B2B Marketing Blog

Every year SLMA organizes and opens up voting for the top 50 most influential people in Sales Lead Management. Fred Yee, CEO of ActiveConversion is nominated again third year in a row, and shares this prestigious nomination with other luminaries including Jill Konrath, Steve Woods, Phil Fernandez and Joe Payne among others.

Fred Yee has won this title in past two years and is hoping for a greater support again this year. We’re showing our support for Fred by voting, and encourage our readers to do the same.

Anyone can vote, and it only takes a minute. Fred’s name (due to alphabetization) appears at the bottom of the list.

Please vote here. Thank You!

Following the ActiveConversion webinar on sales lead management, Brad Kamphuis, Director Business Development, spoke on the SLMA radio show on Oct 13, 2011 at 5:00PST.

ActiveConversion is proud to announce the release of an upgraded UI and automation rules designed to handle sales leads more efficiently.

Automation rules is a new cutting edge feature designed to simplify work flow around lead management and lead handling. Automation rules improve lead accuracy and streamline lead management tailored to individual user preferences. Users can now manage their lead data more effectively and reach right kind of leads they want to pursue with greater ease.

The user interface change simplifies the management of multiple entries and makes information more readily available. The upgraded UI simplified identifying sales-ready leads, and creates better experience for the users.

Both the upgraded UI and automation rules ensure our clients are able to find the right kind of lead at the right time. The new features enhance the user experience and improve lead management efficiency.

View our recent press release on this announcement.

Relationship building is a critical process in certain types of sales cycle involving personal interactions and rapport before the prospect is near the buying phase. The high cost and infrequency of purchases requires a level of trust and friendship to be established between seller and buyer. Note I did not say “between sales and the buyer”.

Traditionally, the sales department was responsible for developing relationships with prospects as they moved through the stages of the buying process. Marketing was traditionally only responsible for identifying which prospects sales should build relationships with. However, the time and dollar cost for sales to build and strengthen relationships was often too much to be able to see every lead to the end. The solution for this involves marketing accepting the responsibility for developing relationships.

Using marketing automation tools, such as ActiveConversion, marketing not only identifies prospects and leads, but also nurtures those prospects until they are sales ready. Automated drip campaigns, periodic offers, and resources such as videos or case studies build a stronger buy in. As the company begins to build their credibility as experts in their field, prospects authenticate them more, and finally move closer towards a sales ready state. Using marketing automation, marketing passes only leads that are close to sales ready state and are open to a purchase negotiation.

If marketing assumes the task of building relationships, there can be many benefits. Immediately, sales would have more time and resources to close sales with prospects that are sales-ready. The reduction in energy used to nurture leads who are not sales ready saves the parent company a large amount of overhead. As well, marketing has the resources and expertise to execute cohesive long term campaigns to deliver a message over multiple communications.

Establishing a relationship between marketing and the buyer is more effective and cost efficient than a sales representative chasing after a lead too early in the sales cycle when in fact the lead is still RESEARCHING!

Author: Mike Hwang

Service businesses, especially companies in the Energy Sector, Are looking outside their usual stomping grounds for new customers…

Perhaps the volatility of the energy markets is driving them to seek new lands offering better stability and security. Perhaps the possibility of positioning their businesses in markets with little, or no, competition has many companies looking at around for bigger and better opportunities. Whatever the reason, there is a growing trend among energy service providers to seek opportunities globally.

But, How Do You Grow Globally…

Bringing your business to market is all about putting the right message in front of the right audience at the right time. The trouble with marketing somewhere other than where you live is precisely that: You do not live there. How do you gain exposure? How do you know what messages will be well received? How do you know when those you want to deal with are ready to buy—if you even know who your real prospects are in the first place?

There are 2 options: get a consultant, or get a marketing automation system. Having been a consultant I have no desire to heap too large a pile of coals on my head. However, there is one truth I will confess: as a consultant, I was NOT cheap. I knew what the best options were, how to engage and how to get results. I also knew that my knowledge was well outside the scope of my clients—that is, they NEEDED me. And I charged for it.

A marketing automation system, like that of ActiveConversion, does much of the work of a consultant. The system literally educates those marketing into new territories by providing answers to key questions, such as:

• Which marketing campaigns are driving visitors to my website?
• Of those visiting my website, how often do they come and which products or services are they most interested in?
• Which of my competitors are checking me out, and what are they looking at?
• Who are the most relevant contacts at my prospects’ business?
• Whether prospects are at the right point in their buying cycle or not, how can my business stay top-of-mind (professionally and ethically) with my prospects from afar?
• When is the best time to commit sales resources to maximize my chances of converting my best prospects?

