LEADership by Louis Foong - Latest Comments

Re: Why Aren’t Your Sales People Following Up on Leads Provided by Marketing?

Gerrydee1 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:49:59 -0000

The universal lead definition changes from company to company and sometimes from
year to year within the same company. Revisit the definition often, and each
time you hire a new employee, make sure they understand it. Publish the
definition and integrate it into your organization’s language and culture. It
doesn’t matter what your company calls a lead as long as it is meaningful to the
sales force.
Recently read this from an outside source and it makes sense to me....

Re: Why Aren’t Your Sales People Following Up on Leads Provided by Marketing?

Louis Foong — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:00:09 -0000

Hi Gerrydee,

Thank you for your comment. Your point is a good
one as it demonstrates a need for a clearer definition of a lead. What you have
described is a list not a lead. Too many times listbrokers call their records "leads" and even end users use the word "leads" to describe records purchased. From
my perspective only a qualified prospect should be deemed a lead. Please read
my previous post as to what is a lead, it is universal across industry. We have not been
very good within the industry at not creating confusion as an inquiry is not a
lead and nor is a purchased list that is just a collection of records. Thank
you again for your comments and for reading.

Re: Why Aren’t Your Sales People Following Up on Leads Provided by Marketing?

Gerrydee1 — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:26:40 -0000

Usually the leads that are purchased or generated are the same leads sold to many companies. Therefore, the contact is receiving too many calls. With caller ID today it is easy to be "weeded out". The best leads with the help of the Internet, which may take a little more time, are leads a sales rep can generate within organizations, education, and government by job title, department, and needs that best interest the contact. Sales reps have to prospect for leads. It is like digging for gold..not easy, but often the reward is great.

Re: Lessons from Facebook Addicts

Puneet — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:24:09 -0000

I have to be a Facebook addict! As a social media marketing coordinator, I have no choice but to be on it first thing and all day

Re: Avoid Meaningless Metrics – Monitor Quality Leads Instead

Louis Foong — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:57:42 -0000

Thanks for your comment. There must be some type of balance but unfortunately, the right balance isn't always achieved. I agree that it starts at the top with the leaders and organizational culture.

Re: Inbound Web Conversion

Louis Foong — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:56:42 -0000

Thanks for your comment Richard. How is your project going? I am always interested in real life experiences as you indicated.

Re: Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing for B2B – The Debate Rages On

Seeyinhowtue — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:17:32 -0000

50/50

Re: Avoid Meaningless Metrics – Monitor Quality Leads Instead

S.Raman — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:56:19 -0000

I agree with you Mr Foong. Eventually, it is not about quantity but quality. In a typical B2B setting, one should focus on the solutions and outcomes more as opposed to the data analysis of every event. One should not disregard quantitative analysis but it would be better if organisations focused more on their long term objectives rather than going back in time too much. Long termism should win over short termism. Bu tthen at the end of the day, it is all to do with the organisational culture and the leaders.

Re: Inbound Web Conversion

Rmccartney — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:24:07 -0000

Fascinating blog articles - many thanks for sharing.
We are starting what we call a web optimsation conversion project that covers many of the sentiments and points you cover in this article. I'll try and keep you posted on how it progresses since real life experiences should shine a lot of light on whether Inbound Web Conversion has a future.
Richard McCartney

Re: Can a small company think ‘big’ when it comes to B2B lead generation?

Princess Shane — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:43:21 -0000

Lead management continues to be a hot topic in the world of B2B marketing. Working with a Lead Management Software is certainly a terrific application to supply the company a great chance to move forward from a small one to a big one.

Re: When it comes to Effective Lead Generation…Less is More

Linc — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:14:20 -0000

I agree with Loui!!! Exactly right

Re: Social Media and B2B Lead Generation…A definite work in progress

Andrew Vance — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:54:18 -0000

Hi Louis,
Great blog and an interesting post on SM & B2B. I tend to find that social media as a B2B lead generation tool is a great qualifier in terms of lead quality (sales ready and hand-raiser). The whole point of the social media argument is that the prospect can approach us when ready not be forced into the sales process. Why? Because many B2B prospects, particularly IT decision-makers, will have completed much of their purchasing research process (hopefully with our content!) online before they decide to engage. As a result when we get a response over a social media platform it is invariably from a sales ready prospect.
Best Wishes, Andrew.

