B2B Lead Generation Fundamentals – Soft vs. Hard Lead Generation

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

B2B sales companies have come up with a variety of ways to generate more leads, and building a successful campaign requires that companies carefully and strategically choose a method that addresses their specific goals.  As an outsourced sales,  outsourced lead generation company and outsourced marketing firm this is part of our series to educate customers not experienced in sales and marketing with some of the basics of lead generation to help them make an informed decision about lead generation outsourcing.  This blog discusses the differences between hard and soft lead generation methods, as well as when each is appropriate for use.

If you would like meatier content on B2B Lead Generation we invite you to visit our knowledge center devoted to B2B Demand Generation.

The first thing to do when coming up with a lead generation strategy is to clearly articulate you goals.  These should be both quantitative and qualitative.  How many leads are you trying to get?  What kind of sales to you need to generate?  Who is the audience you are trying to focus on?  How early or late in the sales cycle do you want your leads to be? What are you willing to pay for a lead?

These questions are important to ask because how you choose to generate leads will affect the number and quality of your leads.  Soft strategies tend to generate large numbers, while harder strategies tend to generate a higher quality.

The Soft Offer

Soft offers pull in high numbers with an incentive that has very little perceived risk.  If you use a sweepstakes type strategy, and offer free tickets to the Super Bowl, you are likely to get an unprecedented number of respondents.  However, most of these leads are likely to care more about football than your product or service, and few will convert to qualified leads.  One example of a soft offer that we have seen work is gift cards or a free iPad.  As an outsourced lead generation company we have found that this is sometimes a great way to generate a quick opt in database..

This method should be used when companies are looking to get leads earlier in the sales cycle.  It also requires more time to weed through the large numbers to find qualified leads.  This approach is best when trying to jump-start your sales or create a lot of activity.

The Hard Offer

Hard offers produce fewer respondents, but the leads that are generated are much more likely to be qualified.  By offering something that has a slightly higher risk, or involves some type of commitment, you are likely talking to someone much further along in his or her sales cycle.  Hard offers can include invitations to webinars, an audit, a consultation, etc.

Use hard offers when you want to target prospects further into the buying cycle, or do not have the time to weed through large numbers looking to qualify.  The leads you generate with hard offers are much more likely to convert to closed deals, so take this into consideration when engaging with them.

When it comes deciding which method will be most effective for your company, knowing who you are talking to is key — A hard offer is appropriate if trying to target buying executives, while you might want to try a soft offer if you want to talk to marketing teams.  Figure out the type of lead you want and determine what is valuable to this type of person. If you can make your offer appealing to your desired leads’ interests, your campaign is likely to be successful.

Gabriel Sales has over 12 years of experience as an outsourced lead generation company.   For more sales basics please feel free to visit our Blogs on Sales and Content Basics.

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Top 10 Strategies for B to B Demand Generation

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

We are calling this a Top 10 list, but as we went through the strategies, we felt the need to give your b to b demand gen amplifier one more notch and took it to 11.  This blog post is a quick reference for your company to build a successful b to b demand generation practice.

1. Don’t wait to follow up on leads.  You spend $15K, $30K, $100K plus on a trade show.  You spend money on inbound pay-per-click, or publishers etc. If the marketing department is in charge of sharing the leads they may score and then share with an internal team or an outside vendor.  If the sales team is in charge they will often prioritize by gut.  We understand the value of both approaches.  You want to call the best prospects first.  However, generally what occurs is that lag time of a few hours can turn into days and weeks.  That lag time hurts especially if your leads are in a highly competitive industry (getting there first improves your closing % by as much a 100%), your sales cycle is 90 days or less (first 3 get short listed), or your leads are driven by search engine marketing (could be a “just in time” need).  Many marketers we talk to will proudly say “we call on incoming leads within a week.”  Guaranteed they have never done a study on the effects of that delay.

2. Make those extra calls. Don’t give up on leads after 1 or 2 calls if you don’t connect.  This is especially challenging for sales reps that are not supported by a demand gen inside rep. A sales reps’ job is to close business.  If they have deals moving this quarter they don’t always have the time to make that third or fourth call.  As a b to b demand generation outsourced company and a sales outsourcing solution provider we have done countless studies that have shown that the 3rd, 4th and sometimes 5th attempt is where the payoff comes.  This is especially true the more senior the decision maker.  They are just tougher to reach.

3. Have an additional piece of content. Have a new offer after every call to keep the prospect engaged and give your rep “a reason to follow up” to ask them what they thought.  Bottom line is that content keeps a deal moving without needing to get your senior talent on the phone to educate the prospect.  It provides a reason for dialogue.   It allows you to keep asking “what else are you curious about or what can I share to help you”.   It allows you to talk about their needs while you share your position as well.  Selling is about the customer not you and this allows you to kill two birds with one stone.

