Sales Lead Management Today

SLMA Radio: August 2 Carlos Hidalgo, Executive Director of the Marketing Automation Institute

SLMA Radio host Jim Obermayer has asked Carlos to make an unbiased presentation to the membership (and visitors) on the subject of: Why Marketing Automation?  Facts, Figures and Cost!

SLMA Interviewed Carlos Hidalgo, Executive Director of the Marketing Automation Institute.

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About the MAI: The MAI is a Community for All Things Marketing Automation

The Marketing Automation Institute (MAI) is the community for marketing automation end users who want to maximize the ROI from their marketing automation investment. The MAI provides the highest level of vendor-agnostic curriculum, training and certification, as well as opportunities for automation professionals to network, advance in their career and learn from their peers and industry leaders.

SLMA Radio: Hank Blank, Networking Guru talks about REAL Networking

Hank Blank is one of those people that when you read his writing, you are drawn into to an interesting, sincere, and affable man.  You WANT to know him, call him a colleague, mentor, and friend. But he doesn't take those classifications lightly. He's a true networker and teaches about networking through articles, speaking engagements and training sessions. He's not a guest to miss!  The second half of the program Jim turned the microphone over to Hank - start taking notes!  Invaluable information  - truly.

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Some of the highlights include:

"It was about building networks and relationships. People make a mistake by thinking networking is going to an event. It's an attitude of engagement. If you engage with all of your encounters, you'll have a much richer life. You see people on their crackberries, zombies, walking into walls and other

BuyerZone and LeadsCouncil: The State of B2B Lead Generation 2012 Results

BuyerZone and the LeadsCouncil recently published "The State of B2B Lead Generation 2012." We are impressed with the 19-page survey results, available in depth by clicking here or accessing the survey on the SLMA website in the research section (requires login for B2B Articles and Whitepapers).

We show some results here, with our editorial remarks, which are not part of the finished survey results.

Who’s using CRM and what are they using?

• 56% of survey respondents are using some sort of CRM system. SLMA: This number appears low, unless respondents are more representative of small business (which appears to be the case).
• 78%, with three or more marketing people on their team, report using a CRM system. SLMA: Marketing often drives CRM implementation.
• 24% of respondents don’t know the definition of CRM. SLMA: This is scary!
• Of the systems being used, SalesForce leads the pack with a 21% usage number. SLMA: Surprisingly low, but BuyerZone also quoted Forbes’ report as saying that SalesForce had only 15% of the market.
• Other systems in use include ACT! with 16%, Goldmine, Tigerpaw, and in-house systems.
• 31% are still using Excel. SLMA: this doesn’t surprise us, but it shows that after 25 years of CRM (or lesser versions) and we’ve still got nearly a third of businesses using Excel. Go figure! The cost of a web-based CRM system today is a rounding error for most companies.

Marketing Automation?

 • 87% of those surveyed don’t use a marketing automation system. SLMA: this is in line with what the MA companies report.

SLMA Radio: Lisa Cramer, President of LeadLife Solutions

Paul Roberts, of SLMA Radio interviewed Lisa and asked her:

• Why companies currently losing revenue by not paying attention to their website visitors?
• What percentage of prospects that LeadLife speaks with still have legacy marketing and sales processes?
• What impact does this have on their sales/marketing effectiveness?
• When companies do employ some type of consultation or solution to help with their sales and marketing efforts – like marketing automation – what are some of the top reasons such attempts fail to improve the bottom line?

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Sales Lead Management Association (SLMA) and Marketing Automation Institute (MAI) Partner to Deliver New Expertise

SLMA and MAI Provide New Offerings to Cross Train Sales and Marketing Leaders

Grand Rapids, Michigan and Villa Park, CA—July 25, 2012— Sales Lead Management Association (SLMA), serves 4800 sales leaders globally and The Marketing Automation Institute (MAI), the premiere certification body and collaborative community for B2B and B2C marketing automation professionals, announced a strategic partnership today to further the education of marketing automation in the market and cross train sales and marketing professionals.

“We are thrilled to partner with SLMA, one of the greatest resources for today’s marketing and sales professionals,” says Carlos Hidalgo, executive director of the Marketing Automation Institute. “The certification courses MAI offers will be a great addition to SLMA’s curriculum. Our goal of this partnership is to bring a focus on marketing automation to SLMA members to further their understanding of marketing automation and how it impacts sales.”

