• 600,000 companies started a business in 2011, 600,000 businesses failed in the same year.
• There’ve been 33% turnover in jobs and 40 million jobs listed.
• 6,000 people change jobs every hour
• 71% of business cards collected have one change or more within 12 months.

Wow as I look at these numbers, it makes me shiver. How in the world can you develop leads and keep your database clean in this type of environment. These stats lead to the conclusion that high quality leads are hugely preferable over a quantity based approach because of the turnover demonstrated. Then, increasingly importance knowing the difference between leads that just have demonstrated an interest vs. those that are ready to buy becomes monumentally important.

Xerox for example has shrunk their lead database from 100,000 records to lower than 40,000 records. Increasingly, we get calls for companies that want Mercury to telemarket verify their prospect database before we even think about pitching a product. With list compilers pushing prices of $100 per thousand records, a major focus has to be to market only to those highly qualified prospects. Additionally, with the average cost of a direct mail package running $1.25, you’d better be mailing to a person that exists, let alone being concerned about duplicate elimination.  The importance of database enhancement can’t be stressed enough in this example. In this day and age most wise marketers are just testing small quantities of prospects from their databases prior to executing any kind of Marcom effort. This way at least they know what their list obsolescence really is. Are you a wise marketer?

What Are These Stats Doing to Your Data? is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

b2b lead generation

1. Create a Game Plan:
The big reason why most lead generation marketing strategies fail is lack of planning. All too often ideas get implemented into action without the proper foresight to know if the idea is tangible or not. Carefully plan out a lead generation strategy from beginning to end and try to come up with possible problems that might arise. Before you start any of that, you need to clearly define your b2b lead generation goal. What do you want SEO to do for your company? Generate leads? Increase your online presence? Create sales?

2. Evaluate Your Resources Honestly:
Before you being your search engine optimization marketing quest, you need to honestly evaluate if your company has the capabilities to perform the task. Many times companies will sign up for the whole package only to find that SEO is an ongoing and arduous process. Ask yourself if you have the personnel to manage the job or if you will need to outsource the project. This involves content developers, programmers, competitive researchers and technical personnel to handle code and server issues. After your site is properly optimized it is going to take an ongoing team to promote the site, keep it current with fresh content and build a network through backlinking. Is your team knowledgeable with all aspects of SEO? Once you have determined that you have the necessary personnel and you have a good plan, you need to figure out if you have the budget to accomplish the task. Do you have the long-term budget to do search engine optimization marketing correctly?

3. Establishing Metrics:
After your goals have been set you need to see if your lead generation strategies are working. Different companies will have different goals for their search engine optimization marketing campaigns. Before you start your campaign you should implement analytics software into your websites code to track your progress. A lot of companies view an SEO campaign as a success by the amount of #1 rankings they achieve. This way of looking at things is irrelevant to the success of a lead generation campaign. Search results can be radically different depending on what computer you’re logged on to, if you’re currently in your Google Account or by the location of the searcher (Geotracking). You should be looking for keyword rankings over a period of time, the number of people coming to your site based upon keywords and most importantly conversions. It doesn’t matter if you bring 2,000,000 people to your site. If they don’t pick up the phone or fill out that form you are ultimately wasting your b2b lead generation efforts.

4. Ongoing Promotion:
Search engine optimization marketing is not a “One and Done” strategy. Search engines view websites almost like living creatures in the sense if they don’t grow and evolve they will not be ranked as important as other sites. Once you have chosen the right keywords, that fit your business, are ranked highly and have low competition, then you must implement those keywords into your content. Content is King! It is not enough anymore to simply stuff your website with keywords. Your lead generation team needs to produce regular content, promote the site through social networks using micro sites and landing pages as well as building an extensive backlinking network.

5. Establishing a Long-Lasting Image
Search engine optimization marketing is just one tool your company can use in this new age of digital media. SEO should be integrated with social media, video, podcasts, webinars, lead nurturing, email marketing, directory listings, affiliate marketing, mobile and sms marketing, pay per click and teleprospecting. All of these b2b lead generation tools put together, along with traditional marketing efforts, should create a long-lasting brand for your company that creates excitement for your customers. Coordination between public relations, brand managers, the creative team, sales and the website team takes a lot of effort but only through teamwork will your marketing campaigns pay off.

