The Impact of Salesforce.com’s acquisition of Exact Target: The Experts Weigh In

Well, that is big news!  If you haven’t been following, Salesforce.com just bought Exact Target for $2.4 bill.  Once you are done picking your self off the floor, read this post. I asked some of the people I respect their opinions on the acquisition.
Please note: I plan to continue to update this post as people “roll in” with their opinion. Put your opinion in the comments box too..

Here we go!

Brian Vellmure
Independent Analyst

It took about 18 months longer than expected, but Salesforce finally filled a hole in its marketing cloud with marketing automation capabilities. I didn’t necessarily see ExactTarget coming as Marketo was was being mentioned in most circles once Oracle scooped up Eloqua.

With ExactTarget, Salesforce picks up a company with a large install base with at least twice the revenue of Marketo and for likely less than twice the multiple of trailing twelve months revenue. In short, it was simply a better deal. [Read more...]

Two blog posts I enjoyed so much I had to immortalize them on my blog

Content flys across our screen and then “poof” – it disappears. That is why I am in love with my Tweets of the Week posts. Those posts get decent traffic but the real reason I love doing it is to just keep this great content somewhere.  Social media gives you 5 minutes to catch everyone’s attention with your content and then you are out of the picture.  So, I try to save things…Today, I am sharing a couple posts that have been sitting in my instapaper because I thought they were great.  Enjoy, I did.

Salesforce’s Disruptor Won’t be a CRM Company
The first great post was from Tomasz Tunguz from Redpoint Ventures. I have been working with Lattice Engines and Radius Intelligence so I have been become more and more intrigued by big data and sales.   Five minutes ago, we just provided sales with a list of names to call.  Now and in the future, we will provide sales data on who to call, when to call, why to call, and what to say.  From Tomasz: [Read more...]

Sales 2.0: Three statistics every sales leader must know

Sales 2.0 solutions are tools, applications, and technology solutions that modern sales teams use to improve any aspect of their sales organization.  The term was coined in 200sales.206 and the movement has grown rapidly over the years. (more on that in a minute)

Sales will never be the same.  Before the Sales 2.0 movement began, sales people were left out on their own to figure out how to hit the number.  Marketing bought them a list and sales called the list even though it sucked.  Their technology was a phone, email, and a CRM system or contact manager.  Remember fax machines?  The fax machine was sales person 1.0’s best friend.  Now, the game has changed.  Companies like Radius Intelligence* allow sales people build their own prospect lists and give sales people intelligence that helps them figure out what to say when they contact that list. Lattice Engines* uses a big data approach to tell sales people which of their current prospects or customers are more likely to close this quarter.  Sales people still use phone and email, but they also use social media to connect with their customers.  And finally, e-signature applications like DocuSign have ended the need for a fax machine forever.

Everyone is talking about the Gartner prediction that the CMO will spend more than the CIO in 2017, but the VP of Sales may come close.  There are progressive sales organizations with 40+ Sales 2.0 applications running live today. [Read more...]

The sales technology revolution is being driven from the ground up

Warning:  I am breaking my own rules and “pontification” blogging.   I love breaking my own rules especially when I am contradicting my last post

Sales technology is hot as “all-get-up” right now.  I outlined a number of reasons why I believe this is true in a post for SocialSellingU.  The point I’d like to pontificate on is the “consumerization of sales technology” and it’s role in the rise of sales technology.  Bottom line: You can buy most sales technology solutions with a credit card.

1.  The BYOD revolution has hit sales and marketing technology — I got this quote from my buddy Miles Austin who can talk for hours on the topic: “Years ago, CIOs said there was no way they would support IPhones and IPads and now look.  It’s the same thing in sales,  smart sales people don’t ask – If they think a sales tool help them sell better, they plop down their credit card and buy it.”   In other words, this is a true revolution by the people and for the people.  Executives can’t hope to stop it, they can only jump on board.  My buddy and business partner Lars Nilsson implemented tons of sales technology solutions at ArcSight which was bought by HP.  It seems like he would have to spend his time researching technology to keep up, but he always talks about how the majority of  solutions they implemented were initially brought to him by individuals in his organization.

2.  Sales people are officially technologically self-empowered –. If you are a sales rep who still says: “My organization gives us no support, we don’t even have…”, then fix it because you can.  An individual rep can buy their own CRM, create email and nurturing programs,  buy their own lists, gather their own sales intelligence, automate contracts and quotes, etc, etc.   Today’s products are so easy to use, you can get up and running yourself.   Per-user costs are so reasonable, you aren’t breaking the bank.

