Buying software is easy. Fixing Lead Generation is hard.

Posted by Jeff Ogden on September 24, 2011

B2B Lead Generation | Buying stuff is easy - fixing problems is hard.

If you want to make sales quota in 2012, get started today! Right now! Immediately!

SaaS marketing automation products like Marketo, Hubspot, Eloqua and the like are very, very easy to buy. Give them a credit card, they give you a login. Done. The transaction can be completed in minutes.

It’s actually way too easy, I believe. Too many companies believe purchasing software fixes B2B lead generation. It does not.

Fixing your B2B lead generation challenges is a lot like losing weight. Most everyone wants to do it but promises don’t match reality.

Look at this image. “Scientists discover rare weight loss ‘Wonder Herb.‘” That sounds like the sales pitch of software vendors, promising all that ROI the comes from their software. (That ROI is possible - just like weight loss is possible - if done right.)

I’m sure you don’t buy that. You know full well that there’s no “Wonder Herb” in dieting. Dieting is hard and arduous. Watch “The Biggest Loser” to see how hard it is.

Unfortunately, there’s no “Wonder Herb” in B2B lead generation and marketing either.

Want to hear what it’s really like to buy marketing automation? Read an actual user story in Marketing automation—lower your expectations.

The author, Liz McCellan writes “Don’t get me wrong. I think marketing automation is a smart tool to invest in, but I want to give some candid advice about setting the right expectations.” She goes to compare marketing automation to becoming a parent - everyone congratulates you, but you are in for hard work. One recommendation: She urges you to set realistic dates - and then add at least 6 more months.

Liz makes a great point in her article. What does your software purchase do toward fixing your company’s problems with generating quality sales leads? Absolutely nothing! (This is not a knock on products from companies such as Marketo, Eloqua, Silverpop, Neolane, Aprimo, and Pardot. They are all fine products from solid companies.)

The only way to REALLY fix your lead generation challenges is to do a LOT of hard work - the diet and exercise, if you will - which we summarize in these 10 steps.

Are you ready to do what it takes? Then complete these ten steps.

Craft deep buyer personas - a deep understanding of prospective buyers and concerns.
Define your keywords - the words buyers use to search for solutions.
Agree on the common definition of a lead and identify key trigger events which drive decisions. (So sales will get fewer, better leads.)
Map content to the buyer personas and buyer variables (using keywords) (So you can take buyers on a journey and you do well in search)
Fill in the gaps with new content (using keywords) (No gaps in the journey.)
Optimize the website, blog and social media based on keywords (so you rank well in search.)
Design lead nurturing campaigns in a Problem to Solution story-telling format using your content. (Earn trust till they are ready to buy.)
Using the agreed lead definition, agree on the behaviors and demographics that indicate buying propensity (lead scoring). (Remember, we need fewer and better leads for sales.)
Create metrics to measure the effectiveness of your programs. (So we can refine it over time.)
Deploy everything in your new marketing automation software.

Notice that the real use for the software you bought first appears in Step 10?

Unless you are ready to invest in those 10 steps using internal and/or resources like Find New Customers, you will never really fix your problem with sales lead quality.

We invite you to check out the Lead Nurturing and Scoring service from Find New Customers.

What do you think? Is buying software a panacea for fixing real problems in most companies? We love your comments and sharing.

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is the President of the B2B lead generation consultancy Find New Customers. Find New Customers helps companies dramatically improve revenue results by transforming the way they attract, engage and win new customers. Contact Find New Customers by calling (516) 495-9350 or sending an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com.

“If more companies listened to (Find New Customers) a lot more would be sold.” Dan McDade, Pointclear.

How to Get More Linkedin Recommendations

Posted by Jeff Ogden on September 19, 2011

B2B Lead Generation | Linkedin Recommendations

Linkedin is the premier business social network and to have a good profile, you need recommendations. But how?