To Your Success,

John Clifford

Five Tips To Establish Successful Search Engine Optimization Marketing Campaigns For Your Business In 2010 is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

When you stand back and look at what really makes a consumer buy something it boils down to trust. Sure the features, the packaging, the warranty, the status symbol, the logo, the brand history and a whole host of other factors come into play when determining if a product will be accepted by the general public, but do they trust the product enough to solve their needs? Does your product or service convey enough trust to make the consumer take a chance and spend their budget with your internet marketing company? What about B2B Buyers? B2B Buyers are not simply risking their personal money but the company’s money, as well as their reputation in the corporation. Are you, the sales lead generation company, doing enough to establish trust with your prospects? In this article I will discuss some direct marketing strategies you can do to establish trust with your prospects.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is trust. You, as an internet marketing company, have to establish a reputation as a trustworthy and creditable organization. The best way to go about doing this is to build rapport with your prospects through ongoing direct marketing such as email or direct mail communications. Nobody likes to be bombarded with spam so give your prospects something. Through direct marketing you can give them something that will pique their interest such as an article you would like to share, a podcast, a webinar invite or helpful tips that make their job easier. The longer you are in communication with your prospects, the shorter the time it will take your prospects to learn to trust you.

When it comes to establishing trust it is nice to have proof of your creditability from an unbiased 3rd party organization. We recommend joining various respected sales lead generation or direct marketing trade associations or groups. One of the best things any company can do is join the Better Business Bureau. Once you have joined these organizations feel free to use their logos on your website and on any direct marketing communications you use on a regular basis. Another good idea is to freely share testimonials of other clients as well as client case examples. Attach some actual numbers as proof to show your prospects exactly how much your internet marketing company increased revenue or cut costs. Prospects will immediately feel more at ease with you as an internet marketing company, knowing others have been down the same path where they are about to go.

Another sales lead generation strategy you can use to immediately establish trust with your prospects is to create a guarantee program. If you are able, offer a no questions asked guarantee vs. a guarantee that has stipulations or hidden clauses. The more open you are with your guarantee the better. The guarantee, especially important in sales lead generation, acts like a safety net against B2B buyer’s remorse. The guarantee will help put the prospect as ease and they will be more willing to buy from your company now instead of doing more research or going with a competitor.

One of the biggest mistakes we as sales lead generation professionals see every day with clients is that their content is focused on them instead of the prospect. When a prospect reaches out to you, the internet marketing company, they are looking to fulfill a certain need they have. It is your job as a direct marketing organization to uncover that need and solve their specific problem. If you spend your time bragging about how long you have been in business for or that you offer quality products and service you will be pretty much wasting the prospects time. B2B Buyers have heard it all before. They are looking for tangible solutions to their unique problems from a fair and decent internet marketing company at an honest price. Spend the majority of your efforts focused on their needs not yours.

Lastly, learn to be patient. The majority of B2B Buyers are not ready to buy today. It takes diligence and commitment to win the hearts and minds of B2B Buyers. If you can stick it out for the long haul and really work on establishing relationships with your prospects; eventually those prospects will turn into life long clients.

Good Selling,

Paul J. Plvan
Mercury Leads, Inc.

Simple Direct Marketing Strategies to Establish Trust with Your Prospects is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

World renowned telemarketing guru Jeff Gitomer once said, “You don’t get great selling in a day. You get great selling day by day.” This statement really personifies what it takes to be a great telemarketer. Sales is not a once and done process. In today’s business world, information is everywhere and is easily accessible. Companies looking to buy, now have options for them that were once unavailable. However, that doesn’t mean that C-Level executives won’t entertain a phone call from a professional b2b sales lead generation company. Even an expert telemarketer must now play by a new set of sales rules. I’ve outlined 10 steps to making an effective telemarketing call in today’s economy.

1.    Attitude – Before you pick up that phone your thoughts and emotional state have already determined if you will be successful or not. If you, the telemarketer, don’t have a good attitude, followed by expert knowledge and a true sense of passion the prospect is going to bail at the first opportunity. Be exceptionally well prepared with your product, script and b2b sales offer.  Prior to making that telemarketing call do something that puts you in the right frame of mind. Think of this time as warming up. Even Michael Jordan took practice shots before a game.

