Smashmouth B2B Blog: Sales & Marketing Demand Gen

B2B Appointment Setting Teams and How to Get the Most From Them

Appointment Setting is a part of demand generation that is done through vendors that specialize in the task, or by inside sales teams that add it to their roster of tasks.  Building a performing team of appointment setters, as a business or a function of inside sales, requires best practices, tips and tricks -- and most of all -- discipline. 

I get asked the following question a lot when I’m on the road, be it from clients or prospects or from folks I’m chatting with during industry networking events:

“How do you get the most out of your appointment setting team?”

That's the $64,000 question.  Getting the most from appointment setters is always something that’s at the forefront of our minds -- especially when maintaining both quality and quantity in the results. The minute you stop thinking about driving performance is the minute production and quality drops, and a minute lost is a minute you'll never get back. 

There are several ways that you can keep your B2B appointment setting team cranking and happy, too.  If your team is happy, they’re going to be executing at a higher level.

Incent Them Strategically - If you want to get the most out of your appointment setting team, you’ve got to incent them to achieve the right goals.  If the most important measure is to have meetings with a positive outcome (read: logical next step in the sales process), then doesn’t it make sense that your appointment setting team is compensated on the quality of meetings rather than dials, pitches and meeting count? Old school call center tactics work, but need adjustments.  We're not selling new paper subscriptions here.

SPIFF Them Periodically - Everybody loves competition, fun and reward, and a SPIFF is a great way to way bring it.  If your team is chugging along but you’re looking for something to push performance or direct it in a certain direction, a SPIFF is a great tool.  Do you know what your reps hold dear.  Is it cash?  Is it time off?  Is it gift cards?  Is it ego?  Whatever it is, surprising them with a contest is a great way to up the team’s production and incent teamwork.

Provide Them With Sales 2.0 Tools - Don't just help your team, implement Sales 2.0 tools and techniques and make your whole organization more agile.  Run a training class on LinkedIn tips and tricks.  If your average appointment setter is taking 100-120 dials to get an appointment, why not demonstrate techniques that can shorten those cycles and provide better quality in the process?  Add click-to-dial software for your CRM, Jigsaw and NetProspex subscriptions, or social media tools for prospecting purposes, and you’re all set.

Give Them Freedom to Work - I've seen this job done a hundred different ways.  Provide freedom of technique.  If someone is better starting the task with research and others are better as hard core dialers, accommodate them.  Maintain best practices, but give your team the freedom to work in their comfort zone.  Find ways to measure them that takes into account "their personal best practices".

Provide Them With Support - Don't just give them a pitch and a phone.  Back up your appointment setters with resources and staff.  Help them with things like list-building, email creations, scripting, etc.  If your reps can spend less time on support tasks, that leaves more time for production.  Simple as that. 

Ultimately, what you want to do is get the most from your B2B appointment setters, and these are some of the ways we do that for our clients and ourselves.  How do you push your team to greater achievements?

Photo Credit:  ianturton via Flickr

Be a B2B Tweeter, Not a B2B Twit

Sometimes I think George Lucas just didn’t “get it” when he made the Star Wars prequels.  You know, the “other” Star Wars movies?  He had made the greatest trilogy in the world in Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.  For years, with fans clamoring for more movies, Lucas said that either he wasn’t ready to make them or the technology in cinematography just wasn’t ready.  Then stars aligned and he was ready to make the rest of his story; three movies to be set before Episode IV (1977), to tell the story of how things led up to where they did.  To fans of the original trilogy, Lucas fell woefully short with Episodes I-III.  He didn’t get that what made the original movies was story, not special effects.  Sure, the newer movies had better effects, but the end result was miserable.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on Twitter, specifically in the B2B Sales and Marketing arena, you’re sure to see some people on there that deliver fantastic information.  This is information that I’m very thankful for, as are my colleagues in the industry.  However, with all of the good, there are still some on Twitter who just don’t “get it.”  I’d like to share with you some ideas on how you can “get it” and keep yourself from becoming a Demand Gen Twit:

