hard to avoid thinking "print is dead."
 
However, according to the 2015 Media Usage Survey just published by Gardner Business Media, Inc., 86 percent of manufacturing technology buyers prefer reading magazines to get new product and process information.  Furthermore, 93 percent of industrial buyers report that they are more likely to select search results from companies and sources they already know or recognize. 
 
So, as B2B marketers hurtle into the digital marketing space, there's only one thing they leave
behind -- their customers.
 
In the race to out-innovate fellow competitors, B2B companies can sometimes go too far, too fast.  With so much hype around the exciting things happening in the digital ad space, it's easy to forget that B2B magazines haven't  lost their power.  Yet, some advantages of print follow:
 
  • Print has staying power. Influential trade magazines have a following.  Digital messages disappear in the blink of an eye.
  • You can't catch a virus form print.  Enough said.
  • Print is powerful for branding.  Because it's static, a print ad can boost your brand by featuring bold graphics and unique brand imagery that stays in the mind of the reader.
  • Print is engaging.  Customers and prospects are more engaged when reading print material, unlike websites, which are often skimmed in as little as a 15 second visit.  In addition, print gives you room to communicate.  A print ad is able to better communicate the complexities of a technical product or more involved sales message
If you dismiss print as a dying medium, when so many of your customers and prospects still value it, you will likely leave a host of opportunities for  competitors who invest where most are looking.
 

MY OBJECTIVE:

To share common sense lessons learned with 40-plus years experience in marketing, sales and as a B2B publisher.

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