Smashmouth B2B Blog: Sales & Marketing Demand Gen

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 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

Lead Gen Tips: Find LinkedIn Names That Aren't In Your Network

Most sales people today have found that using LinkedIn as a research tool to identify specific prospects has been a fantastic way to find the needle in a haystack of potential leads.  However, LinkedIn doesn't always show you all the names of the individuals your search produces:

So how do you find this specific person's name?  Just three more clicks according to Green Leads' BDR Mira.

1. Click on the Title, which brings up the full profile.
    
   
   
2. Remember the Title, and look to the right where it says Viewers of this profile also viewed...  Once there, find a contact with a similar title/company -- In this case, Gerardo (hard to see).
   
   
   
3. Now while remembering the title/company of the prospect you want "Research Engineer Intern at VW Electronics Research Lab", click on the name of the person with the most similar title/company that we found above, Gerardo.
   
4. Up pops Gerardo's profile, now look to the right again, and find a contact with a similar title/company to Gerardo in the "also viewed" section -- this is most likely your prospect.  So Tanya, expect my call.
   

If you have any LinkedIn tips, or Lead Gen Tips in general, please share them.

 

B2B Demand Gen Rocks In January

Just a quick note to everyone who might be spending the next few weeks planning for the new year.  Don't take your eye off the ball.  January, along with June and October, are the biggest Demand Gen months for Green Leads, and it may be for you as well.

Three years of production data shows that on a per-rep basis, January produced 35% more appointment setting and qualified lead generation than the worst month, August.

What was the best month?  June.

What was the most suprising month?  December - we set an all time record for weekly production in the first two weeks of December.  So much for those clients that ask us to put programs on hold between Thanksgiving and New Years...lots of missed opportunity for them.  The last two weeks do taper off, but December still came in 6th for the year.

Lead Generation Tips: Business Card Data Entry For Free | Dreamforce Special

How many business cards do you have laying around in one of the current states?

 1. On your desktop in a pile
 2. Wrapped in a rubber band
 3. In a ziplock bag
 4. Distributed in the inside pockets of four blazers
 5. In the bottom of your computer bag

If you answer is more than 10 cards, then you have leads laying around that are going untapped.

Green Leads has just introduced a new complementary service where the sales reps we support from our appointment setting clients can have up to 100 business cards a month entered into a spreadsheet for free.  All they have to do is send them to us. A week later, they get a spreadsheet with all the data -- perfect for importing into Outlook, Salesforce.com or other CRM systems.

The process:

1. Send business cards to Green Leads, wait a week
   
2. Leads are returned in spreadsheet format
3. Leads can be imported into Outlook, LinkedIn, Salesforce or other CRM or Marketing Automation systems
4. Business cards are returned or recycled
   

To celebrate all the networking, business card exchanges and great relationship building that will happen at Dreamforce this week, Green Leads is offering a limited version of the service to non-clients for FREE. Send us up to 100 of your Dreamforce business cards and we'll send them back to you in a spreadsheet. The only catch ... you subscribe to our B2B Blog: Smashmouth Sales & Marketing.

Get instructions now >> 100 business card leads.

 

Lead Generation Tips - Take 3 Hour Lunches

There were days in my lead gen life where I could have easily left for lunch and not come back for four hours. MIT data shows that that might have been a good idea!

Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power just highlighted last year's MIT / InsideSales.com study of outbound prospecting lead conversion. The report details such information as the right time of day to call, the best day of the week, how the response time to a lead impacts conversion, etc.

It got me thinking. For many reps, unless territory comes into play, lead gen exists in a three-time-zone map. For years we've been able to sort our lists by time zone, but what if we could tune it even further and optimize the effectiveness our day using the MIT stats?

                    

Layer the times together and stagger them for time zone. Due to the East coast and West coast being predominant in our targeting, we tend to call 40% ET, 40% PT, and 20% CT/MT, so to simplify the discussion, I've just shown ET and PT. The timeline at the bottom is on Eastern time.

The chart shows that to maximize their production, East Coach-based reps targeting both coasts during the prime times for each time zone and assuming an 8-hour day, should be working from:

• Target East Coast 8 am - 10 am
• Target West Coast 11 am - 1 pm
• Target East Coast 4 pm - 6 pm
• Target West Coast 6 pm - 8 pm

For strategic planning purposes, this justifies bi-coastal teams. It also suggests a shift in activity during the day. Make the prime times the power-dial sessions, and make the lulls the time where research and other non-dialing activity is completed.

So the next time you run late returning from lunch, show this report to your boss and keep dialing.

More Lead Generation Tips.                    

B2B Sales Leads from Data Services - Smashmouth Review

When we're selling our outbound marketing demand gen solutions, we get asked all the time, where can I find inexpensive b2b sales leads? We obviously try to sell up to our high level appointment setting service, but not all companies are ready for that. So below is a collection of data sources we've used in our lead generation work.

