Three sales and marketing predictions that probably won’t come true

May 24, 2013 by 4 Comments

I didn’t do a predictions post this year. (actually I am not sure I ever have)…The goal of this post was to get a couple things I have been thinking about out on the table. (which would not have been a very catchy title).  I also am currently writing blog posts about all four

1.  In 2 years desk phones will no longer have the inbound call feature — That’s right, they will just turn it off.  I am not even sure why you need it now.  Cell phones, email, social will all be the tools of the outbound marketer. Inbound marketing will be the absolute “must” overall.  We will have to buyers raise their hands to get to them quickly and in a meaningful way. [Read more...]

Filed Under: b2b Marketing, b2b Sales, big data, Content Marketing, Demand Generation, Email Marketing, Social Selling

Social Selling, mobile marketing, and qualified leads — This week on Twitter

May 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

It’s been awhile since our last Tweet of the Week segment, lets call this “Tweets of the last couple weeks”. On to it!

7 out of 10 times at an account, the marketing client will say: “Sales will not follow up on my leads!”.  Sometimes it’s communication or process that’s the problem.  Truthfully, sometimes the problem has nothing to do with alignment and all that jive, the leads do actually suck. And actually, it is better for sales to cold call then follow up on these terrible leads.

Filed Under: b2b Sales, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Selling, Uncategorized

Content: That tie that binds you and your @Linkedin connections

May 21, 2013 by 1 Comment

The goal of this post is to be short but sweet.  What you have here is a story of how compelling content is the “tie that binds” you to your Linkedin connections (formerly known as your Rolodex).

Let me set the table: We are just starting out with our new business, Topo.  The sales person and I are were going through our Linkedin connections to create a list of contacts to re-connect with.  We were barely getting through the list when someone on our list shares my content.

Content Selling -- shared

I post content multiple times a day to my Linkedin profile. I will get a comment or a +1 here and there.  Ironically, the sales person I am working with on this was just asking me about sharing content on Linkedin.  Anyway, back to the story: I follow up with a simple message using the content as the lead and thanking him for sharing.

Content Selling, the Message

 

And we have a meeting set this week.

BOOM

 
Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic and a co-founder of Topo. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

Filed Under: b2b Sales, sales, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Selling, SocialCRM

Don’t let the ‘cold calling is dead’ crew drag you down: Madlibs with @srichardv

May 20, 2013 by 1 Comment

I say it time and time again: The best people to pick up prospecting tips from are the appointment setting guys. Steve Richard from Vorsight is one of those guys. I personally learn a lot from the tips and tactics they are willing to share. If you are in the business, you should too. Here are his Madlibs:

  1. The b2b buyer is overwhelmed and, as a result, more unaware of their needs than ever.  How do you help someone realize they have a need that they didn’t know they had five minutes ago?
  1. The biggest innovation in sales is a deeper understanding of the buyer’s journey and how to align selling activities to it. [Read more...]
Filed Under: b2b Marketing, b2b Sales, Demand Generation, Inside Sales and Tele-selling, Lead Development, Lead management, Lead Qualification, Madlibs with the Funnelholic, sales, Uncategorized

Social Prospecting and Don Draper: A story about getting that hard-to-reach client

May 17, 2013 by 2 Comments

I have a very simple rule for prospecting: If you want to know tactics and best practices for getting to hard-to-reach prospects, then listen to the guys who run appointment setting organizations or outbound call centers. They do this for a living at scale.

I was putting together a preso for Sirius Decisions with Mike Damphousse from GreenLeads. He is the master at prospecting. He explained to me how they have changed their approach and then provided an A-MAZING example.

The game is changing, even for the outbound masters

Buyers just don’t pick up their phones very much anymore.   I talked about this problem in one of my earlier posts on cold calling. If you walked into an outbound call center two years ago, you would see reps staring at a list of people to call and making hundreds of dials.  They would hang up on voicemails and wouldn’t dare spend the time to write emails. [Read more...]

