B2B Lead Blog

They’ve downloaded your whitepapers, attended your webinars, read your blogs. They’re actively engaged with your content, and their lead score is consistently climbing.

When your prospects are doing their research, make sure your sales team is doing the same if you want an immediate competitive advantage, advises Dan Kosch and Mark Shonka. Kosch and Shonka are authors of the business book, Beyond Selling Value, and co-presidents of IMPAX Corporation, a sales consulting company.

“The old adage, knowledge is power, has never been truer for sales professionals,” says Kosch. “Doing research on your prospect will set yourself apart from your competition.”

He proves his point with a study by SiriusDecisions and Ball State University’s HH Gregg Center for Professional Selling. It highlights outcomes from a survey of more than 150 top executives at companies with at least $150 million revenues:

• 82% of senior executives said they ”almost always” or ”frequently” experience sellers who are uninformed about the executive’s needs and the executive’s company.
• 71% almost always or frequently experience sellers who talk too much about the salesperson’s company and products and not enough about the potential customer.

“Fortunately, it’s never been easier to do the kind of research that gives you the inside information that impresses prospects,” says Shonka. “You just have to know where to look and whom to ask.”

Step #1: Use online resources to research your prospects

Shonka and Kosch advise beginning research with publicly available data sources:

• Analyst presentation and transcripts

“If we only had time to review one source of data, this would be it,” says Shonka.
They reveal the prospect’s goals, issues and challenges and how they plan to deal with them. Publicly held companies make analyst call information available through presentations and even call transcripts which are often available on their website.

• Annual, 10-K and quarterly reports that you can typically find under Investor Relations on websites, such as Pfizer financial reports

“You’ll learn a lot about your prospect’s objectives, strategies and issues,” says Kosch. “If nothing else, look at the CEO’s message in the annual report. It will give you a snapshot of where the organization has been, where it wants to go and what’s in the way.”

• Executive biographies

When you set the time to meet with an executive, ask the assistant to forward the executive’s biography if it isn’t readily available on the website’s leadership section.

“One of our clients did that and found out he shared an alma mater with one of the key decision makers,” says Kosch. “It enabled her to create an instant bond.”

• Search engines such as
  • Mool – dedicated to news; find out how your prospect is making headlines
    Samepoint – dedicated to social media. See what people are saying about the client
  • Pipl – focusing on people-specific Web searches
  • Sedar – focusing on Canadian companies
  • Guidestar - focusing strictly on nonprofits

Step #2: Want the inside scoop? Find a coach

Take research to the next level by conducting research meetings with “coaches.” Shonka and Kosch define coaches as people who are eager to give you inside information because if you win, they’ll win. Here’s where they say you can find them:

• Departments that will use your solution and departments related to the end users

“They’re eager to talk to someone about their needs and applications – entry-level management is the perfect place to find this person,” says Shonka. “They’re in tune with front-line solutions but can address broader company concerns. And, if they can’t, ask them to refer you to someone else who can.”

• Ex-employees

“Just keep in mind the circumstances surrounding their departure,” warns Kosch. “Retirees can make great coaches.”

• Your own company, and your personal and professional network

“Never overlook who may be in your own network; they may have worked with your prospect or sold to them or provided technical support,” points out Shonka.

“People are more eager to help than you think,” he continues. “Be gracious and let them know how important they are to you.  Initiate the conversation by asking them whether they could spend a few minutes with you to confirm information you’ve gathered and give you their perspective and insight.”

Step #3: Interview your coaches

Kosch and Shonka advise:

• Showing up with a folder containing the research you’ve already done, and reference it. Or, if you’re meeting over the phone, make it clear that you’ve done your research by citing specific sources.
• Preparing your questions beforehand. Make sure they are brief and open ended. Here are some examples:
  • What are your company’s top objectives for this year?
  • What are the most significant issues you and your company must deal with to achieve these objectives?
  • What strategies are in place to help address these issues?
  • How do you and your company measure success?
  • Being an active listener – lean forward, summarize answers.
  • Following up with a thank-you note.

