It is that time of the year again when we all set our goals for next year. We pour over this year’s numbers looking for the trends, the openings for growth, where we fell short and so on. We drive a flag into 2011 and declare success or stick a fork in it and say it is done. Many of the wins were in our control and many of the losses were well out of our control. Or, that is the story we peddle to ourselves. All we know is that next year needs to be better. We need more. We want success. The nagging question placed at our feet is defining success. 

“I have chosen the path less traveled when it comes to defining success.” Read the rest of this entry »

Lauren Carlson, CRM Market Analyst over at Marketing Automation Software Guide, shared a post and video link that I think clearly outlined and clarified some of the confusion around lead management and demand generation. As a provider of Lead Management Software, we see it all of the time.

Lauren shared that “demand generation” and “lead management” are two terms that are well known but are often times confused and thought to be the same thing. Lauren posted a great two-part whiteboard session with Carlos Hidalgo, CEO of Annuitas Group and Executive Director of the Marketing Automation Institute.

In the video, Carlos defines both terms and explains how companies should view them not as separate entities, but a dual proposition. I like the simple but elegant explanation Carlos gives.

I encourage you to take a look.  Vist Lauren’s Blog here to watch the video.

Best,

Ken

Have you ever stood behind your outbound sales people and really paid attention after they complete a sales call? It can be quite the learning experience. Whether they are the high-paid closers or the entry level prospectors, many, if not most, will kill quite a bit of time before saddling up and making the next call. As a sales manager or business owner, this loss of productivity can be the difference between OK performance or harnessing a high-powered sales team. Read the rest of this entry »

 Not so many years ago, we would click on a few icons, wait for a report to generate, review the report and feel pretty good about the control and speed we had over our data, salespeople and results. Well friends, in a world of instant gratification, reports seem like yesterday’s news. Today, we want live streaming stats, and we demand that our sales software provides them.

If your Lead Management, Telemarketing, Prospecting or Inside Sales Software can’t tell you instantly and at a glance exactly what is going on with your leads Read the rest of this entry »

I was chatting with my good friend Dan McDade over at PointClear about how some businesses select not to outsource their sales lead generation and prospect development even when they are struggling with it internally and missing their sales goals.  It got me really thinking about how I see the value proposition of when to outsource and when to go at it alone. 

 If I may be so bold as to paraphrase a line from Master Card, here is what I have to say about outsourcing in general: “Building your own internal campaigns for lead gen and doing a decent job without losing focus on your core business- fair enough. Pulling the trigger and letting the big dogs run while you focus on your core competencies and winning the day on both sides of the ball- priceless.” Read the rest of this entry »

I must admit, when I heard Steve died, I think I was like many people. We were somewhat expecting it, and not necessarily shocked by the news. Like many of you, I watched the coverage and it made me reflect on the many contributions Steve and Apple have made in terms of form, design and marketing. But, with all of the coverage, I did not necessarily feel that connected to the event. Or, at least not until I read the following Facebook post the next morning. It read:

“Game changer to Electronics

Life changer for the Future

We will miss the man that lets us

do what seemed out of our grasp”

  Read the rest of this entry »

I get quite a few questions about the value of auto dialing and whether or not it can really increase the productivity of a sales person who works by phone. Most managers who have never tried a form of auto dialing are skeptical, and they should be. There are so many amazing claims in the market built around dialing that it makes it hard to get to the truth. I have seen wild claims: 400% increases promised, triple your sales, never go 10 seconds without a live conversation and so on. Most are just that: claims.  But before we throw out the baby with the bath water, let’s take a look at reasonable claims. Read the rest of this entry »

VanillaSoft remains the leading software platform driving phone sales. Thank goodness right? If we had listened to the pundits we would have pulled the plug years ago. Selling by phone is dead they yelled. We heard it all. No one uses the phone anymore;  people can’t be reached. If you reach them they do not want to be bothered. Read the rest of this entry »

August of last year I posed the question: “Can Twitter really be a lead source?” That original post follows these revised comments. Give it a read afterwards and see how things change. Back then we were new to Twitter, experts at driving inbound traffic, but somewhat suspicious of all of the Twitter hype. To remain relevant, we dove in and gave it the old college try. I think, at the time of the post, we had around 1000 followers.  Read the rest of this entry »

If you get caught up in the blogosphere or read all of the marketing hype around inbound marketing, you may find yourself hard pressed to hear the reasonable voices of sanity.  New companies have burst (OK-exploded) on to the scene, promoting all things inbound marketing.  “GET FOUND!” they  scream.  Some seem to suggest that people need to take a back seat to technology.  Actual sales people need not apply.  If I get one more e-mail suggesting I read this blog or article and it says; “Powered by” whoever the flavor of the day is, I will just… Read the rest of this entry »