LEADership by Louis Foong » Lead Distribution

The Challenges that B2B Marketers Find the Most Difficult to Overcome

Louis Foong — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:18:43 +0000

In my post last week, I promised to share some interesting “sound bytes” from the MarketingSherpa 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report. These are comments from B2B marketers about the barriers they find the most difficult to overcome. I picked a few that are very commonly experienced by B2B marketing companies. The Challenges for B2B Marketers “Lack of ability to stop executing and think strategically is the biggest barrier.” I find that typical of B2B marketing organizations that get so caught up in tactical plays and spike marketing. In the absence of a defined strategy

The Many Faces of “Lead Generation” – Trick or Treat?

Louis Foong — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:00:23 +0000

Halloween has come and gone again and each year one marvels at the ingenuity and creativity of costumes, masks and disguises. The trick-or-treaters come around no matter what the weather with their bags open and outstretched for candy. Not to forget the adults who dress up and grab their share of fun at work or with friends and family. For some players in the lead generation industry, Halloween is gradually becoming a year-round event. You can see all kinds of tools, techniques and tactics disguised as “lead generation strategies” to fool indiscriminate marketers. Just like those

B2B Marketing and Lead Generation Challenges – “The Q Continuum”

Louis Foong — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:31:43 +0000

One of my all-time favourite television shows was Star Trek – the whole gamut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager. For those of you who didn’t fancy it or can’t remember trivial details like I do (am not ashamed to admit it!), let me remind you about the Q Continuum – an extra-dimensional plane of existence inhabited by a race of extremely powerful, hyper-intelligent beings known as the Q. They typically display indifference to most non-Q beings but have a deep interest in the development and progress of humanity. The Q character,

To Spike, or Not to Spike: that is the question

Louis Foong — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:28:19 +0000

I’m feeling inspired by Shakespeare here but unlike Hamlet, it’s not a question I would ponder. Rather, it is a rhetorical question and my answer would always be “don’t spike”. I agree; a challenging economy and value-conscious customers are making it increasingly difficult for organizations to stay afloat, let alone meet sales targets. Added to that is the pressure of getting to customers before your competitors do. A “quick fix” might seem like the ideal solution. Enter a spike marketer who may be able to deliver the quick boost you’re looking for to improve your sales.

The Ideal Demand Generation Personality Profile

Louis Foong — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:31:52 +0000

Having witnessed organizations burn up thousands upon thousands of precious dollars, I can’t help but analyze a lead generation failure when I see it. While the specifics vary in every case, there are certain common traits of a lead generation personality profile that create negative results. I talked about some of these in my last post on the types of lead generation personalities. Let’s look at some traits...

What is Your Demand Generation Personality Type?

Louis Foong — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:11:23 +0000

As a demand generation advisor and lead generation consultant, there are often times when I wish that I could change my customers’ marketing personalities. When that happens, I find myself digging deeper and analyzing what type of demand generation personality that organization has. I remind myself of the practical advice from Ted Roosevelt, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” It makes it easier for me to help a client’s organization minimize the weaknesses and maximize the strengths of their demand generation personality.

My 2011 Lead Generation Wish List

Louis Foong — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:31:42 +0000

I was asked recently by a media person to comment on the top lead generation trends in 2011. When I inquired what in her mind were these “top trends”, I didn’t hear anything new. I agree that in 2010, organizations were still struggling to recover from the recession and many companies did not fully explore lead generation. Many were challenged with customer retention and had no resources or time to focus on lead generation. So while some may argue that a fusion of inbound and outbound marketing, multi-touch lead generation, adopting new technologies for marketing and sales automation, social media marketing are some of the major trends in 2011, these are not novel in any way. So how can I comment?

New Year’s Resolutions for 2011

Louis Foong — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:32:45 +0000

Happy New Year to all of you! Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful holiday season. It’s always hard coming back after the short but action-packed few days of festivity and joyous celebration. Maybe that’s the reason why many of us try to find our focus by making New Year resolutions. Of course, we know that these are the most commonly broken set of promises we make to ourselves! I was reading a comic strip in a local newspaper recently where a teenager asks his Dad if he had made a list of New Year’s resolutions for 2011. The man replies “Yes” and points to a dusty diary. The son

Recipes from the World’s Best Chef – My Christmas Gift to You!

Louis Foong — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:00:29 +0000

In case you’re wondering about the title of this blog post, let me tell you at the outset that I am neither a chef, nor am I the world’s best. BUT, I am very excited that my niece, Stacey Lee Chan is indeed the world’s best chef! Stacey won the gold at the prestigious “Chaines des Rotisseurs Jeunes Chef Rotisseurs” 2010 world final in Helsinki, an annual highly regarded competition in the culinary world. Go Stacey! Stuck for holiday meal ideas? Now you know about the world’s best chef — this is my special Christmas gift to you! Check out Stacey’s Blog for her favourite

How to Avoid Becoming the Next Demand Generation Horror Show Star!

Louis Foong — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 09:43:55 +0000

Having been in this industry for close to 2 decades, I have seen some real horror stories. Companies spending obscene amounts of money on lead generation — from inbound and outbound marketing to sales automation, leads database management, telemarketing, advertising, PR, direct marketing, and so on. Budgets blown away mindlessly and bank-breaking campaigns bringing little or no ROI. Sales reps suffering nervous breakdowns and senior executives coming under the axe for not meeting targets. Scary. If all of these are not horror stories, then I don’t know what else to call them. How