4. Lead with more than just a demo as your initial offer.   As a sales outsourcing company we understand that clients want us to transact now but it doesn’t always work that way. Their strategy is often to get the prospect in that demo as quickly as possible and if the prospect is ready to do that great! However smart b to b demand generation requires that you also have an offer for prospects that aren’t ready to make that commitment.  The prospect is not unintelligent.  They know that getting into that demo starts them on the path towards committing to buy.   They may not be ready to make that decision yet and they don’t want to waste your time or theirs, so give them a way to engage that is a bit softer and slower.

5. Educate but keep the costs down. We live in competitive times so many businesses’ marketing efforts focus on the product and ignore the value of educating their prospects so that they realize the value they are offered.  To win deals and ensure you are receiving a top dollar for your product or service the customer needs to understand the value you are driving for their business. To explain that value the customer needs and wants understand that value. So you need to help your customer by helping your customers get what they want – which is fair, independent and “neutral” views that help them take informed and unbiased decisions.  This is quick content to create especially for your senior sales executives if you can get them blogging.  What is common sense for you as the expert, especially when it comes to competition and the “internal independent research” available,  is often very valuable new information for you customer.

6. Don’t forget about your existing customers.  They are the core of your business, without them you don’t exist.  So the core of your business is that successful relationship.  Keep building on that relationship and continue to share content with them to build even more trust.  This will organically turn them into advocates.  They tweet, they belong to Linked-In, Google +.  Don’t ask for them to do it.  Just make it easy for them.  Referrals work in new and unexpected ways so simply be surprised and especially grateful when they ask to contribute content for you.

7. Listen to your sales team and your prospects to generate your content strategy.  In many cases, the sales team understands what the customer needs before the customer does.   This is especially true if you have a disruptive solution moving into an existing market or an existing solution moving into new markets.   Creating a great deal of content quickly is not tough.  If you listen to your prospects objections and the same questions or concerns come up several times turn it into a blog post.  You can than take that sales conversation to address other prospects’ needs and, even more importantly to your b to b demand generation effort, take that “sales conversation” into the social media conversation.

8. Know your ROI inflection point when implementing a Marketing Automation Platform and Nurturing program.  A platform (as an outsourced sales company we recommend Pardot) cost $16K.  A 3 series webinar will cost you roughly $6K-$10K in house or external.  Basic blog content creation will cost about $12K.  And planning, database integration and implementation can range from$12K to $24K.  So all in you are looking at $72K if you are starting from scratch.  If you are following the best practices laid out above or you have implemented a sales outsourcing solution, or b to b demand generation solution with Gabriel Sales, you will already have a great deal of the content planning you need so an implementation is roughly $24K-$36K.  You can do the math from there (we have a back of the envelope chart below to help).  If your average deal size is $100K + the ability to track digital content and the time savings alone for the senior rep makes it an easy decision to pull the trigger. For smaller and shorter sales cycles it really comes down to how many leads you have in your database because countless studies have shown that if your product has legs you can expect to convert at least 1% to 3% of the leads that were initially just curious:

 

9. Create digital landing pages for your sales reps to use that are customer centric..  As your content grows create a resource page that is customer centric.  Design them to help the customer make decisions.  Give them educational content, evaluation content and verification content in one easy to find area.  Combine your general educational content (70%) with some vertical specific content (30%) so you are speaking directly to that particular need or pain area.  Don’t make the content just about you make it about them;  around the needs of your customer by decision maker type.  Make it easy for your customers to find what they need, and almost as important, make your brochure dynamic so you are not wasting your sales reps valuable phone time keeping up with new additions to your marketing mix.  Keep them focused on selling.  Gabriel Sales has developed a simple to implement landing page engine that can be up and running for you in a matter of weeks to jump start this process.

10. Re-purpose the digital land page to generate inbound traffic and remove barriers to engaging.  The “sales” conversation, the digital conversation and the “social media” conversation are the same conversation.  The objections your reps hear and address are the same that customers who haven’t found you yet have.  Make it easy for them to find you and maximize your sales content investment by driving traffic to that page with long tail SEO and PPC campaigns that keep your costs down.   Keep the language on the page focused on the customer using the language of “your” and “you” not “we” and “us”. And finally keep the requirements of your form down to the basics – customer name andemail address.  Keep  any other fields optional.

 

11. Lead Generation Reps and Demand Generation Reps have different tasks and need different skills sets.  The new rules of sales engagement require your demand generation reps and your sales reps to have different skill sets.   Lead gen reps are often calling cold.  Their scripts are different, their call volume is different and their personality is different from what is required by reps moving inbound leads forward.   Demand gen reps are there to facilitate.  Lead gen reps are there to put leads in the pipe.  Be conscious of the difference and either train your lead gen reps in the new rules of sales engagement (so they are not creepy or overly assertive) or hire a different rep to move deals from Marketing Qualified to Sales Qualified.