Every business person needs a Linkedin profile - with a photo and recommendations. The photo is easy, but how do you go about getting recommendations? Most profiles that I’ve seen have only 2 or 3.

To see what an ideal profile should look like, check out the profile on Linkedin of Jeff Ogden, President of Find New Customers - who has over 40 recommendations from top B2B marketing experts. (This profile was also featured in the popular book for job-seekers, Get Back to Work Faster.)

I asked someone what she thought would be the best way to get more Linkedin recommendations. She replied “Ask for them?” I told her “No - that’s not the best way.“

The best way to get Linkedin recommendations is this:

Write Linkedin recommendations for others.

Gift-giving, without asking for anything in return, is a powerful way to engage people. This is why the business mantra at the B2B demand generation company, Find New Customers is “Always Be Helping.”

My advice to you is to go to Linkedin, find contacts you know and start writing recommendations for others. That will put you in good stead with many and win you numerous recommendations.

What do you think? We love comments and those who share our content on social networks.

“If more companies listened to (Find New Customers) a lot more would be sold.” Dan McDade, Pointclear.

7 Keys to BtoB Social Media Success

Posted by Jeff Ogden on September 15, 2011

B2B Demand Generation | 7 Keys to BtoB Social Media Success

Social media is young and red-hot, but businesses, especially companies that sell complex products (software, hardware, insurance, etc.) struggle to get their arms around this exciting new capability. Precisely because it is so new - companies are continually trying to get their arms around it.

To help you navigate this new world, we share our 7 Keys to BtoB Social Media Success - tips to help you navigate this new and exciting world for marketers.

It’s not television - so don’t treat it like television
Television is a one-way medium - the ad runs and people passively watch. Social media is interactive. It is more like small talk at a cocktail party. Don’t just keep posting useless information (Like what you had for breakfast.) Social media is about building relationships - listening, sharing, conversing.
Take time to plan before you do anything
What do you wish to accomplish with social media? Are you looking to generate sales leads? Are you trying to brand your company? Are you trying to change how your company is perceived? Taking the time to think though your goals is a helpful step every business should do.
Listen more than you talk
Social media is a great platform for listening. Ask a question and tons of people will answer. Gathering information is one of the greatest strengths of social media, so use it well.
Understand your audience
For B2B sellers, understanding the personas of your buyers is critical. For instance, social media covers Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Google Plus, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and more. You need to understand where your audience frequents and what is important to them. The better you understand your audience, the more effective you will be.
Share content that has value to your target audience
Once you understand your buyers, you can share content that matters to them. For instance, if you sell car insurance, you might want to create content about protecting child drivers on prom nights. Write a blog (like this one) and publish your articles. Create ebooks and videos too and share those. As Seth Godin says - you must ship. It does not have to be perfect - just keep shipping.
Find the sneezers
Seth Godin coined this term. Sneezers are people who spread disease. They are the ones who infect lots of people. You should make a list of the top 12 most influential people in your business. Use social media to build relationships with these men and women. Comment on blog articles, follow them on Twitter, connect on Linkedin - there are many ways to engage those important people.
Don’t give up too soon
Patience is critical in BtoB social media. Don’t expect results too soon. Keep doing it and stay active. Social media is a marathon - not a spring.

We believe that, if companies embrace these 7 Keys, they will see much greater results from social media in BtoB.

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp, which scores a perfect 100 out of 100 in twittergrader.com) is the President of the B2B lead generation consultancy Find New Customers. Find New Customers helps companies dramatically improve revenue results by transforming the way they attract, engage and win new customers. Contact Find New Customers by calling (516) 495-9350 or sending an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com.

“If more companies listened to (Find New Customers) a lot more would be sold.” Dan McDade, Pointclear.

How Businesses Use Social Media for Recruiting [INFOGRAPHIC]

Posted by Jeff Ogden on September 10, 2011

Erica Swallow of Mashable posted this and with so many out of work (and I was personally featured in the book Get Back to Work Faster), I deemed it important to share - and I LOVE infographics. Thanks Erica. Erica’s bio follows the post.

