The Funnelholic

Drumroll please …  I present the 210 B2B marketing tips for 2010. Let me tell you, this was quite an adventure, one that I will certainly do differently in the future.

Basically, the sequence of events went like this:

1. Decide on topic: 210 tips for 2010
2. Start writing them off the top of my head
3. Get to 65
4. Still determined, decide to ask for help
5. @scottalbro, @cjablonski, @tlotl, @mschmier and @damphoux come to the rescue

Much of what you see below is attributed. Some, however, like the input from @scottalbro, were fed to me conversationally through stream of consciousness, so I didn’t attribute them. He is a great writer and would not be crazy about my translation.

So, without further ado, here they are. I hope you enjoy them.

1. Contribute to the conversation (@tlotl)
2. Create remarkable content (lots of it) (@tlotl)
3. Distribute remarkable content (@tlotl)
4. Evolve beyond managing CPL (@tlotl)
5. Bring data to Sales management (@tlotl)
6. Talk to in-market prospects (@tlotl)
7. Close the buyer loop (@tlotl)
8. Talk to people who have bought/customers (@tlotl)
9. Talk to people who chose a competitor (@tlotl)
10. Sit in on a sales call once a week
11. Sit in on a prospecting call
12. Create a lead scoring system
13. Implement a lead scoring system
14. BTW, if you are just starting on scoring, don’t get too extreme. Scoring means deciding which leads are better than others.
15. Implement a lead nurturing program
16. Judge lead nurturing progress via the conversion rate after 1 month metrics
17. Buy a marketing automation platform
18. Implement a marketing automation platform (no shelf-ware)
19. Create a unified lead definition
20. Get the unified lead definition signed off by sales
21. Don’t agree to restrictive BANT criteria without considering all the people you won’t have sales talk to (if you think about it, they probably do)
22. And if you are in a hyper-targeted market (e.g., are focused on managed service providers only), your unified lead definition should be only: the right person with interest. Anything more restrictive means one lead a month, and your organization in trouble
23. Meet with sales weekly/bi-weekly for anecdotal closed loop feedback
24. Make a decision based on metrics
25. Make lots of decisions based on metrics
26. Over-rule a metrics-driven decision with a decision made from the gut
27. Basically: Balance metrics with intuition
28. Oh, and track everything you can
29. Oh, and yes, the numbers will never be perfect, but they should be enough to help you make decisions
30. Follow the top marketing mavens on twitter
31. Read content from top marketing mavens on twitter
32. Ask a question you want answered on Focus.com (OK, you can ask it on LinkedIn, too)
33. Create a lead management plan that starts from the top (lead generation) to a passed lead (P.S., based on your unified lead definition)
34. Read your competitors marketing materials
35. Fill out a lead form on your competitors site and see how they qualify, convert and nurture you
36. Do a at least one webinar a month
37. Make the webinar focused on business pains and issues, NOT a demo for your product
38. Leverage experts and thought leaders in your industry to speak
39. P.S., have those same experts create white papers, blog posts, etc. for you
40. Think of webinars for ALL aspects: quantifiable lead generation, lead nurturing, education, thought leadership
41. Create a lead qualification organization (dedicated phone-based team focused on following up on leads)
42. Optimize your lead qualification organization
43. Read scripts, emails etc.
44. Send an email to your clients that doesn’t sell them anything but instead helps them do their job
45. Then send these helpful emails monthly
46. Then use the marketing automation system you bought to track efficiency
47. Don’t forget your current customers, or to put it another way, market and foster goodwill with your customers
48. Update your social media profiles for completeness and marketability even if you aren’t looking for a job (LinkedIn, Focus.com, Facebook)
49. Start a blog
50. Update your blog weekly minimum
51. Don’t write about yourself, your company, etc. on the blog, except once in awhile
52. Put marketing, lead generation blogs into your Google reader
53. Allot 22 minutes a day to reading industry-related content
54. Respect every single lead (@cjablonski)
55. “Systems design” your programs (@cjablonski)
56. Make calculated risks routinely (@cjablonski)
57. Delight the most loyal (@cjablonski)
58. Surprise your customers (@cjablonski)
59. Be your target audience (@cjablonski)
60. Rip and replace your strategies (@cjablonski)
61. Manage your brand symbols (@cjablonski)
62. Nurture as if you meant it (@cjablonski)
63. Cleanse your sales pipeline (@cjablonski)
64. Be authoritative
65. Track your metrics based on opportunities created and opportunities
66. Get everyone on CRM (seriously — Its 2010)
67. Get a sales 2.0 tool
68. Increasing connects increases conversion
69. Don’t complain about what sales is doing with your leads
70. Don’t complain about sales in general
71. Urgency. Just be urgent
72. Call your lead generation vendors and optimize the program with real data
73. Post your content on third-party Web sites to capture traffic not going to your Web site
74. Get tweetdeck, hootsuite or something to manage your twitter content
75. Re-evaluate your Web site. Chances are it sucks
76. Clearly define what your product is and the use case it solves for in buyer language on your Web site, in materials, etc. — how many Web sites do you go do and you can’t figure out what the f*** the vendor does?) (@mschmier)