 

For a full overview of why we feel it makes strategic and executional sense  to have your sales team involved in your sales content marketing strategy, strategic approaches to team integration and a road map for fluid communication we invite you to read the following blogs:

Top B2B Demand Generation Requires Sales Content Marketing

Top B to B Demand Generation Requires Sales and Marketing Alignment

5 Steps to Launch or Turn Around a B to B Demand Gen Team

If you have any questions or feel like a conversation makes sense to learn how Gabriel Sales can help you pull together a more effective demand generation program whether you are  mid cycle or building a new effort feel free to CONTACT US.

Posted in B2B Demand Generation, Developing B2B Content, Strategy and Execution | Leave a comment

B to B Demand Generation’s New Rules of Engagement

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

The rules of sales engagement have changed and so has b to b lead generation for three reasons:

1.      Over the past 18 months a wave of technology has hit the market that allows an in house marketing team or outsourced demand generation and marketing operations team take deals deeper and further through your sales funnel than ever before. Your buyers digest, on average, 10.7 pieces of collateral prior to buying.

2.      Marketing Automation Platforms allow you to nurture your customers not yet ready to buy with increased volume and increased efficiency.  The ability to track the consumption of that content saves your top producers and senior talent tons of time working with your customers to transact.

3.      A sales driven marketing team can create content that helps engage the customer, close business and generate leads simultaneously.

Your sales content is now an extension of your sales team.  The right approach to integrating inbound efforts and your sales teams outbound efforts anchored in a smart sales content strategy can meet your customer in their buying cycle with the right team, delivering the right message at the right time.  This allow you to:

  • close those “ready to buy” faster and cheaper
  • not lose customer “not ready to buy” or without budget and close them when they are ready

One of the tricks in making this all work is the right b to b sales content strategy.  It needs to be great and it needs to be driven by your sales team and supported by marketers.

Great b to b sales content is focused on moving deals forward to close.  Sales content requires that you:  listen to your customers, listen to your sales reps, listen to your product specialists, create content for specific stages in the customer buying cycle and then re-purpose and  repackage around a specific segments’ needs.  Your sales content needs to be:

  • Designed to move Marketing Qualified Leads to Sales Qualified Leads and Sales Qualified Leads to Closed Business
  • Designed to be used by Inside Sales Reps and Senior Sales Reps in the Close
  • Designed to be “Authentic” dialogue…no CLIOs here
  • Not designed for Mass Market
  • Leveraged by Inside Reps to decrease the time Executives and Product Specialists spend in educational meetings to move deals forward
  • Able to train and support a sales “champion” to internally sell complex solutions or technologies within their organization.
  • Once created, re-purposed across multiple platforms.

This content can also be leveraged aggressively for long tail Pay per Click campaigns and long tail Search Engine Marketing.  Once proven, creative agencies can polish and take to mass market.

You need to never forget that the customer needs to remain front and center. Each piece needs to be designed for a specific stage in the customer’s buying cycle.  Below is our framework for creating sales content that gets the customer and the sales team what they need to transact.

 

For a full overview of why we feel it makes strategic and executional sense  to have your sales team involved in your sales content marketing strategy and a road map for fluid communication we invite you to read the following blogs:

Top B2B Demand Generation Requires Sales Content Marketing

Top B to B Demand Generation Requires Sales and Marketing Alignment

5 Steps to Launch or Turn Around a B to B Demand Gen Team

If you have any questions or feel like a conversation makes sense to learn how Gabriel Sales can help you pull together a more effective demand generation program whether you are  mid cycle or building a new effort feel free to CONTACT US.

Posted in B2B Demand Generation, Developing B2B Content, Strategy and Execution, Underperforming Sales | Leave a comment

5 Additional Benefits of Outsourced B to B Demand Generation for New Product Launches

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

As discussed in our Series on Aligning Sales and Marketing with smart outsourced b to b demand generation,  our core job, as an outsourced demand generation and outsourced marketing operations company, is to fill the pipe with sales qualified leads.  Then with an outsourced sales engagement our job is to close that business. To do this we are required as an outsourced inside sales team to support or execute to the following marketing goals and objectives.  And we are also tasked with creating the following deliverables to ensure our clients success (which are significant value adds) for our New Product Launch sales outsourcing clients:

1.      Creating a Marketing Qualified Database of Customers – As part of a launch we consult with our clients to go after a very focused set of targets.  By the time we are done your core market will know who you are, what you offer and what makes you different.  The market will be ‘branded” and profiled so that your marketing team can continue to nurture the right accounts “not yet ready to buy” and ignore those accounts that will never transact.

2.      Digital Sales Content – The quickest way to create “sales” content that will move the deal forward is to leverage digital platforms with authentic content that supports what prospects are being told by sales reps.  This can be short video clips, quick blog posts and webcasts.  By the time we are done with an initial campaign your content will be tested and proven (or dis-proven) and can continue to be used by the sales team or additional channels to drive efficiencies and accelerate pipe velocity. You have created content that you know works.  These messages and initial content can be shared with a creative agency to polish and refine.  It can then be taken to the mass market or leveraged with a publisher as part of a media spend.

