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"Customer is the king". Yes it is true. It is because of “Customers”, why we are in business. In the B2B business, lead generation and sales management are keys to ensure your sales pipeline always full. But, many big and small companies are not giving heat to it. Not having or knowing how many leads you have in your sales pipeline and at what stage they are in the sales-cycle can have huge impact on your bottom line. So how do you find new customers? Where should you spend your marketing dollars? How do you measure your ROI?
So I am discussing herewith 5 things you can do to generate more and better quality leads.
1) Branding – Does it matter?
This is an ongoing argument. Some will say YES branding does matter and others will say NO it does not matter. So, the question arises, does it matter? Yes it does. Ask a group of your clients how they came to be your clients?
Maximum responses will say by "referrals", followed by: by reading about your company or learned about you through seminar, in other words your reputation or “brand" influenced their buying behavior and ultimately their buying decision.
2) Target Markets - Who are your prospects?
How well do you know your target markets? Jus answer these questions:
1. Do you know the profile of your target prospect? (Industry, No. of employees, revenue, etc.)
2. Do you know the title of the decision maker you should be targeting?
3. Do you know the names of the actual companies you should be targeting?
4. Do you know the actual names of the decisions makers in those companies?
If your score is 100%, it means you know your target prospects. 80% or less then there is scope for improvement. This is important because: to be successful in lead generation and sales, you need to know, who your best potential customers are. So, I can say knowing your prospects better and ROI on lead generation is directly proportional to each other.
3) Contacting Prospects -What works?
A refined prospect list is the starting point, but what is the most effective way to contact them? Recent Researches shows that two most effective ways to contact prospects is through:
a). Referrals:
Referrals can come from clients, partners or suppliers and represent your best way to contact your prospects. This is best method to contacting your prospect because the person making the referral already has a trusted relationship with the contact and has prequalified them to some level. You are granted the same level of trust as a result of the referral.
b). Telephone Prospecting.
Telephone Prospecting can be as effective as referrals if implemented correctly. The purpose of the telemarketing is what determines its effectiveness. What you should do is use the telemarketing as a way to introduce your company and learn more about the prospect, not sell them on the phone.
It is very unlikely that you are going to call someone when they happen to be “sales ready”, but you need a starting point and this is it.
4) Nurturing – Is your bucket leaking?
Lead management is the key to long-term profitability. Sales teams are usually highly motivated to find “sales ready” leads. Industry researches show that only 10% of the total leads are in the “sales ready” bucket. The remaining 90% are not ready or able to make a purchase decision and require a nurturing plan…but do you have one?
Lead nurturing: It is about managing qualified leads throughout the sales-cycle. It’s not about weekly calls asking them to buy, but about demonstrating value, keeping top of mind and positioning your company as a resource so when the lead is sales ready, you are the one they contact. A nurturing plan requires strategy, tactics and systems. For strategy, your company will likely have some level of thought leadership where insight and innovation can be harvested. These are key starting points from which tactics will be developed. You will also need a highly automated system that can manage the lead nurturing process using various marketing tactics and then qualify leads as they become sales ready.
5) ROI – How do I get there?
You are investing in Branding, creating refined Prospect Lists, Contacting Prospects, Lead Management Systems and Nurturing Strategies all in the name of creating sales and profit. But how are you going to measure your return on that investment? The only way to do this with accuracy is by having a well defined closed-loop marketing system. This is where you can manage and measure throughout the entire sales-cycle process from initial contact to completed sale. You need to be able to manage and measure your
• Branding Activities
• Target Lists
• Contacting
• Nurturing
Having a closed-loop marketing system that you can control and adjust to fit your specific business needs will allow you to clearly define your costs for lead generation. Managing and measuring the lead generation and sales-cycle processes will also allow you to keep track what sales actually closed. Once you are able to match up the lead generation processes and costs with the specific sales that closed, your ROI becomes a whole lot easier to determine.
Topic starter
Posted : 27/02/2010 12:32 pm
Re: 5 Ways to Improve Targeting your B2B Marketplace
Hi
Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another.
1. Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.
2. Ask yourself what your goals are in participating in networking meetings so that you will pick groups that will help you get what you are looking for. Some meetings are based more on learning, making contacts, and/or volunteering rather than on strictly making business connections.
3. Visit as many groups as possible that spark your interest. Notice the tone and attitude of the group. Do the people sound supportive of one another? Does the leadership appear competent? Many groups will allow you to visit two times before joining.
4. Hold volunteer positions in organizations. This is a great way to stay visible and give back to groups that have helped you.
5. Ask open-ended questions in networking conversations. This means questions that ask who, what, where, when, and how as opposed to those that can be answered with a simple yes or no. This form of questioning opens up the discussion and shows listeners that you are interested in them.
Keep sharing and reading
Thanks
Posted : 12/03/2010 7:22 am
Re: 5 Ways to Improve Targeting your B2B Marketplace
Hello Everyone,
I have found some good marketing techniques and want to share it here.
# Business cards. Leave a few in the local library or with other local businesses where prospects gather; include a card in your postal mail; tack up a card on the bulletin board at your grocery store, etc.