______

Savvy job seekers have turned to digital and social media tools to help them in their job searches, and now recruiters are on board with the power of social media as a recruiting tool.

LinkedIn isn’t the only social network that helps in the job search process — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ have all been used by people to land jobs in innovative ways.

And interesting takes on the digital resume are increasingly popular, with job seekers creating infographic resumes, video resumes and other visual resumes that set them apart from other job applicants.

Employers are taking note of the importance of social media in the recruiting process, and the majority of businesses are turning to social media to find and evaluate job candidates, according to this infographic compiled by Career Enlightenment, a resource for online job seekers.

Take a look and let us know what you think of using social media to find a job.

Erica Swallow is an Associate Editor of Partner Content at Mashable, working primarily on growing Mashable‘s supported content program. She also writes within Mashable‘s business and marketing vertical. Erica is an international speaker, having most recently spoken at WOMMA Summit in Las Vegas, Social Marketers Summit in Prague and Social Media Brasil in São Paulo. Follow Erica on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/ericaswallow

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers. Find New Customers helps companies dramatically improve revenue results by transforming the ways they attract, engage and win new customers. Contact Find New Customers by calling (516) 495-9350 or by sending an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com. Or set a meeting with Jeff by clicking Set a Meeting.

How Do You Do It? - My super secret (shh!) 6 Tips for blogging success

Posted by Jeff Ogden on September 7, 2011

B2B Lead Generation | 6 Tips for Blogging Success

Help us make September the best month ever for this blog. Tweet it, share it, email it - tell the world.

Check out these mind-blowing statistics on this blog:

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor

1,085 Posts
Over 63,000 viewers to date
In nationwide syndication
Publishes on the Kindle
Publishes 7 days a week and mostly twice on weekdays (but not on holidays)

Those stats are for this extremely popular blog, Fearless Competitor dot net.

Then the question invariably comes up. “We struggle to post once a week. How many writers do you have for Fearless Competitor?” - most expect 8 or more.

The answer is One. One man. The Fearless Competitor!

The next comment is something we hear frequently.

How the Hell does one person create so many great posts? I struggle to post once a week! How do you do it?

(In fact, Mike Volpe, Chief Marketing Officer at Hubspot said to me “Jeff, at Hubspot we have many writers for our blog and it publishes frequently. But you are almost as prolific and you’re just one person. I have no idea how you do it.”

When you can stump Mike Volpe, you’re doing something right. And Mike invited me to appear on HubspotTV, now called Marketing Update.)

In this post, I’ll share 6 tips on how YOU can learn to be a VERY prolific blogger too. And for each tip, we share an example post from Fearless Competitor, so you can see how it is done.

Create one or more weekly events, shows, etc.
Create a regular weekly show - same day, same time each week. Keep doing it.
We created the B2B marketing show “Laugh and Learn with Find New Customers“. It runs every Friday at 11am ET.
If you post 5 times a week, you’re 20% done.
Find inspiration in everything
Read a great article or find a great TV show? Read an interesting blog article? Is there a lesson in it? Then write about your thoughts.
Check out 5 Lessons a B2B Marketer Can Learn from “Breaking Bad.”
Report on the news
What’s happening in your industry? (Act-On Software buys MarketBridge; Eloqua files to go public.) Something else happening? Share what you think about the news. Check out “The Life Lesson from Plaxico Burress“
Invite guest posts
Have top experts in your industry? Contact them and invite them to write guest posts for you.
Check out “Developing an Integrated Content Marketing Strategy That Works” by Joe Pulizzi, co-author of Get Content, Get Customers.
Re-energize old posts
A very cool feature of WordPress.com is the ability to copy posts. Find a really good post you wrote in 2009 and copy it. Then edit it and freshen it up. Bingo. Brand new post! Check out “How to Gain Customer Trust - Insights by Guy Kawasaki” - which I published a couple of times.
Use Slideshare.
Take a presentation you did, upload it to Slideshare and record an audio track for it. Then match your audio up in Slideshare. (Contact me if you don’t know how to do this.)
Slideshare has a very cool embed feature, so the viewer can see your slideshare right in the blog post. Check out “The Power of B2B Lead Nurturing.” for a great example of embedding a presentation in a blog article.