Step #4: Come up against a roadblock? Go around it

If you’ve thoroughly researched the company, you’ll also know about other possible prospects in the company if you hit a roadblock with your first attempt.

“Of course, sometimes you may run across a gatekeeper who won’t let you speak to anyone else,” warns Shonka. While he recommends converting gatekeepers into coaches when at all possible, sometimes you can’t. Then it’s best to go around them to get to the decision maker. Shonka relates the story of a sales rep for a leading printing company.

He asked his purchasing contact if he could speak with the VP.

“Absolutely not! I’m the person you deal with,” the contact retorted.

The rep made the call anyway; the VP revealed a situation for which the sales rep’s company had a specific solution. The VP was impressed by the sales reps’ question and his immediate response to his need.

“In one meeting, that rep launched himself from a vendor to a business resource,” says Shonka.

And that’s really what executive-level prospects want in their sales professionals, if the Ball State/Sirius Decisions survey is any indication. It reports 93% of respondents said that it was important or very important for sales professionals to have “done their homework.”

After all, your prospects have done theirs.

Related Resources:

Shonka and Kosch’s Beyond Selling Value is up for grabs in the July 9 weekly MarketingSherpa Book Giveaway

B2B Sales Cycle: 4 steps to avoid the wasteful ‘no decision’

Marketing Strategy: 3 Steps to find the best tactics and results

Lead Nurturing: Market to personality and behavior, not job title

8 Questions to Steer Your Marketing Priorities

Beyond Selling Value by Mark Shonka and Dan Kosch

Books

Considering I’ve written a book about it, a lot of people view me as an expert in lead generation.

But here’s the reality: I’m still learning.

I really can’t afford to rest on what I know, even if most folks think I already know more than most. You see, the business world is changing so rapidly that to keep up, to remain relevant, to make sure I’m doing the best for my clients, my business, and my profession, I have to constantly study, read and observe.

And there’s no lack of experts out there to learn from. It seems like a new marketing or sales guru is born every minute.

But here’s the conundrum: it’s easy to hand out advice, but what about walking the talk? The frontlines of business are anything but textbook-perfect. In fact, too often they can get downright ugly, especially in today’s business environment. But the frontlines are where the real learning happens and that’s where what genuinely works, and what doesn’t, is revealed.

I feel fortunate to be a part of MECLABS, which has in our primary research group, MarketingSherpa, that is

constantly studying the frontlines of marketing and sales. I don’t think any other organization goes to their lengths to monitor what’s happening right now.

MarketingSherpa just published three reports that compile what they’ve learned this year from in-depth research of more than 1,000 B2B marketers, including nearly 300 CMOs. They reveal what these front-line professionals have done in the past few months that work, and what they’re doing that doesn’t.  After all, there’s powerful takeaways in both.

MarketingSherpa’s 2011 B2B Marketing Advanced Practices Handbook was just released this week. Here’s a free excerpt.

Links:
2011 B2B Marketing Advanced Practices Handbook
CMO Perspective on B2B Marketing Automation Report
CMO Perspectives on the Complex Sale Report

Books, Marketing Strategy

Over the holidays, I had some time to really dive into the LinkedIn B2B LeadGen Roundtable discussions. One started by Ann Thornley-Brown, President & CEO, Executive Oasis International, Toronto, caught my attention. She started the discussion in August, yet members continue to provide feedback.

Ann wanted to know how happy the group was with the lead generation results of their social media campaigns.  “Are your efforts on LinkedIn and Twitter paying off?” she queried. “How many leads have you generated? How many specific pieces of business have you picked up? I know a lot of bright people who are really active on these sites and very few are seeing results. How about you?”

Her question, and too many of her 30-plus responses, illustrated the disconnection between the expectations of marketers who are out on the frontlines every day and marketing gurus proclaiming the wonders of social media.  After all, if you Google  ”Top 10 B2B Trends in 2011” you’ll see social media listed on every one of them.

Then why, if Ann’s discussion is any indication, are so many marketers dissatisfied with the results they’re getting from it?

