Posted by JasonB on February 1, 2010
Turnover rates in 2009 topped out at over 3% across the United States (bls.gov). Though your company may have been lucky enough to bypass layoffs, the massive increase in cutbacks means you may be marketing to the wrong person.
In order to ensure your company’s marketing dollars aren’t wasted, it’s important to cleanse your database.
How are you going to do it?
Contact each company you’ve decided to target to identify the proper contact.
You must ensure you are talking to the actual decision maker.
You’re not looking for a job title, but the actual person that writes checks for what your company is selling. The Decision Maker. This person will be tough to identify, as they are often busy a buried behind gatekeepers.
In order to make your cleansing calls more successful, start with some web research. Sites such as LinkedIn, Hoovers, and LexisNexis can provide insight into who does what in an organization. It’s more effective to say, “Is Steve in Operations available?” as opposed to “the head of the Operations Department.”
Speaking to the decision maker ensures your efforts are focused on the right person.
Remember, if you are using a list from 2009 your contact information will most likely be inaccurate.
Though cleansing may not be something you’d like to do, it’s necessary- otherwise there’s a 3% chance you are marketing to the wrong person.
Posted by JasonB on January 8, 2010
There are endless outlets available that allow you to quickly publish your content and network with other businesses. B2B Companies are increasingly using social media to generate leads because it is a fast, and cost effective way, to advertise news, events, products, and facts, but if you’re not engaging your audience, what are you really getting out of it? How do you keep your target market involved? Through conversation.
*Do your blogs allow readers to comment? Then make sure you’re responding to them.
-Engaging your target market and customers in two-way communication gives you an opportunity to listen to what they need. Don’t treat your blog as a platform for one-way communication.
*Do you reply to tweets?
- Keep an eye out on Twitter – recognize people that tweet about your business.
- Ask questions and encourage people to reply. This will establish a ground for two-way communication and is an excellent source for B2B lead generation. If you’ve done a good job keeping your target market involved, when you tweet about your products and services, you are reaching a significantly larger and more interested audience. Companies who only post messages pushing a product are easily forgotten.
*You’ve worked so hard to build your Facebook fan base, now what do you do with them?
- Create a special offer that is only available for your Facebook fans. Include an easy opportunity for them to share the invitation with their friends (i.e. “Invite your friends to become a member of the fan page and you both will be entered in a drawing for ‘Xprize’ .“)
- Allow your fans to post photos of something that relates to your business.
- As with Twitter, ask questions in your status updates and let your fans respond.
*Do you answer “Questions” on LinkedIn?- LinkedIn provides a question and answer section for professional to give and take advice from each other. Don’t just watch what’s going on, PARTICIPATE!
- If someone asks a question about a subject pertaining to your field, you can answer and potentially create a new B2B relationship with that company.
*Do you utilize the popularity of YouTube?
- Post videos and allow viewers to comment on them. This will once again, give you an opportunity to listen to what your target markets are saying and lead to a potential B2B relationship.- Watch your competitors’ videos. You’ll get to see what they’re doing right and how people are responding to their message.
- Keep it interesting. Businesses who find way to keep their social media interesting develop a much larger and more engaged following.
As we’ve said, 2010 is going to be an important year in Social Media. If you’ve not already begun to revamp your tactics, now is the time to start. If you haven’t implemented any tactics at all, it may be time to call for help from a company that can focus on getting you back on track.
Posted by JasonB on December 23, 2009
Get ready for the race! In 2010, the companies left standing from the economic downturn will be aggressively trying to replace lost business and make up for a tough year.
What does this mean for businesses?
Increased competition and a need to make every marketing dollar count.
What is the most effective way to generate business in 2010?
Going directly after targets that are the best fit for your business:
1. Generate a List of Targets
When you start prospecting, you’ll need a list of targets.
You can either:
1) Use and list you already have, or
2) Acquire a list
Either way, if you buy your list or use an existing one, 30-40% of the information will be incorrect. The 2009 economy caused a lot of companies to change the way they operate; positions have shifted and the decision maker you’ve got the information for may not be employed there anymore.
It’s just a fact. So what’s the next step? That leads me to number 2…
2. Cleanse and Qualify
Contact each company you’ve decided to target to identify the proper contact.
You must ensure you are talking to the actual decision maker.
You’re not looking for a job title, but the actual person that writes checks for what your company is selling. The Decision Maker. This person will be tough to identify, as they are often busy a buried behind gatekeepers.
In order to make your cleansing calls more successful, start with some web research. Sites such as LinkedIn, Hoovers, and LexisNexis can provide insight into who does what in an organization. It’s more effective to say, “Is Steve in Operations available?” as opposed to “the head of the Operations Department.”
