Brian Carroll, expert and author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, talks about the need for the “patient nurturing of prospects.” But does that really work?

I joined a UK-based firm in the Search Marketing business as VP of Sales and Marketing. After several weeks of assessment, I found a high quality firm who was very much product/technology centric. There was zero marketing and a real lack of educational content.

Unfortunately, I found this ship very hard to turn. Their success in the UK blinded them to the need for change. But I persisted and slowly, over time, they began to come around.

They invested in marketing software and an new CRM — then they embarked in a series of very professionally done webinars. To their credit, they did a bang-up job.

It started slowly — as Brian Carroll said it would. As the first webinar was planned, the CEO (my boss) was very worried about attendance — but to his credit he remained committed. But as they kept up the educational push, attendance grew and grew. Quality content was put on their website and salespeople fully utilized it. After about nine months of this, they issued a press release — Deloitte named them the 14th fastest growing company in the UK. Their CEO, Warren Cowan, said that 2008 is by far their best year.

Mr. CEO, you can do this too. Focus on education and gentle, patient nuturing. It works!

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.  He can be reached at (516) 284-4930 or mailto:[email protected].