Lead Generation for the Complex Sale: Boost the Quality and Quantity of Leads to Increase Your ROI 
asked by casurf on November 20, 2006 9:07 PM
Lead Generation for the Complex Sale arms you with a sophisticated multimodal approach to generating highly profitable leads. Brian Carroll, CEO of InTouch Incorporated and expert in lead generation solutions, reveals key strategies that you can implement immediately to win new customers, accelerate growth, and improve your sales performance.
You'll start by defining your ideal leads and targeting your ideal customer. Then, you'll construct your lead generation plan, a crucial step to staying ahead of your competition long-term. To help you put your plan into action, Carroll guides you step by step to:
Align sales and marketing efforts to optimize the number of leads Use multiple lead generation vehicles, including e-mail, referrals, public relations, speaking events, webinars, and more Create value for the prospective customer throughout the buying process Manage a large group of leads without feeling overwhelmed Identify and prioritize your best prospects Increase the percentage of leads who become profitable customers Avoid lulls in the sales cycleWith Lead Generation for the Complex Sale you'll learn how to target prospects early in the buying process and make the most efficient use of sales productivity and marketing resources.
Reviews
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It is not unusual for business-to-business transactions to include long and often painful sales cycles--sometimes taking up to a year or more.
This creates a lead quality need. If poor quality leads are funneling in, the result could be disastrous in the long term for a business.
Enter Brian Carroll and his new book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. In this book, Carroll lays out some critical information that can help ensure quality leads are entering your sales cycle.
One of the key messages Carroll addresses is the importance of becoming a trusted advisor to prospects. As he states, "It's about the relationship. In today's commoditized business climate, the thing that sets companies apart is their ability to create and develop relationships."
He goes on explain that prospects must know who you are, perceive your company as the expert in your field and they must believe you understand their specific needs.
This is such an important concept that Carroll is discussing and it really is key to succeed.
The bulk of the book discusses the importance of synergistic tactics, sich as email, PR, events, the web, direct mail, referrals and blogs.
This book serves as an excellent planning resource for the marketing professional that has been tasked to produce better quality leads. I strongly recommend it.
This creates a lead quality need. If poor quality leads are funneling in, the result could be disastrous in the long term for a business.
Enter Brian Carroll and his new book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. In this book, Carroll lays out some critical information that can help ensure quality leads are entering your sales cycle.
One of the key messages Carroll addresses is the importance of becoming a trusted advisor to prospects. As he states, "It's about the relationship. In today's commoditized business climate, the thing that sets companies apart is their ability to create and develop relationships."
He goes on explain that prospects must know who you are, perceive your company as the expert in your field and they must believe you understand their specific needs.
This is such an important concept that Carroll is discussing and it really is key to succeed.
The bulk of the book discusses the importance of synergistic tactics, sich as email, PR, events, the web, direct mail, referrals and blogs.
This book serves as an excellent planning resource for the marketing professional that has been tasked to produce better quality leads. I strongly recommend it.
reviewed by ragtop on November 20, 2006 9:21 PM
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This book is an implementation guide to maximizing your marketing and sales investment. Any company leader who wants to bring in more high-quality leads and close more sales will benefit from this book.
My own experience over the last 35+ years is that everyone pays lip service to maximizing leads, and yet very few companies actually treat it as the disciplined process that it needs to be. It's too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day urgencies and the overwhelming need for immediate revenue. Plus, many managers still believe that a successful sale always boils down to the personal relationship between the salesperson and the buyer. There are three reasons this is not true.
1) In today's market, the seller/buyer relationship has been marginalized. Buyers have access to a world of information, separate from conversations with salespeople. Before ever contacting a salesperson, the buyer of a complex product has already spent hours analyzing various companies and products--looking at websites, talking to others, downloading demos or product manuals, and reading articles.
2) After the first salesperson contact, it can take as long as 18 months for a complex sale to close. During that time, marketing has to be working in concert with salespeople to provide helpful and relevant information to buyers at the right points in their buying process. Lead generation and ongoing contact with the customer, outside of individual sales calls, is incredibly important. The companies that do this most reliably have the best chance of becoming the vendor of choice.
3) Buyers don't ever tell salespeople the whole truth. When was the last time you told a salesperson what you were really thinking? Fortunately, buyers do behave rather predictably as they move through the steps in their buying process. This book helps company managers support the customer's buying process, from start to finish.
This book is complex because the subject is complex. It's not a book you read for pleasure, although it's conversational in style. It's a book you go through, one section at a time, taking notes on how you are going to put this advice to work in your organization. It can serve as an excellent implementation checklist for any manager who wants to use valid, tested methods to increase sales.
My own experience over the last 35+ years is that everyone pays lip service to maximizing leads, and yet very few companies actually treat it as the disciplined process that it needs to be. It's too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day urgencies and the overwhelming need for immediate revenue. Plus, many managers still believe that a successful sale always boils down to the personal relationship between the salesperson and the buyer. There are three reasons this is not true.
1) In today's market, the seller/buyer relationship has been marginalized. Buyers have access to a world of information, separate from conversations with salespeople. Before ever contacting a salesperson, the buyer of a complex product has already spent hours analyzing various companies and products--looking at websites, talking to others, downloading demos or product manuals, and reading articles.
2) After the first salesperson contact, it can take as long as 18 months for a complex sale to close. During that time, marketing has to be working in concert with salespeople to provide helpful and relevant information to buyers at the right points in their buying process. Lead generation and ongoing contact with the customer, outside of individual sales calls, is incredibly important. The companies that do this most reliably have the best chance of becoming the vendor of choice.
3) Buyers don't ever tell salespeople the whole truth. When was the last time you told a salesperson what you were really thinking? Fortunately, buyers do behave rather predictably as they move through the steps in their buying process. This book helps company managers support the customer's buying process, from start to finish.
This book is complex because the subject is complex. It's not a book you read for pleasure, although it's conversational in style. It's a book you go through, one section at a time, taking notes on how you are going to put this advice to work in your organization. It can serve as an excellent implementation checklist for any manager who wants to use valid, tested methods to increase sales.
reviewed by pits on November 23, 2006 11:14 AM