As a marketer in the sales technology space, you have a real opportunity to triangulate on your target accounts. When you sell and market to sales, anyone on the team is an influencer.  Your new lead definition is: “they are in sales”.   If you can get a couple people in the organization using and getting value from your product, then you can take that use-case and success metrics to decision makers for a bigger deal.   And that ladies and gentleman, is a good thing for everyone.

Oh and I forget to add, sales technology is fun.  There are so many amazing things happening in the space.  I have just been having a ball preparing for my webinar Thursday with Koka Sexton, Matt Heinz, Miles Austin, Nancy Nardin, and Brian Vellmure entitled: 31 Must-Have Sales Tools in 2013. When you start to look into all the different options, you want to start going on them immediately.

XOXO

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

14 Easy Social Selling “To-Dos” You Can Implement Right Now

July 25 through July 29 is Social Business week on Focus.com. If you’ve read my blog, you know that I’m a fan of the Social CRM movement, but I am not an expert – so I’m leaving that to the pros. I am sticking to my expertise, hosting a couple of events about social and sales and marketing. I am hosting a webinar with the master of content/inbound/social media marketing, Mike Volpe, on Friday, July 29, at 1 pm PT. Before that, I am hosting a social selling roundtable at 11 am PT with Nigel Edelshain, Miles Austin and Koka Sexton. It’s fun trading ideas for using social for a lot of things. Sales is definitely a favorite of mine.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from folks is not having enough time for social endeavors. I usually tell people I wouldn’t recommend it if it’s a time-suck. So I’ve compiled a list of easy things that salespeople can do, none of which seems too scary or daunting – and it can all be done right away. Let me know what you would add to the following list.

  1. Create a LinkedIn profile.
  2. Fill it out completely, including a picture.
  3. Upgrade your account.
  4. Watch every day from your upgraded LinkedIn account to see who clicked on your profile.
  5. Connect with as many of your business and personal contacts as you can.
  6. Move beyond business cards – get in the habit of connecting with people immediately after you meet them.
  7. Spend some time seeing if your prospects are connected to any of your contacts and ask for a referral.
  8. Join LinkedIn groups relevant to your industry. Not just so you can see the conversations happening in your space, but so you can join the same “clubs” that your prospects are in.
  9. Figure out where your prospects are on the Internet (with only a few cases, everyone is). Is it Twitter, LinkedIn, focus.com, etc.? It could even be a message board somewhere.
  10. Watch them. Remember the title of this post is “easy.” Don’t worry about doing much; you can just watch. You will gain insight into your prospects that you’ve never had before.
  11. Recognize their good works. If they write an insightful blog post or answer a question really well, send them a note.
  12. Find the top influencers in your space (they will be on Twitter or Google if they are influencers) and follow them.
  13. Create a social relationship with the influencers. This is akin to being friends with the cool kids at school.
  14. Before a sales call, look up your prospect’s or customer’s recent social “works” – posts, tweets, Q&A. Mention it to them; they will love it.

There – was that hard? Let’s just start with that. There’s more…but you gotta start somewhere.

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

World’s Most Incomplete List of Social CRM Experts

Social CRM is my new hobby. When I originally heard the term, I mocked it because I didn’t understand it. Sorry about that. Now I am listening, and I am starting to get it. Here is how I got here:

1. Ignorance: I ignored social CRM and when asked, I mocked it. Again, sorry.

2. Enlightenment: Salesforce.com bought Radian6, and I moderated a roundtable with some of the top social CRM experts in the business: Mike Fauscette, Brian Vellmure, Mitch Lieberman, Steve Woods and Esteban Kolsky. I realized that these are smart guys and I needed to figure out social CRM.

3. Education: I asked some people whom I should follow then started following them on Twitter. I started to read what I could (when I could). Brian Vellmure is now one of my boys, and is a resource for me on the topic.

Here are my observations on social CRM:

  • I have stopped reading regular “social media” experts. What I like about the social CRM crowd is they don’t talk about “how to set up your Facebook” page. Instead they are focused on tying social back to the organization.
  • Warning: It can be hard trying to distinguish the thought-leaders from the wannabes. From the looks of it, there are CRM analysts who added the word “social” to the front of their expertise. There are social wonks who have tacked “CRM” onto the back of their expertise. You have to be careful in determining who’s who.
  • If you want to know the definition of social CRM, I found a good one here on Focus.com.
  • The list at the end of this post might be wrong. I have thrown this out here to get reactions and am prepared to refine the list. Here is what I did: 1) Asked my respected friends whom to follow; 2) Added some of my favorite CRM guys (shout-out to Chris Bucholtz) even though I am not sure they all claim to be on the social CRM bandwagon. If they don’t now, they will soon enough.