77. Optimize your landing pages for conversion
78. Considering pulling fields OFF your landing pages to get more people to download
79. Go to one of the following trade shows: Marketing Sherpa or Sirius Decisions.
80. Stop going to industry trade shows that don’t work
81. However, don’t think about immediate conversion, judge the show by important meetings had (could be with customers) and the “right” people. If you are looking at short-term conversion rates, you will cancel them all.
82. Test a new lead generation source whenever you can (or you’ll never know what works)
83. Not sure what to do about Facebook — if you can get business there, write me back for next year
84. Read the book: eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale by Ardath Albee
85. Read the book: Digital Body Language by Steven Woods
86. Buying a list is not a lead generation strategy
87. Buying leads is not a lead generation strategy
88. Instead, figure how to convert leads, then buy leads or lists — if you know how to convert, you can buy till the cows come home
89. Remember: white paper leads are the start of a conversation, not the end of the conversation
90. Try new things, always (I think I already said that)
91. Channel partners are terrible at following up on leads; if you pass them leads, run them through a lead qual team first or buy appointments
92. Replace “always be closing” with “always be helping”
93. Map and understand how your buyers make decisions
94. Re-evaluate your target buyer persona.
95. Confirm the target buyer persona and tell everyone in your organization till they tell you to shut up (it’s that important that they know)
96. Make your written content one page. Buyers are busy
97. Consider simplifying your message — bring back “simple as 1-2-3” messaging
98. Buyers love lists, they just do. Lists are easy to read and set an expectation with the reader that it will only be “X” number of points in the offer
99. Create a diverse mix of content (webinars, white papers, podcasts)
100. When following up on leads, combine phone and email
101. Optimize everything about the phone and email process: scripts, emails, sequencing
102. Meet with sales leadership and get them on board. Act like a sales person. They will barf on you at first, but don’t quit — get buyoff
103. Spend some time and money, and you WILL make more money
104. Metrics aren’t just cool, use them to make you better (and look better!)
105. Warning on all this: Sales will always be from Mars, and marketing will always be from Venus
106. Consider all the touch points in a campaign not just the messaging — message, landing page, follow-up, etc.
107. When considering, draw a process map to represent the various touch points
108. Create metrics for each touch point
109. But pick three overall metrics you will look at every day
110. Did I mention social media? Have a twitter strategy, use LinkedIn too
111. Do things on social media, but if you move money away from pure demand generation for social media, that is bad, because …
112. Social media is not a “down the funnel” lead generation strategy, measure social media buy link-backs and traffic, not people ready to buy tomorrow
113. Oh yeah, and if you’re judged only by finding people ready to buy tomorrow, warm up the resume
114. Run a VITO campaign. They still work if you combine phone follow-up with the marketing portion
115. Throw your hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care.
116. Talk to your CEO more than the VP of Sales does
117. Talk to your prospects using case studies
118. Peers are the most trusted source of information for other buyers — leverage your customer network via webcasts and references to re-enforce your value proposition (@mschmier)
119. Online vs. offline is very 2009 (@scottalbro)
120. Online AND offline is very 2010 (@scottalbro)
121. Create a list of 210 tips for your target buyer
122. Do email campaigns — they still work.
123. I know I mentioned podcasts earlier, but don’t do them. They don’t work
124. Choose someone in your company who will be your voice online
125. Stop advertising in trade magazines
126. If you are fortunate to sponsor a big sporting event, make sure you get tickets as well because you should at least get personal ROI
127. Make sure you provide a demo. The self-service buyer craves it (this falls under “down the funnel” content)
128. Understand your competition and give sales real competitive language, not high-level outdated, irrelevant stuff (everyone considers more)
129. Where are your users online? Figure out where your users are online and create a strategy as appropriate. Hint, most SMB buyers probably aren’t tweeting all day. (@mschmier)
130. The phone is still the most important tool for conversion to opportunity.
131. Go to sales training — if you can sell, you can market
132. Read a sales book, see above
133. Try emails using the exact opposite of best practices
134. Oh, and send an email on Sunday morning. People will open it
135. Social media is not a panacea (@cjablonski)
136. Improve field-to-headquarters information flow (@cjablonski)
137. Research your industry buying cycles (@cjablonski)
138. Deliver on your intent, daily (@cjablonski)
139. If you don’t believe in your value proposition, rewrite it (@cjablonski)
140. If the average person can’t understand your value prop, rewrite it
141. Social media is WOM on steroids (@cjablonski)
142. Keep emerging submarkets on your radar (@cjablonski)