I took this question to Sergio Balegno, Director of Research for MECLABS, the parent company of InTouch. He authors MarketingSherpa’s Social Media & PR Benchmark Guides, is considered a foremost authority on social media strategy, is quoted by the media extensively and presents at institutions like Harvard.

He’s also been in marketing for more than three decades, well before the internet was even on the scene. This gives him some not-so-typical long-term perspective in a world that demands instant gratification.

If anyone could provide insight to why this is going on, it’s Sergio. Here’s his take:

Read more…

Books, Lead Generation, Sales, Social Media, Thought Leadership

The single biggest issue for B2B marketers is effective lead generation. I wrote an eight part series on building an effective lead generation program a while back. To help readers who missed the series, I pulled all the posts together in order.

In this series, you’ll read the following posts:

1: The Right Mindset: Conversations, not campaigns
2: Sales and Marketing – One Team
3: Develop and intensify your Ideal Customer Profile 
4: Clear and Universal Lead Definition
5: Treat your marketing database as a valued asset
6: A Multi-modal lead generation portfolio approach
7: Effective lead management
8: Lead nurturing for lead development

You may also find this ebook that connects with the series relevant.

Can you think of other critical success factors I’m missing?

B2B Telemarketing, Books, CRM, Current Affairs, Direct Marketing, Email Marketing, Event Marketing, Human Touch, Lead Generation, Lead Management, Lead Nurturing, Lead Qualification, Leadership, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations (PR), ROI Measurement, Sales, Sales Leads, Social Media, Thought Leadership, Web/Tech

The purpose of B2B marketing and lead generation is to help the sales team sell; however marketers can often get so wrapped up in driving campaign activity they seem to forget it’s about driving sales conversion and helping the sales team achieve better results.

Join me and Jeff Thull, author of Mastering the Complex Sale, Second Edition and President/CEO of Prime Resource Group, for a complimentary webinar where you’ll learn how to help sales:

• Establish relevancy, credibility and trust
• Receive executive sponsorship and privileged access to the organization
• Build and prove the financial case for your solution
• Ensure the solution is prominently on the executive’s dashboard
• Win more predictable and profitable sales

Watch recorded webinar on demand (no registration required)

Related post:
Going beyond the sales lead

Books, Current Affairs, Human Touch, Lead Generation, Lead Qualification, Marketing Strategy, Sales, Webcasts/Webinars

Rain Today, a great resource for those who market and sell services, selected their Best Books of the Decade for marketing and selling professional services. I was humbled to see that they picked my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale for their list.

They write, “Brian Carroll’s book is chock-full of information to help you identify ideal leads, align sales and marketing, build a strong pipeline, and effectively use lead-generation tactics.”

If you market or sell professional services or have a complex sale be sure to put these “best of the decade” on your reading list.

• Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath
• Guerilla Marketing for Consultants by Jay Conrad Levinson and Michael W. McLaughlin
• Writing White Papers by Michael Stelzner
• Winning the Professional Services Sale by Michael W. McLaughlin
• Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss
• Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff
• Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi 
• New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott
• Professional Services Marketing by Michael Schultz & John Doerr 
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• Rain Making: Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field by Ford Harding 
• Strategy and the Fat Smoker by David Maister 
• The Trusted Advisor by David Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford

RainToday: Best of the Decade: Marketing & Selling Professional Services, 2000-2009

Books, Personal Messages

A recent lead generation poll showed that converting leads to pipeline revenue (accelerating sales) was the biggest challenge for marketers.

What are we doing as sellers that keeps us from closing sales?

It’s a tough question, and it’s one that gets a lot of feathers ruffled. However, this is one question that Sharon Drew Morgen isn’t afraid to tackle. I spoke with Morgen recently to ask her about her take on the question and her new book Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it.

I wanted to speak with Morgen because I was intrigued with the advice she lends to help with B2B’s major dilemma: How can we successfully work with people from the time they express interest until they decide to buy? Basically: How do we convert leads to sales? Morgen has some great suggestions.

If you want to hear what Morgen had to say, listen to my interview “Why sellers don’t have the right tools to help buyers buy.” During this interview, Morgen discusses how she sold a “dead account” by simply applying her Buying Facilitation model to the situation. I think you’ll find Morgen’s insight helpful and her book more than a little tempting.