1. Remember, it’s not always about you -- If there’s one thing that burns me up about Twitter, it's the people who are shameless self-promoters.  SHAMELESS.  Twitter is a great self-promotion tool, however, it’s an even better word-of-mouth tool.  It’s one thing to tweet about something you’ve done or your most recent blog entry, but it’s another if someone else does it for you.  What does that mean for you?  It means you’ve got to be writing great content.  Keep in mind what Chris Brogan says:  “[promote] the heck out of others”
   
   
2. Start the conversation -- One of the best parts about Twitter is the ability to have long-running conversations with a bunch of people.  That’s a great way to share new ideas (and get some, too) while keeping in mind my first point. Get involved and get people talking.  A number of people do this well; and for a great example, check out Mack Collier’s blog chat (#blogchat) that occurs most Sunday nights.
   
   
3. Learn -- If there’s one thing that I love about Twitter, it’s that for the most part the folks that “get it” share a wealth of new information -- new information that is relevant to you because others finding and sharing it have similar interests to you.  The opportunity to have great content and data at my fingertips, throughout any part of my day, is exciting for me.  The more you read, the more you’ll be able to share, and the more you share, the more you’ll keep yourself from becoming another Twit.

There are a lot of ways to be a better B2B tweeter, and these ideas are for me as much as they are for you (maybe even more so).  So, help me keep the conversation going, and share with the rest us some other ways we can keep from being a Twit.

Photo Credit:  PhotoJonny via Flickr

The Demand Gen Capital of the World: Andover, MA

Lead Generation is an "industry" in New England, going back to the early days of the Route 128 Technology Highway.  At one point some entrepreneurial soul spun off from one of the big companies, such as Digital or Wang, and there you have it -- an industry was born.

Now there are over 1500 third-party lead gen employees in the area, not to mention all the companies that have based their outbound efforts in the area. 

The following competitors all call New England home.  We know most of our competitors and consider many of them friends:

A Better Call, Inc. AG Salesworks By Appointment Only         Call Center Services Chameleon Group eCoast Sales Good Leads

Green Leads Impole LeadSpark Mansfield Sales Partners Marketing Connections TSL Marketing WhiteSpace Strategy Partners

(If I left one off, leave me a comment and I'll add them to the list)

We were confident at Green Leads that setting up shop in Andover, MA was a good decision.  It's a beautiful town, 20 minutes north of Boston, has a T (rail) station, fantastic reach to the lead gen talent pool ... and Linda and I live here.

Half of these companies are located in the Merrimack Valley, with Andover in the center of the map.  Does that make us the demand gen capital of the world?  It may have been debatable, but now that we've heard rumors that the largest of the appointment setting clan, By Appointment Only, is moving across the street, I guess that may seal the deal. 

Andover is now undisputably the demand gen capital of the world. 

So if you are looking for BAO competitors, just look over your shoulder.  There are plenty in the area, and specifically Green Leads is in the next building, where the parking is better -- and we were here first!

ps. The Shawsheen Luncheonette is our turf

3 Great B2B Demand Gen Articles from Last Week

It's amazing that there's so much great content out there surrounding demand generation and B2B sales and marketing! Here are a few that stand out to the Smashmouth crowd from last week:

Are Your Inside Sales Reps Good Detectives? A guest post on AG Salesworks' Sales Prospecting Perspectives blog provided an interesting comparison to inside sales reps and detectives.  The author likens his approach to that of  Columbo and collects as much detail from his prospects as he can.

"I find that people are willing to share one more thing with me in order to get me off the phone.  This one thing may turn into a longer conversation that could bring out more pains and needs from the prospect and in time, turning this ‘not interested’ person into an opportunity for our clients."

Whatever You Do, Don't Do This During a Sales Meeting. Jill Konrath, sales strategist and author of SNAP Selling, has an article on ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom blog about limiting the amount of time you speak during a sales call and keeping quiet during that most critical meeting -- replacing your competitor!

"Top sellers realize that replacing an incumbent is a slow, deliberate process. They understand it takes time to demonstrate value and develop strong relationships. Knowing this, they put together a one-step-at-a-time account-entry strategy that advances the sales process much faster than if they tried to do everything in a single call."