Speaking to the decision maker ensures your efforts are focused on the right person.
Remember, if you are using a list from 2009 your contact information will most likely be inaccurate.
3. Introduce
Introduce your company in a manner that has the highest propensity to attract attention.
a. Convey a compelling message that speaks to a decision maker.
Think about what means the most to your contact (i.e., if they are a CFO, the cost-cutting would be an appropriate message. Alternatively, if they’re and HR Manger, than employee performance will resound)
b. Use multiple formats (phone call, mail, email, video)
Decision makers are busy and may not respond to certain types of media. To increase the chances of your message getting seen, not only should it stand out amongst the clutter of your competitors, but it must be expressed in a variety of formats
c. Multiple touches over a series of weeks
By nature, decision makers are extremely busy; if the phone is your primary tool, 95% of your leads wont be a live connect. Be prepared to contact them multiple times and implement a long term strategy.
4. Nurture
Sending useful, relevant industry messages over time.
Now that you’ve found a company that can benefit from what you sell, you must be sure to stay in contact with the decision maker throughout the buying cycle. This is how the fruits of your labor pay off.
A nurture program is essential to advancing any area of B2B lead generation as it allows for a continuous, and structured, flow of communication. Nurturing is like holding a prospects hand throughout the buying process, a constant reassurance of your company’s presence in the marketplace. Lead generation without a nurturing program simply doesn’t work.
Even if they’ve said “We’re not interested now,” they should be considered a lead worth nurturing.
For a successful nurture program, sending the same message 12 times a year should be avoided. Mix it up with different messages and formats. If you connect with a prospect via phone, and it doesn’t result in an appointment, the following messages should reflect the information gathered during that conversation. Expressing an understanding of where your prospect is in the buying cycle, and adjusting communication accordingly, will keep your company in the forefront.
Keeping in contact will make them aware of your brand, and keep you in the back of their mind until they find themselves thinking about a problem your company solves.
Posted by JasonB on July 30, 2009
Which can generate more B2B leads for your organization, your corporate website or a social website like YouTube?
The automotive industry can provide a good analogy for my point…that people just don’t trust the “horse’s mouth” anymore. If you have the money to spend on a new car, and walk into a Toyota dealership, you will be told that Toyota sells the best car for your dollar. If you then walk into a Chrysler dealership, you’ll be told the same thing. Which is it?
Many corporate websites have become much like showrooms in that visitors feel like they are being sold. They discuss organizational achievements, provide cherry-picked case studies, and offer testimonials from the most satisfied clients in the world. As real as these achievements might be, they sound almost too good to be true.
So in the example above, if both manufacturers claim to have the best solution for you, what do you do next? You ask people who’ve purchased either of the vehicles about their experience.
Today, prospects gather information in a variety of ways, from a variety of sources. The internet has become a primary tool for gathering data worldwide. Additionally, more and more people rely on the opinions and recommendations of their business peers when deciding on new products and services. A revealing study by DEI Worldwide in 2008 showed that social media websites HAVE SURPASSED corporate websites as the place buyers gather information prior to a purchase. Tools like blogs and forums allow buyers to easily discuss their experiences.
How should companies take advantage of this shift in internet user behavior? By taking your knowledge to the streets on a peer-to-peer level.
First, figure out where your buyers are going online to find industry information. One method is to search for blogs discussing topics that your target key decision makers may be reading. Participate in these discussions as a peer, not as a company.
Next, create some exciting content that is helpful, useful and informative to the person you’re targeting for your services. Video works great, and is now the #1 tool used in social media. Many companies post videos that provide infomercials, “how-to’s” or even product instructions on sites like YouTube. See for yourself…go to YouTube and enter some key words that relate to your industry. Do you see any competitors?
We hope this short post provides some info that helps you generate more B2B leads from online sources. If you need help, let us know. We invite you to subscribe to our blog for future posts on developing new business for B2B organizations.
Posted by JasonB on May 15, 2009
At Gateway, our mission is to drive new business opportunities to our clients. We’ve been successfully doing this for over 10 years. Owned by 3 business development & sales professionals with over 60 years of combined experience, finding effective ways to increase business for our clients is our passion.
Our blog will be the platform to discuss our insights into what it takes to market to and convert new business to business customers in today’s economic climate. Our goal is to provide useful, relevant information that can help you develop a plan to secure new B2B clients.
We’ll discuss tools and techniques such as sales pipeline management, search engine optimization, web marketing and social media. What is social media anyways? How about Twitter? We’ll discuss those topics, and their usefulness, throughout this blog…so stay tuned!
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