Want to write a guest post for Fearless Competitor? Can you pull cars to the curb?

May 11, 2013 Leave a Comment

Fearless Competitor, the top B2B marketing blog of 2012, according to BuyerZone, is happy to accept guest posts. However, we have a Rule of Thumb – Can you pull cars to the curb?

Scott Stratten of Unmarketing, a guest on my Marketing Made Simple TV show, tells the story of a blogger.

“There is a blogger who writes infrequently, but his posts are so good that, which I’m driving and see a new post on my smartphone, I pull over immediately to read it.”

guest blog The posts are so good that he cannot even wait to get home.

Great posts require great writing, clean organization, easy to read formatting and highly relevant images. Do you write posts like that?

If you write posts that pull cars to the side of the road, you can write for us anytime. Reach Jeff Ogden at jeff dot ogden at findnewcustomers.com.

Jeff Ogden is an award-winning marketing expert and President of the digital marketing company Find New Customers, as well has the creator and host of the popular TV on the Web show, Marketing Made Simple TV. Sign up for free bi-weekly marketing tips here.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Find New Customers, Guest posts, management-best-practices, marketing-campaigns

Why Using a Telemarketing Call Center is a Great Idea

May 8, 2013 Leave a Comment

Summary – Imagine a sales force that never calls in sick or misses a day because of bad weather. Now imagine a sales force that is there where and when your customers want them and need them. You’ve just imagined a telemarketing call center.

(Editor’s note: We are pleased to offer this guest post today. Hope you like it.)

There is the real estate adage that says when you are looking for a place to set up your business there are only three things that matter, Location, Location, and Location! The reason is simple, in order for a business to succeed it has to be where its customers are. For many businesses that is just not possible. If you don’t have a location that customer can easily get to the next best solution is to go where the customers are.

Many people find calls from tele man-mobile-phone marketers a bother but companies continue to employ them on both an outbound and inbound basis because they a very effective means of reaching and keeping the attention of existing and potential customers. Companies that perform telemarketing activities do so for a variety of reasons, including; customer service, market research, improving awareness and sales.

Telemarketing works precisely because location matters. Customers crave convenience, in fact studies have shown that people will often pay a premium for convenience and few things are more convenient than having the sales force come to you. For business owners and managers the benefits of telemarketing are reflected on the bottom line in very real terms because there is no wasted time and expense in a salesperson traveling from customer to customer.

Telemarketing benefits both the marketer and customer in terms of response time and order fulfillment because the results are immediately actionable on both sides of the transaction. Delays of hours days or even weeks for orders to be processed are eliminated and results can be measured and offers and tactics revised in real time.

One of telemarketing’s advantages is its versatility. Telemarketing, as a business resource is available every day all year long, regardless of weather, traffic, construction or any other factor that might interfere with a salesman’s ability to visit customers. Companies can be available when customers are ready to take orders, answer questions and resolve problems. Telemarketing allows all of this with the added benefit of better tracking of results.

An effective sales program is a numbers game. Volume matters, because if the best salesman in your company closes 50% of his visits with a sale and can only make 10 visits a week that’s 5 sales. If you can get close to the same closing percentage but double, triple, or quadruple the number of calls made your number of closed sales will go through the roof.

Unlike a salesman an outsourced telemarketing program to a top quality call center never calls in sick or has car trouble and in addition to the greater number of calls when all things are equal a call center is always there and ready to conduct business on your behalf. Telemarketing does not promise success for every business in every situation. You still have to have a quality product or service that customers will be interested in purchasing but if you do than telemarketing will prove itself to be the cost effective solution you have been searching for to grow your business.