3.      Tested Messages for Direct Marketing Team -  As part of our initial B2B demand generation efforts we will have tested messages,  tested pains  and tested some nurturing campaigns. You will know what messages will drive opens (and ideally conversions) as you decide on how and what to budget for direct marketing,  pay per click and SEO efforts.

4.      Sales Process Map -  As we build an outsourced b 2 b demand generation and sales outsourcing solution understanding the key events in a buyers cycle is critical.   Once this is mapped and proven this map can be used for creating a longer term digital content strategy and social media outreach campaign.  The map can also be used to set work flows in a a marketing automation platform for lead nurturing campaigns to reduce your inside rep head count costs as the pipe grows.

5.      Ability to Forecast the Sales Cycle -  As we are measuring all the key success metrics, as deals flow through the pipe, we are also able to start evaluating the key buying signals for the client.  This data is also anchored in cold call metrics. This allows our outsourced sales partners to understand what causes and a customer to move. It also helps them to understand when a customer is moving from “educating” themselves to getting serious about ‘making a decision and evaluating vendors”.  We provide hard data that helps our clients to decide what digital content is most important to invest time and effort developing with a publisher or creative agency.

For more information on the additional strategic benefits of working with a sales outsourcing company like Gabriel Sales, and what we can do to put deals in your pipe with a b to b demand generation program, please feel free to CONTACT US.  For additional strategies and tactics you can leverage for a New Product Launch  feel free to visit our Resource Center dedicated to Go-To-Market approaches.

Posted in B2B Demand Generation, B2B Product Launches, Outsourcing Sales? | Leave a comment

How Sales and Marketing Can Stop Their War – B to B Demand Generation Outsourcing

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

 “The war between Sales and Marketing is both legendary and debilitating. And yet it’s probably fair to say that the future of your company lies in your ability to make the two work better together.”

Geoffrey James  wrote a great and succinct piece today on “Why Sales Hates Marketing: 9 Reasons- Here’s why your marketing team and your sales team can’t get along. Hint: The sales team is probably right.”

This is probably the best summary we have ever seen on the challenges that a company faces in the in B to B marketing and we felt like it was appropriate to reduce the blog entry from a Top 10 to a Top 9.   We also felt like it made sense to simply include Mr. James thoughts (although redacted in quotes below, to include his fix and then to include our  best practices as a sales and marketing outsourcing company that builds b to b demand generation engines as part of sales machines.

We agree with every point Mr. James makes below and before we jump in would like to recommend you read it in its entirety. There is another link at the end of this blog.

1. Marketing Acts Superior

“Many marketers have business degrees, so they think they’re better than sales reps who don’t…” The Fix: Make certain that every marketer you hire has at least six months of experience selling something.

When building a b to b demand generation engine we think it makes sense to take it a step further.  The manager running that machine should have experience selling media and advertising.

2. Marketing Doesn’t Believe in Sales

Marketers are often taught in b-school that good marketing makes a sales force unnecessary. However, unless a product is a plug-and-play commodity, your only differentiator is how you sell it. The Fix: Make it clear in the charter of the marketing team that they are there to support the sales team, not to replace it.

 

3. Marketing Thinks Selling Is Easy

…Many “demand creation” activities don’t create all that much demand–especially in B2B, where customers generally ignore ads, brochures, and such. The Fix: Have the marketers make sales calls–or field inside sales calls–so they can see how hard it is.

Design your b to b demand generation program anchored in what the customer is telling your sales reps.  Make these feedback loops a required part of your inside sales teams comp plan.

4. Marketing Avoids Being Measured

…Marketers generally get paid when they produce leads, brochures, white papers, and so forth–even if none of that activity results in a single sale… The Fix: Compensate marketers on the ability of the current sales team to generate revenue and profit from the sales leads that marketing produces.

If your products price tag is 20K or greater and you are doing more than 20 deals per year (I know this is somewhat weak but we are talking minimums) you need to implement a marketing automation platform like Pardot.  (as full disclosure we are a Denver CO Pardot Partner).  This software gives you the ability to measure marketing’s digital content contribution to the sale.  If you need a hard ROI calculation at other figures we can help you run those.

5. Marketing Claims to be ‘Driving Sales’

…I’ve heard this phrase dozens of time from marketers who are trying to take credit for sales, even when they had absolutely no impact on making those sales take place.  The Fix: Make Marketing subservient to Sales on the organization chart.

Once again implementing a marketing automation platform will allow you to measure marketing’s contribution.

6. Marketing Pretends It’s Strategic

Brand is a reflection of product and service. If those are good, the brand is good; if not, the brand is bad. The Fix: Reward marketers for behavior that directly results in a measurable increase in revenue and profit.

Not to keep hitting on Marketing Automation but it gets rid of some of this issue. We also recommend that you have your inside sales team become involved in helping to create your digital sales content map DISCUSSED IN OUR BLOG ALIGNING SALES AND MARKETING YOUR B 2 B DEMAND GENERATION blog series.

