Lead Generation - It's Science, Not Art

Anyone leading a sales team these days needs to be part sales management and part marketing guru.  It isn't enough for a sales VP to understand the basics of pipeline management, opportunity management, and the most popular sales methodology of moment.  Everyone knows that a strong sales funnel is a direct result of an optimized marketing lead generation program.  It is fine to allow marketing to own the lead generation piece of the puzzle, but it is critical that sales takes an active role in the building and management of that program.  Why?  Mainly, it is due to the fact that sales is the customer facing part of the organization.  As a result, Sales will typically receive direct feedback from clients and prospects with regard to what type of questions and solutions are important to them.  By harvesting this insight and building marketing lead generation programs around the prospect/client interests, it is possible to more efficiently deliver this information to prospects.  More importantly, marketing can begin the "dialog" prior to the start of the sales process which ultimately increases the success of the sales team when they finally engage in a buying process or sales cycle.  This is commonly known as "lead nurturing" and Jon Miller's company, Marketo, has developed software to management of this process between sales and marketing.  I would suggest reviewing Marketo's blog on lead nurturing along with linked info on Brian Carroll's thoughts on lead nurturing to quickly enhance your lead generation efforts.

Comments

[Nick Pirog]

Great point, lead generation is becoming an increasingly powerful too for both marketers and salespeople. That said, there are many alternatives to Marketo, such as Pardot's Prospect Insight or the more expensive Eloqua. Each product is slightly different but in the end helps with lead generation and lead nurturing.

Disclosure: I work for Pardot

[MW]

Pardot (www.pardot.com) has some amazing lead generation and management functionality for the price. I spoke with Kevin (kevin.goldstein) @ pardot.com - I would send him an email to request a demo and info.

[Authority Networker]

Lead generation is something that takes time. But the more helpful and valuable your information, the faster you can build your downline and the greater the chance those customers will purchase from you. This is the concept of attraction marketing. Implementing this authority networker method will help you develop ongoing relationships with clients and moving them along the buying path in your communications to greatly increase profits on autopilot.

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Everyone knows that a strong sales funnel is a direct result of an optimized marketing lead generation program. It is fine to allow marketing to own the lead generation piece of the puzzle, but it is critical that sales takes an active role in the building and management of that program.