The Funnelholic

I promised myself I would only do one appointment-setting interview for the Thought Leadership series, and Mike Damphousse took that spot earlier. That changed with Steve Lightstone from Corner Office Leads. Frankly, I hadn’t heard of Corner Office Leads until recently, but the company received some good publicity on Marketing Sherpa for its work with Knoa Software. Then Lightstone, using his sale techniques, got me on the phone and a business relationship began.

I get really excited when companies come up with new and innovative lead-generation tactics. These guys have done that. As I’ve said before, brute-force appointment setting is hard as hell, and Lightstone’s team has a new way of doing it.

Lightstone founded Corner Office Leads in 2002. Before that he worked in sales and marketing for 25 years, cutting his teeth at IBM Corp. and Peat Marwick, then in various sales and management positions for a variety of technology firms.

Lightstone was also responsible for the Pegasystems Inc.’s Canadian business. At Pegasystems he proved the effectiveness of Corner Office Leads’ appointment-setting methodology, acquiring 60 meetings in four months.

That’s the key here:  the methodology is built on Steve’s unique understanding of how to “earn the right” to meet with these busy executives.

Here’s what he had to say:

1.    What are the three trends you see emerging in 2009?

• Increased hunting programs because far fewer buyers are out there. Vendors are fighting just to keep their share of the pie. But that isn’t enough because the pies themselves are shrinking.
• Increased experimentation with new approaches because normal lead gen no longer works.
• Vendors increasing their focus on optimizing their market feedback-assess-design-implement loops for their value props just to keep up with their markets, which have never changed faster.

2.    What are the biggest challenges for 2009?

• Finding revenue where no budget exists.
• Keeping your value prop relevant and compelling.
• Aligning with your new sales organization by delivering the best quality leads possible.

3.    What are three metrics that B2B marketers should care about and why?

Measure hunting effectiveness. Track market share, competitive wins and unbudgeted wins. Use the metrics that measure conversion to revenue which align best to your sales stages and ultimately to revenue. Elevate Marketing’s value to the company by delivering quality market feedback. Measure the impact of changes to your value prop on lead volumes and revenues.

4.    What are the top oversights marketers are making regarding lead generation?

• Focusing on maintaining your share of a shrinking pie and not on hunting.
• Positioning now for the upturn. Invest now and establish quality relationships with the right people in your markets. Recognize that B2B sales cycles are all about relationships and can be longer than one quarter.

5.    What will you prescribe to marketers to carry out effective lead generation?

Implement hunting programs focused on top executives. Select a few programs that you think will be effective or that you know have been effective for you in the past. Then stick with them. Have faith in your original decisions and know that your programs will get more effective with each iteration as long as you learn and adjust.

6.    What three Web 2.0 applications, cutting-edge technologies or lead generation sources do marketers HAVE to consider to be successful?

There are some great approaches out there. Geoffrey Moore, author of “Crossing the Chasm,” is now talking about “provocation-based selling” which is all about finding dollars where there are none budgeted.

Anthony Parinello’s Classic, “Selling to VITO,” describes how to get and keep the attention of Very Important Top Officers.

As for technologies, many show great promise. But before you invest, ask yourself how much of your valuable resources, time and dollars you want to experiment with. Nothing is going to replace hard, smart work soon.

7.    What do you hope for in B2B sales and marketing for the new year?

The recession ends soon. Nothing solves problems better than revenues! We take the opportunities given to us in this crazy economy to redefine value to our clients and our company.

Written by Craig Rosenberg - The Funnelholic
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