7 Fluff-Free Reasons Your Online Content Isn't Spreading. David Siteman Garland, author and entrepreneur from The Rise to the Top website, wrote a guest post over at inbound marketing evangelist HubSpot's blog.  Garland shares some great thoughts as to why your content may not be as aflame as you'd like it to be.

"Normally there isn’t just one answer and it isn’t black-and-white. Some things directly matter and others go a little bit deeper with more abstract, yet equally important ideas like trust and authority. But, everything adds up."

Like I said, there's a lot of great information out there; what would you have added from the week?

Photo Credit:  steve.wilde via Flickr

Sales 2.0 Tips: Discussing Outbound Marketing Stats (Video)

Last month was the Sales 2.0 Conference in Boston (my comments here).  I connected with friends and colleagues with similar desires to increase sales and marketing production with no holds barred.  

I had the opportunity in Boston to present on the topic of Increasing Productivity Without Increasing Headcount and then participating on a panel discussion on the topic. (video below)

Since my attendance at the first Sales 2.0 Conference, I had discussed with Gerhard that the topics of sales and marketing in a 2.0 world just can't be discussed separately.   So the highlight of my day was when he closed the session by announcing that the next "Sales 2.0 Conference" will be known as the "Sales and Marketing 2.0 Conference". 

Thanks to ConnectAndSell for inviting me to speak.
Video of my presentation:

B2B Demand Gen Week in Review July 12..16

There were some great B2B Demand Gen articles posted this week, and here are the handful that stood out for the Smashmouth crowd:

Old Spice: The Man Your Content Could Smell Like - The big news this week was the Old Spice Man answering people's questions and Twitter updates with personalized responses. The originality of this type of content marketing is refreshing.

"Not too long ago Old Spice was a brand that was largely forgotten or something that was worn by your father. This weekend, watching the latest commercial (embedded below), my boyfriend asked me if he should switch over to Old Spice. The momentum Old Spice is creating goes beyond just 'silly Web videos'. They’re using remarkable content to capture brand awareness, eyes, and in the end, sales."

To read more about this, check out SEO/Blogging/Twitter guru Lisa Barone of internet marketing company Outspoken Media.

Create Your Own Content Category - Joe Pulizzi, marketing strategist over at Junta42, has a great article on his site about owning your own "keywords."

"If you are talking about the same concepts and content as your competitors, what value are you adding to the conversation? Are you truly providing anything that will differentiate you from your competitors, over the thousands of other messages out there your customers are possibly engaging with?"

For Those About to Rock...Show Up First - Paul Castain, sales trainer and sales blogger at Paul Castain's Sales Playbook, wrote a great article that shares 13 tips on how effective sales people can "show up" and get found, all while weaving Slash and George Lopez into the mix.

"People like Slash understand that they need to be seen. They also understand that you can’t be seen if you don’t show up."

There were a lot of great blog articles this week surrounding B2B sales and marketing - which one got you thinking? What did we miss?

*Photo Credit: suttonhoo via Flickr

B2B Lead Generation Can Take The Heat Of Summer

I started penning this piece about summer last week when AG Salesworks published a great article touching on some of the tactical issues of lead gen in the summer.  It got me thinking that there must be some research to support a fact Green Leads is confident about: rather than slowing during the summer, lead generation activities actually heat up. 

For the most part, it's popular opinion that it’s harder to sell during the summer.  It makes some sense, right?  We tend to think of this as a lazy season, one filled with family barbecues, homemade iced tea and hours spent lounging in a hammock. 

Sounds good?  Fewer people working, right?

That’s not necessarily the case.  According to Gretchen Weber, a freelance writer for workforce.com, people are taking less time off.  Regardless of the amount of time off we’re given, or earn, Americans are using less of it.  We may think that because summer is so low-key it’s a good time for us to regroup from the rush of Q1 and to gear up for a big year-end.  Not so, my friends.  The implication for those of us in the B2B lead generation business is crystal clear:  DO NOT SLOW DOWN.  

