3 Steps to Get Sales and Marketing on the Same Team to Accomplish Your Goals
Too often, Sales and Marketing are opposing teams in their organizations. Each department relies on the other to help create the results the company...
3 min read
Matt Sunshine
:
July 17, 2017
Lead generation is a necessary function for any business that needs to grow. So in today’s world, that’s essentially every business. And the reality is there are a ton of opinions surrounding the different strategies and options for lead generation. You can utilize intrusive strategies and buy a list of e-mails, phone numbers, or addresses that “seem” to fit your ideal customer profile. You can go door-to-door and personally solicit the customers you want to call on. You can spend lots of money on mass marketing tactics and “push” the benefits of your company hoping to “pull” prospects in. OR you can position yourself as a thought leader and expert in your industry, engage in active discussions and have folks calling your sales reps directly for help! Inbound marketing is one of the best and most cost effective ways to generate qualified leads.
Here’s why. Intrusive strategies typically involve your most talented and high performing sales reps “dialing and smiling.” They’re calling folks they “suspect” are good prospects…and they are spending lots of time working to get that first appointment, whether that be over the phone or in person. That approach sucks valuable time out of your sales reps, time that could be spent better using their talents—like building relationships, solving business problems and actively converting prospects to customers.
How is your company doing at creating a lead-generating machine that feeds “qualified” prospects to your sales team? How effective are you at getting prospects to raise their hands and say, “I’m interested in your products or services and I want to learn more."? Do you feel you have a solid inbound marketing strategy and a platform to disseminate information, spur discussion, offer insight, share opinions, and build a data base of qualified leads? Do you have an effective blog and how often are you publishing?
Here is a 9-step lead generation audit you can take to see how you are doing:
Once you have completed this 9-step audit, you will have a better idea of how your company is doing with lead generation. And by implementing the ideas above, you'll begin to see significant improvements in your lead generation efforts. If it seems like it’s too much to do at one time, I recommend focusing on just one area and really putting your effort behind it so that you can see improvement.
Regardless, if you don’t currently have an inbound marketing strategy, you should seriously consider creating one, even if it is to support your current traditional marketing strategies.
Too often, Sales and Marketing are opposing teams in their organizations. Each department relies on the other to help create the results the company...
More than 90% of visitors who read your headline also read your CTA copy. If there were a ‘secret sauce’ to lead generation, it would be the...
Are you generating a steady stream of traffic to your site or blog, but the leads aren’t what you’re looking for? Does your sales team think that...