143. If you pay for impressions, then you will get impressions(@cjablonski)
144. Give away your best content for free (@cjablonski)
145. Learn your company’s elevator pitch (@tlotl)
146. Write your personal elevator pitch (@tlotl)
147. Claim your area of unique expertise (@tlotl)
148. Challenge any assumption more than 9 months old (@tlotl)
149. Learn how to (effectively) explain social media to executive management (@tlotl)
150. Don’t let the bastards drag you down (@tlotl)
151. Don’t get defensive
152. Append your house list. Why wouldn’t you?
153. Be the first to develop a Google Wave marketing strategy (@cjablonski)
154. Throw your hands in the air and Google Wave them like you just don’t care
155. If you spend more money on promotional items like t-shirts and pens than you did on demand gen, then shame on you
156. Facilitate conversations between experts (@tlotl)
157. Create content for every buyer persona you create (business users want something different than technical)
158. Consumer marketers are light years ahead of B2B marketers. If you want to know what’s cutting edge, it’s them.
159. Don’t overvalue title filters with content syndication; identifying organizational interest is the goal.
160. P.S., Directors and VPs don’t download white papers online.
161. Keep voicemails under 30 seconds
162. In voicemails, don’t sell the product, sell the next step (e.g., just ask them to read your email), because …
163. You should send an email after you leave a voicemail. You will get an exponentially higher open rate.
164. Speaking of which, in lead gen and marketing, you should sell the meeting, demo, or next step not the product
165. If you throw a party , invite the neighborhood — don’t filter webinars
166. Keep marketing and generating demand in December, or you’ll end up with no pipeline in January.
167. Understand common prospect objections and help attack them in your collateral.
168. Assess the ROI of your fixation on ROI (@cjablonski)
169. Elevate your marketing database hygiene (@cjablonski)
170. Shoot for viral when you have the talent (@cjablonski)
171. Make a contingency plan for your guerilla marketing idea (@cjablonski)
172. Don’t write off direct mail (@cjablonski)
173. Work with “frenemies” to serve the community (@cjablonski)
174. Don’t hire someone to write your blog (@cjablonski)
175. Be interesting by being interested (@cjablonski)
176. Help make sales people be trusted expert advisers(@cjablonski)
177. Don’t begin a survey with demographic questions (@cjablonski)
178. Have conversations not sales pitches (@cjablonski)
179. Create versatile content: Can you use this content in a white paper, webinar, blog post, etc.?
180. Marketing is either a critical advantage against your competitors or nothing at all (obsolete, ineffective, etc.). Think like sales when you build your marketing strategy — build it to compete
181. When considering everything you can do in 2010, remember you will be judged by pipeline created for sales
182. Knowing the above, when trying to figure out whether to put money into lead gen or branding and you can’t afford to do both, I think you know the answer now
183. Repurpose old content (@damphoux)
184. Measure CPO (Cost per Opportunity) (@damphoux)
185. It’s not a sales process, it’s a buying process (@damphoux)
186. Interview candidates from competition (@damphoux)
187. Ask prospects which competitor you lost a deal to (@damphoux)
188. Ask them why (@damphoux)
189. Pounce on a Web lead if they abandoned their visit on the Contact Us page (@damphoux)
190. Make the goal of the first sales call to get a second (@damphoux)
191. Different sales reps at the same company can benefit by different leads (introductory appointments for one, qualified leads for others) (@damphoux)
192. Not all sales people know what’s right for them — think of them as teens and give them what you think is right for them (@damphoux)
193. Log into your webinar platform an hour early and get all presenters set up early (@damphoux)
194. Do demand gen programs targeting your existing and past clients (@damphoux)
195. Never pay a lead gen team by the hour, pay for results (@damphoux)
196. Spend a day with your lead gen team or vendor (@damphoux)
197. Teach your sales team the best practices of handling the leads you worked so hard to generate (@damphoux)
198. Learn how to use a tweet scheduler, but still be personal most of the time (@damphoux)
199. Your most important landing page is your home page (@damphoux)
200. One of the highest converting forms is the Subscribe to Blog by Email form (@damphoux)
201. Selling doesn’t start until sales is talking with a prospect. Set introductory appointments for them (@damphoux)
202. Do AB testing with a simple 3 line email, instead of a formal email marketing piece (@damphoux)
203. Read the Pounce, Pause, Nurture or Wait debate (@damphoux)
204. You spend thousands, if not millions of dollars building your contact database, so invest a little bit to maintain it with dedupes and validation (@damphoux)
205. Attend a tweetup (@damphoux)
206. Create a simple slideshare presentation and make every marketing and sales member of your team loads it into their LinkedIn profiles. Stagger them so they continually go live (@damphoux)
207. Favorite, Like, Retweet people promoting your offering (@damphoux)
208. Build a twitter “List” (@damphoux)
209. If you see business cards lying on a sales rep’s desk, get them entered into a spreadsheet/CSV for free (@damphoux)
210. Never try to do a list over 10 by yourself (especially 210)