And one of the most interesting aspects of this information: it is gathered anonymously. No one has to fill out a form for you to know who they are, what they’re looking at, or how interested they might be.

Whether you plan to take your business to places where angels fear to tread, or if you’re staying close to home, a marketing automation system will keep you on top of your prospects, competitors ,and your advertising effectiveness—all for a lot less than I ever charged.

Trade shows, especially petroleum shows, are a great opportunity for your business to network and meet trade show attendees.  Large shows often attract tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world who are looking for opportunities to grow their company.  For your representatives working the show floor or the booth, efficiency is critical for maximizing the number of potential partners they meet with.

The traditional standard is 5 minutes for each engagement.  In that time, your booth staff must engage, qualify, and disengage.  The main goal should be to meet as many prospects as possible and gather their contact information and qualify them as legitimate leads, not to convert a sale.

Waiting until after the show to convert booth visitors maximizes the number of visitors your booth team can meet and allows you to slowly nurture prospects who have longer sales cycles.  How then is the best way to convert them after the show?

Marketing automation is one of the best strategies for energy companies to nurture prospects towards a sale.  Software programs, such as ActiveConversion, generate targeted emails for customers who are interested in your products and services, but are not ready to purchase yet.  For example, a lead interested in instrumentation services would receive an email a week after the show thanking them for visiting the booth and provide a link to an online brochure or a whitepaper discussing the benefits of your services.  Future emails would offer other resources such as webinars or case studies, and eventually would include a direct sales offer.

With the volume of emails that you are likely to be sending with this strategy, tracking who does and does not read the message can be tricky.  Readily available third party programs such as VerticalResponse allow automation programs to track and identify which leads read nurture emails and which recipients downloaded information.

Once leads are sales ready, a sales representative can directly contact them and close the sale.  Involving sales only when the lead is ready to buy reduces the time wasted chasing leads still in the early stages of the sales cycle and improves efficiency.

Lastly, you may be wondering why not just close the sale with the qualified visitor on the trade show floor?  Generally, trade shows convert 1-5% of the total number of visitors to a booth.  If you attempted to close sales during the show, the total visitor number would be very low, and thus so would your conversion number.  If you limit the time spent with each visitor and only acquire contact information and level of interest, you are able to meet many more visitors and increase the total number of conversions.  Converting visitors after the show using marketing automation or direct selling maximizes your booth traffic during the show and maximizes the potential revenue to be earned after the show.

Many companies are starting to question whether or not their traditional means of marketing are as effective as they once were. For example, at one time, taking out an advertisement in an industry journal was a great way to get your company noticed. However, if your competition was also doing this, were you really getting noticed, or just getting lost among the clutter?

Many of those same companies who have been questioning their current marketing strategies have moved towards an online marketing strategy simply because they are able to regain their competitive advantage. Remember, the most successful businesses are the ones who have embraced innovation.

It’s also understandable that many businesses do not know a lot about online marketing or even where to start when implementing a new strategy. The following are three steps that will help you on your way to marketing your business online in order to see your business flourish and prosper into the future.

1. Search Engine Optimization and Marketing:

Search engine optimization is a garden that must be tended to and cared for. The first step is planting the seeds, or in this case the keywords. For example, you can research targeted keywords that you feel people will be searching for to find your products and services and build them into your website so that Google can index them. Along with that and other “seeds” you should plant, you must maintain and water your SEO garden. It is very important to remember than you cannot simply set and forget your SEO. You must keep up on whether or not you are getting your desired results. SEO is an effort that, with the right amount of time and care, can produce a positive outcome.

The second element is search engine marketing, which are ads that are set up and only paid for if they are clicked. This is called pay per click advertising.

2. A website that looks and acts professionally:

Would you hire someone who didn’t look or act professionally? If you did, would you expect professional results? Probably not, right? The same goes for your website. Many businesses view their website as an online brochure and those same people do not get much return on their website investment. The key is to have a website that converts visitors into prospects for your business developers to follow up on. This in effect is a website that makes you money.

3. A Marketing Automation System:

Wouldn’t it be handy if you knew which companies were interested in your goods and services before they even told you? Well this is actually possible. By implementing a marketing automation system, you will not only know who is coming to your site, they will be lead scored, and inform you of their current engagement level. Further to this, for those who are not yet ready to buy, you can also set up email nurture campaigns to continuously remind them of your offers so that they will think of you when they are ready to buy.

Author: Jon Edgar is an Account Specialist at ActiveConversion

I have often heard, “Marketing automation doesn’t work for me”, or “It’s of no use to our company, but it certainly looks and sounds interesting!” For some companies, marketing automation is still just a fancy word, and a concept that is not well understood.

