Daily Archives: December 22, 2010

Consolidation in marketing software continues - Teradata acquires Aprimo

Posted by Jeff Ogden on

For Release on December 22, 2010

Teradata to Acquire Aprimo

Strategic move joins leaders in data warehousing and analytics and integrated marketing management to help corporations drive growth and profitable business engagements

Aprimo is a client of Find New Customers, the b2b lead generation company. And I wish the best to my many friends at Aprimo.

But in a bigger sense, it’s interesting to see what is happening here. Here are my two cents. And here is what Eloqua’s CEO, Joe Payne had to say in

Q&A: Six Vital Answers from Eloqua CEO Joe Payne About the Aprimo Acquisition

Point solutions are disappearing. Integrated solutions are the future.

Case in point, Salesforce.com acquired Jigsaw, so Salesforce.com customers can enjoy self-cleaning data.

Teradata acquires Aprimo as they do related things in Fortune 500 accounts. Teradata provides database and analytics while Aprimo provides marketing capabilities for those same clients.

Business Objects, Hyperion, Cognos, Brio, etc. - point solutions are going the way of the dodo bird, I think. It will be interesting to watch Marketo, Silverpop, Eloqua, Manticore and the others. I think you’ll hear a lot more merger announcements in early 2011.

What do you think of today’s announcement? What do you think the future holds in this space?

Focus Roundtable on B2B Lead Generation

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.






7 Keys to Successful Lead Nurturing

Posted by Jeff Ogden on

Looking to improve revenue in 2011? Embrace Lead Nurturing.

Inbound Marketing
According to noted lead generation expert, Brian Carroll, as many as 9 out of 10 visitors to your website are not ready to buy now. This means you need to find a way to stay in touch with that 9 and build trust – so that when they’re ready to buy, they buy from you.
The process of keeping in touch with prospective buyers by sharing valuable information till they’re ready to buy is called “Lead Nurturing.”
Should you do Lead Nurturing?
Here are some salient facts from experts:
  • Sales lead expert, Mac McIntosh, found that six months after inquiring, 23% of the surveyed subjects had bought the product or service, from the promoter or from a competitor. An additional 67% indicated that they still intended to buy but they were not ready.
  • According to Forrester Research, companies that excel at lead nurturing are able to generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost per lead.
  • According to CSO Insights, companies that excel at lead nurturing have 9% more sales reps make quota, and enjoy a 10% shorter ramp up time for new reps.
  • According to DemandGen Report, nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20 percent increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads.
Today’s marketers must synchronize their marketing throughout the buying process, providing potential buyers with high quality content that is contextually relevant.  As Inside the Mind of the B2B Buyer showed, buyers look for content throughout the buying cycle.
It’s clear that lead nurturing makes economic sense, but most B2B sellers have no idea how to set up a lead nurturing program. So our goal here is to share actionable information.
What are the 7 Keys to a Successful Lead Nurturing Program?
1. Lead nurturing starts with research
Figure out who your ideal buyers are and research what makes them tick. What are their problems? Where do they go for information? How do they like to consume information? The better you know them, the better you can communicate with them. For more information, please check out Buyer Personas.
2. Develop a content map
We have a sample on the Free Tools page at Find New Customers, but you want to map your content across the buying process. Your goal is to help them move through the buying process.
3. Create missing content
Your content map will undoubtedly have holes. Create content to fill those holes.
4. Walk the buyer on a journey from Problem to Solution.
Your content should walk them on a journey – from the problems of today to the solutions of tomorrow. With your insights, you should understand their problems and your products and services should be the solution at some point.
5. Use Catch Factors® (credit: Ardath Albee of MarketingInteractions) to get their attention.
Make sure each piece of content can identify one or more Catch Factors
  • Urgency (Why do they need it?)
  • Impact (What will result?)
  • Effort (How hard will it be?)
  • Reputation (Can I trust you?) and
  • Intent (Why should I buy from you?)
include a Call to Action (What you want them to do.) and a Cliff Hanger® (Ardath Albee)
– think of the TV show 24 and coming attractions. That’s a cliff hanger. You want to grab their interest and keep it.
6. Space out your communication
between 2 and 4 weeks is generally best. It’s ideal if you can ask the prospect for his or her own preferred pace.
7. Launch your program, measure the results and refine your program.
Lead nurturing should be a continuous journey, and not a task.

Are you gently nurturing leads today?

We love comments.  We love  Twitter followers. And we love our Facebook fans.

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 or follow @fearlesscomp on Twitter.