Filed Under: b2b Marketing, b2b Sales, Demand Generation, Email Marketing, Inside Sales and Tele-selling, Lead Development, Lead Qualification, Lead/Inquiry Generation, sales, Social Selling

The b2b buyer can now be the user and decision maker: Madlibs w/ @gretchende

May 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Gretchen Deknikker is an entrepeneur. (How is that for short but to the point) Everything you need to know about her is in this great post on Women 2.0. Here is my take on Gretchen: Funny, brilliant, caffeinated, remarkable, and about to be a pioneer in the social selling space with Social Pandas. Her Madlibs is just like I figured…witty and smart…enjoy

  1. The b2b buyer can now be the user and decision maker. Bottoms up SaaS sales models are increasingly ousting the gatekeepers of yore.
  2. The biggest innovation in sales is – social media (sorry, occupational hazard.)  Sales is the most social department in a company and they’ve got some really cool new toys.

    3. [Read more...]

Filed Under: b2b Marketing, b2b Sales, Madlibs with the Funnelholic, sales, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Selling, SocialCRM

How to reach prospects via their cellphones feat @damphoux

May 12, 2013 by 3 Comments

If you want to figure out how to reach prospects who don’t know you, listen to the outbound appointment setting gurus. They do it for a living and have tried everything thousands of times. In this segment, Mike Damphousse from GreenLeads provides best practices on what to do with a prospect’s cell phone number. And yes, the answer is to call it and text it.

We are hosting a Demand Generation Summit with Greenleads, join here:

RSVP HERE

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

Filed Under: b2b Marketing, b2b Sales, Demand Generation, Inside Sales and Tele-selling, sales

The future of sales is micro-marketing: Madlibs w/ Jamie Shanks

May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I just really met Jamie Shanks 4-5 months ago. I asked Koka Sexton for some people he thought were “keeping it real” in social selling and he listed Jamie amongst others. I reached out to Jamie, we did a webinar together, I have been listening to his tips and best practices, and overall,  I have confirmed, he is one of the good ones.  When you read his Madlibs, you will see a lot of really interesting ideas including (micro-marketing).  Enjoy:

1. The b2b buyer is – Empowered.  For the first time in human history, a buyer can gather information on nearly anything, without human interaction.  The buyer is also becoming increasing comfortable with gathering information in the background – before needing some assistance to finish the purchase.

2. The biggest innovation in sales is – Social Selling.  The 1980’s brought you Consultative selling, and the 1990’s – early 2000’s had Solution selling.  From 2013 – 2020, sales reps must embrace online interaction. [Read more...]

Filed Under: b2b Marketing, b2b Sales, Funnels, Lead/Inquiry Generation, Madlibs with the Funnelholic, sales, Social Media, Social Selling

Sell yourself first, your company second, and your products third: Madlibs with Lori Richardson

May 3, 2013 by 4 Comments

Lori Richardson is a versatile sales, inside sales, and online marketing resource. You probably have seen her more and more out there as her content seems to have been proliferating recently. She is someone everyone should follow and if you have a question, I bet she answers it. (She helped me get my “meet the funnelholic” pop up loaded for example). I know you will enjoy her Madlibs — now read away!

  1. The b2b buyer is way too busy to waste time listening to bland messaging, something that is still very rampant.

    2. [Read more...]

Filed Under: b2b Marketing, b2b Sales, Inside Sales and Tele-selling, Madlibs with the Funnelholic, sales, Social Media

Content selling: In the future, a piece of great content will outsell an average sales rep. Madlibs with Greg Alexander

May 1, 2013 by 5 Comments

I write about Greg Alexander and Sales Benchmark Index all the time. Scott Albro calls it a bromance. Greg and SBI are remarkable for many reasons but I always point out their highly effective use of content marketing and their very innovative, modern view of selling. I am really excited to get a Madlibs from him – you should be too because it was a “doozy”. Madlibs, Greg Alexander – style below:

  1. The b2b buyer is- saturated by offers to solve problems that he does not have by sales people focused on activities not results.

    2. [Read more...]

Filed Under: b2b Marketing, b2b Sales, Content Marketing, Lead/Inquiry Generation, Madlibs with the Funnelholic
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