The Upside Down World of Lead Generation
Sales leads are the mainstay of any business. There isn’t a B2B sales manager alive who hasn’t said that he/she doesn’t have enough qualified leads, either for his troops in the field or the inside sales force.
Until recently sales leads were generated by buying “lists” and sending out letters, holding “meet and greet” events in local areas, exhibiting at trade shows, placing bingo cards in trade publications and advertising. In 2010 that has all changed.
Below is a representation of what was and what is happening today:
| Was Marketing Activity | 2010 Marketing Activity |
| Glossy Brochure | Web Site |
| Product literature – Literature leave behinds | Web Site |
| Direct Mail – Letter | |
| Reference Accounts | Case studies on the web site |
| Meet and greets | Webinars and Podcasts |
| Trade Shows | Web user groups, Communities |
| Bingo Cards | Contact us page on web site |
| Adverstising – Print | Minimal print, increased Google and Facebook |
| Key Message (still important) | Key words for SEO |
| On location Demos, written tutorials | YouTube postings, Podcasts, BrainShark postings |
| Free trial – Approved by management | “Freemium” downloaded from the web site |
| Competitive analysis/research – 4/5 presentations by competitors | Web site reviews – choice narrowed to 2-3 |
| Reputation of your company – Salesperson, network | Monitoring/searching twitter, blogs, YouTube |
| Tracking – Verbal communication with sales | SalesForce.com |
Lists are still being bought, but they can be purchased in much more granular fashion for targeted campaigns. Leads generated from Google and Facebook ads, Webinars and other “opt-in” tools are much more valuable as they are already self-selected, perhaps better leads those generated at “meet and greets,” as no food or drink is involved.
This change puts an emphasis on having a top-tier web site, easily navigable, with literature and “freemiums,” that can be easily downloaded,or information/tutorials that can be found on places like YouTube or BrainShark. Buyers today are going to the web, your site and other areas, searching based on key words, evaluating companies based on what they find, selecting the 2-3 that are well presented and inviting them in for a final presentation. In some cases they know more about the technical aspects of the product than the salesperson.
Have you looked at your allocation of Marketing dollars for 2010? Do they correspond to today’s environment? Are you using an obsolete marketing mix to reach your target market(s)?
RHM 3/5/2010
Great chart. I cannot wait to fire it out to some of the dinosaurs in my industry.
Bob,
Great chart and oh so true.
Kathy
Nice post and I think its safe to say that no matter what industry you are in, success or failure mainly depends on the quantity and quality of your leads. Everyone reading this should see the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, and if you’ve already seen it then watch it again! A.B.C Always Be Closing!
you article its really good you described small things in deeply good work thanks for sharing your knowledge.
A thoughtful insight and ideas I will use on my website. You’ve obviously spent some time on this. Thank you!
It sounds like you’re creating problems yourself by trying to solve this issue instead of looking at why their is a problem in the first place.
Your blog is most definately worthy of a bookmark, thank you
Do you do all your own writing? Or do you outsource some of it? I’m looking for some similar content for my blog! These are great posts!
Have you had a good experience with this?
i am looking for an in-depth tutorial about lead generation, can anyone post links ?**-
A thoughtful insight and ideas I will use on my website. You’ve obviously spent some time on this. Congratulations!
actually, lead generation takes some to time to build up. you just got to be patient.,;”
It is some good points made here, also I think offline and online brandmark no longer need to be apart in your merchandising projects. Blend all your merchandising attempts to make a full experience that adds supreme value for your customers.
lead generation is the key to becoming a very successful internet marketer*”‘