Paul is a freelance writer for Ansafone Contact Centers that provide call center outsourcing services. For more information about how call center service outsourcing services can help your business visit the Ansafone website.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is an award-winning marketing expert and President of the sales lead generation company Find New Customers. He’s also the creator of the very popular TV on the Web show, Marketing Made Simple TV. You can also sign up for free bi-weekly market tips here

We also write a lot of guest posts for SellingPower.com, Marketo, and Brandtelling.com. Guest posts are a great way to gain publicity, according to content marketing expert Brian Clark of Copyblogger. In fact, the number one source of traffic for this blog is search engines, so we are ranking well.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Find New Customers, Guest posts, management-best-practices, marketing-campaigns, telemarketing

A Review of the Book B2B AtoZ by Bill Blaney

May 2, 2013 Leave a Comment

A Review of a good book on B2B Marketing

I recently received a reviewer’s copy of the book B2B AtoZ by Bill Blaney – which covers B2B marketing. I get many books sent to me, especially since I’m the host of the extremely popular online TV show, Marketing Made Simple TV. I give this book 4 1/2 stars out of 5. A very, very good marketing book indeed.

The book opens with the statement “B2B Marketing Had Changed” and boy, is he ever right! When I was graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Marketing degree in 1982, marketing was simple. Buy a bunch of ads and put them on TV, radio and newspapers. Those days are gone forever. I’ve adapted and you need to as well.

b2b marketing

The author writes “Successful businesses are like amoebas; they move, morph, split and change in order to grow. Being “amoeba-like” keeps these businesses ahead of the curve in an economy that has become hyper-competitive, and dramatically more complex than the business world we knew even five years ago.”

He also talks about the incredible clutter of advertising today, blurring the line between work-related activity and personal. In every medium today – TV, radio, the internet – one is bombarded with an onslaught of me-too ads and boring pitches.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book is that Bill pulls no punches. He tells it like it is. Case in point – He has a chapter on B2B myths, including:

Myth 1: Customers already know a lot about your product or service

Myth 2: Customers don’t want to be “sold to”

Myth 3: Our previously successful marketing program does not need to be updated

Myth 4: The internet changed everything

Myth 5: Blogging automatically leads to new customers

Blogging is branding, plain and simple.

It’s always about the content. You need great content.

Don’t shill. No boring product pitches.

Don’t stop. Giving up too soon is the reason blogs fail. (This blog is over seven years old!)

Myth 6 “New” Marketing Doesn’t Need “Traditional” to Succeed

Myth 7: Marketing Agencies Aren’t Needed. We can Do It All in HouseDon’t rely on social media alone. You need a lot more.

Companies mistakenly assume they can get a lot for a little. They can’t. This is why they need outside agencies.

Myth 8: ROI happens right away

One-off marketing does not generate much results. Consistency and persistence are needed in marketing.

Myth 9 : It’s all about the style

Most marketing campaigns suck. You really need a strong message.

The author also says that “Many B2B advertisers don’t embrace change.” Change is difficult and most cannot do it. He also writes “Consistency and repetition are everything; most B2B Campaigns Don’t Have It.” He talks about how companies assign different products to different groups, resulting in muddled messaging.

He also talks about the need for a comprehensive marketing plan, which we discussed in an earlier post entitled:

Where’s your marketing plan? The most important marketing tool.

All in all, i really enjoyed reading this book and bet you will do. Bill pulls no punches and tells it like it is. We also invite you sign up for free bi-weekly marketing tips here.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: b2b marketing, Find New Customers, management-best-practices, Marketing Made Simple TV, marketing-campaigns

I’m Your Customer. You Think You Understand Me, but You Don’t!

April 23, 2013 1 Comment

Do your customers believe you truly understand them? Real Buyer Personas are needed.

If you are doing marketing (and Drucker famously said “all there is is marketing and innovation” – so any decent business has someone in charge of Marketing. But we can ask a simple question:

If we were to ask your customers how well you know them, what would those customers say?

I’m willing to be most business leaders will claim “Hey we know a lot about our buyers!” And I’m also willing to bet that if I talked to those customers, most would say “No he does not.”