Thanks, @scottalbro, @cjablonski, @tlotl, @mschmier, @damphoux.

Anneke Seley is our first interview in the series. Anneke Seley was the twelfth employee at Oracle and the designer of the company’s revolutionary inside-sales operation. She is currently the CEO and founder of Phone Works, a consultancy that helps large and small businesses build and restructure sales teams to achieve predictable, measurable, and sustainable sales growth. Her book, “Sales 2.0: Improve Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology,” is available at online retailers. For more information, visit www.sales20book.com.

Everywhere you go in Silicon Valley, people know Phone Works. In my eyes they have evolved their messaging to the point that they are directly associated with the Sales 2.0 movement. I am excited to have them involved in the Funnel Thought Leadership Interview series.

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

• Proliferation of Sales 2.0 — the use of innovative sales practices enabled by technology that creates value for both the buyer and seller.
• More focus on measurable, predictable selling and lowering cost of sales.
• Strengthening of customer relationships and alignment with buyer preferences.

2.   What are the biggest challenges for 2009?

• Finding new customers with budget and resources this quarter.
• Keeping sales teams motivated.
• Getting creative and strategic when it’s necessary to do more with less.

3.   What are three metrics that b2b marketers should care about and why?

• The number of qualified leads they are adding to pipeline weekly/monthly/quarterly. Volume is important, but numbers alone won’t help sales make its numbers.
• ROI on marketing investments (best sources of qualified leads) to drive future investments in the most effective programs and avoid spending money on ineffective programs
• Conversion rates from qualified-lead stage to future stages such as opportunity and close. To align marketing goals with sales objectives, leads should be tracked all the way through the sales cycle. Compensating marketing for generating leads that turn into revenue strengthens this alignment.

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

• Not measuring quality or conversion from lead to close.
• Not communicating with sales on what constitutes a “qualified lead” or “target prospect”
• Under-investing/not understanding volumes of qualified leads needed in the pipeline for sales to make its numbers.

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

• We design sales processes that clearly indicate the volume of qualified leads required for revenue objectives to be met.
• We work with marketing to define target prospects, lead-rating criteria and lead-qualification processes and establish sales development functions to track demand-generation program effectiveness as well as effectiveness of marketing messages, positioning, pricing, lists and offers.
• We recommend marketing automation tools that can accelerate the sales process and test the results of those tools with pilot programs.

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

If forced to pick only three, I would pick a well-designed, easy-to-use, expandable CRM as the foundation, a great contact list/data source that is well-maintained and accurate, and sales analytics tools to facilitate sales process measurement. But there are many other effective tools that help engage or qualify customers online, accelerate the process of connecting with them live, shorten the contracts cycle, and so on.

In order to pick the best technology for you, first establish a sales process to track and measure your sales steps consistently to understand where the selling cycle is stalling or sales challenges are occurring. Only then can you determine which tools can have the most impact for your company.

7.   What do you hope for in b2b sales and marketing for the new year?

• Close communication and collaboration — with each other as well as with customers and prospects.
• Changing mindset to embrace Sales 2.0 and the science of predictable selling.
• Staying positive, optimistic and creative!

There is no way to sugarcoat this, world economic markets are screwed. It’s one thing to have fun with The Funnelholic, but I can’t ignore what is happening right now. All of us in the B2B marketing and sales media need to band together and provide tips to one another on how to keep be successful and even keep your job in these hard times. I have already begun — see 3 Changes Marketers Must Make to Survive in This Post-Apocalyptic World.

We will figure out what to do, but we can’t live in fantasyland. We won’t be able to make the necessary adjustments if we don’t swallow the reality. And by the way, we should assume the worst and create a plan that we can execute confidently. My buddy Steve puts it simply: “Mad Max” time.

Continue Reading »

In last week’s post, “Building a Successful Lead Development Program,” I focused on Part 1, the people making up your team. This week I want to focus on how to manage your group. I’m going to save marketing automation and CRM for a post of its own. Instead, I want to talk about how department management should work with your company’s lead developers to support their success.

First, I want to once again pound into your heads the difference between lead development and lead qualification: Continue Reading »