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Sales Lead Management Association^SM April 2010 Newsletter

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In this Issue:

SPECIAL ISSUE FOCUS: WHITEPAPERS AND E-BOOKS

• Why the Space Shuttle Columbia, Toyota's Auto Recalls, and Inquiry Dormancy Are Related
  How Normalized Deviation Destroys 75% of Marketing's Efficiency And Why Marketing Automation is the Answer
  By James W. Obermayer Executive Director of the Sales Lead Management Association^SM (FREE, but registration is required) Sponsored by: LeadTrack, Marketo and the Sales Lead Management)
• Email Marketing Laws and Best Practices: A White Paper from SmartLead by The AdTrack Corporation
  By Judy Baldwin, Director of Marketing Communications, SmartLead
• Beyond Lead Flow: ENABLING SALES THROUGH MARKETING AUTOMATION
  Submitted by Steve Woods for Eloqua
• Using ROI To Reduce Sales Cycle Time
  By Glen S. Petersen, GSP & Associates
• Online Sources of B-to-B Data: A Comparative Analysis, 2010 Edition
  By Bernice Grossman & Ruth P. Stevens
• Profiling, Targeting & Segmentation Submitted
  By John Coe, The Sales & Marketing Institute, Inc.
• Don't Settle for a "Good Enough" B2B Lead Management Solution - It could just cost you your job
  Submitted by Alexis Karlin, Neolane
• Focused Outreach Lead Generation: 10 Step Guide to Produce Quality Leads and Raise Your ROI
  by Elisa Ciarametaro of Exceed Sales (free - with registration)
• The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing
  by Marketo

SLMA SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT:

• eti Support
• Exceed Sales, Inc.
• Direct Marketing Partners
• LeadMaster

CMO Council Releases Marketing Outlook 2010: CMO Council State of Marketing

The CMO Council State of Marketing Report, featuring the 2010 Marketing Outlook Audit, is the largest independent assessment of senior marketing executives today. This annual global benchmarking initiative undertaken by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, gains insights into how senior marketing decision makers are modeling their marketing mix, allocating budgets and modifying their media spend. It also looks at planned investments in infrastructure, technology platforms and enhancements to internal competencies. Given the economic challenges and market pressures worldwide, this year's review of '09 performance and challenges and intentions in 2010 is far deeper and wider than before. The results of this study will be extremely valuable to all participants seeking peer-level input and consensus on critical issues and priorities in the year ahead.
Two versions of the report findings are available, providing varying levels of detail on the research results:
Executive Summary (Free)

1. Introduction
2. Abridged Key Findings
3. Contributed Expert Commentary
4. Sponsor Profiles

Full Report ($199.00)

1. Introduction
2. Summary of Key Findings
3. Detailed Findings
4. Contributed Expert Commentary
5. CMO Council Profile and Programs
6. Sponsor Profiles

To get copies of the report go to:  http://www.cmocouncil.org/resources/form_2010_marketing_outlook.asp

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SPECIAL ISSUE FOCUS
Whitepapers & E-Books:

Why the Space Shuttle Columbia, Toyota’s Auto Recalls, and Inquiry Dormancy Are Related
How Normalized Deviation Destroys 75% of Marketing’s Efficiency And Why Marketing Automation is the Answer

By James W. Obermayer Executive Director of the Sales Lead Management Association (FREE, but registration is required) Sponsored by: LeadTrack, Marketo and the Sales Lead Management)

The term ‘Normalized Deviation (ND) surfaces most prominently during discussions of product defects.   Stated in the simplest form, ND (sometimes referred to as standard deviation) is a sociological phenomenon where, over time, defects in manufacturing or processes become not only acceptable, but in some cases are considered ‘normal.'  In these situations, we become so used to seeing a high number of defects that we adopt a form of self-deception.  The most prominent example in business-to-business marketing is the practice whereby 75-90% of all sales inquiries are left dormant (not followed up).  More about that in a few

To read more click here and then register for the full whitepaper.

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Email Marketing Laws and Best Practices

A White Paper from SmartLead by The AdTrack Corporation
By Judy Baldwin, Director of Marketing Communications, SmartLead

During the Great Recession more and more marketers exclusively relied on email marketing to reach out to customers and prospects. Under pressure to generate sales and leads, these marketers sometimes pushed the boundaries of legality and best practices when executing their email marketing programs.

It's possible their lack of adherence to laws and best practices is a result of a lack of mentoring and training by senior executives (who may no longer be with the company). Or perhaps they are so busy  doing the work of several former colleagues that they haven't been able to keep up on email best practices and laws.

This white paper provides baseline best practices and a review of current CAN-SPAM laws (as of April  2010). The paper offers a mini-training session for marketers who are new to email marketing and a refresher for marketers that may be a bit rusty in email marketing practices.

To read the whitepaper, click here (PDF).

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Beyond Lead Flow: ENABLING SALES THROUGH MARKETING AUTOMATION

Submitted by Steve Woods for Eloqua

Much of the focus on marketing and sales integration in Business to Business (B2B) marketing has been on creating a steady flow  of leads for sales.