2.    The Opener – Once you have identified that you are communicating to the right person, present your value proposition in the first 30 seconds of the b2b sales call. Before the telemarketing call, craft an attention getter, typically referred to as the Value Proposition (Value Prop) or Unique Selling Proposition (USP).  This is the #1 reason that your prospect should remain on the telemarketing call with you.

3.    Find the Pain, Sell the Opportunity – In today’s business environment managers are increasingly being held accountable for costs and/or generating a profit. As a b2b sales lead generation expert your job is to identify the unpublished point of pain and explain  how your solution fills the void. Conversely, if your solution can increase unrealized sales or profitability, you, the telemarketer, are smart to present these opportunities quickly and succinctly.

4.    Interact – There’s nothing worse than a one-way conversation. Your prospect will soon exit the call.  An expert in teleprospecting lead generation is prepared prior to the call and probes the prospect for an opening to present their solution.    They do their homework and know the prospect, the company, and have a solid profile in hand prior to making the call.  They also have anticipated objections and can counter these with meaningful expert dialog enabling them to achieve their objectives for the call.

5.    People Buy From Experts – There is really only one reason b2b sales people thrive, they have more knowledge than the buyer. The professional telemarketer brings experience via their solutions that the buyer needs and doesn’t have. Telemarketing is the easiest and most efficient way to present these solutions to the decision maker and open the door to the demonstration.

6.    Focus on Maintaining – Your power questions should help guide the prospect to share what dissatisfies them most about their corporate situation. One tactic during a telemarketing call is to tell the prospect how you’ll stabilize their profits, safeguard against industry trends, overcome fear and abolish their worries. Prospects are just as motivated to maintain what they have as they are to buy something new.

7.    Practice Makes Perfect – Role Play. Rehearse in the mirror if you have to. Take the time to come up with a good script designed for teleprospecting lead generation and rehearse it until you don’t need the script. Then take it to the next level, pitch it without benefit of the telemarketing script.  If you’re the expert your product knowledge should allow you to succeed with the prospect pitch.

8.    Close – You’re saying this a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at the number of telemarketing professionals that don’t have a defined path. You’re in charge of the call and need to stay in that position. Lead the prospect to where you envision and you will realize the predefined goals and objectives of your teleprospecting call.

9.    Cultivate the other 95% – In B2B sales it is may take to 5, 6, 7 or more telemarketing phone calls, webinars or face-to-face conferences to close the deal. During that time you need to build trust and credibility.  Position yourself and your organization as industry and thought leaders with articles, whitepapers, graphs, webinars, podcasts, testimonials and client case examples. Learn to read your prospect and present solutions to their objections. When the time is right don’t be afraid to ask for the sale. In telemarketing, persistence pays off. Each teleprospecting lead generation professional has their own style, learn which style works best for you then learn to refine it.

10.    Review – Take the time after each telemarketing call to review what you could have done better and then learn from those mistakes.

It takes a lot of time to become a great b2b sales lead generation expert. Remember, you will be rejected. You only fail when you quit. Don’t ever doubt yourself; with practice anyone can be a darn good telemarketer. To quote legendary teleprospecting connoisseur Red Motley, “Nothing happens until a sale is made.”

Good Selling,

Paul J. Plvan
Mercury Leads, Inc.

The Art of the B2B Sales Call is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

Ask any lead generation marketer what the most important aspect of a campaign is and you will get 50 different answers. Many marketers love to tout about how fancy their new CRM System is or how effective their pay-per-click ads are running. Those are all nice and well but these tools are only as good as the person using them.

In this Web 2.0 era we as lead generation marketers often forget that marketing isn’t about tricks of the trade, it is simply about what your company can do for your client. It boils down to sales and getting your client more them. So what is the most effective sales lead generation strategy to convert more prospects into sales? It all starts with the offer.

The offer is the most important aspect of any landing page, website copy, teleprospecting call or pay-per-click campaign. All too often the business offer is poorly written and does not emit an emotional response in the prospect. Companies tend to brag about how good their product is and how poorly the competition is doing. The fact is the prospect does not care about your industry reputation, how long you have been in business, what awards you have won or certification classes you have taken. The prospect is looking for specific information to help him/her make an important buying decision.

