Welcome to our first issue of the SLMA newsletter.
Since the SLMA debut we have had 4854 visitors from 51 nations
viewing 14,058 pages. There are 90 articles in the content section
from 26 different authors. From our initial announcement of the SLMA
and the first Inquiry Management Study have had a great reception with
mentions in more than 52 newsletters and magazines (just those we
can track).
Recently, we declared the week of June 9-13th as National Sales Lead Management week. We are encouraging
companies to use this week as their own platform to discuss the ROI
for properly managing inquiries.
Up-coming additions to the site will be a Book
Giveaway (members only), and Sales Lead Blog from SLMA founders. A
short time after these appear, we will include a Job Center (jobs
available listing), and a Book Store. We have an industry board of
advisors and soon a separate End Users Advisors Board.
Membership is at 291 from the following job titles:
Advertisers on the site are helping to support the constant updating
of information, from new articles to new services.
The popularity of the Sales Lead
Management Association site for our community has been faster than
expected. It indicates the need for a specialized place where the
subject of inquiry management and marketing ROI can be brutally and
openly discussed. In this community of thought leaders, let us all
work together, to address the ever elusive subject of managing
inquiries to manage sales and prove marketing's ability to create
wealth.
James Obermayer Mark
Friedman Susan Campanale
Executive Director Executive Vice
President VP Marketing and Membership
by Jim
LaBelle, President of LEADTRACK™ Software
The business
adage of "nothing happens until somebody makes a sale" is certainly
true but we all know that a great deal of work must be done before
that sale is made. Our sales reps need to work as many as 10, 15 or 20
leads in order make a single sale. It is incumbent on management and
the marketing department specifically, to make sure the sales reps get
as many quality leads as soon as possible to help improve the numbers
game. But simply generating leads is not enough. To be able to turn
leads into customers a number of things must take place. Based on what
we have learned from more than 25 years of helping companies optimize
their lead management programs we offer the following insight
summarized in Ten Critical Success Factors (CSF).
Read the entire article.
by The Velos Group and the Sales Lead Management Association
Why is sales lead
management ignored by some and championed by others? For 41 years,
since the introduction of the first "inquiry management system," the
value of inquiries and the follow-up by salespeople has been a
constant argument and a source of frustration. From marketing
departments that generate the inquiries, to salespeople who must
follow them up and the inquirer who is ignored, everyone complains.
This Sales Lead
Management Survey, was taken by 144 southern California, primarily
small, private businesses. The results indicate we have not
progressed very far in 41 years. 68.8% of those who took the survey
still do not qualify inquires before giving them to their
salespeople. 52.4% still have no formal process for compiling sales
forecast reports. And 82.8% do not track the return on investment
for lead generating investments.
Provided by the Sales Lead Management AssociationSM
The Sales
Inquiry Manager is responsible for controlling, reporting, and
processing of all sales inquiries for the corporation. The person
will report on the return on investment for each inquiry generated. Read the entire article.
Lead
Management ROI - by Dick Lee, Commissioned by Performark
Imagine being a farmer who plants and tends field after field of
crops using the latest and greatest machinery—only to go out at
season's end to harvest by hand, letting most fields go unpicked.
You don't want
to be that farmer.
Nor do you
want to be the company that wastes its sales lead generating
investment by harvesting but a minority of the leads produced—at a
time when some competitors are finally figuring out how to reap
all they've sown. But the majority of B2B companies are that
company. Why? To learn why, let's analyze how companies commonly
but unwisely conduct sales lead programs.
Read the entire article.
by Tom Judge - Instructor at Univ. of California Extension program
and VP of Strategy & Business Development at Direct Marketing
Partners
This scenario often comes to light when B2B selling firms are
attempting to improve their sales and marketing process.
Enhancements in sales training and marketing collateral are basic
examples of some of the many possible tactics. However, even after
such noble efforts, these firms very often continue to struggle
with achieving corporate sales revenue objectives. In this
scenario, evidence shows that the majority of sales reps often
continue to struggle to hit quota.
An anemic
revenue stream is a serious problem. Rest assured that senior
management soon steps in and demands in-depth answers. Often the
marketing-through-sales process is then analyzed. Under this
scenario, it is determined that the company's sales process is not
properly aligned with the marketing sales lead development
process.
Read the entire article.
by Ronald Lang, President of Majestic Consulting Group, Inc.
What is your
lead generation methodology? Do you send out a mass mailing in the
form of "spray and pray" to hope for those few leads that need
you? Lead generation is not easy, if it was, the economy would be
in a boom and not just chugging along. Your overall business
development process needs to be strategic and tactical at the same
time.
Creating a business development vision takes risk, resources and
luck. You can minimize the amount of luck you need if you develop
your strategic plan accordingly. Many companies do not plan
correctly and hope that at a tactical level, things are being done
appropriately. Let's start with the three step process to a
successful lead generation campaign.
Read the entire article.
Ask The Experts -- as a member, you have access to our Ask the Experts resource linked here.
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ActOn Software
Applied DM Research, Inc.
CartoonLink, Inc.
ClickPoint Software
eti Sales Support
Event Technologies
The Hill Group
ITN International
Invenio Solutions
InterlinkOne
LeadLife
New Business Strategies
The Pedowitz Group
PointClear, LLC
Sales Benchmark Index
SalesFUSION
Sales Leakage Consulting
Sandler Training
Validar Inc.
The Vanella Group
VanillaSoft
Velocify
The Velos Group, Inc.
Vorsight