How about this for a big, hairy goal that should prove to you I am beginning to understand the market: I hope Esteban Kolsky reads this and rips me. Then I know I have arrived. Seriously, if I am wrong, let me know, I am cool with that. But please don’t insult anyone.

So, here it is — the 70 (OK, 71 and now 72) people I follow on the topic of social CRM (in random order):

  1. Greg Satell
  2. Lauren Vargas
  3. Frank Eliason
  4. Rachel Happe
  5. Tatyana Kanzaveli
  6. Becky Carroll
  7. Blake Landau
  8. Ray Wang
  9. John Rourke
  10. Jeremiah Owyang
  11. Michael Wu
  12. Maria Ogneva
  13. Jim Berkowitz
  14. Graham Hill
  15. Jacob Morgan
  16. Jon Ferrara
  17. Laurence Buchanan
  18. Ed Sullivan
  19. Brian Vellmure
  20. Michael Fauscette
  21. John Perez
  22. Allen Bonde
  23. Robin Carey
  24. Blake Cahill
  25. Amber Naslund
  26. Adrian Ott
  27. Barry Dalton
  28. Arie Goldshlager
  29. Leila Summa
  30. Don Peppers
  31. Gregory Yankelovich
  32. Mike Boysen
  33. Wouter Trumpie
  34. Mark Tamis
  35. Marshall Lager
  36. Mark Reuter
  37. Russ Hatfield, Jr.
  38. Bill Odell
  39. Merlyn Gordon
  40. Nitin Badjatia
  41. Mark Behrens
  42. Bob Warfield
  43. Wim Rampen
  44. Bob Thompson
  45. Janet Jozefak
  46. Martin Schneider
  47. Paul Greenberg
  48. Jill Dyche
  49. Anthony Nemelka
  50. Clara Shih
  51. Christopher Carfi
  52. Jesus Hoyos
  53. David Alston
  54. Valeria Maltoni
  55. Brent Leary
  56. Mitch Lieberman
  57. Sanjay Dholakia
  58. Prem Kumar Aparanji
  59. Josh Weinberger
  60. Esteban Kolsky
  61. Natalie Petouhoff
  62. Andreas Gotthelf
  63. Kathy Herrmann
  64. Louis Columbus
  65. Don Tapscott
  66. Anthony Lye
  67. Chris Bucholtz
  68. Umberto Milletti
  69. Jim Storer
  70. Jeff Nolan (added 5/17  1.25pm)
  71. Brian Vellmure

Interested observer:

71.  Michael Krigsman

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

Why did Salesforce.com buy Radian6?

I have resisted for the longest time becoming a news organization. I typically write what I feel. Guess what: I missed out. With the Focus.com platform, I can tackle topical issues particularly when I’m not sure I know the answer. (: For instance, I MUST not know enough because everyone tells me that Benioff could care less about marketing then he runs off and does THIS. I need to understand it. Here is what we have done, we reached out and got some of the most respected experts (All Focus Experts thank you) in the space to tell all of us what this all means.

I have 6 fundamental questions:

  • Why did Salesforce.com buy Radian6?
  • What is your analysis of the move?
  • What is Marc Benioff’s plan? Where is Marc Benioff going from here?
  • What does it mean to the crm/social crm space
  • What does it mean for the social media monitoring space?
  • Bonus:  What does this mean for the marketing automation space? (I invited Steve Woods from Eloqua purposely for this)

And I’m getting them answered in tomorrow’s roundtable teleconference: What the Salesforce.com/ Radian 6 Deal Really Means

I haven’t been this excited about an event in a long time. Here are the details:

WHEN
Friday, April 1, 2011, 10:00 a.m. PT/ 1:00 p.m. ET

WHERE
Toll-free Dial-In Number: (866) 951-1151
International Dial-In Number: (201) 590-2255
Conference Number: 4999006

Here is the crew (How big is this!)

Brian Vellmure is the principal and founder of Initium LLC, a strategic consulting firm specializing in increasing corporate value through customer focused business design. For more than a decade, Brian has been helping companies increase profitability through customer focused initiatives. He is an accomplished business leader, management consultant, and award winning and syndicated blogger. He is often referred to as a thought leader and pioneer in the emerging discipline of Social CRM.

