LEADership by Louis Foong » Sales Funnel

LEADing Numbers: Holiday Edition

Louis Foong — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:00:28 +0000

Since we are in the midst of the holiday season, we found some holiday statistics to share with you. For those of you thinking – how is this relevant to B2B lead generation – successful lead generation does not exist in a vacuum. Knowing events and other factors that affect your prospects and customer base is an important part of building a successful lead generation campaign. I also challenge you to think about how you can use this information to incorporate into your playbook. 1. First, even though it is the holidays – keep blogging and posting outstanding

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,

Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing for B2B – The Debate Rages On

Louis Foong — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:38:31 +0000

Popularity is a strange thing – whether it is a high visibility brand, a car, a pop star – as the popularity charts go up the numbers on the opposite side start to grow too. It’s true, die-hard fans will always have a community that looks down on them (their taste). Same is the case with Social Media Marketing (SMM). You can love it, hate it, but you can’t ignore it. And so it continues to be a topic of debate in the world of business. How effective really is it? Is it only the racehorse for the consumer market or can B2B marketers gain significant ROI from social media marketing? I

Marketing Automation WILL NOT Help You Make More Sales

Louis Foong — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:51:06 +0000

When was the last time everything that was meant to, or should have happened from a marketing perspective, actually happen? Marketing automation vendors would have you believe that their tool is the answer to all your needs – think again. These are the days of under-resourced and under-funded marketing departments. The funny thing is, in many instances, the finance departments are the ones enthusiastic about implementing this automation play as all they can envision is savings down the road. In reality, what ends up happening is that marketing turns their focus on feeding the automation

Do People Provide False Contact Information Online? 69% of the time!

Louis Foong — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:22:46 +0000

It’s true! Landing pages and web forms can bring inaccurate information into your database. Landing pages are increasingly gaining ground as a popular online marketing tactic. Organizations include a strategically designed landing page in their package of marketing tools because it offers them the opportunity to ask for visitor information. From downloading a whitepaper in exchange for an email address to requesting a free trial by providing more detailed contact information, individuals do respond to a compelling call-to-action in a landing page that catches their attention. I read an

Love Your Brand, Love Your Customer

Louis Foong — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:09:07 +0000

…And love your watch! I do. I really love every watch I own. Each one is unique and has a special place in my life. So when I had issues with my brand new Moon Dust DNA from Romain Jerome, I was shocked and upset. Here’s what happened. I had just bought this RJ masterpiece from an authorized dealer before I went on a family vacation in December. Shortly thereafter I started having issues with the Power reserve. When you spend good money on a watch, you expect flawless performance! This snazzy little piece of art has authentic moon dust on the dial, the titanium and steel for the

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...