# Direct mail. Flyers, brochures, catalogs, coupons.... there are all sorts of things you can send through the mail. Need help? Freelancers can create pretty much any type of direct mail promotional items for you at competitive rates.
# Keep a few business cards, brochures, flyers, or other information in your car that you can give out to people who stop to inquire about your business.
# Newspaper advertising. Keep in mind that classified ads are usually extremely short; you'll need a punchy, compelling ad that fits into just a few lines.
# Get to the 'heart' of your audience by advertising in a quality magazine with loyal readers. U.S. Media Inc. lists a wide variety of trade and consumer magazines and publications.
# Participate in trade shows. Get exposure by networking with others in your industry. While you're there, you can even make a pen and paper available to collect the email addresses and/or postal addresses of people interested in receiving your newsletter or additional information about your product or service.
[Regards]
[Chris]
Posted : 23/03/2010 3:52 am
Re: 5 Ways to Improve Targeting your B2B Marketplace
Hello Friends,
An Online B2B Marketplace is a trade portal where wholesale buyers and sellers gather to promote their products and services. Such Online Marketplaces are effective source of leads as there are thousands of buyers searching for products through these portals. The Online Marketplaces operate by creating profile pages for businesses and their products which are highly optimized for search engines and rank higher for many search results.But do not fall in to the trap of these companies saying it is a cake walk. In fact marketing through B2B marketplaces can be quite a tricky thing. The limitations of the space and the nature of buyer affect the marketing aspects. Hence it is imperative for the b2b marketers to know about the limitations and exploit the benefits to the maximum. Here are a few points a b2b marketer must consider to derive maximum benefit out of the B2B marketplace listings:
1.Optimized & Concise Content:-There is a limitation on the space available for you to showcase your products. The amount of text you can write and the images you can upload is limited. So as a B2B marketer you have keep the content highly optimized with a good sales copy. Take care there are no spelling or formatting mistakes.
2.Price:-More options for the buyers’ means that you have a limited time and space to make an impact. The price is definitely the factor that would affect the buyer's decision. Moreover some marketplaces also provide listings based on products prices. The secret of being successful when dealing with the B2B market is that you need to keep the prices down and trade fast. The clients are interested in the products that are latest and hot in lower price.
3.Latest products:-Always bring in your latest and best products online. Take care which products you showcase on your company profile page. Evergreen products like “generators” do not need regular updating but seasonal goods like fashion products or consumer electronic products should be need seasonal updating. Don’t sell the surplus products online. If you want to do so, sell them in the auction websites.
Thanks.
Posted : 23/03/2010 6:42 am
Re: 5 Ways to Improve Targeting your B2B Marketplace
Hello Friends,
A key theme of this B-to-B marketing blog is that the internet has completely transformed best-practices in technology marketing. In the past seven years, perhaps no company has done more to establish the new best practices than Salesforce.com. By unshackling themselves from the constraints of traditional B2B marketing and sales models, Salesforce.com has emerged as the dominant player in their market.What are the new best practices for B2B marketing in the internet age, and how can you take advantage of them? Tien Tzuo, Chief Strategy Officer for Salesforce.com, recently spoke at Stanford University's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series. As part of this talk, Tien shared how Salesforce.com transformed their sales and marketing processes by leveraging the internet.
1.Awareness:-Before the internet, access to information about new products and solutions was limited to a few sources. Buyers became aware of solutions by attending a tradeshow, hearing about it from a colleague, reading about it in a traditional publication, or receiving a form of interruption marketing from the vendor such as a cold call from a sales rep or a direct mail piece.
2.Segmentation and Targeting:-In 1991, Geoffrey Moore, the original technology marketing expert, advised that the way for companies to cross the chasm between early adopters and mainstream buyers was to build a beachhead with a niche focus. This focus influenced demand generation strategy: companies would target buyers in their niche and go after those buyers with rifle precision (often using expensive interruption-based tactics such as cold calls and VITO letters).
3.Trials:-The number one thing prospects want to know is whether your solution meets their needs. The best way to get that information is simple: just use the product. By getting their hands on the solution, buyers reduce the risk that the solution doesn't meet their needs -- and the fear of failure that so often leads to inaction.Before the internet, it was difficult to let customers trial the product. Because software needed to get installed on the customer site, trials were expensive. Because the software was so complex, vendors (perhaps rightfully) assumed they could not let prospects use the product without creating a bad experience. Instead, buyers were forced to watch a carefully scripted demo.
4.Product Design:-Because access information to information was restricted before the internet, the only way buyers could be sure a solution met their needs was to create a complex RFP (Request for Proposal) that spelled out every possible thing they might want to do. The need to get the most check-boxes rewarded complexity and encouraged vendors to jam-pack their products full of features. Unfortunately, it complicated the software, made it harder to use, and led to most features being unused by most users. Perversely, this very complexity is what made it impossible to let users trial the software, which in turn led users to create complex RFPs.
Thanks.
Posted : 23/03/2010 11:09 am
Re: 5 Ways to Improve Targeting your B2B Marketplace
Absolutely spot on.
A great read, and in depth advice.,Keep sharing such Informative Posts With us
Thanks.
Topic starter
Posted : 24/03/2010 11:48 am
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