It's not a complete list, by any means, so if you have found other sources or want to submit some, please COMMENT below. We are always looking for quality lists...it is the fuel that keeps our business going.

Online Data Suppliers: Typically an annual subscription basis. Although, see Jigsaw, below. Italics are their own company description, following that is my comment.

• Jigsaw - is a leading provider of business information and data services that uniquely leverages user-generated content contributed by its global business-to-business community of 900,000 members. Jigsaw gives individuals and companies access to contact information for 15 million business people and profiles of 2.6 million companies.
  
  By far the best value on the market for the quality you receive. Contacts are fairly recent, most have direct dials and emails. Check out their great list building tools. Jigsaw is the exception in that they do offer annual unlimited subscriptions (highly recommended by Smashmouth), they also allow you to swap contacts and to purchase them individually.
  
  
• OneSource - OneSource, an infoUSA company, delivers prospect and business intelligence information on millions of companies and executives worldwide -- optimizing clients' sales and marketing efforts and assisting with business-to-business research activities.
  
  Very broad coverage. If you are after Owners, C/VP level contacts, it is heavy with this data. A bit shy on the practitioner level (Dir and below). Search and sort criteria are very comprehensive. Lots of data on the research side.
  
  
• iProfile - The pioneer in IT profiling since 1993 and now the global leader, iProfile provides high-tech company sales and marketing organizations the business intelligence they need to create demand, qualify accounts, penetrate new accounts, and accelerate sales.
  
  If it's Fortune 2000 type companies you want and you target technology buyers, there is no other source. Org charts, direct dials and emails. Extensive research. Fabulous service, but on the pricey side.
  
  
• Input - INPUT is the authority on government business. Established in 1974, INPUT helps companies develop federal, state, and local government business and helps public sector organizations achieve their objectives.
  
  If you target federal, state and local government, there is no other source of research and data.
  
  
• Hoovers, infoUSA and others - Just not into them. We've never found the value.
  

ps. Don't forget to leave a COMMENT (especially if you know European sources)

B2B Appointment Setting - Best if Nurtured First

37% of prospects that were nurtured move on to further sales activity from an introductory meeting -- 12% higher than those not nurtured

As you all know, Green Leads is in the b2b appointment setting business. Similar to b2b inside sales teams, we book meetings with C/VP level executives on our clients' behalf and only get paid when the meetings take place. The ROI is easy to calculate as clients only pay when the sales rep completes the meeting. So X meetings for $Y. We can deliver this service predictably because it's all about the numbers. Those of us in the business can recite stats at the drop of a hat -- what list penetration numbers are, the mix of titles based on the client or industry, the number of C/VP level referrals, the reschedule and cancel rates -- you name it.

Last year some stats started changing. During regular review meetings, two clients asked within weeks of each other why their list penetration numbers were dropping (the number of meetings booked per list). They were still getting the same amount of meetings, but they were right, we were all working harder, and we were consuming bigger and bigger lists to achieve the same numbers. Then, a third client asked what we were doing different because their penetration numbers were increasing. It happened to be the same period.

After some discussion internally, we realized that the third client had been feeding us lists that were actively being nurtured. The lists were smaller in size than the other two clients, but each contact was receiving valuable contact through white papers, webinar invites, analyst studies, blog links, etc. Inbound leads as a result of the nurturing campaign were routed to their inside sales team. The remaining leads, after reaching a certain lead score based on the numbers of email opens, forwards, website visits, and other criteria, they were transferred to our lists for outbound appointment setting. We were converting them to meetings at astonishing rates.

Since then, five of our clients have started feeding us nurtured leads to augment traditional raw names. In two cases, they outsource the management of the nurturing process to us.

The results -- Prospects that are nurtured are 17% more likely to be accept a meeting when pitched, and of those, the appointments completed moved on to further sales discussions 37% of the time (12% higher than non-nurtured).

We are now recommending to all our clients that they implement nurturing programs in conjunction with our appointment setting. If tightly integrated, the results of the two are significant:

• Prospects are further into the buying cycle when the sales team engages
  
• Resources used to build larger lists for outbound work can be redirected to nurturing efforts
  
• Quality of introductory meetings are increased, resulting in a more mature pipeline
  
• Ongoing branding to prospects nurtured is significantly higher than those not nurtured
• Outsourced vendors or inside sales teams can operate more efficiently, providing higher quality as well as additional services
  
• Increased ROI of the program can contribute to increased demand gen programs

Interview of Me: Good Data and Lead Generation - on ReadyContact's Blog

Check out the interview of me discussing how having good data impacts lead generation success on ReadyContact's Blog.