I cannot count the times I sat in a room with sales executives and salespeople and listened to them analyze their buyers. They all miss the point. They think they know their buyers, but they don’t. For instance, What qualms do they have about buying from your company? If I asked those internal people, they would be stumped.

True buyer insights come from phone interviews with buyers conducted by a trained professional, like Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers – trained by an organization like the Buyer Persona Institute.

Buyer personas are journeys of discovery. You are finding things you never expected. You are learning insights that you could never have guessed.

This is why surveys and apps cannot do personas. Survey’s have pre-defined questions. Pre-defined questions do not uncover fresh insights. Neither do apps.

To learn about Buyer Persona services from Find New Customers, click here.

What do you think? We love your comments and appreciate those who share on social media.

Jeff Ogden, President of the sales lead generation company Find New Customers is an award-winning BtoB marketing expert who is also trained in Buyer Personas.

Filed Under: Self Education Tagged With: buyer personas, management-best-practices, marketing-campaigns

Buyer Personas are the Foundation of Great BtoB Marketing Programs

April 23, 2013 1 Comment

“There’s no aspect of marketing that buyer personas won’t improve” – Adele Revella of the Buyer Persona Institute

Today, BtoB sellers compete around who has the best buyer insights. Companies who have the best buyer insights enjoy a clear competitive advantage today. If you want to get a competitive advantage, you need world class buyer personas.

Jeff Ogden, President of the sales lead generation company Find New Customers is trained in Buyer Personas – having completed The Buyer Persona Process Master Class from the Buyer Persona Institute.

Let me tell you a bit about this training:

See the diagram at right? This is the process covered in the Buyer Persona Master Class. It covers everything from

Understanding what personas are and are not
How to recruit interviews
How to collect and collate information from the interviews
Finally documenting your persona interviews in a form to drive all downstream marketing activities.

Please note that buyer personas cover more than simply understanding what makes a buyer tick. You also need to cover why and why not they would buy your company’s products and services. The Buyer Persona Institute calls this the 5 Rings of Insight(TM), which is a trademark of the Buyer Persona Institute.

Interested in learning more about the Buyer Persona Service from Find New Customers. as well as our free buyer persona grading service? Click on Tell Me More About Buyer Personas.

Jeff Ogden, President of the sales lead generation company Find New Customers is an award-winning btob marketing expert who is trained in buyer persona best practices. Sign up for free bi-weekly marketing tips here.

What do you think? We love to read your comments and appreciate those who share our posts on social media.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: buyer personas, Find New Customers, management-best-practices, marketing-campaigns

Hiring a Person to Head B2B Demand Generation? Hire a Plan like SCORE too!

April 17, 2013 1 Comment

When hiring a B2B demand generation manager, don’t just hire a person. Hire a process too!

I see lots of listings on LinkedIn looking for BtoB demand generation managers. Fill out a form and send in your resume. But these companies are missing THE critical element – the plan and process to be used.

In fact, I know of two software firms who hired in-house demand generation staff, then they pulled the plug on those staff. Why did they fire their in-house staff? They didn’t have a process which could be measured.

Interesting, Find New Customers met with a large software firm recently to discuss implementing btob demand generation there. When I shared the SCORE program, the CEO inked the Statement of Work immediately. Why did he sign so quickly? He saw exactly what services were to be delivered.

What’s the process that this new hire will use to craft a best practices bt2b demand generation program in your company? I suggest you ask him or her to show you her plan.

This is why the best sales lead generation companies (such as Find New Customers) have a documented b2b demand generation process like the SCORE b2b demand generation program.

SCORE stands for:

S – Simple

C – Clear

O – Optimal

R- Revenue

E -Enhancement

The SCORE demand generation program consists of three clear phases, with deliverables at the end of each phase. It consists of a Foundation phase, an Execution phase and a Metrics phase. Instead of taking a chance of having your BtoB demand generation manager do the right things, look for his or her plan.

Does a documented plan really work?