Re: A 10-Point Checklist for Achieving Marketing Leadership

George — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 20:31:05 -0000

"Do you always remember that technology is only a driver of change and not change itself?"

Technology and change is so all around us, we may need to be reminded of the above often.

Re: A “Do Not Bug” Registry for Social Media?

Chris Herbert of Mi6 — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:53:28 -0000

Activities create results as you know. Polling customers face to face can also be done online through a network of connections on Twitter. A list of followers is no different then a list of prospective customers that are being called through traditional telemarketing. No difference.

The question I would ask your clients is where are THEIR customers? How do they prefer to be communicated and promoted to. The good news is there are more ways to make connections then just calling people on the phone.

Re: A “Do Not Bug” Registry for Social Media?

Lfoong — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:22:35 -0000

Great point Chris, I am still trying to ascertain the value of Twitter in the B2B space. Hollywood types for sure as they need to stay in the limelight but B2B, not so sure. I do a lot of informal polling of clients at functional level and NO ONE has time to follow and tweet and if they do, they are paying someone in the background for content. The point is are we confusing activities with results?

Re: A “Do Not Bug” Registry for Social Media?

Chris Herbert of Mi6 — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:17:05 -0000

An interesting thought Louis. One of the mechanisms available to us all in social media is the unfollow, unfriend and unconnect features in Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. It's not a formal do not bug registry but it can act as a means to accomplish what you've outlined in your post.

Re: The Ideal Demand Generation Personality Profile

Lfoong — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:54:10 -0000

Liana, thank you for your comment. Dashboarding is important.

Re: The Ideal Demand Generation Personality Profile

LianaLingWSI — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:02:02 -0000

Terrific advice as always. I would add that a good demand generation expert is also able to effectively measure his or her progress and apply what he or she has learned. This way, you know how much progress you have made and are better able to "move with the times" as you say.

Re: New Year’s Resolutions for 2011

Rajinder — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:52:36 -0000

Happy New Year Louis!
Raj

Re: The expanding social landscape – integral to lead generation?

Sheetal — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:23:17 -0000

Great post! Any ideas about how a social technology tool like LinkedIn can be better utilized for lead generation? Examples would be wonderful too, if you have any.

Re: Social Media for Demand Generation: Silver Bullet or Snake Oil?

Brett Widmann — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 20:16:58 -0000

Social media is becoming a huge marketing tool. I think it will stay on the rise too due to the increased usage and easy access to the internet.

Re: Broad based demand vs. tiering: which to choose?

Shehab Hasan — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:18:03 -0000

Louis, enjoyed reading this article, as I do with all of the rest of your articles. I recently started working at The Alea Group and being a Marketing Grad myself, reading your articles puts elements in perspective. I agree that a tier-based approach to marketing enables a business organization to capitalize on the most market opportunities as well as minimize risks to a certain level.

Re: The Best Mailing List for B2B Lead Generation

Underground Elephant — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:54:06 -0000

good job with the post, thanks for the info on b2b! keep up the content

Re: Uniting Sales and Marketing Under One Umbrella

Paul Yetman — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:40:39 -0000

In my experience, this disconnect happens at the top with senior execs not understanding how marketing and sales can - and should, work together to grow the business. Symptoms of this disconnect are: 1. sales and marketing plans are crafted in isolation (or not at all), 2. there is no shared accountability for performance targets, 3. role ambiguity - sales is doing marketing and marketing is doing sales, 4. little or no collaboration on targeting, bids, implementation, post-sale customer care. The list goes on... You need a top-down approach to change this mind-set or sales will continue to chase "leads" and marketing will continue to churn out pretty brochures that miss the mark.