SLMA Radio: Ken Krogue of Inside Sales

June 21: Ken Krogue, President Inside Sales

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Jim Obermayer signed up for the demo of Inside Sales cloud based sales automation products. Jim was really enthralled with what it does to make a sales force more efficient. "The cost is pennies - it has no bearing on what the sales people can do.  They have a set up that you can make your call, update the record with a couple of clicks saving minutes for each call follow up." 

Ken talked about their coverage by Forbes on the topic of lead response. They were the first company to blend dialer tools into a CRM.  Jim asked Ken to distinguish between Predictive Dialing and Power Dialing.

He explained, "Predictive dialing is: those are the ones that call you at dinner time and have the 'wait for the next representative...' Most annoying.

Power dialing is: designed for high-end professionals. They added predictive abilities into the database to give the salesforce more information. 'We make less calls, but close 3 times as often because of the additional information.'"

Kenneth Krogue joined Sales InsideSales.com in November 2004 and manages marketing, inside sales, channels sales and development. In this role, he is responsible for working with the chairman and chief executive officer to set the vision and strategy for the company as well as overseeing all day-to-day sales and marketing operations. Mr. Krogue brings more than 15 years of experience in sales, development and marketing in both domestic and international markets.

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In Memoriam, Ken Murray – President of VanillaSoft

VanillaSoft announced the passing of its President and founder, Ken  Murray.

Kenneth "Ken" Eugene Murray, age 53, passed away on Monday, June 18, 2021 in  Plano, TX. He was born October 17, 2021 in Cookeville, TN to Donn Malcolm Murray  and Patricia Ruth Murray. Ken graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi (B.A.) and Harvard Business School (OPM-Owner/President Management).

The employees of VanillaSoft said that Ken was not only a great leader but also a great father and friend. He was dedicated to the companies he served and to his wife and children, never losing sight of the importance of a balanced life for both himself and his employees. His generosity extended to everyone, as he felt that we all share a responsibility to help those in need. In particular he was very passionate about helping entrepreneurs in the developing world through the micro-lending site Kiva, which he actively promoted personally and through VanillaSoft.

A 30-year veteran of the Inside Sales space, Ken designed and executed Inside Sales campaigns for numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. In 2003, Ken tried to find a good software solution for one of his companies doing outbound calling and was frustrated with the functionality and cost of what was available. That was all that was needed to get Ken’s entrepreneurial blood flowing and, in the few short years since, he built VanillaSoft into a recognized leader in its space.

Ken was a long-time supporter of the SLMA. Yes, he was a sponsor and an advertiser, but Ken gave something more valuable; he took the time to give us advice. He never volunteered advice unless asked, but he was there to chat and explore ways to help the SLMA grow its membership and footprint in the field of Sales Lead Management. A week or so before he passed away, Ken agreed to be on a new SLMA executive committee. Sadly we will miss his contributions.

Several members of the SLMA have contacted us with the news of Ken’s passing and asked that we say a few words. I for one will miss his sage and steady advice, and his cheerful voice (even whilst hiding out from the storms that hit Texas a few months back).

“I’ll call you back Jim,” he said. “We’re a little busy now with trucks and cows flying through the air.” And of course he did call back. Good-bye Ken, and thank you for your advice and friendship for me and the SLMA.

David Hood has taken over as president of VanillaSoft. David is a successful software entrepreneur with extensive experience in finance, business development, and marketing. As co-founder and CEO of Hemera Technologies, David grew a firm from a basement start-up to a world-class player in the digital image content space in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to Hemera, David held several positions at Corel Corporation, including responsibility for the Eastern U.S. Seaboard, the South Pacific, India, France and the UK. He has experience working with businesses on four continents. David holds a Bachelor in Biochemistry , a Masters Degree in International Affairs, and graduated from the Owner-President Management program (OPM) of Harvard Business School.

SLMA Radio: July 4 - Best of with Steve Gershik of SiriusDecisions

Steve Gershik. VP of Marketing – SiriusDecisions

The Topic: Social Media and the B-to-B Channel

Steve Gershik is vice president of marketing for SiriusDecisions, a b-to-b research and advisory firm for sales and marketing.  Steve brings more than 18 years of global B2B marketing experience to SiriusDecisions, including his roles as CEO of 28Marketing, a demand generation consulting company, and co-founding DemandCon, the demand generation conference. Previously, Steve was VP of Marketing at TOA Technologies and Eloqua, among other technology leadership roles.

He is on the Executive Council of the Marketing Automation Institute and has been named one of the Top 50 Leaders in Sales Lead Management by the SLMA and is also in demand as a frequent speaker at industry conferences and webinars.

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