Here are three reasons why you should not slow down your demand generation efforts this (or any) summer:

1. People are more likely in the office - Just as the article from Weber pointed out, people are using less and less of their time off.  Use that knowledge to engage in your demand gen efforts with great enthusiasm.  Because we’re utilizing less of our vacation time, there is a greater likelihood that we’re going to catch people at their desks, whether we’re emailing them or calling them.  Don’t assume that they’re not there; you know what your middle school teacher taught you about “assuming,” right?  If our prospects are in the office more, so we should be. 
2. Schedules are less hectic - Though the summer typically offers no relief from the heat, it does tend to free up people’s schedules.  For us, this means that people are more likely to be responsive to appointment setting.  That brief break from a busy schedule affords us the opportunity to schedule a time to talk with decision makers and influencers.  If we’re really using fewer vacation days, it stands to reason that we’re not all too comfortable with an “open” calendar.  Use that to your advantage and get yourself time in front of your top prospects.
3. Five years of data proving otherwise - When all else fails to convert the non-believers, pull out data.  At Green Leads, we’ve got five years' worth of data that proves to us that the summer months, specifically July and August, are better than September for setting appointments for our clients.  Yet every year, clients want to slow down for the summer and turn back on in September.  It's counterintuitive, but the summer is prime time.  Lead gen is about pipeline too, and working hard during the summer sets up the fall for success as well.

What do you think?  Is summer a time for relaxing or maximizing your Demand Gen efforts?

Photo Credit:  *Micky via Flickr

Sales 2.0 Strategies: Demand Gen Lessons From the iPhone

Not sure I'm going to pick up the new iPhone just yet. I'm hearing about issues with the antenna, but I'm sure I'll have to make a decision when one of my daughters drops her phone into the pool this summer and I need to sacrifice my current iPhone as a replacement. It's been a tried-and-true pattern the past 3 summers.

The iPhone 4 brings Apple customers a nicely improved design and several new features: the ability to make video phone calls, to record (and edit!) HD videos and true multi-tasking, just to name a few. What this means to me (and you) is its connection to Sales 2.0.

It's all about the evolution and use of technology -- I feel as if Apple values prospects and customers and wants to bring them value.  The nature of technology is that it has to evolve, and the technology we have today is astounding. The cool part is that it's only getting better!

Sales 2.0 is all about evolution as well.  It's about changing the way sales and marketing do our jobs and adapting.  Sales 2.0 means that we have to evolve.

Here are three ways we can keep that evolution going:

• Improve our prospect's interactions with us - These interactions make or break the sales process. Got a poorly designed website? You and I both know that if you do, your prospects aren't coming back. Got a content-rich, informative website? Chances are they'll keep coming back even after they purchase. Is your marketing value embedded within the content prospects see as valuable? Does the sales team have the tools and information it takes to make prospects feel they are gaining value and in control of the buying cycle? Prospects want what prospects want, not always what we want.
• Better qualify MQL's - We've evolved how we bring value to prospects; now we've got to do a better job at qualifying them as MQL's (marketing qualified leads). Evolve the Quality vs. Quantity. Apple doesn't market the new iPhone to kids and teens in hopes that they will be prospects walking in to talk to an Apple Genius. They market to adult users who can afford the premium phone/service. Salespeople want the same kind of leads. Whether you do this through appointment setting, teleprospecting or lead scoring, make your sales reps want to thank you for every lead.
  
• Accelerate word of mouth marketing (WOM) - How many of you bought iPhones because someone let you hold it?  Testimonials and referrals (word-of-mouth marketing) is one of the best -- if not the greatest -- source of new prospects for most companies.  Is this Sales 2.0?  Optimizing it and helping sales and marketing teams take advantage of it certainly is. Create tools, buzz and reasons for customers to bring you prospects.

Have you bought an iPhone 4? What do you think of the changes?

(Side note: what do you use it for as it pertains to sales and marketing?  Me ... I've loaded Salesforce, LinkedIn and even a link to my presentations should I meet a prospect on the road.)

Inbound Lead Generation: Improving Your B2B Sales and Marketing Blogs

You want to talk about improvements? You know what needed improvement? The Boston Celtics, that's who. If you're a fan of basketball, or maybe even a fan of rivalries, maybe you, like me, watched the Boston Celtics crumble last Thursday night (June 17th). Two storied franchises, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, both vying for the NBA Championship in a Game 7 match. Winner takes all, losers go home with their heads hanging low. For Celtics fan, it was a great game - up until the 3rd quarter. Spoiler alerts here, folks: The Celtics blew it. The Lakers tied the game and then went up and never looked back. It was a bad night for the Bean's Green, and their play in the 4th quarter certainly needed improvement -- minute by minute improvement -- constant improvement.