7. Marketing Wastes Money

…Sales is perfectly capable of wasting money (big time)…there’s also no question that marketers often expend cash on fancy brochures, advertisements, and trade show junkets that have little or no business value. The Fix: Give the sales team veto power over all pricey marketing activities.

There is no reason not to market test all of your content digitally.  As an outsourced sales organization most of our clients have failed before they get to us and over 50% of the time we generally find that about 70% of the material (especially designed for print) has lost its initial impact within 6 months.   We are living in dynamic times which requires a dynamic approach to content.

8. Marketing Pretends It’s Engineering

While marketers often attempt to set a firm’s technical direction, most of the time, the marketers have never even spoken to a customer–and have no idea what’s technically feasible. The Fix: Let your engineers do the engineering.

B to B demand generation is not about engineering it’s about stage management.  Your demand generation strategists job is to move the actors the customers wants to see on an off the stage.  Stage management is about 60% science (driven by data); it’s knowing what to put the spot light on during the sales process. It’s about 30% listening (where do you get the applause and who comes back from intermission) and 10% heart (caring about getting the prospect to the proposal). Closing is about 33% product knowledge (knowing your lines inside and out), 33% business (being able to make the business case) and about 33% art (charming enough to take center stage when required).

What you want from demand generation strategist is the ability to listen to the customer, the skill to analyze the numbers and the ability to clone the closers.  You need your demand generation manager to manage that stage.

9. Marketing Argues About Lead Quality

Marketing frequently provides Sales with lists of unqualified or under-qualified leads, and then accuses Sales of being clueless because it can’t close the deals…..a lead is only good if it’s possible (or even easy) for the sales team to close. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time. The Fix: Reassign (or fire) marketers who can’t provide leads that the sales team can close.

Gabriel Sales can cover all or part of your outsourced demand generation and sales and marketing outsourcing needs.   We invite you to learn more about our approach that lets sales reps skilled in marketing help to bridge the gap between customer feedback and marketing and our tactics for helping our clients drive sales and marketing alignment.   We do this out of self- interest as a sales outsourcing firm because when sales and marketing is aligned you have happy customers and happy customer means more closed business and everyone wins.

Thanks to Mr. James for providing the material for us to comment on at: on “Why Sales Hates Marketing: 9 Reasons- Here’s why your marketing team and your sales team can’t get along. Hint: The sales team is probably right.”

To learn more about how Gabriel Sales can help you can CONTACT US or check out more tactical tips in the B2B Demand Generation Education Resources section of our website.

Posted in B2B Demand Generation, B2B Technology Sales, Strategy and Execution | Leave a comment

5 Steps to Launch or Turn Around a B to B Demand Gen Team

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

In Part One we discussed the difference between “Sales” Content Marketing and Marketing.  In Part Two we covered the framework we use to listen to  the customer. This blog is Part Three of that three part series.  It discusses how you can approach creating a successful B2B Demand Generation Outsourcing Solution in a systematic and cost effective way.

To summarize:  in B2B Sales and B2B Content Marketing – the Sales Conversation, the Digital Conversation and the Social Media Conversation should and need to be the same conversation.  Sales and Marketing have the same job with different methods of delivery.  Below is our best practice road map for scaling that conversation.  As an outsourced b to b demand generation company we recommend the following five steps in the following order:

  1. Have your B2B demand gen team listen to the customer and provide feedback to sales marketing team.
  2. Have your “sales” content marketing team create inexpensive digital content that pushes the deals forward and do some small direct marketing tests.
  3. Have your senior sales reps close those deals to prove concept.
  4. Have your  demand generation team, sales operations, or marketing operations team implement a Marketing Automation Platform to score your content and give sales and marketing a shared sales quota.
  5. Once you have the ability to score leads and content (and digital content that works and is market tested) give it to your “Marketing” team to scale.

As discussed in Parts 1 and 2, when clients engage with Gabriel Sales in a new product launch or a demand generation campaign our two primary objectives are:

  1. Fill the sales pipe
  2. Move deals from Marketing Qualified to Sales Qualified

As a sales outsourcing company our objective is to:

  1. Close business

As a value add we also function as an outsourced sales marketing company and our objectives are to:

  1. Test assumptions about ideal target markets to find verticals that will scale
  2. Craft the right messages and scripts that will help move those deals through the pipe faster in that market
  3. Create the right digital content and establish the right marketing platforms to support moving a deal from marketing qualified to sale qualified with increased volume.
  4. Track the b to b digital content’s contribution to a sale by implementing a Marketing Automation Platform (for full disclosure we are a Denver CO Pardot Partner).

This type of roll out, team organization and team orientation drives tremendous accountability.  Your sales team needs to document the “Sales Conversation” and provide that feedback  to marketing. Your “sales” marketing team is responsible for helping sales create content that closes business.  With this simple approach you are focused on filling your pipe, closing business and driving intelligence that closes more business.