We also suggest you use your keywords (Like lead generation company) and use them in your blog posts. (Google loves frequently updated blogs.) so it really helps with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). And Hubspot found an active blog gives a company 57% more leads.

We hope you found these tips helpful. What do you think? We love your comments and sharing. Good luck with your blog.

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers. Find New Customers helps companies rapidly grow revenue by transforming how they attract, engage and win new customers. Contact Find New Customers by calling (516) 495-9350 or send an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com.

Find New Customers helps companies (with between 150 and 5,000 employees who sell complex products to businesses) to implement world-class lead generation programs. As companies struggle to create quality sales opportunities, they turn to lead generation companies like Find New Customers.

Laugh and Learn with Find New Customers | Episode 42 “A Day Without Shoes”

Posted by Jeff Ogden on September 2, 2011

In his weekly B2B marketing show, Jeff Ogden, President of the B2B Demand Generation

Jeff Ogden

company Find New Customers shares an important marketing lesson using wit and humor. Laugh and Learn runs every Friday at 11am ET.

In this episode, he continues an earlier discussion on a key business initiative at Find New Customers “Always Be Helping” and discusses how small acts of kindness can unify people.

If you enjoyed our weekly show, why don’t you also follow my company on Linkedin or Facebook?

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers. Find New Customers helps companies dramatically improve revenue results by transforming the ways they attract and earn the trust of prospective customers. Contact Find New Customers by calling (516) 495-9350 or sending an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com.

“If more companies listened to (Find New Customers) a lot more would be sold.” Dan McDade, Pointclear.

Laugh and Learn with Find New Customers | Episode 41 - Old Spice Blend

Posted by Jeff Ogden on August 26, 2011

Welcome to this week’s episode of our famed weekly show - Laugh and Learn with Find New Customers. This show runs every Friday at 11am ET.

Before we talk about this week’s show, we urge you to check out last week’s show (click on those words). It was a classic and perfectly sums up the mantra of Find New Customers “Always Be Helping.”

In this week’s show, we bring back a classic “Will It Blend?” along with a special guest you will recognize. And as always, Jeff Ogden of the B2B lead generation company Find New Customers shares the key marketing take-away of the week.

Don’t give up on this blog just because the weekend is coming. We have great posts coming on Saturday and Sunday too.

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is a popular speaker and presenter who is the President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers. Find New Customers helps companies dramatically improve revenue results by transforming the ways they attract and earn the trust of prospective customers. Contact Find New Customers by calling (516) 495-9350 or sending an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com.

“If more companies listened to (Find New Customers) a lot more would be sold.” Dan McDade, Pointclear.

Four Steps to Convince CEOs that Demand Generation Should be a Marketing, Not a Sales, Function

Posted by Jeff Ogden on August 22, 2011

B2B Demand Generation| Why it belongs in Marketing - Not Sales

Want to truly understand the values of Find New Customers? Then watch last Friday’s Laugh and Learn show? Great show! It’s a must-watch!
Our Lead Nurturing and Scoring Service goes up from $24,995 to $29,995 on September 1, so book today!

J. David Green wrote an awesome post for the B2B Lead Generation Roundtable blog. I posted part of it below, but you have to visit Four Steps to Convince CEOs that Demand Generation Should be a Marketing, Not a Sales, Function to read the full article. We thank J. David for his great post. At Find New Customers, we’ve preached that demand generation belongs in Marketing, but not as eloquently as J. David.