However, a new generation of technology is reinventing our understanding of what
marketing can do. This paper explores areas that marketing can help sales identify
and manage deals in their sales pipeline through technologies and business processes

Read the whitepaper (PDF).

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Using ROI To Reduce Sales Cycle Time

by Glen S. Petersen,  GSP & Associates

In the world of B2B transactions, if you are selling on a value proposition then most likely you are assuming that the customer is achieving a return on their investment using your product or service. If you are selling a premium product at a significantly higher price point, then it is also likely that the customer must intuitively or explicitly derive a benefit in excess of the total cost of ownership. Depending on the magnitude of the investment, the customer may have to create a formal return on investment (ROI), before any purchase decision can be made. The reality is that most sales
organization must communicate value to customers as an integral part of their function and that the exceptional sales person can position value in the context of the customer's frame of reference. 

Read the white paper (PDF) >>

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Online Sources of B-to-B Data: A Comparative Analysis, 2010 Edition

by Bernice Gross man & Ruth P. Stevens

Executive Summary
An update to research on data sources published in 2009, this white paper evaluates the volume and accuracy of B-to-B marketing data provided by five suppliers. Like the 2009 results, data coverage and accuracy varied widely among vendors. Thus, we continue to urge marketers who order compiled data to ask very carefully about the compilation practices and policies of prospective vendors. We also strongly recommend that marketers conduct a pre-test of the data to assess its

applicability to their particular marketing need

Read the full report (PDF) >>

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Profiling, Targeting & Segmentation

Submitted by John Coe, The Sales & Marketing Institute, Inc.

Executive Summary:

In marketing, as in many other disciplines, the first question is, "where do I start to solve the problem?" Frequently, marketers start where their strengths lie or feel comfortable. Database marketers start with data, creative types start with the creative, etc. Frankly, that's why so much marketing misses the mark and does not produce the desired results. Years ago, I was watching Ron O'Brien (a two-time NCAA diving champion and coach of many of our Olympic divers including Greg Louganis) learn a new dive. After his many attempts to"hit" a 3 ½ forward somersault with 2 twists, I asked,"how do you learn a new dive?" His answer was both insightful and appropriate, and one that I've taken to heart – Ron said,"If I put my head in the right position, the body soon follows."

When we develop marketing campaigns, we frequently miss the mark and should take Ron's advice. But what is our head position? My advice to marketers is that profiling and targeting combined with a segmentation process is it, and if we get it right, our marketing"body" will soon follow – and do it much more easily.

Read the full story >>

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Don't Settle for a "Good Enough" B2B Lead Management Solution - It could just cost you your job

Submitted by Alexis Karlin, Neolane

According to SiriusDecisions, 50 percent of B2B companies will deploy marketing automation by 2015.1 If your B2B company has finally decided to take the plunge into automated lead management – you are in good company. Done right, this technology can have a huge impact on overall marketing productivity, lead quality, conversion rates and revenue. But you have some work to do first.  

This is likely one of the biggest technology investments your marketing group will make this year. That means upper management is probably involved, and watching the project closely. It's not an exaggeration to say that this could be a make-or-break moment in your career as a B2B marketer.

In this paper, we'll provide advice on how to avoid the #1 mistake many of your peers made when going through this process: settling for a lead management  solution that's"good enough" instead of putting in the hard work required to identify one that meets their needs now and in the future.

Read the full white paper (PDF off-site) >>

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EBOOKS:

Focused Outreach Lead Generation: 10 Step Guide to Produce Quality Leads and Raise Your ROI

by Elisa Ciarametaro of Exceed Sales (free - with registration)

Are you sick and tired of hacking through a jungle of information about lead generation?

I wrote this e-book to make your strategy clear as day, with the essential first steps to plan and implement a lead generation effort that delivers results beyond your current expectations.

This guide presents key strategies that work for our clients, and you'll see them step by step. No, we're not going to overwhelm you with complicated mountains of information. This is a practical guide on the key steps to get you started.

So let's get started!  Fill out the form below.  Once you submit, this free ebook will be given to you as a link to download.  We won't share your information with anyone other than Sales Lead Management Association^SM staff and the author of this report, Elisa Ciarametaro and her team at Exceed Sales.

Register to gain access >>

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The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing

by Marketo

Informative and practical, The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing offers useful, qualitative insight from today's marketing thought leaders, basic and advanced B2B marketing best practices on must-have campaigns, and worksheets for calculating ROI and measuring the impact of nurturing done well. Use this guide as a workbook – take notes, highlight what you find inspirational, share what you learn with your colleagues, and start driving explosive revenue growth.

Read the e-book here >>

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SLMA SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT:

eti Sales Support

Whether you're just beginning to grow your business or have to manage a national or global expanding business, we have the services, resources and experience to meet your needs!

Our Mission:

• Provide high-quality, responsive, global business-to-business sales support services that build a growing pipeline of sales opportunities and increases sales for our clients;
• Provide leading-edge, real-time reporting & analytics that offer our clients optimum control and accountability to maximize return on marketing investments.
• Provide highly effective leadership and support for the integration of sales and marketing efforts; and Grow Sales through Maximizing sales productivity.