Where this alignment really pays off long term is the exponential lift and efficient spends you get out of your “Marketing” Teams – both internal and your agencies.  Your external teams may include Direct Marketing, Media Buyers, Publishers, and Social Media Agencies.  When executed in the right order:

Your B2B demand generation team’s marketing alignment job is to map the “Sales Conversation” and provide inputs to sales marketing about what the customer wants and needs to discuss:

Your “sales” marketing team’s job is provide content that helps your customer get the right information at the right time in the “Digital Content Conversation”:

Your designated sales or marketing operations team job is to implement a platform like Pardot to Automate and Score Conversations.

With Sales, B2B Demand Generation, Sales Marketing and Sales Operations teams aligned, your marketing teams’ job, (your creative agency, your media buyers and your publishers) is to take that “Sales Conversation” to the masses.  It’s their job to turn the “Sales Conversation” and “Digital Conversation” into a “Social Media Conversation” to ramp the volume of the pipe.     

As the conversation merges across all functions this approach is just common sense.  When you get it right digital strategy in place it can drive large chunks of the sales cycle. Of course the options you have still remain the same but we feel that the new rules of sales engagement dictate that your sales team becomes more active in the marketing function because it results in more deals, faster at less upfront sunk costs.

  • You can pay an MR firm for an MR study or listen to your sales team as they to listen to the customer and fill the pipe at the same time.
  • You can pay a creative agency to guess at what content the market wants.  Or you can have an integrated sales content team and inside sales team.  You can test that initial content and then pass those insights on to the creative agency to improve and polish
  • You can have a publisher create a white paper for you or you can test a series of blogs that address your customers  top objections and then have the publisher write that white paper (this is what major film studios do now…they test on YouTube before they green light a film  project or TV pilot).
  • You can have a direct marketing team drive traffic across multiple sources and platforms.  Or you can get input of your sales to run AB tests so when you make that spend your opens and your conversions are stellar.

One solution we would recommend running in parallel if the budget permits is working with a social media analytics company to start mapping the social media conversation so you can map this to the sales conversation and prepare for outreach.

We hope you enjoyed this series. A year ago we were skeptical that “content is king”.  That’s no longer the case.   Once we experimented and attached hard metrics to digital content we were blown away by the results.   We would love to share those learning with you.  If you have any questions about any of our road maps or frameworks please don’t hesitate to give us a call.  To see if a sales driven  demand generation and sales content marketing effort may be valuable in helping you to increase your revenue and decrease your demand generation costs CONTACT US.

To read Part 1 Top B2B Demand Generation Requires Sales Content Marketing CLICK HERE. 

To read Part 2 Top B to B Demand Generation Requires Sales and Marketing Alignment CLICK HERE.

Posted in B2B Demand Generation, B2B Product Launches, Developing B2B Content, Strategy and Execution | Leave a comment

Top B to B Demand Generation Requires Sales and Marketing Alignment

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

This blog is the second part of a three part series that discusses the difference between sales content marketing vs. other types of marketing and how you can approach creating a successful B2B Demand Generation  solution (with or without outsourcing) by aligning sales and marketing.  In this blog we provide a simple framework for driving success.   CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE.

As an outsourced sales organization we firmly believe that every outsourcing B2B demand generation effort needs “to start with the end in mind”.  That “end” is closed business.  As a company we build High Velocity Sales Machines.  The marketing services we provide to support the sales efforts are focused on improving two areas:  Demand Generation and Overcoming Specific Sales Objections.   Our focus when executing marketing services in these areas is to create the feedback loops required for the marketing team to create content (or in many cases to produce the initial necessary digital content ourselves) to ensure that the sales content meets the need of the buyer exactly where they are in their buying cycle. You need to match your sales function to the customer buying cycle.  Typically:

  • B2B Demand Generation – helping the customer define their problem and establishing your credentials as a thought leader to help them.
  • Sales Engagement and Qualifying – helping the customer to compare your solution to other solutions in the market. And to evaluate their alternatives.
  • Closing – sales starts when the customer says “No”.   This content needs to overcome specific objections so that the customer can verify the ROI and confirm what you have already told them so they are comfortable committing to you.

For Gabriel Sales, sales content marketing is not strategic, it is tactical and measurable.  The job of sales content marketing is measured.  And when we make recommendations or create content that content starts by addressing a specific need or objection that we have heard directly from a customer.

Below is a simple framework we use when creating digital content or providing feedback loops to the marketing teams we work with.


We are giving our marketing efforts “A Sales Quota.”   To do this you need  listen and document the conversation with the customer.   As part of our services we map the entire sales conversation to identify the objections, and then create authentic digital content  that addresses those needs and objections specifically to get deals through the pipe.