Listen to podcast now (21 minutes)

Read more…

Books, My Podcast, Podcasting, Sales, Sales Leads

I was somewhat shocked to find out that my 14-year-old daughter had searched YouTube recently for any mention of her dear old dad. She stumbled across a video that included a recent mention of my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. (Isn’t it just amazing how easy it is in today’s world for our children to get the goods on their parents? It’s something that my generation will never quite adjust to.) But, excuse me, I’m digressing.

The video turned out to be pretty interesting. It was produced by ASG Group, an European company that helps their clients improve their sales processes. The video features the company’s principal, John Gorman, making some really nice points about teleprospecting. Of course, I’m thrilled that he mentioned my book, but I was also happy to see that he really understands the philosophy we built InTouch around. 

I was impressed by Gorman’s first observation: He says that while sales activity seems to be up for a lot of folks, he has to wonder if it’s just because they are cold calling more people. His concern is that this old fashioned cold calling isn’t a part of a systematic, sophisticated approach to sales.

His point is that we need to start thinking like our buyers.

Read more…

Books, Cold Calling, Lead Generation

So, you’ve put a lot of effort into your lead generation process, and you have a great lead in your hand. Now, what can you do to improve your probability of making a profitable sale from it?

Michael McLaughlin, addresses this issue in his new book, “Winning the Professional Services Sale.” And, it’s the subtitle that got my attention: “Unconventional Strategies to Reach More Clients, Land Profitable Work, and Maintain Your Sanity.”

What I really like about Michael is that he gets the marketing perspective as well as the sales process. And I had the opportunity to interview Michael recently to discuss his new book. Michael’s new book focuses on ways to make the most of those meetings and appointments in order to improve your chances of making a profitable sale.

During this interview, Michael and I discuss:

• Why we need to do a better job of preparing for that first meeting with prospects. We’re spending too much time prepping the wrong kind of presentations and focusing too much on the company and its background.
• How we can conduct a masterful client interview that will help build enduring client relationships. We’re not prepping right for the analytical part of the interview.
• When to walk away from a lead. We’re not always using our time and resources wisely.

Listen to podcast now (14 minutes)

Books, Lead Generation, Lead Management, My Podcast, Sales

I wanted to pass along a great new resource for any company looking to grow revenue or expand. The book is Professional Services Marketing, and you know it’s good stuff because it’s written by Mike Schultz and John Doerr, the co-founders of Wellesley Hills Group and publishers of RainToday.com. I really like that this book is based on the science of how clients buy. You get field-tested expertise, research, case studies and advice from service marketing professionals that work with successful firms.

Professional Services Marketing covers five areas critical to the growth process: creating a marketing and growth strategy, establishing brand and reputation, implementing a marketing communications program, creating lead gen strategies, and developing business by winning new clients.

There’s a special offer associated with the release of this book. If you purchase Professional Services Marketing on August 3 or 4, you’ll get some great additional resource materials from Wellesley Hills Group, RainToday.com and industry experts including:

• RainToday webinar, How to Turn Your Firm into a Marketing and Business Development Powerhouse, with Mike Schultz
• Ardath Albee, Tune Up Your Client Focus Ebook
• Larry Bodine, Thinking Like a Rainmaker – Crafting Your Personal Marketing Plan
• Brian Carroll, Chapter 8: The Phone from Lead Generation for the Complex Sales
• Jill Konrath, Strong Value Propositions Ebook
• Michael W. McLaughlin, Consult This! 67 Tips for Consulting Success
• Michael Stelzner, Writer Industry Report White Paper
• Vickie Sullivan, Speaking of 2009: Top Ten Changes that Shape the New High-Fee Speech Circuit
• Jeanne Urich, Killer Services Marketing White Paper

Buy Professional Services Marketing via Amazon

After purchasing, visit www.professionalservicesmarketingbook.com/bonus-materials and enter your confirmation number to download these resources. Happy reading.

Books, Lead Generation