Esteban Kolsky is the Principal and Founder of ThinkJar, an advisory and research think-tank focused on Customer Strategies. He has over 22 years of experience in customer service and CRM consulting, research and advisory services, and is currently advising vendors and organization how to extend customer interactions from the CRM niche to the entire organization in their efforts to become Social Businesses.

Steve Woods is the CTO at Eloqua and author of the book “Digital Body Language” which focuses on the transformation under way in our buyers and how we as marketers can respond. Steve is also deeply involved with the Eloqua user community, with whom he regularly interacts through the discussions on his Eloqua Artisan blog.

Michael Fauscette leads IDC’s Software Business Solutions Group which includes research and consulting in enterprise software applications, collaboration and social applications, software partner and alliances, open source, software vendor business models, cloud computing and software pricing and licensing. He also provides thought leadership in the area of social applications and the transition to the social business.

Mitch Lieberman is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Comity Technology Advisors, and has 15 years of experience in CRM domain. He has the social business expertise to offer analysis and strategic advice to companies of all sizes, helping them leverage social technology to better manage their relationships with individual consumers and their business customers.

This one’s gonna be a blockbuster. You should be there.

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

Mid-Life Crisis Averted: The Funnelholic Is Here to Stay

What an amazing couple of weeks it’s been since I wrote my midlife crisis post, “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” and asked the question, “What should I do with my industry-specific blog now that I want to create different content?” on the Internet love of my life, Focus.com. Besides blog comments from friends and strangers, my angst went global (I got email from Sweden – Daniel Wood, who is a great sales and motivation blogger).  I spoke to people at length. Just yesterday, I was talking on the phone about my midlife crisis with Gary S. Hart, who is a sales blogger as well. The consensus is to keep The Funnelholic brand. Whether you delivered the message via phone or Web, thanks to everyone who gave your input.

Here is what I decided: The Funnelholic stays, and I will write about whatever floats my boat.  The entire process became a real awakening for me about why I blog. It’s because I love it. If I lose some readers, I have to live with it. If I started writing about things I don’t care about, then The Funnelholic would fail anyway.

Here’s what I’ve learned from the whole episode:

  1. If you have no passion, then your blog will suck. It was cool to discover that people really like reading The Funnelholic. I have loved creating content for this blog, and I continue to love writing on it. That may be the most important thing I learned: people can feel your passion.
  2. If you have no passion, your “social-media” presence will suck. The comment above is also true about your social media bearing. As Focus.com builds, you can see people who love what they are doing answering questions with gusto. If it pains you to write or talk about it, find a new career path. You’ve lost your passion.
  3. Writing helps you solidify your ideology. I have all this stuff in my head about business, marketing, sales and so forth. Writing about it – on The Funnelholic, as a guest blogger elsewhere, on Focus.com – helps me coalesce my thoughts and properly organize my beliefs.
  4. The personal online brand revolution is on. I built a brand, and the brand has a following. That was cool – and it’s something I shouldn’t start again from square one. Steve Woods and I talked about this idea years ago. He said: “There will be a new type of talent, an Internet free-agent superstar.  In some cases, companies may hire because they want that person associated with their brand.”  Interesting. I am not Chris Brogan, but I’ve got something.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and thoughtful advice.

I remain (and will continue to remain) yours sincerely,

The Funnelholic

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Is it time to close (or perhaps rename) this blog? This question has been in the back of my mind for the past few weeks. I tried to create a provocative title for this post, but the real question is: What should I do with The Funnelholic? The issue at hand is that I believe I have a lot to offer beyond just the sales and marketing funnel. Here is an example: I have learned a lot about the startup business from helping build Tippit and now Focus – I want to share these tips. Moreover, with my new role at Focus, I have been reading a ton of customer service, HR, and business-building content that I want to discuss and share. Is The Funnelholic capable of expanding beyond the funnel?

Here is another scenario I thought of: What if, for my next job, I want to be hired as a CEO (for example). Would being The Funnelholic help me or hurt me?

Just so everyone knows, I have written about how I came to the name this blog on the Annuitas Blog awhile back. In a nutshell, my CEO Scott Albro came up with the name. I had wanted “Funnelnomics,” but it was taken by my friend Suaad Sait . Scott said, “You need something that represents you, more fun and loose, it should be something like ‘The Funnelholic.’ I bought the domain name that day, started blogging, and it was on.