Case in point, we met with an 800 person global software firm recently, and after reviewing the SCORE demand generation program, they signed with Find New Customers immediately. Having a documented plan that could be put into a Statement of Work meant they knew exactly what they were buying.

Jeff Ogden is the President of Find New Customers, a demand generation company offering services since 2009, but NEVER in the state of Georgia. Sign up for free bi-weekly marketing tips here.

What do you think? Do you think it is important for a BtoB demand generation manager to have a plan? We love comments and those who share on social media.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: b2b demand generation, Find New Customers, management-best-practices, marketing-campaigns, sales-challenges

Marketing Continues to Drop the Ball for Sales in online marketing programs, as per Crain’s B2B study market

April 16, 2013 Leave a Comment

Survey Shows B2B Sales Cycle Lengthening, Increasing Challenges For Online Marketing Organizations

New data from Crain’s BtoB Magazine underscores need for brand differentiation, better targeting and segmentation strategies, and more visibility into online marketing program performance across the entire marketing funnel

Key conclusions from the survey include:

1. The marketing mix is still not meeting the needs of the sales pipeline.

The survey shows a continued gap between the needs of sales organizations and the ability of online marketing to deliver and nurture leads. Less than half of respondents (40 percent) say that their online marketing mix is meeting the needs of the sales pipeline; this measurement has been consistent for two consecutive years. In fact, 60 percent say that their greatest marketing challenge is generating more leads, while 55 percent say that reaching more of their target audience is their biggest challenge. Only 36 percent feel that their current marketing programs very effectively address stakeholders in the buying decision. FNC reaction: This is appalling and I feel sorry for those salespeople.

The survey also revealed that for many companies, the sales cycle has actually gotten longer over the past three years: 43 percent of respondents report a slowing of the sales cycle, putting more pressure on the online marketing mix to nurture leads through a prolonged purchase process. FNC reaction: Go to www.findnewcustomers.com right now and download “7 Keys to Successful Lead Nurturing.”

2. Brand differentiation is becoming increasingly important, but marketers struggle to achieve it.

As a result of the perceived weakness of the marketing mix and longer sales cycles, branding has come to take a paramount position for B2B marketers: 79 percent say that differentiating on brand is a priority for their organization.

However, most marketers (60 percent) report that they are not fully satisfied with their current efforts to differentiate on brand. There is also confusion about which marketing channels drive brand awareness. For example, 27 percent believe that the corporate website – a lower-funnel channel – works best at driving brand awareness. FNC reaction: Companies continue to swim in Red Oceans. They need to find Blue Oceans.

3. B2B marketers are not able to effectively target and engage decision makers.

Another challenge for today’s marketers is targeting and engaging decision makers in the buying process. The vast majority (81 percent) of B2B marketers must contend with multiple decision-makers during the sales process, but only about one-third (36 percent) feel their current marketing programs effectively address all these stakeholders.

One reason for this may be that only about one-third of marketers are incorporating targeting and segmentation in their digital advertising, search and social programs. When they do use targeting and segmentation, only 40 percent of respondents say that these tools very effectively help them reach the people involved in the typical buying decision.

4. Marketers need better visibility into the value of their marketing programs.

Measurement continues to be an issue for B2B marketers. More than one-third (36 percent) of respondents report their biggest online marketing challenge is accurately measuring and attributing online conversions to the correct marketing channels. Less than half (42 percent) of marketers say they attribute success across the entire marketing funnel.

One major obstacle to measurement is poor data infrastructure: 34 percent say they do not have the right tools to collect and analyze marketing program data. Another challenge is a lack of understanding of the metrics needed at each stage of the buying decision, with 22 percent citing this as a top obstacle to meeting the evolving needs of the market. FNC Reaction: In 2013, companies still lack the right tools and fail to understand metrics? Are you kidding me?