On average you only have 5-8 seconds to convince someone to stay on your website. If the prospect doesn’t find something compelling they simply go onto the next website. There are 6 characteristics of a great offer.

A compelling business offer is:

1.   Of Value to the prospect.
2.   Exclusive- something the prospect can’t get anywhere else
3.   Tangible- something the prospect can visualize
4.   Relevant- to the business or the prospect’s personal needs
5.   Easy to deliver message that is simple and clear
6.   Entertaining and Engaging

Hands down the most compelling offer is the informational offer. Your information should help the prospect research solutions quickly and effectively and ultimately solve their problem. The informational offer should include a strong appeal with high perceived value and be relatively low cost and risk to the prospect. It should be focused on taking action.

Put yourself in the prospects shoes when coming up with an offer by asking yourself these questions:

•    What is the best way to solve my business problem or corporate goal?
•    What solutions does your company offer to help me solve my problem?
•    What are all of the issues I should be concerned about when researching this problem?
•    How do I know what solution is best for my particular problem?
•    Who are the market leaders in the industry? Why?
•    What do peer reviews say about your company? Who can I trust?
•    What is a fair price I should pay for this product or service?
•    What type of ROI can I expect from this solution? What company will give me a fair assessment without inflating their numbers?
•    What other costs such as (training and support) will there be? Are these long-term costs?
•    How soon can we see the benefits from your solution?

Once you have addressed these questions you as a sales lead generation marketer need to come up with tangible solutions to these problems focused on getting the prospect to take action. At each stage of the buying cycle you should be gaining your prospects trust by lead nurturing with whitepapers, trend and 3rd party studies, webinars, flash videos, testimonials, case studies, e-books, competitive analysis of your company vs. competitors, ROI calculators, podcasts and seminars.

Keep in mind that your company is not in the business of selling products; your company is in the business of selling solutions. Once you focus on these aspects of lead generation marketing and lead nurturing you will start to see more prospects be converted into lifelong sales.

Yours in Selling,

Paul J. Plvan
Principal
http://www.mercuryleads.com

Writing a Strong Business Offer is Crucial in Sales Lead Generation is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

In today’s tough business environment it is increasingly important to do 2 things very well as you execute your demand generation process:

• Have a well executed multi-channel communications strategy
• Create a closed loop lead generation process that includes a planned lead nurturing process

As a B2B lead generation and sales lead company we see these 2 items most often missed or just overlooked by Marketing Executives working on lead generation strategies. As you can see below independent research companies have validated that this is a major mistake. Consider these facts:

• Closed loop lead management process including database segmentation, lead qualification, lead scoring, and lead nurturing leads to 50% pipeline growth.
• Well-executed multi-channel marketing campaigns generate a sales lift ranging from 7-34%.
• Companies that develop nurturing programs increase their average order value by 47%.
• An estimated 70-90% of all leads generated by marketing are never followed up by sales.

This is indeed sobering information for Marketing Executives and their lead generation campaigns. These tactical elements are generally considered the most vital part of any lead generation process, and we have realized even higher lift than this in client lead generation and demand generation processes so the payoff is obviously worth the effort.

Discipline is the operative word and a great deal of it is required. Whether implementing these processes in-house or using an external vendor your job just may depend on accomplishing these aspects of your sales lead generation program. You have to look at this through the eyes of your target prospect. The C-Suite is more and more involved in key purchasing decisions of the organization. They also have the least amount of time. Therefore your communications, and messaging for demand generation has to be expertly coordinated in order to gain top of mind awareness for your product or service. To use a Mercury Leads analogy you have to “fish where the fish are”, the CEO, CTO, or CFO can be found in the most remote estuaries.

The statistics listed above are common sense but with a little discipline your company can prosper when other organizations and competitors are stagnant. I’ve attached a link to a document we’ve compiled over the past several years something we call “Lead Generation Facts of Life“. By taking your campaigns to the next level and exercising common sense and discipline your lead generation strategies will enjoy a substantial increase in overall performance. For other helpful white papers please visit our website and of course we welcome your comments.

Yours in Selling,

Paul J. Plvan
Principal
http://www.mercuryleads.com

C-Suite Demand Generation is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!