Our Services

• New Customer acquisition
• Sales Lead Generation, Sales Lead Qualification, Appointment Setting;
• Lead management, Lead Source Tracking, Lead distribution & control;
• Target lists evaluation and segmentation;
• Event registration and Trade show support;
• Channel recruitment and development;
• Database Marketing, Data Mining.
• Client retention
• Account management - Nurturing and growing existing client relationships;
• New opportunity development in existing accounts;
• Up-sell, cross-sell, dormant account revitalization;
• Channel management, motivation and demand generation.
• Real-time, Web-based reporting & Analytics for full accountability and optimum client control.
• Customer relationship management, sales force automation, and partner relationship systems and tools to integrate client sales and marketing efforts and seamless CRM Integration.

eti Sales Support 
Michael Falkson
c/o eti
501 Washington Ave
Pleasantville, NY 10570
Phone:  914.747.3030  914.747.3030 ext 3477
WebSite: www.etisales.com
email: [email protected]

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Exceed Sales, Inc.       

Exceed Sales is a New York based, lead and demand generation consultancy. Exceed Sales helps companies create inside sales, lead generation, demand generation and sales prospecting strategies that build strong sales pipelines and increase sales revenue.

Learn more about Exceed Sales at http://www.exceedsales.com. Find out what clients are saying at http://exceedsales.com/testimonials/. Stop by our blog Lead Generation Insights http://exceedsales.com/blog/.

Join Us On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/elisaciarametaro Elisa Ciarametaro is CEO of Exceed Sales, a lead and demand generation services firm she founded in NYC. For 25 years Elisa has successfully built, implemented and retuned sales lead and demand generation initiatives that produce results. In 2000, she started Exceed Sales to help sales and marketing executives collaborate and align to exceed sales goals through lead and demand generation initiatives. Her field and inside sales experience has helped her clients increase their productivity, effectiveness and efficiency.

As CEO of Exceed Sales, Elisa uses her approach — construct, engage, retune, and convert — to help companies drive and deliver revenue results. Exceed Sales respects the process orientation of inside sales without sacrificing the urgency to produce sales results. Elisa serves as a Board Observer with the MIT Enterprise Forum in New York and is active in the New York community. She resides in New York with her husband and son.

Exceed Sales, Inc. 
320 West 83rd Street, Suite 1GH
New York, NY 10024
 212 799 0777  212 799 0777
http://www.exceedsales.com
[email protected]

Direct Marketing Partners

Direct Marketing Partners (DMP) is a B2B strategic marketing, consulting and tele-services (OB & IB) provider with an embedded call center.

DMP provides agencies and end users with the missing go-to-market resources needed to optimize their database building and qualified sales lead pipelines. Services include campaign planning, platforms, management, and the execution of integrated B2B direct marketing & telemarketing multi-touch campaigns with complete results tracking metrics and campaign ROI analytics.

Firms with complex B2B selling processes harness the DMP resources and systems. These firms use DMP to qualify sales lead pipelines to their spec, which accelerate their marketing-through-sales cycles with optimal forward sales progression rates and conversions to revenue.

Direct Marketing Partners 
Debra da Costa
2045 Hallmark Drive, Suite 5
Sacramento, CA 95825
Phone:  916-974-6969  916-974-6969
Fax: 916-974-6974
WebSite: www.dirmkt.com
email: [email protected]

LeadMaster

LeadMaster delivers tangible benefits to sales, marketing and call center teams through its web-based LeadMaster solutions. The company's online application closes the loop between marketing and sales by tracking leads in real time throughout the sales cycle, from demand generation to lead closure. Combining sales force automation, marketing automation and virtual call center capabilities, this powerful web-based CRM application helps companies pinpoint where leads are quickly converting into revenue in order to increase close ratios and maximize return on investment on marketing campaigns.

LeadMaster Solution Overview: Lead Management, CRM and SFA Solution
LeadMaster is an affordable web-based lead management system that provides sales and marketing solutions which enable companies to close the loop between marketing and sales and provide top-notch Customer Relationship Management (CRM).  It takes data directly from landing pages into the lead management system and sends you an alert to let you know, 'You've Got Leads!'.

LeadMaster provides web-based lead and campaign management as well as powerful tools for data mining, sales forecasting and ROI measurement.

Users can pass sales leads and other key marketing information via the web in real time to all members of the sales and marketing team, including predefined channel partners, sales representatives and field sales management. Working with LeadMaster through our SaaS (Software as a Service) model, you can have your sales and marketing team up and running with a web-based solution tomorrow.

LeadMaster Capabilities

-Lead Management - Lead Capture - Lead Qualification - Lead Scoring - Lead Distribution - Lead Tracking - Lead Nurturing - Lead Aging

You can contact Lead Master:
Andy Brownell 
[email protected]
800-699-4164
www.LeadMaster.com
blog.LeadMaster.com