If you are looking for lead generating ideas and better marketing strategies, we suggest you read this.

For most of us, the phrase “demand generation” conjures up things like campaigns, trade shows, and the corporate website.

But what about sales prospecting? Despite all the newfangled marketing automation tools, most CEOs increase the funding for demand generation by authorizing the expansion of the sales organization.

Surprised?

You shouldn’t be. Books like SNAP Selling, Sales 2.0, SPIN Selling and Solution Selling for years have been teaching sales people to generate demand, one conversation at a time. Most companies don’t call what sales people do “demand creation” or “demand generation.” No, we’ve given it more pedestrian names, like “pipeline development,” “sales prospecting” or “cold calling.” But, really, what’s the difference between what sales people are trying to do and what demand-generation does?

The Percent of the Sales Budget Spent on Demand Generation

Efficient sales people don’t spend much of their time prospecting. They network. They get referrals. They leverage LinkedIn and Twitter, and monitor news feeds about key accounts. When done properly, these activities are very effective and do not take a great deal of time. The rest of their pipeline will come from sales-ready leads.

But many sales teams spend 20 percent or more of their time prospecting. A recent technology software client of mine, for example, had their six-figure field sales people spending more than 40 percent of their time prospecting.

Multiply those percentages of time spent prospecting by the total sales budget for the team in question and, in most companies, money indirectly (and maybe inadvertently) allocated by sales for demand generation is at least as large as the entire marketing budget. In fact, it could be a multiple of the marketing budget.

Think about that.

It’s not like sales people like to cold call, cold calling is time consuming and often demoralizing. Sales professionals would prefer to talk to people who have a problem they could solve. So why do sales people do it?

There’s one simple reason: they have no choice. Marketing rarely generates a sufficient volume of truly qualified leads. It’s not because marketing can’t or won’t. It’s because marketing doesn’t get the funding necessary. So sales people have to pick up the slack.

A Four-Step Plan for Making a Bigger Different with Lead Generation

If that sounds like your situation, let me share these ideas for driving change:

Measure how much money your sales organization really spends on demand generation.
Determine the revenue capacity that would be available if your sales team spent more time working opportunities instead of looking for them.
Share these findings with the executive leadership team and propose an experiment in collaboration with sales, finance and your CEO to improve sales’ financial performance: supply a sales team with a sufficient volume of sales-ready leads so that their time spent prospecting is cut in half.
Compare the revenue performance of the pilot team with that of their peers.

To read the rest of this article, click Four Steps to Convince CEOs that Demand Generation Should be a Marketing, Not a Sales, Function

Our Lead Nurturing and Scoring Service goes up from $24,995 to $29,995 on September 1, so book today!

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers. Find New Customers helps companies dramatically improve revenue results by transforming the ways they attract and earn the trust of prospective customers. Contact Find New Customers by calling (516) 495-9350 or sending an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com.

“If more companies listened to (Find New Customers) a lot more would be sold.” Dan McDade, Pointclear.

Laugh and Learn with Find New Customers | Episode 40 “Always Be Helping”

Posted by Jeff Ogden on August 19, 2011

In his weekly B2B marketing show, Jeff Ogden, President of the B2B Demand Generation

Jeff Ogden

company Find New Customers shares an important marketing lesson using wit and humor. Laugh and Learn runs every Friday at 11am ET.

In this episode, he shares a key business initiative at Find New Customers “Always Be Helping” and discusses the fame that his company has accrued from a “gift-giving” approach and recommends other companies think the same way.

If you enjoyed our weekly show, why don’t you also follow my company on Linkedin or Facebook?

Jeff Ogden (@fearlesscomp) is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers. Find New Customers helps companies dramatically improve revenue results by transforming the ways they attract and earn the trust of prospective customers. Contact Find New Customers by calling (516) 495-9350 or sending an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com.

“If more companies listened to (Find New Customers) a lot more would be sold.” Dan McDade, Pointclear.