It used to be so simple.  The formula was clear.

Problem – We need sales.

Answer – Hire salespeople, especially those with industry or specialized experience.

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Here’s what you need to implement lead generation programs.

1. A clear universal lead definition – agreed by sales and marketing.
2. A strong value proposition – specific, measurable and time-constrained.
3. Compelling and remarkable content – bite-sized and multi-media. (It’s only compelling and remarkable because your clients say it is so.)
4. An ongoing and automated lead nurturing process.  (If you do a great job of combining 3 and 4, you’ll get the kind of reaction I got from a prospect, when they said “He walks on water.”)
5. Well mapped lead scoring – to ensure salespeople focus on hot leads.
6. Metrics – to measure and refine the process – for continual improvement.

Do those six and in a bit of time, sales-ready leads will begin pouring in — first a trickle, then a stream and finally a river.

What do you think? We love comments and people who share.

Jeff Ogden is President of Find New Customers “Lead Generation Made Simple” Check out the online show every Friday at 11am ET, “Laugh and Learn with the Fearless Competitor.” Find New Customers is one of few lead generation companies in New York.

Find New Customers helps companies like yours (with 50 to 5,000 employees and complex products) implement lead generation programs to improve the way you find and acquire high quality sales leads using best practices in online lead generation. Quality leads matter. In fact, a recent study found that sales teams with fewer, high quality sales leads closed more than sales teams with more leads of dubious quality.

If you wish to do sales lead generation online, contact the B2B lead generation experts at Find New Customers using the form below.

CSO Insights is currently in the process of launching their 16^th annual Sales Performance Optimization study, the past results from which have been regularly featured in Harvard Business Review, Business Week, Entrepreneur Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Inc., CRM Magazine, etc.

Having reviewed their past reports, I would like to encourage you to take part in the new survey. In return for your time, CSO Insights will send you a copy of the full 200+ page analysis when it is published in January, 2010, so you can tap into the insights of your peers to optimize the performance of your organization.

In addition, you will be able to immediately download CSO Insight’s new Sales Management 2.0 e-book upon completing the survey.

To take part in this research project click on the following:

CSO Insights’ 2010 Sales Performance Optimization Survey Link

Due to the tremendous popularity of How to Find New Customers, the white paper I penned some months ago — I’ve decided to bring the fresh ideas and concepts of demand generation to the people — with workshops in both San Francisco and New York City.

I’m working with Kevin Temple of The Enterprise-Selling Group to set up these lead generation workshops.

Full day events will be held the week of November 9, 2009 — and will cost only $975 per attendee.

Stay tuned as we plan and set these exciting events up.  You’ll soon see where you can learn more and register for the workshops.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is President of Find New Customers.  He’s been called the guru of lead generation and his white paper, How to Find New Customers has received universal acclaim.  He can be reached at 516-284-4930 or jogden@findnewcustomers.net

Great post by Jim Burns, CEO of Avitage on a problem faced by many businesses.  Email is cheap and easy but it’s effectiveness is very, very low.  How can we improve its effectiveness?

In this post Jim explains how businesses might use phone, email and video together to build trusted relationships and more sales-ready leads.  I highly recommend business leaders read it.

Improve your connect rates