This is the last update of 2005. We will resume on Tuesday, January 3rd. January 2nd is a holiday in the Ogden house (My Fighting Irish play the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl, 4:30pm Eastern on ABC. Go Irish!)
Here are two comments from VP’s, East Region at two large business intelligence companies. I’d like to nominate them to the “Dim Light Bulb Comment Hall of Fame.”
“I have three priorities: revenue, revenue and revenue.” (Bob M.)
“Don’t confuse selling with implementing.” (Marc S.)
The first is like a football coach saying his priorities are winning, winning and winning. Yes, that is the metric by which he is measured. But it ignores the processes needed to win — such as recruiting, coaching, game film review. (See the article on Charlie Weis below for more.)
The second says, in effect, “I know the customer bought from you because he trusted you. But I simply don’t care.” If you wonder what is wrong with that, read my article about the malaise in the software industry. That comment is symptom of the disease.
For balance, here is a smart comment from a great sales manager at SPSS. When asked for her goals, she said “For 100% of my team to make their numbers.” Good for her.
Lastly, I found a software company that “gets it.” Unica, in the Boston area, seems to be the kind of customer-centric, high value company that has a bright future. They just did an IPO. Check them out at www.unica.com.
Happy holidays, everyone.
For companies looking for best practices in b2b lead generation who wish to improve the way they acquire new customers, Find New Customers is the place to go. CSO Insights says companies need to improve the way they generate leads and implement processes for business to business lead generation.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, who helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.