How can companies make optimal use of marketing automation? Here is my view:

Awesome SEO/Inbound Marketing:

To get those prospective leads to your landing page. It is hard to attract visitors to your website when search engines cannot find your business. It is even harder justifying inbound marketing costs then. Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SEM) are ways that you can use to bring potential customers to your website or a landing page.

Conversion capability of your online forms:

You need a compelling offer to entice visitors: From your awesome SEO, visitors can now find you from search engines and other marketing channels they visit; now they would like to know more about you. On top of that, they need a compelling offer to click and take advantage of the information that you are sharing. An online form on a landing page, with offers such as free trial, free whitepaper downloads, free webinars, free consulting, free live demos will encourage visitors to fill out the form. Oh Yes! Do not forget to add the privacy statement beside the form. Your landing page visitors will be less hesitant to share their business information with you if you forget to assure them of confidentiality.

LEADS themselves:

The visitors who filled the form to avail the offer are now your LEADS. Some companies will still call them prospects and not leads because they have not shown any buying behaviour yet to call them qualified or warm leads. Their engagement is indicated by their action of filling out a form, or offering contact information. They are interested, they are involved, and they are LEADS.

A good marketing automating system to nurture those leads:

After you get leads from your forms, it is important to qualify them before you send the leads off to sales rep. Marketing Automation can be the engine that does just that. Targeted emails, on the targeted days, will nurture the leads while marketing automation tracks if the leads took additional steps in learning more about you. The more interest, warmer the lead is (interest typically shown from the kind of engagement leads has: eg: click on a link to your case study, collateral, webinars, whitepapers or at the very best reply to the email with an interest to talk). Nurturing the lead has done a good job in converting the cold lead to a warm or Hot one.

A great lead management engine to give only the qualified leads to sales:

Marketing automation is generally hooked up to a CRM. It is essential that only the HOT leads are sent to the sales rep. This will optimize their time and make it easy for them to close the deal. If the lead is not warm enough, it will be sent back to marketing or just ignored as dirty data.

Last but not least, you need a great sales team to close the sale:

Yes, a great sales team will make sure that no HOT leads are lost to competitors and the benefits of marketing automation come full circle; that is the reason why you bought marketing automation in first place!

Did I miss any points? Please comment with your suggestions!

Oil and gas service providers can implement a
marketing strategy to sell to customers worldwide in
a cost-effective and affordable manner. This
strategy leverages global trade shows supported by
a marketing automation solution. This approach
maximizes the Return on Investment (ROI) from
trade shows without requiring a substantial outlay.
Implementing this strategy will increase sales
beyond their local trade area while also reducing
costs in selling to local customers.

Following up on global leads from trade shows can be expensive, time consuming, and often fail to generate a sale.  Learn how to efficiently convert trade show leads into full fledged qualified prospects using online marketing and marketing automation.

Download this eGuide to learn the basics of:

• Using the internet to engage potential customers after a trade show
• Using conversion software to identify which leads are actually interested
• Maximizing time and cost efficiency with marketing automation
• Keeping prospects engaged until they are ready to buy

Now that online marketing has become firmly entrenched in marketing, and it’s been predicted that in 5 years, up to 70% of your leads will be coming from your website, it is clear that websites are no longer just an ‘electronic brochure’ for marketing, but a vital part of the sales and marketing process.

Conversion is what everybody is starting to talk about. Whether it’s conversion ratios, conversion rates, conversion funnels or ActiveConversion, leading sales and marketing organizations understand that beyond having a professional looking website and large volumes of traffic, that they need websites that convert visitors into leads.

This is easier said than done, as your visitors don’t always want to be converted, at least not yet. Your website visitors want to make sure you fit the bill before they get called every week by your company for the next 7 weeks. In addition, today’s buyer wants to be well informed, before they contact you. This has increased the need to understand conversion so that you know what you are really getting from all this traffic.

Fortunately, conversion has been studied extensively, and it has resulted in tools and practices, that help increase conversion rates. One common, but neglected practice is the idea of a conversion path. With a conversion path, each step in a conversion is mapped out, so that the website elements lead to the conversion objective. For example, a home builders conversion path for a potential home buyer would typically be:

1. Community or area (needs to be where they want or is willing to live)
2. Amenities (does it have schools, recreation, or other amenities that the buyer needs, nearby?)
3. Floor plans (600 sq ft, 1 bedroom condos won’t fit a growing family)
4. Pricing (no sense looking at this until the above is checked out)
5. Form fill for an appointment at showhome (conversion objective).

Those companies thinking they can get to step 5 before addressing 1-4, will likely get poor conversion.

Knowing the usual order that a buyer will want to look at your product/services, and making it easier to find it in that order, will work much better than a website that just expects the visitor to spend time looking for it. Because your competition is always only 1-2 clicks away.