To summarize, smart sales content marketing is a simple as:

  1. Getting everyone to agree that the Sales Marketing job is to close business
  2. Listening to the Needs and Objections of your customer to understand the “Sales Conversation”
  3. Creating Authentic Content that addresses the client’s needs for where they are in the buying cycle

As an outsourcing b to b demand generation company we are not delusional.  We know what we are the best at, and what other solutions are more effective. We are the best at building outsourced demand generation engines that:

  1. Generate b to b sales leads with cold calling efforts
  2. Take cold call leads and inbound marketing qualified leads, listen to the customer and understand their needs and sales objections
  3. Move deals from marketing qualified leads to sales qualified leads by:
  • Creating and distributing great “Sales” content that move the deals forward
  • Training reps how to use that content
  • Providing great feedback loops to marketing teams so they can expand on that effort once proven

With a full pipe we then transition to the close by staffing enterprise sales reps or inside reps as the need dictates.

The final blog will discuss how internal “marketing” teams and external agencies can build on smart sales driven demand generation and sales content marketing to put more qualified sales deals in the pipe.

If you would like to learn more about how an outsourced demand generation solution can help accelerate this alignment and scale, please feel free to CONTACT US for a free initial strategy conversation.  Or visit the B2B Demand Generation Resources section of our Website.

To review Part 1 Top B to B Demand Generation Requires Sales Content Marketing CLICK HERE.

To view the final blog in this series on Successful B2B Demand Generation please CLICK HERE.

Posted in B2B Demand Generation, B2B Product Launches, Developing B2B Content | Leave a comment

Top B2B Demand Generation Requires Sales Content Marketing

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

This blog discusses how Gabriel thinks about B2B Demand Generation and the hybrid role it plays in sales, sales marketing and market intelligence.  In short, Sales Marketing is always supporting the close of business.  In this blog we will share how you can close more B2B customers leveraging the opportunities in the new sales engagement model we now all face.   This is Part 1 of a 3 Part Series.

To set some initial context to understand what Gabriel Sales means by “Sales Content”  Marketing and how it supports B2B Demand Generation it’s important to understand that B2B Sales Content Marketing, at least from our perspective, is about moving a deal forward in the customer buying cycle so it results in a closed deal.   Sales content supports the brand, but that is not its primary purpose. In a sales culture Demand Generation is  not about Lead Generation and Marketing Qualified Leads.   Who cares if a lead is Marketing Qualified.  Demand Generation is about “Demand”  meaning deals that are going to transact.  Demand Generation means handing sales qualified leads over to sales reps that they can close.

A solid sales organization needs to be organized around an inside sales and marketing team that can generate Sales Qualified Leads and a team that can close business.  As a sales outsourcing company we staff a team that can close business.  As an outsourced B2B demand generation company, our goal, and the goal of any sales organization, needs to be creating a high velocity sales machines with a staff that does three things:

  • Identifies and develops Sales Qualified Leads as quickly as possible so the sales team can engage
  • Continues to nurture and develop Sales Accepted Leads (not ready to buy but worth investing inside reps time in) until they are ready to buy
  • Profile Accounts – So you can score them for continued follow up by marketing efforts

This requires us to combine outbound sales efforts with inbound sales content marketing services (either creating digital content or creating the feedback loops for our client’s marketing team) because the goal is to move a customer through their buying cycle.


For a high velocity sales machine that integrates inbound and outbound efforts your inside sales team needs:

  • To be experts in using sale marketing content to move customers from Marketing Qualified Leads to Sales Qualified Leads.
  • To be accountable for driving insights and recommendations to the marketing team.
  • To have the tools and technology to provide that feedback.

For true sales and marketing alignment, sales marketing efforts need to focus on generating closed business by supplying qualified deals and helping your buyer to transact.  This means your marketing team needs to:

  • Listen to the voice of the customer and the voice of the sales force
  • Quickly create content or support the creation of content that moves deals forward
  • Have their demand generation success scored on their contribution beyond simply putting MQLs in the pipe

As Forrester Research and the Society for New Communication Research has demonstrated (see graphic below)  Sales Content is no longer a nice to have.  It is a must have.

In part 2 of this blog series we will cover Gabriel Sales’ simple framework for aligning sales and marketing and simple steps you can take to get sales and marketing to work together towards a shared vision. In part 3 we will discuss how smart sales content marketing can be re-purposed to provide an exponential lift by increasing your marketing teams ability to put better Marketing Qualified Leads into your Sales teams’ pipe; and the role of Marketing Automation Platforms.

If you would like to learn more about how an outsourced demand generation solution may be able to help accelerate this alignment please feel free to CONTACT US for a free initial strategy conversation.  Or visit the B2B Demand Generation Resources section of our Website.

To Check out Part 2 in this Series B to B Demand Generation Requires Sales and Marketing Alignment CLICK HERE.

Posted in B2B Demand Generation, Developing B2B Content, Strategy and Execution | Leave a comment

My Sales Force Can’t Sell – Now What?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

In the technology industry, having a great new product is no longer enough.  You need to know how to get the information about it into the right hands to close deals.  In order to make this happen, you need a clearly defined sales strategy that sets you apart from the competition.