Our Thoughts on this Study

Considering the damning statistics on the current state of B2B marketing and sales points, I believe, to the need to bring in outside experts for assistance. This is why companies reach out to digital marketing companies like Find New Customers and like firms who bring fresh insights and ideas. And since Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers was named a Top 25 Sales Influencer, he understands what salespeople need today. If you are a sales leader frustrated by the inability of marketing to deliver for you, contact Find New Customers by calling 516-495-9350 or by emailing sales at findnewcustomers.com.

Read the original article here. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/survey-shows-b2b-sales-cycle-lengthening-increasing-challenges-for-online-marketers-2013-04-08

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Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is an award-winning BtoB marketing expert and President of the sales lead generation company Find New Customers. He’s also the creator and host of the popular TV on the Web show, Marketing Made Simple TV. Sign up for free bi-weekly marketing tips here.

Filed Under: Self Education Tagged With: Find New Customers, lead-generation, marketing-campaigns, sales lead generation, sales-challenges

Guest Posting Brings in an Audience, not Just Traffic – Content Marketing Best Practices

April 15, 2013 Leave a Comment

Guest Blogging is an ideal content marketing strategy and a key element in your sales lead generation programs

I’m reading the book How to Effectively Promote Your Content, by Brian Clark, @CopyBlogger. Brian is a terrific writer, but the way. and I highly recommend his books. His books were recommended to me by Jesse Petersen of Peterson Media Group, who did all the great work on this blog. That’s where I learned great SEO tips, like creating a cornerstone page.

I just got to Chapter 6 – The Essentials of Guest-Blogging Strategy for SEO, Traffic and Audience Building. It’s clear from reading this chapter that Brian is a big fan of guest posting. As he wrote “When you’re getting started with content marketing, you may be incredibly knowledgeable about your topic, but you have little authority – because no one knows you yet.

Placing posts on other blogs helps your potential audience to start to associate your name with high-quality information. And a bit of authority of your host blog will transfer itself to you.

Guest Blogging Brings In An Audience, Not Just Traffic

Anyone can buy traffic using pay-per-click or other forms of advertising. But what you are buying is just that – traffic.

Traffic from a guest post, on the other hand, is already an audience. In other words, it’s already a group of people interested in your topic who are also intrigued by what you have to say.”

Finally, his advice is not only that you guest post, but that you write regularly for these blogs.

If this top expert recommends guest blogging, that’s what I’m doing. Already both Marketo and Docusign invited me to write guest posts for them, and I just finished the Docusign guest post. I was also invited to guest post for Brandtelling. And I’ve already written 2 guest posts for SellingPower.com.

And since he recommends continuous guest posting, I will write more for Selling Power too.

Guest posting is a key content marketing strategy at the sales lead generation company Find New Customers now. Sign up for free bi-weekly marketing tips here.

What do you think? We love comments and those who share on social media.

Filed Under: Self Education Tagged With: blogging, content marketing, Find New Customers, management-best-practices, marketing-campaigns

Are you a CMO or VP of Marketing? If so, learn about digital marketing from CMO’s Speak, a new Silverpop white paper (by yours truly)

April 11, 2013 Leave a Comment

Silverpop

This new white paper from Silverpop, penned by Jeff Ogden of the digital marketing company Find New Customers (His fourth white paper to date) shares ideas and insights from some of the top CMOs in America. If you are a CMO or VP of marketing, it delivers key recommendations around digital marketing you can use in your business today.

For digital marketers, the shifts in social and mobile are profound. You’re dealing with a vastly different customer – one who’s empowered with information and communication tools like never before.

Gain fresh ideas and insights from some of today’s smartest marketing leaders about how to navigate this crazy new world, including:

Articulating the voice of the customer
Rethinking basic building blocks around buyer behavior
Embracing peer engagement
Innovating faster and committing to change

Improve your marketing today by downloading this free white paper at

CMOs Speak: Navigating the Crazy New World of Digital Marketing Today

What do you think? We love to read your comments and appreciate those who share on social media.

