The Funnelholic

Disclaimer: InsideCRM is one of the core websites of my company, TIppit. Either way, our CRM webinars with Microsoft have been really good. If you are looking into a new CRM system or you are in charge of the CRM system at your organization, this should be a great watch. Live version means you get to ask question. Sign up here

Well, as a blogger, you need to love yourself…but I didn’t love myself enough to publicize my own webinar. HA. I am speaking today at 10AM PST with Leo Manson from Microsoft. The goal is to give marketers the ability to kick start an effective lead generation platform leveraging their current CRM system. Check me out. PS if you cant make it today, Ill send an archived version.

I’d love to hear feedback as I refine my outward messaging.

Remember, I don’t propose to be the smart one here — The Funnelholic’s joy/job is to search the web and find people smarter than he is and just present it. I have met the author of Mironov.com….really smart guy who writes some real thoughtful content.

The link to his articles: Mironov.com

Anyway, I’ll comment on some specific articles soon.

Brian Carroll, my B2b lead gen blogging idol, talks about this in his post: Closed Loop Feedback: The Missing Lead Generation Huddle. Brian is coming from the outsourced Call Center perspective and I am coming from the third party lead generation perspective, but the massive benefits are the same: The organization providing leads and the consumers of the leads (Sales) need to meet and talk WEEKLY.

Yes, I know, the Sales Team will give you annoying feedback: “This lead had freckles, so its not a lead”. But in between those annoying comments are the kinds of tidbits that both sides can leverage to refine and optimize the process. The leads dont do the talking and you cant live off the feedback from your automation. Conversations will usually yield really important holes that need to be addressed that get lost in automation.

So meet, and ask the important question: What’s working and what’s not working. Lead Generation needs to listen-filter too but listen. Both sides should be a/b testing new ideas to increase conversion rates.

What is sales doing when they get a lead? Sometimes just changing how Sales engages the lead after receipt can yield higher conversion rates.
What is marketing doing to prep the lead? Sales needs to know what marketing or lead development is telling the leads before passing….that can be leveraged for the next conversation?
How much effort is sales putting into reaching the lead? How many contacts were expected by them?
When is a lead dead? When is lead recycled back to marketing or lead development to work?