Sales Lead Management Today

Advanced B2B Sales Lead Management Strategies

Features Russell Kern, President the Kern Organization,  Brian Kardon Chief Marketing Officer of Eloqua and Mac McIntosh the Sales Lead Expert.

The SLMA recommends this program.   This is worth the few minutes of your time to view.   

Disclaimer:  When the SLMA uses the term: "The SLMA recommends this..." the association has not recieved compensation in any form to post or comment on the content. 

Marketers are builders of wealth, but when will they take the credit they deserve?

This post was a live commentary by James Obermayer on the SLMA Radio Program of Feb 17, 2022

I ask marketing managers at the speeches I give a simple question.

 “If you were accused of building wealth for your company could they convict you?”  Is there enough evidence to find you guilty as a wealth builder because of the products you have brought to market, the branding messages you have communicated and the demand you have created?  Can it be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt?  Can you show management the money?

    

How to Estimate the Number of Inquiries to Make New Business Forecast

 This originally appeared as a commentary on SLMA Radio.

Nothing happens in an organization without a sales forecast and yet few marketers take the forecast and estimate the number of total inquiries (not qualified inquiries) that will be needed to make forecast (quota).

Predicting the number of inquiries needed is simple and easy; take the sales goal, average sales price for the product, buying percentage (45%), sales lead folow-up percent and your market share.  Knowing these items will allow you to predict the number of inquiries needed to make your sales goals. 

The formula is:

Marketing must spend money on programs that work, and let their competitors spend money on everything else.

SLMA Radio Commentary on  Feb 3rd  to listen go to:

Victor Hugo said, “People do not lack strength, they lack will.”

From an article I wrote for the January 17th BtoB Magazine  entitled “ The Time is Now for Sales and Marketing to Align.”  I said,” Marketing must spend money on programs that work, and let their competitors spend money on everything else.”

 A marketing manager will say in response, “Are you stupid?  I want to spend money on things that work.”   And yet I question their sincerity when the tools to decide what works and what doesn’t are available and go unused.  I am speaking about the tools of CRM and Marketing Automation.

CRM is used by 80% of the B2B companies (and yet most are unhappy with the ROI).  Marketing automation is used to varying degrees (I am told) by 15-20% of B2B companies.  

Marketing’s Role in Sales

What role do Marketers really play in sales – I mean directly with Sales?  We have found that the answer to this question is quite different for each company. Some Marketers are left to worry about executing campaigns with no particular concern regarding the outcome of the marketing tactics on eventual revenue. It’s hard to believe that this situation still exists, but we’ve seen it time and time again.  It’s the status quo legacy that many companies continue to maintain.  However, we do see a majority of Marketers striving (whether of their own impetus or that of their managers) to have a more direct impact on sales.