The Funnelholic

It’s amazing — after a couple weeks of writer’s block, I’m back to finding something to write about every day.  Right now, my company is recruiting a marketing contractor which triggered some Funnelholic-type thoughts.

1.      If you’re not on LinkedIn, you’re not trying. It’s amazing to think LinkedIn is roughly 5 years old.  Now, the first thing any self-respecting recruiter does is check candidates out on LinkedIn and vice versa — if someone has an interview with a recruiter or other company representative, he or she looks them up on LinkedIn.  So, as I’m reviewing marketing contractor résumés, I can’t believe some applicants have the nerve to not be on LinkedIn, have incomplete profiles or only have six friends.  That’s not to say I eliminated anyone because of this, but it’s pretty surprising considering the prevalence of LinkedIn, particularly in the marketing realm.

Face it: Employers almost always consider the following on LinkedIn.  Here are some observations:

• Your connections: Sorry, it’s true.  Being wired is an ADVANTAGE.
• Your profile: But only just a bit.  For marketing jobs, LinkedIn is a test on how you market yourself.
• Your groups: This is a great way to gain credibility and show you are “in the know.”

2.     It’s not a very good idea to misspell, especially when you’re applying for a copywriting job. Caveat: I misspell ALL the time, but I’m the Funnelholic and I’m not trying to get a job with you.  In general, spelling errors stand out, and not in a good way.  You might not think it matters much. But, if you’re applying for a job involving copywriting, that’s a big no-no.

3.    The economy sucks. I’m seeing too many candidates with lots of experience. I’ve only put one post on craigslist.org and I already have an inbox full of résumés.

4.    Good copywriters are hard to find. Enough said.

In every interview or conversation I have with marketers, one question always arises: What metrics should lead generation be judged by?  I always answer with the same responses:

1.    Lead-to-opportunity conversion: For every lead you buy, how many turn into sales opportunities.

2.    Cost per opportunity: Instead of CPL (more on this below), calculate the lead-generation costs and divide by sales opportunities created.  This should include your lead development/qualification costs and nurturing costs.

3.    Total pipeline created: How much sales pipeline has been created by your leads?

If this makes sense, maybe  I should address why I don’t recommend CPL (cost per lead) or ROI (return on investment) as metrics:

• CPL: Bragging about your average CPL is fine, but if it keeps you from higher-converting — albeit more expensive — leads, then you’re missing the boat. CPL should be a by-product of cost-per-opportunity. If a lead is converting, then you should be willing to invest more. Conversely, you may be buying leads for lower than anyone else, but your cost per opportunity is the same or higher because of the expenses and time it takes to convert them. Repeat after me: CPO, not CPL.
• ROI: ROI is defined as lead-to-closed business.  I get it:  you have to track this. (If you do, make sure you are tracking ROI over a sufficient period of time — probably two to three months after typical sales cycles.)But ultimately, I argue against this metric. It’s simple when you consider it in terms of baseball: Alex Rodgriguez is one of the best players in baseball because he does his job — he fields well, hits home runs, creates runs, etc.  He has not been on a team that has won the World Series. Yet he will still get paid one of the highest salaries in baseball and will still likely win the MVP award. That’s my point: we all play to win (in business, by getting revenue), but everyone has to play well to get the win.  The marketing reps should be judged by whether they did their job, which in this case is creating pipeline. The sales team’s job is to close that business. Once marketing creates an opportunity, sales must execute in order to create revenue. The net-net: if marketers creates the pipeline, they have done their job and should be judged accordingly.

There you have it.  I’m open for debate.

I don’t have the exact quote, but last week at the 2009 Sales 2.0 Knowledge Share Conference, I heard Rich Blakeman, VP of sales at Miller Heiman, say something to the extent of, “We want to get to the prospect before he creates his RFP.” I wanted to get up and applaud — not only because I agree with him, but also because I had been meaning to write about this forever. I first got the inspiration when I was meeting with the VP of sales from one of our blue-chip  (top 5 technology company) customers.  He told me how he preferred not to get leads when they had their project already defined.  He preferred to get them earlier so that his team could shape the content of the project or RFP.  This was a big-time company with a big-time sales team. Another customer loved being in early and providing clients with questions to ask vendors, knowing those questions would position his company ahead of the competition.

So, the lesson is: Getting leads early will help you later on. Here are five tips to help you efficiently stay ahead of the RFP:

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