Fishing for Qualified Leads: Which Strategies Yield the Biggest Catch

Fishing for Qualified Leads: Which Strategies Yield the Biggest Catch

What do you fish with at tradeshows: a pole or a net?
I often speak with exhibitors and event marketers who deploy one of these two lead capture strategies. Let’s review:
• “Fishing Pole” strategy – I only scan leads that have expressed legitimate interest in our products and services. If they want a trinket, or have [...]

How Skimming leads can benefit Marketing Automation

How Skimming leads can benefit Marketing Automation

I am very fortunate to be able to communicate with smart B2B marketers every day and I learn a bunch from all of them.  One concept that came to me through a couple of customers is the idea of skimming leads from campaigns as a means to make their marketing automation deployments more effective.
We have [...]

Measuring Cost per Lead can be costly…very costly!

Measuring Cost per Lead can be costly…very costly!

I have had countless discussions with marketing leaders regarding the KPI’s they use to measure their programs and am continually surprised at the value placed on “Cost per Lead”.  I have been approached by marketing services firms as well that promote their ability to drive higher demand at a lower cost than their competitors.  What [...]

Why You Should Not Let Sales Work the Booth at Tradeshows!

Why You Should Not Let Sales Work the Booth at Tradeshows!

Unless they are in sync with your event goals.
 It is kind of hypocritcal that I write this post given my actions as both a direct sales contributor and sales leader working tradeshow exhibits.  I say these things in repent knowing that I was wrong in my actions and ask for forgiveness from my previous co-workers. 
I used [...]

It’s budget time!  Was your marketing budget cut?

It’s budget time! Was your marketing budget cut?

 As a former sales leader and direct sales contributor, I have been on the receiving end of leads for many years.  Throughout I have seen firsthand the challenge marketing teams have in articulating their value to a CFO.  By value, I mean revenue production.  If your marketing budget was $4 million, what revenue impact did [...]

Ever wonder how much you spend managing leads collected from Trade Shows?

Ever wonder how much you spend managing leads collected from Trade Shows?

A case study of Validar eating its own dog food at Dreamforce 09.
Validar just returned from exhibiting at Dreamforce, Salesforce.com’s annual Users Conference in which we generated 148 leads in three days.  This event is the biggest gathering in the world of Salesforce.com users which is a target market for us.  Salesforce.com users can leverage [...]

Corporate Events – A sales person’s perspective on users’ conferences

Corporate Events – A sales person’s perspective on users’ conferences

As a recovering sales manager and active sales person, this story may resonate with those of you who produce internal corporate events as a means to increase sales to existing and prospective customers.   Today, I still see corporate events being managed in a similar fashion with regards to data capture and hopefully this will get your mind flowing [...]

Are you losing business because of your landing pages?  Let your leads control how they are treated

Are you losing business because of your landing pages? Let your leads control how they are treated

You might find yourself thinking: “Landing pages are a turnoff. I hate providing information simply to get access to a white paper or content that is of interest. I like to shop around before making a decision and definitely don’t want a pushy salesperson bugging me if I inquire about a webinar. Just let me [...]

Are Your Marketing Efforts Undervalued?  Stop Measuring Marketing!

Are Your Marketing Efforts Undervalued? Stop Measuring Marketing!

Cost per lead, conversions per month,  leads per show, white paper downloads, time on Web site,  Web site visits, webinar attendees, webinar registrants who did not attend, user conference attendees, click-through metrics, return Web site visitors… I can go on and on. These are all interesting metrics, but does Marketing really get credit for a [...]