The author of this white paper is Jeff Ogden of the digital marketing company Find New Customers. Jeff is an award-winning marketing expert who has been helping companies (except the state of Georgia) since 2009 to create and deploy programs to help sales close more deals. You can contact Jeff at 516-456-8218 or by sending an email to sales at findnewcustomers.com.

Filed Under: Self Education Tagged With: Digital Marketing, Find New Customers, management-best-practices, marketing-campaigns, White Papers

Realizing the Promise of Marketing Technology – ITSMA sales lead generation meeting in NYC

April 10, 2013 Leave a Comment

I recently had the pleasure of attending the ITSMA lunch briefing in NYC, where they discussed the sales lead generation topic “Realizing the Promise of Marketing Technology.”

If you are not familiar with ITSMA, it’s a marketing research firm which focuses on technology and services firms. Their member list reads like a Who’s Who of the tech world.

Thanks to President Dave Munn for inviting Jeff Ogden of the sales lead generation company Find New Customers to the event. As always, I wore my Marketing Made Simple TV hat to the event. (I always want to look different from everyone else. I got many compliments on the hat. Photo below.)

Learn about ITSMA here:

At this event, Dave Munn, President and CEO of ITSMA present News and Update, and then Dan Armstrong, Director Research and Thought Leadership presented “Realizing the Promise of Marketing Technology,” in a fun and engaging format.

Here is how ITSMA described the event:

B2B marketing organizations have been under invested in marketing technology for years, but now that is all changing. With over 350 marketing technology vendors knocking on your door, pitching software and tools to automate, optimize, monitor, distribute, and analyze every aspect of the marketing function, companies are getting serious about their use of marketing software and tools.

ITSMA’s latest research with B2B marketers explores where marketers are in their use and utilization of marketing technology. From what categories of software they’re buying, levels of investment, the kinds of skills they’re hiring, what governance practices they have in place, and the ways in which their relationships with sales and IT are evolving. We’ve also identified the best practices of “tech savvy” marketing leaders that we’ll reveal.

Here are the top four CMO Spending Priorities:

Lead nurturing and management – 50% increase; 9% decrease; 41% stay the same
Social media monitoring and measurement – 48% increase; 4% decrease; 48% stay the same
Web analytics and optimization – 45% increase; 3% decrease; 52% stay the same
Content management and delivery – 42% increase; 3% decrease; 55% stay the same.

So what’s the problem?

Answer: The same old story: lack of Budget and Skills

64% of B2B services provides are underinvested in marketing technology
45% of B2B marketers are unable to access marketing technology skills
25% of B2B marketers lack resources for training and technology adoption

Answer: The same old story: lack of Planning and Process

35% of B2B marketers have inefficient processes, even with technology
55% of B2B services providers have cobbled their technology together over time without a strategy or plan
66% of B2B marketers have no documented IT policies and governance of marketing technology integration and interoperability.

Answer: The same old story: Organizational barriers

45% of B2B marketers report poor data quality or organizational data silos
46% of B2B marketers have a less than satisfactory relationship with IT.

Dan concluded with six tips from front-runners:

Foster a culture that values data and analytics as much as, if not more than, marketing’s creative legacy.
Don’t skimp on process design and documentation
Create a marketing technology strategy and to plan
Invest in technology, but also training and adoption
Reach out and collaborate with IT to define a marketing infrastructure roadmap
Rethink, reskill and reinvent

You can reach Dan Amstrong at darmstrong at itsma.com if you have questions.

Marketing Made Simple TV

Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers is an award-winning BtoB sales lead generation expert and the creator and host of the popular show Marketing Made Simple TV, which premieres a new show every Thursday at noon ET/9am PT. He holds a marketing degree from the University of Notre Dame.

His company has been helping businesses drive more revenue since 2009, but never in Georgia.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Find New Customers, ITSMA, management-best-practices, marketing-campaigns, sales lead generation