Comments on: Thought Leadership Interview #5: The Veteran Speaks: Sewell on B2B Demand Gen http://www.funnelholic.com/2009/01/20/thought-leadership-interview-5-the-veteran-speaks-sewell-on-b2b-demand-gen/ a blog for those of us who live and work at the top end of the b2b funnel: Demand Generation, Lead Generation, Online Media, B2B Sales and Marketing, Marketing Automation, DRIP, Lead Nurturing, and Fun. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:22:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Dan McDade http://www.funnelholic.com/2009/01/20/thought-leadership-interview-5-the-veteran-speaks-sewell-on-b2b-demand-gen/comment-page-1/#comment-1613 Dan McDade Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:09:59 +0000 http://www.funnelholic.com/?p=629#comment-1613 I have heard the Aberdeen statistic (percent of leads not being followed up by sales is 28%) a couple of places and doubt the accuracy. I don't think lead quality has improved and I don't think that sales has changed its habits. To find that sales now follows up on 3 out of 4 leads instead of the 1 out of 4 a few years ago is just too good to be true. Sales does not follow-up on leads because they find that the leads really aren't valuable most of the time. How likely is it that a sales person will follow-up on 100 so-called leads when it is likely that just 5 of the leads represent activity within a reasonable time window? What sales needs is fewer, more qualified leads and I don't see that happening in the market right now. I have heard the Aberdeen statistic (percent of leads not being followed up by sales is 28%) a couple of places and doubt the accuracy. I don’t think lead quality has improved and I don’t think that sales has changed its habits. To find that sales now follows up on 3 out of 4 leads instead of the 1 out of 4 a few years ago is just too good to be true. Sales does not follow-up on leads because they find that the leads really aren’t valuable most of the time. How likely is it that a sales person will follow-up on 100 so-called leads when it is likely that just 5 of the leads represent activity within a reasonable time window? What sales needs is fewer, more qualified leads and I don’t see that happening in the market right now.

]]> By: Vaibhav Domkundwar - ReadyContacts.com http://www.funnelholic.com/2009/01/20/thought-leadership-interview-5-the-veteran-speaks-sewell-on-b2b-demand-gen/comment-page-1/#comment-1608 Vaibhav Domkundwar - ReadyContacts.com Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:58:30 +0000 http://www.funnelholic.com/?p=629#comment-1608 Thanks for a great interview post. Its right on the mark and I am pleasantly surprised to see the point on content syndication which will be a key thing for B2B marketers to gain good SEO rankings. @Steven, I agree with your point about data. I think one big think in 2009 will also be about strategies to BUILD and MANAGE lead databases which are a big challenge and companies haven't allocated as much time / budget to it and are realizing the importance of harnessing the potential of their lead databases. Related thoughts: http://blog.readycontacts.com/b2b-marketing-data-the-consistency-factor/, http://blog.readycontacts.com/why-b2b-marketing-databases-lead-lists-are-best-served-fresh/, http://blog.readycontacts.com/the-value-of-a-business-contact-database-how-much-is-yours-worth/ Thanks for a great interview post. Its right on the mark and I am pleasantly surprised to see the point on content syndication which will be a key thing for B2B marketers to gain good SEO rankings.

@Steven, I agree with your point about data. I think one big think in 2009 will also be about strategies to BUILD and MANAGE lead databases which are a big challenge and companies haven’t allocated as much time / budget to it and are realizing the importance of harnessing the potential of their lead databases. Related thoughts: http://blog.readycontacts.com/b2b-marketing-data-the-consistency-factor/, http://blog.readycontacts.com/why-b2b-marketing-databases-lead-lists-are-best-served-fresh/, http://blog.readycontacts.com/the-value-of-a-business-contact-database-how-much-is-yours-worth/

]]> By: Steven Woods http://www.funnelholic.com/2009/01/20/thought-leadership-interview-5-the-veteran-speaks-sewell-on-b2b-demand-gen/comment-page-1/#comment-1607 Steven Woods Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:44:12 +0000 http://www.funnelholic.com/?p=629#comment-1607 Craig, Howard, Great post, and your priorities are excellent ones for 2009. The one that I would add, that often seems to be overlooked, is data. In order to succeed with the nurturing, lead management, and personalization needed to get great leads to a sales team, the underlying data has got to be clean, consistent, and well managed. If that is overlooked, the strategies that rest upon it will start to flounder. Great post though, you call attention to things that marketers definitely need to pay close attention to in 2009. Craig, Howard,
Great post, and your priorities are excellent ones for 2009. The one that I would add, that often seems to be overlooked, is data. In order to succeed with the nurturing, lead management, and personalization needed to get great leads to a sales team, the underlying data has got to be clean, consistent, and well managed. If that is overlooked, the strategies that rest upon it will start to flounder.

Great post though, you call attention to things that marketers definitely need to pay close attention to in 2009.

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