It was a great name: totally memorable and well-suited for my personality (irreverent, a bit edgy). Just the other night, I went to the Content Rules awards dinner, hosted by Eloqua at Foreign Cinema, and met Ann Handley for the first time. I said, “I’m Craig Rosenberg.” No reaction, no recognition. Then I said, “The Funnelholic.” “Ooooh!” she said. Like it or not, The Funnelholic is my brand.

But is it my brand, or have I typecast myself? I feel like a television star trying to break out of his medium to make it in the movies. What do I do now that I want to talk about more? I want to talk about business, not just demand generation and marketing automation. This whole “soul-searching” process has led me to these questions:

1. What should I do with The Funnelholic? Now that you know what you know, what is your recommendation? Should it stay or should it go? At the Content Rules dinner, I asked my table-mates the same question. My table had PR people (but primarily knowledgeable social media-ites) Mandy Mladenoff, Abigail Snyder, Jesse Noyes, Tyler Willis, and Lisa Loeffler. They thought I was crazy (literally). Their vote was that the brand stays and the writing can evolve. What do you think? Please submit your opinion.

2. What is the best practice for naming a blog? Should you use your name, or should you give the blog its own unique name? Could I have avoided typecasting had I gone with my name? Give me your input.

The real question is: Now what?

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

The Marketing Hipster Dictionary, Part II: 53 Definitions Every Marketer Should Know

Here we are again. If you missed Part I, make sure to read it first. Once again, before we begin, I need to introduce the members of the band:

On the guitar, Tom Scearce (@TLOTL), and on the electric keyboard, Chris Jablonski (@cjablonski).

I can say this, we had a lot of fun. Check out numbers 37-49. @TLOTL has some great ones.

25.  Cold calling: I really have no idea why I put this on here. It’s pretty simple: You pick up the phone and call someone who has no idea you are calling. In today’s day and age, this is best left to professionals — a.k.a., outsourced.

26.  Contacts: Just names. The contact movement has been brought upon us by breakthrough companies such as Jigsaw, demandbase and NetProspex. These are not leads, even if these companies market them as such. Contact purchasing is a critical component to push marketing (see below).

27.   Leads: A lead is a person who has opted in for an offer (see below). As mentioned above, a contact is not a lead.

28.   Offer: An offer can be defined as “something” someone has opted-in for. These can be discrete offers such as white papers, webinars and podcasts. They can also be an appointment with a sales person.

29.   Lead generation: Activities designed to create leads.

30.   Demand generation: All the activities designed to create demand. Not just lead generation, which is part of it. Everything — including things like PR, speaking engagements, advertising, discounts or special offers and so on and so on. BTW, this is an interesting point of conversation — check out some of the answers to this on Focus.com.

31.    Lead nurturing: A process that uses content (offers, tools, white papers, etc.) and distribution tactics (email, phone, Web, etc.) to market to leads over time until they are measurably ready to engage. This one was hard. I got some terrific definitions from experts on Focus.com.

32.   Remarkable content: You need to develop this every day, and you know it’s remarkable if people can apply it right away. You need to deliver on three characteristics: 1) value: create substantive, meaningful and high-quality content and 2) efficiency: package for simplicity and ease of consumption; 3) relevance: target buyers and address their specific challenges. (@cjablonski)

33.   Push marketing: “Knocking on someone’s door.” In other words, using outbound marketing tactics such as email, phone and direct mail to market to contacts in order to create leads. Examples are outsourced appointment setting and email campaigns to a list.

34.   Pull marketing: As opposed to push marketing, “getting people to walk into your store.” Pull means you are using SEO, paid search, etc. to attract people who are searching for something you offer. It also includes getting people to look at your products in other stores through online media and white paper syndication, for example. Because not all buyers are walking into your store, you need to make sure you are represented in other stores that attract your type of buyer.

35.   Landing page: A Web page with a call-to-action to download an offer, such as a webinar, a white paper, and so on. In order to download the offer, the user has to fill out a form. (@cjablonski)

36.  Direct mail: The act of sending a marketing offer via the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, and so on. This is a dying lead-generation tool. NOTE: there are marketers who believe direct mail still works despite the cost and low conversion rates. My suggestion is that, if you don’t do it now, don’t start.