Once you have your new product ready to launch, it’s time to start selling. Your sales team needs to fully understand both the product and the current conditions of your target market.  They need to understand the benefits and strengths of your product, and be prepared with answers to possible sales objections they may be faced with.

If you’re not sure how to make this all happen, outsourcing your sales and marketing may be a viable option.  An outsourcing sales company like Gabriel Sales can help you improve productivity, increase revenue and grow your business.

Outsourcing Sales and Marketing will allow you to:

  • Have access to a team of experienced sales professionals working directly for you
  • Understand your target market and build a custom ideal customer profile
  • Spread media content about your product efficiently and effectively
  • Have access to sales professionals already experienced in the markets you wish to sell to
  • Stay ahead of the competition by constantly pushing relevant sales content through your pipe

Outsourcing sales and marketing may still sound like a foreign concept to some. But, many companies, especially in the high-tech industry, are finding that outsourcing sales has increased revenue and growth both during and after new product launches.

Outsourcing sales and marketing companies help put a sales strategy in place that understands your specific needs as a company, and sets up a process that will quickly and efficiently close deals.  If you are interested in learning more about how this process works, feel free to contact us for a free pipe velocity review.

Posted in Outsourcing Sales?, Underperforming Sales | Leave a comment

10 Ways Sales Outsourcing Helps Entrepreneurs Succeed

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Gabriel Sales

James Altucher  an investor and entrepreneur posted a great blog this week at TechCrunch – 10 Things Entrepreneurs Will Fail at.  For any entrepreneur out there its great to remember that you are not alone.   You can find the full blog at  http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/11/10-things-all-entrepreneurs-fail-at/. 

As a sales outsourcing company we have worked with well over 100  entrepreneurs building go to market strategies and providing sale outsourcing services for new product launches.  We love working with visionaries.  We appreciate what they do and we are in this business to help them avoid as many of the hiccups on the way to success and wealth as we can.   Below is a quick summary of James Altucher’s blog (we advocate reading it in its entirety).  We personally feel like sales outsourcing can help you dramatically mitigate the risk and dramatically increase your chances of success in several of the areas mentioned below so we could not resist commenting.

10 Things Entrepreneurs Will Fail At

1. You will lose some customers. Not everyone will be happy with your product forever.

  • Demand Gen outsourcing keeps the pipe full to replace them.

2. You will lose some friends and family. You’re spending so much time on your business that inevitably you will not be able to match all of the expectations of the people who love you.

  • Maintain some life balance and let us do the grinding day to day blocking and tackling so you have time for the wife, kids, partner

3. You will lose the faith of investors. Not all of the time, and hopefully not at the end, but there will come a time when the investors question you.

  • Sales outsourcing provides hard core third party verified numbers and sales metrics to defend your ability to keep valuation and confidence levels up on the sales front.

4. Your idea. Your idea might be a bad idea.

  • We vet your idea and test it in the market fast with qualitative and quantitative feedback loops so you can improve and readjust.

5. You will fail some of your employees. Employees are there for many reasons. Sometimes they won’t always get what they want.

  • As a sales outsourcing company working with entrepreneurs we only have understand success is mutual and dependent on closed business.   Not a great deal of grey area or misalignment

6. You will fail at keeping stress levels low. Sometimes the stress is too much.  

  • Sales outsourcing can alleviate many of the day to day headaches of headcount and employees

7. Sales. You can’t win them all.

After losing a potential sale there’s a few things you should do:

  • Call the decision maker and say, “Just for my own learning, is there anything we could’ve done better?” Then take sincere notes.
  • Then ask, “Is there anything else we can do for you. Any other way I, personally, can help you succeed at your job.”
  • And conclude with, “Well, it was a real pleasure going through the process and learning about your business. Please call us if you need anything new.” And check in every month after that. Send monthly updates of customers you are winning, new products you are building, etc.

 

  • Sales outsourcing is always about knowing why you win and knowing why you lose. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

8. Communication. Some people are just simply going to disagree with you.

  • We manage sales by presenting the facts and the data and then take our marching orders based on your strategic targets

9. Raising Money. I just saw this happen: great idea, great people, revenues, and profitable and…the company in question could not raise money from professional venture capitalists.

  • We focus on driving revenue and giving you bullet proof metrics so you can raise money without a dip in sales

10. Yourself. You will certainly fail yourself during the process. You can’t do everything. You can’t get everyone to like you. You can’t get everyone to buy your service.

  • Sales outsourcing allows you to focus on your core competency

If you are considering sales outsourcing as a solution for taking a new product to market or proving a the ratios of your sales process a Gabriel Sales sales outsourcing solution may be a great option. Feel free to CONTACT US to see what we can do to help.

Posted in B2B Product Launches, Outsourcing Sales?, Strategy and Execution | Leave a comment