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

 The Sales Lead Management Association has launched a cartoon series focused on lead management.  VanillaSoft got the opportunity to sponsor the first cartoon and we jumped on it.  Sometimes, a cartoon can capture in a single frame what bloggers and experts try to share with thousands of words.  The first cartoon really got me thinking; is a bigger box the answer?  Read the rest of this entry »

It’s OK to admit it.  You have been holding off on empowering your Inside Sales effort with the latest and greatest software offerings.  Sure, they all look sexy and do some really cool things, but at the end of the day do they really get you the lift you need to justify the cost?  Do they make up for the effort of changing and pain of the sad good-bye to your existing platform, or dare I say, your paper and pencil Read the rest of this entry »

Often times, many things get lumped into the bucket of CRM.  For the purpose of this post, let’s define CRM in its most traditional sense: customer relationship management that gives managers great reporting on all of the customer touch points, links all of the departments together and gives amazing high level reporting.   Without question, CRM has changed the way we do business, deepened our understanding of customer relationships and dazzled us with reporting.  But, has it made us more productive? Read the rest of this entry »

OK, I want to get right out in front of this one; there is nothing worse than having a sales person call me as a consumer or as a business owner and read from what the company has determined to be the holy grail of scripts.  Well, perhaps there is one worse thing… having a sales person call without a clue of how to convey his or her point, the value of the call, or ability to discern any of my pain points as it relates to his or her product.   Give me the guy with the script.  At the very least I will be able to follow his side of the call. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever watched an inside salesperson from a distance, trying to figure out who they should dial next in the absence of a defined strategy?  It can actually prove to be entertaining.  Often, they will stare at the record as if through osmosis they can discern the possible outcome.  If they are running old-school, it is the shuffling of the cards or lead sheets that is the giveaway.  In a manual environment, it is easy to spot a lack of strategy; with automation and the rep sitting in front of a screen, it is much harder to discern.  As managers, we often convince ourselves that if we have “automated,” or have CRM, that we have taken a step towards having a strategy.  That simply is not the case. Read the rest of this entry »