18 Jan |
My 2011 Lead Generation Wish List |
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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,
Read more...06 Jan |
New Year’s Resolutions for 2011 |
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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
Read more...22 Dec |
Recipes from the World’s Best Chef – My Christmas Gift to You! |
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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
Read more...16 Nov |
The expanding social landscape – integral to lead generation? |
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Is Social Technology Integral to B2B Lead Generation? The scope of social technologies and their potential to help maximize B2B lead generation efforts is real and valid. But marketers must look beyond the eye-candy. Having a bunch of social media medals (logos and icons on your website) won’t do much for your sales team that’s out in the field trying to close the sale on a hot lead. But being active socially will definitely help establish greater credibility and increase visibility; both important factors that positively influence prospects about to make a purchase decision. It looks
Read more...09 Nov |
Is There More to Social Media than Meets the Eye? |
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Social Media and B2B Lead Generation In the spring this year, I wrote in one of my blog posts, that “social media is new and evolving”. That was in late April 2010. Today, in the fall of the same year, I have to say that social media has indeed evolved with great speed! This actually makes me want to caution marketers that social media isn’t like magic beans that will sprout into a lead generation beanstalk overnight. You still need a very strong foundation on which to build your demand generation efforts. Incorporating social tools and technologies into tried and tested target
Read more...19 Oct |
Working the Pipeline: A Zonal Approach |
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In my previous blog post on pipeline acceleration I talked about implementing an effective process and strategy for demand generation or lead management and improving revenue. Specifically, rapid market entry and how to gather the low hanging fruit. However as we all know, that only represents 10% of the whole orchard. So let’s get down to the major chunk of clients that fall between the hot prospects and deals that really challenge us in the last mile. If you acknowledge that 60% of your leads need to be cultivated, you will agree that the middle stages of your pipeline acceleration or
Read more...19 Jul |
The Best Mailing List for B2B Lead Generation |
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When it comes to success in B2B lead generation, everybody knows that the mailing list is the most important ingredient in any campaign. A poor list will always produce dismal results, no matter how brilliant the offer and creative. Conversely, good lists often produce acceptable results even with mediocre execution. Consequently, companies are always looking for the “silver bullet” of mailing lists for their next B2B lead generation campaign— that perfect source of fresh, highly targeted, super-hot prospects just waiting to be contacted. Sadly, this is an exercise in futility and
Read more...30 Jun |
Customer Referrals Act as CRM Catalysts across Social Media |
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Nurture existing customers in CRM with social media to get repeat and referral business One happy customer is worth a hundred (or more) in your CRM system. Sounds like a cliché? Well, maybe; but it’s one of those eternal truths which, if you believe in and remember, will take you a long way down the road of successful customer relationship management. It’s easy to pour enthusiasm, effort, ideas (and money!) into B2B lead generation because there is that gleaming pot of gold to aim for – revenue and profits. But the repeat and referral business you can get from existing customers is
Read more...28 Jun |
Social Media Fuels the B2B Lead Lifecycle – CRM Update is Critical! |
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Social media plays an important role in the sales cycle, but keeping your CRM database is key No matter how many budget cuts your organization introduces to cope with challenging times, you somehow make room for B2B lead generation expenses. It is after all, the lifeline of your sales performance, right? The only change to this ongoing situation is the dire need to measure and quantify results, so not a penny goes to waste. The results of B2B lead generation are best measured by the end goal, i.e. a customer conversion. For a B2B interaction to progress from seed to lead to sale, it must
Read more...24 Jun |
How Social Media Can Augment Your CRM Effectiveness |
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In my last post I introduced the subject about social media and CRM working together for B2B lead generation. Continuing in this series, here is today’s tip on how social media can be leveraged to augment your CRM effectiveness: Practice active listening with your social media conversations. Quite simply, lead nurturing is the process of informing, educating and encouraging potential customers about your product or service through healthy and positive relationship building. The keyword here is “relationship” – and just like any relationship, B2B relationships are also built and
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