What about your B2B sales and marketing blog, though? I read 20-40 of them a day, do they need improvement? Are you on the verge of "blowing it" and driving prospects to competitors, or losing your industry leader status? Chances are, it could use some constant tweaking (I'm speaking to myself, too). Here are three ways, as we head into the second half of 2010, that you can improve your B2B sales and marketing blog:

1. Revisit your blog's goals - When you first started writing your blog, you had a goal in mind. Maybe it was to establish your organization as a thought leader, maybe it was to bring awareness of your services or solutions, and more than likely, it was to create interest in your prospect audience. Somewhere along the line, maybe you've moved from one of those goals to another. That's not a bad thing, but maybe you've confused your audience. Go back and revisit what you intended to do when you first started. If that goal is still a worthwhile pursuit, resolve yourself to stick with it. If not, make the changes necessary to make your blog into what you want it to be.  In my case, I had two goals, and I'm sticking to them: establish a leadership role in the b2b demand gen space (demand gen blog tag here), and to promote without being too self serving, the appointment setting and outbound marketing services offered by Green Leads.  Not to mention SEO and Lead Generation.
   
   
2. Write from a place of passion - This one really should go without saying. If you've lost passion for writing about your services or solutions, it's time to pass the torch onto someone else who may have some. That doesn't mean you can't pick it back up later when your batteries are recharged, but if you're not excited about what your writing about, neither will your audience be excited to read it. If you've got a "corporate" type blog, look for someone else who may have an interest in writing and encourage them to share their talents. And keep the passion regular -- be it once per week, or twice a day, maintain your article publishing consistency.
   
   
3. Don't be afraid to stir the pot - While I don't necessarily subscribe to the belief that nice guys finish last, I do believe that nice guys are free to disagree with whomever they want, and then blog about it. The following two controversy articles were two of my highest traffic articles to date:
   
       Web Leads: Pounce, Pause, Nurture or Wait
       Lead Generation Tips: Take a 3 Hour Lunch
   
   What I'm getting at here is that you shouldn't be afraid to use your blog to disagree with ideas or create controversial ones. It's a great way to get some good dialogue going with your audience. Remember, there's a good way to go about airing controversy, and there's a wrong way. We're all adults and professionals, so let's act like it.  Don't hurt your brand.
   

What are some of the ways you go about improving your blog?

*Photo Credit: The Game Is On via Flickr

ActiveConversion Product Review: Demand Gen Intelligence

ActiveConversion is a web based solution that allows organizations to identify visitors to their website, to automatically qualify and nurture leads, to get notified when leads become "hot," and to track ROI of marketing campaigns. They are partners with Google, Jigsaw, VerticalResponse, and Salesforce.com.

Upon opening up the solution, you can view your ActiveConversion dashboard. You're able to see your active leads, broken down by active companies, active prospects, and qualified leads. The information is easy to read and easy to understand, and a click of the mouse allows you to dive deeper into the graphically represented reports. The dashboard gives you visibility into seeing which of your leads is actually showing genuine interest. That's great, but as I'm thinking about it, how exactly does this work? How does it determine whether or not one of my prospects is showing "genuine interest?  They do this by scoring visitors to your website on three different categories:

• How they reached your site
• What they viewed, and
  
• How long they visited.

These scores are easy to configure and allow you to determine when a prospect is ready for a call, and when they're not.

ActiveConversion can help simplify lead management and lead routing process. The sales team can also reap the benefit from the following:

• Identification of anonymous visitors to your website by mapping known IP addresses. Contacts of the prospect company can be instantly researched in Jigsaw.
• Push leads and session visit data to the sales team through regularly scheduled emails. This can also include lead score.
• Returning visitors can have lead scores improved and salesforce activities scheduled upon further visits.
  

When I visit your site, do you know if I'm a lead?

More Smashmouth Demand Gen Product Reviews.