Sales Lead Management Today

SLMA 50 Most Influential Nominations close at EOB 10/31

The Sales Lead Management Association  (SLMA) announced that nominations are open until the end of business on October 31st. 

• Nominating:  SLMA members may nominate one or more professional individuals for consideration through October 31^st.  Nominations are only accepted from SLMA members.  Membership is free.
• Voting:  SLMA Members may vote for candidates listed on the SLMA site beginning November 5, 2014.    The ‘50 Most Influential Sales Lead Management Professionals’ List will be published on December 8, 2014. 

Nominate a deserving sales lead management professional today, tomorrow will be too late.

Why CRM Software is Like Sheet Music

A friend, Bill Herr, got me thinking one day when he said, "CRM Software is like handing a salesperson sheet music and expecting them to sing a few bars."   How true I echoed.  Considering I failed in my first implementation of a rudimentary CRM system by failing to properly train the salespeople, I understood what he meant.   Yes, they had a few hours of cursory training, but certainly not enough.   This was the mid-80's and I am still smarting from the experience. 

Why its important

    There is more to a CRM system than software. Its a way of life for the sales organization which is organized and run from the CRM system.  Poorly install a CRM system and you have chaos. 

 

Marketing and Sales Departments Need Business Rules to Guide Their Interactions or Chaos Reigns

In sales and marketing there are rules for order entry, sales quotas, and booking and shipping orders. But there are seldom, if any, rules about how the extremely important corporate asset called sales inquiries/leads should be managed.  Lead management rules are often buried in the setup instructions for CRM and Marketing Automation. 

The justification for business rules for inquiry management is simple: People follow rules. Once a set of rules is in place, adhering to the rules is less difficult than you might imagine. The vast majority of us are essentially law-abiding people and business rules are generally looked upon as a set of soft laws of business.

Why its important!
Rules survive changes in management. People follow rules. Rules for lead management are needed because without the rule on lead management chaos exists between sales and marketing and marketing dollars are a waste.

Why aren't there more B2B senior-marketing-management women?

Let me preface my question ”Why aren’t women represented more in the B2B in the senior marketing management ranks,” with my own mea culpa that I don’t have the answer either. But I am just struck by two things:

1. Women in marketing appear to make up the majority of employees.
2. Women in senior management positions, CMO’s, Vice Presidents seem to be absent or vastly in the minority.

I don’t know how women can occupy so many middle management jobs without ascending to the top slots. True, I haven’t done research on this, but as I review companies in CRM, Marketing Automation, and then the B2B companies they serve, oops, women aren’t there.

Why this is Important

If you aren’t promoting the creators of wealth, regardless of gender in your organization, you are losing the opportunities to grow your company and be competitive. When you promote by measuring performance, women will show up in the C-suites, as they should.

 

7 of Brian Carroll’s 31 Tips for Improving Sales and Marketing Lead Generation Alignment

I have been asked to speak on the topic of Sales and Marketing Alignment a number of times.  Gerhard Gschwandtner’s recent opening at Sales 2.0 in Las Vegas addressed the same topic, and I spoke up to say, “Alignment starts and ends with leadership from senior sales and marketing management.”  And yet, obviously, there is more to it than leadership. 

 Why it matters!

Without alignment of sales and marketing a company has no team.  No team, no winners.  Just a high sales territory turn-over and outrageous marketing spending. 

Brian Carroll, in his B2BLeadBlog yesterday, summed it up in a list of 31 actions (he said ‘tips’) that have to be considered in order to get alignment between Sales and Marketing.  Here are 7 of Brian Carroll’s 31 ideas; crucial ones you can use to improve alignment and collaboration:

1. Train your salespeople to optimize your lead generation investment and to give you feedback.

Sales Lead Management Assn. Opens Nominations ‘50 Most Influential Sales Lead Management’ Election

6,000 votes are expected from the membership

The Sales Lead Management Association  (SLMA) announced that nominations are open for its annual election of the ‘50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management’ - 2014.   James W. Obermayer, CEO of the SLMA, said, “This is the sixth year that our membership will recognize leaders in the field of Sales Lead Management, and each year there are new people elected to the ‘50 Most Influential’ list.  This year we expect more than 6,000 votes to be cast for the nominees.”

This sixth annual election has a nomination period from October 1st through October 31st, followed by a voting period from November 5th through November 30th.  Only members of the SLMA may nominate people (membership in the SLMA is free).  The rules for nomination and forms are available on the SLMA site.

Why it Matters

Recognizing those who stand out as champions of sales lead management is good for everyone.  It is good for them, for their company and for the industry.  Nominate a deserving person today.