37.  Return on contribution: Anyone who takes the time and energy to create remarkable content needs to also invest time in managing return on contribution. This can mean several things: 1) crowd-sourcing the content to leverage the friends and followers of the contributors for added distribution; 2) syndicating your content through targeted media properties; 3) engaging in online conversations where your content can be delivered in a relevant context ; and 4) leveraging your content across multiple campaigns, including lead-nurturing programs. (@TLOTL)

38.  Micro-marketed content: The opposite of mass-marketed content. An unmediated, free-flowing discussion among genuine experts in a niche category (e.g., this discussion on Focus.com) is often more relevant and helpful to buyers than a banner ad or an industry trade publication. (@TLOTL)

39.  “Multi-channel, multi-touch”: The mantra of any successful pipeline/revenue generation program. Email, Web and phone are all integrated and response-measured (scored) using marketing automation services. (@TLOTL)

40.  The “three legged stool”: In direct marketing, results are usually, ultimately, a function of the:

  • List (or audience)
  • Offer
  • Creative

Underperform in any one of these areas and the stool falls over. (@TLOTL)

41.  The revenue/sausage factory: A useful metaphor for helping the uninitiated understand how the marketing and sales team work together to drive the top line. The factory can include “upstream” suppliers like Google, direct mail programs or demand-gen agencies. And it can also encompass post-sales “revenue recognition” functions like professional services and account management. (@TLOTL)

42.  Pipeline erosion rate: Your sales team converts your leads into pipeline deals. They win some, they lose some. Some deals roll into next month/quarter. Some don’t. The erosion rate measures the lost pipeline value that must be replaced through incremental demand-gen efforts and budget. (@TLOTL)

43.   Rotting lead rate: The percentage of leads that go untouched by sales (no email, call or voicemail) before they start to “rot.” Keep in mind that the goal is not necessarily a 0% “rot-rate.” In some cases, it’s totally ok for sales to let leads “rot.” If sales has warmer leads to work, marketing can take back the leads that would otherwise rot and nurture them until they are ready. (@TLOTL)

44.  Funnel jockey: The demand-generation expert in every successful marketing department who understands his or her funnel well enough to hard-wire the entire revenue manufacturing process, from marketing spend, to lead gen, to pipeline creation and booked revenue. This person is one of the Excel users in the marketing department who is most likely to have a working command of functions like VLOOKUP, GETPIVOTDATA, SUMPRODUCT, and RAND. (@TLOTL)

45.  Campaign Sorcerer: Describes a marketer who can quickly articulate and illustrate campaign concepts with a unique and integrated skill set that includes design aesthetics, copywriting/storyboarding, program logistics, and schedule visualization. A Powerpoint/Keynote Magic User proficient in spell-casting with SnagIt and Photoshop. (@TLOTL)

46.  Market whisperer: The agency-side marketer who can, in 30 minutes or less, figure out the essence of a client’s marketing and sales challenges, with minimal to no briefing from said client, consulting only Twitter, Google, WordPress and Michael Porter’s Five Forces model. This marketer is more likely than his or her peers to get away with wearing ironic tee shirts or quirky, comment-worthy eyewear/accessories. (@TLOTL)

47.  Tweeps: Twitter + Peeps = Tweeps. (@TLOTL)

48.  Product myopia: Outdated marketing thinking still practiced by many who engage with prospects and clients through the lens of their own solutions. (@cjablonski)

49.  Trapping the chicken in the courtyard: A semi-obscure “Rocky II” reference/metaphor describing the relentless and often frustrating pursuit of repeatable marketing and sales success. “I feel like a Kentucky Fried idiot.” — Rocky Balboa (@TLOTL)

50.  Buyer engagement: Your goal anytime a buyer comes into contact with you. To get their full attention and immerse them into a brand experience, make sure everything you do is valuable and differentiated. (@cjablonski)

Below are SiriusDecisions definitions I have included because they have done an amazing job of getting marketers to use their methodology and lingo. This is for the other marketers who aren’t Sirius trained and want to talk the talk (I chose the three most used terms)

51.  MQL (Marketing qualified lead): Prospects defined by your marketing and sales organization as someone ready to pass to sales. They’re instrumental in calculating lead gen metrics, such as marketing qualified lead rate (# of MQLs/# of total marketing contacts).

52.  SAL (Sales accepted lead): A lead that has met the basic tenets of qualification and that sales has agreed to engage. (@cjablonski)

53.  SQL (Sales qualified lead): A prospect confirmed by sales as a true revenue opportunity and entered into the pipeline. (@cjablonski)

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter