Lead Generation

Companies create new prospects every day, while often ignoring that salespeople give up on most prospects within 1-2 phone calls and in less than 30-60 days.  They move on to the low hanging fruit of short term buyers and ignore that research shows that 75% of the purchasing decisions are made in the 4th to 12th  months. In this interview with Chris Lynde, CEO of dbSignals he tells how to maximize the leads you have already. The host is Jim Obermayer.  About Chris LyndeChris Lynde is founder and CEO of dbSignals. Chris is an analytically minded, self-described “data geek” who has more than 30 years of experience in multi-channel database marketing, data, and analytic services. He has pioneered a number of large-scale, first-to-market database products and held several C-level roles with direct profit-and-loss responsibilities of more than $300 million in Fortune 1000 corporations, as well as pure start-ups. In his previous role as senior vice president for Club Holdings, Chris led the implementation of multi-channel marketing technology, customer database development, and marketing campaign planning across the portfolio. Prior to joining Club Holdings, Chris was senior vice president and general manager of Source Marketing; senior vice president and general manager of Equifax Marketing Services; and president and CEO of Oaktree Systems, a public database marketing subsidiary of Gateway Industries. A serial entrepreneur with a passion for music and golf, Chris in the 1970s co-founded Rainbow Records, the largest record chain in the Chicago metro area with 13 stores. He also founded TeeShots International, a direct marketing company specializing in golf products, and co-founded Destination Golf, a nationally syndicated television show that ran on Fox Sports and ESPN. About dbSignalsdbSignals is ranked among the top marketing automation solutions for large, medium and small businesses by Raab Associates’ 2015 Vendor Selection Tool (VEST) Report. The company combines data, technology, and the science of machine learning to automate the sales and marketing process so customers can stay focused on running their businesses. dbSignals’ Customer Acquisition Prospecting Databases, coupled with real-time data management and self-learning technology creates smarter campaigns and the best results possible. The dbSignals platform sits on top of an integrated database that contains customer data, a national B2B and B2C prospecting database, and a complete system of record. Based in Broomfield, CO., with offices in Phoenix, AZ., dbSignals is a wholly owned subsidiary of Club Holdings, LLC. dbSignals provides everything a business needs to acquire and retain customers on one easy-to-use SaaS platform. The services are available direct and through white-labeled resellers. Learn more at dbsignals.comCommercial  sponsors on SLMA Radio include: The Young Company, The Vanella Group and Vanilla Soft.

Stu Heinecke is the author of "How To Get A Meeting with Anyone" (BenBella Books, 2-2016) and host of this week's show. His book is a compilation of "Contact Marketing" techniques, as he calls them, designed to help sales reps break through to their toughest-to-reach, VIP prospects. In his book, and in this series of interviews, he asks top sales thought leaders, "When you absolutely must get through to someone of great importance, how do you do it?"Linda Richardson is the author of "Changing the Sales Conversation" and Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training business. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence for 2006 and in 2007 she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Linda is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling, which is the cornerstone of Richardson’s methodology. Other innovations Linda has spearheaded in the sales training industry are: development of a comprehensive, integrated curriculum dedicated exclusively to sales, commitment to customization vs. generic training, and development of an interactive coaching-type training methodology. Her innovation in eLearning earned Richardson the Best Soft Skills Award from Elearning! magazine and Product of the Year for Richardson SkillGauge™ diagnostics from Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. Linda is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including her most recent works, Perfect Selling, The Sales Success Handbook — 20 Lessons to Open and Close Sales Now, Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management courses at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. She is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences. Linda began her career as an educator and educational psychologist and transitioned to the corporate world where she developed a passion for sales effectiveness. Prior to founding Richardson, Linda was a teacher, a manager at a global consulting firm, and an officer at a major financial institution. She has been published extensively in industry and training journals and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board magazine. Linda currently serves on the Mayor’s Council for the Arts for the City of Philadelphia, is a Director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a Director of the American Poetry Review. She served on the United States Small Business Administration President’s Council from 1991 to 1993.

The Geekspeak Guides, Susan Finch and Yvonne Heimann, are at it again giving you ideas of how to use your own site content, content from other sites and from venues such as Youtube, Pinterest and more to populate your site, your podcasting venues such as iTunes and Stitcher. These ideas will help create that fill in content for your social media posts to give you more time to REALLY engage with people in real conversations. This episode was recently featured on Blubrry as a valuable episode.RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is your simple pipeline of information. In a nutshell, it’s a properly formatted text file created dynamically by websites such as blogs and other content management systems. They don’t all create them, but most do. There are even tools you can use to create one on your own. THIS is the file you want so you can PUSH your content and reuse it, reshape it and share it better with MANY more venues including iTunes. You may use this superpower whether you are gathering content from your website, Pinterest, podcast or other online sites and services.This video will give you several ideas and teach you how to find your RSS feed on your own site, and where you can use it.Did you know that PINTEREST is actually a BLOG with CATEGORIES? That means that your entire Pinterest account and individual boards can all be treated as an RSS feed. Google offers a great FREE tool to generate a feed post, allow subscribers, manage subscribers and allow you to bring in content from other sites into your own, share your content with others with just a few lines of code and it is all DYNAMIC using RSS.Having a feed address gives you something very specific to submit to Google on one specific topic. Podcasts use XML/RSS feeds, as well. It's a text file with useful fields for these various venues. For a podcast, it knows to look for the associated media file, episode art and excerpt. Depending on the podcasting service you use such as Blubrry, Podbean, Lipsyn, you'll be given different options before they send your fabulous content off to venues such as iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and more.This 20 minute show gives you some great ideas to use your content to generate more interest, more credibility, more leads and ultimately more sales. Trust us, we know this works.-----------------------------------Find Geekspeak Guides on:itunes:    http://bit.ly/gsgitunesstitcher:  http://bit.ly/gsgstitcherblubbrry: http://bit.ly/gsgblubrry

  Michael Falkson, founder of eti Sales Support makes the case that those that ignore branding do so at their peril.  He believes too many marketing manager's think that branding is an expensive exercise that has few measurable benefits for the small to mid-sized company. Falkson argues that branding and its benefits make the sales process much easier and he tells us how to do it. The host for this show is Jim Obermayer. Michael Falkson, Founder & CEO Founder and CEO of eti Sales Support, Michael Falkson leads the  company's strategic direction. An entrepreneur at heart, Michael emigrated from South Africa in 1987 to  establish eti. eti is a premier B2B Sales and Marketing support agency.  eti has been a leader in the field since the company's inception, innovating and deploying cutting edge technologies, which include stateoftheart  CRM, PRM and Marketing Automation solutions geared towards maximizing sales productivity. Prior to leaving South Africa, Michael was the CTO for Effective Letters Pty. Ltd, SouthAfrica's leading Direct Mail Marketing agency, and CEO and founder of ETM Pty Ltd, which was the largest Call Centre operation in the country at that time. He was also the founder and Chairman of SATA (South African Telemarketing Association) until emigrating to the US.Michael studied at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. About eti Sales Support:The Sales Lead Generation Company Whether you're just beginning to grow your business or you already have a thriving national or global business, eti has the resources, the experience and the services to help you expand.We're a leading business-to-business sales support agency specializing in programs to maximize clients' direct marketing and sales growth nationally and globally. Founded in 1987, we have a record of success in increasing clients' sales with New Customer Acquisition as the most important aspect of our many sales driven services. Our Business Developers are college-educated with most having extensive previous business experience. Our clients profit fully from their successful abilities in conducting sophisticated programs that require knowledge, intelligence, business insight and communication skills to produce the best results. Our core competence is in consultative business development, primarily for clients with complex products, services, and value propositions. eti Mission:   To grow client sales by maximizing sales productivity. To provide high-quality, responsive, (global) business-to-business sales support services via a growing pipeline of sales opportunities. To provide leading-edge, real-time reporting and analytics that offer clients optimum control and accountability to maximize returns on their marketing investments. To provide highly effective leadership and support for integrating sales and marketing campaigns.   Sales Lead Generation Services include:   Sales Lead Generation Appointment Setting New Customer Acquisition Customer Retention Customer Development and Growth Upsell and/or Cross Sell Full Account Management Build and Nurture Client Relationships Special Promotions Announcement Channels Motivation and Management Dormant Account Revitalization     www.etisales.com 1-800-466-4384

Outsourcing of sales, not just sales lead qualification is growing, so say many of the people SLMA Radio Host Jim Obermayer knows and interviews.  In this SLMA Radio Interview with Jeffery Feuer, president of the Customer Solutions Group, the two of them tackle the subject of how outsourcing can increase sales in 90-120 days.    Some questions that will be covered, time permitting: Can a company expect increased revenue in 90-120 Days? Why and when should someone outsource their sales? Are sales outsourcing more or less expensive than doing it in-house? Is sales outsourcing an all or nothing proposition? What is warm transfer? How good are appointments that are set by an outsourced service? What should someone look for when they select an outsource vendor? Besides good salesmen, what are the most important elements for successful outsourcing?   About Jeffery Feuer    For over 25 years, Jeff Feuer, President of Customer Solutions Group, has created sales tools and developed sales teams. His professional goal is to apply efficiencies to the process of turning leads into customers. “Leads are great, but they really shine when converted into customers,” he says.    Jeff co-founded Customer Solutions Group, a sales outsourcing and consulting firm, over 20 years ago. Since then, he helped hundreds of firms nationwide to reduce their cost of customer acquisition. Feuer and his team provide services that advance sales at their client firms including appointment setting, telephone lead qualification, sales consulting, and sales outsourcing. Jeff designed specialized sales testing software used at his firm’s InsideSalesLab, a sales incubator that discovers and optimizes customer acquisition strategies. He is expert with every element of sales operations, from recruitment to reporting.   Jeff is a cum laude graduate of the University of California with a BA degree in Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.   About Customer Soilutions Group Customer Solutions Group (CSG), a 21-year-old sales consulting and outsourcing firm, has assisted hundreds of firms from startups to Fortune 500 to increase sales, shorten their sales cycles, and reduce sales cost.  CSG consultants are sales veterans. They combine years of sales line management experience with years of consulting expertise to produce practical solutions to common sales problems. They are familiar with all facets of sales technology and infrastructure as well as the human elements needed to drive superior sales performance.     Clients can benefit from CSG’s perspective on their existing sales operations or outsource part of all of their sales process to CSG. CSG pioneered sales testing at its InsideSalesLab, a sales incubator that runs pilot programs helping firms discover their best path to profitable sales.   Through its warm-transfer service, CSG manages telephone lead qualification for some of the largest firms in the US. Each day, CSG receives, scores, calls and qualifies tens of thousands of sales leads for its clients. Qualified leads are warm-transferred directly to client sales persons to pitch and close. To date, CSG has warm-transferred over 4 million qualified prospects to its clients throughout the US.   Through its sales-appointment service, CSG performs important groundwork locating, qualifying, and scheduling good prospects for its client’s senior sales persons.     For more information, visit CSG’s web sites:     www.Warm-transfer.com www.Sales-appointment.com www.InsideSalesLab.com

  Sylvia Montgomery, Partner at Hinge Marketing tackles a tough question about the efficiency of email marketing to generate leads. Email response rates continue to be an issue and many companies clinging to it because of cost.  Certainly garbage in and poor response out isn’t unusual.  A major database supplier said to me, “Well, Jim, don’t blame the database, blame the offer, blame the subject line, blame the product, but don’t blame the database or the method of getting it to the reader.  We’ll see what Sylvia has to say.     About  Sylvia Montgomery, CPSM SENIOR PARTNER-Hinge Marketing   A Senior Partner and the head of Hinge’s A/E/C practice, Sylvia collects many shoes and wears many hats. When she’s not traveling around the country for speaking engagements or client meetings, you will find Sylvia creating marketing and branding strategies for clients, supervising her A/E/C team, developing new business, or working on her personal brand. With a 20-year career spanning visual communications, strategy, and marketing, and over a decade working in the A/E/C sector, Sylvia brings a creative, business-focused approach to her client engagements. She specializes in agile marketing for professional services firms, creating actionable, research-driven strategies tailored to helping businesses grow. A Starbucks aficionado, Sylvia credits her success to a top-secret formula involving caffeine and yoga.   Sylvia came to Hinge from Bowman Consulting, one of the fastest-growing engineering firms in the Mid-Atlantic, where she was Director of Marketing. Prior to that, she held executive-level marketing positions at Rubbermaid Commercial Products, a major consumer brand, and Digital Commerce, a technology firm. Sylvia is an active member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), where she held a seat on the board of directors, and she frequently speaks and writes on topics related to the A/E/C industry and marketing. Previously, Sylvia has served as adjunct professor at both Trinity College and George Washington University. Sylvia holds an MBA from the University of Maryland, University College, an MFA from George Washington University, and a BA from Trinity University.   About Hinge Marketing   When it comes to choosing a marketing or branding firm, we don't envy you. There are more options out there than flies in a cow pasture. But if you want a firm that’s at home in your field and is familiar with the challenges you face, Hinge has a lot to offer that you simply won't find elsewhere in a single package:   Professional Services Expertise As professional services specialists, we focus on just five market segments: Architecture / Engineering / Construction Accounting & Finance Consulting Government Contracting Technology Because we've worked with a lot of firms in your industry, we have a pretty good idea already what challenges you face. We've also done the due diligence to know what strategies have worked for the leaders in your market. Talk to us — we'll show you the way.   Specialized Market Research   The marketplace is always changing. That's why we conduct regular research into issues that affect our clients. This research gives us the insights we need to advise our professional services clients and adapt to evolving conditions. The time and effort we put into original research is painful, but it gives us — and our clients — a true competitive advantage. Top-Drawer Creative   The best firms can't afford to look bad. It's tough to maintain a great reputation if your image isn't up to the task. At Hinge, we've invested in an award-winning creative team that makes our clients look great and speak with confidence.  

Getting visitors to your website isn’t difficult, getting them to inquire is another issue.  Too many companies struggle with how to turn website traffic into inquiries and then leads. 3,000 visitors a month and three leads won’t get it, but few marketing managers know how to solve the problem.   In this program, host Jim Obermayer interviews Janelle Johnson, Director of Demand Gen at ACT-On Software as she outlines how to turn visitors into leads.     Janelle Johnson, Director, Demand Gen at Act-On Software.  Johnson is responsible for everything from email marketing, webinars and content creation to lead generation and nurturing. She is a key player in the development of all processes for lead and pipeline cultivation and maturation, and driving tight alignment between the sales and marketing teams. Janelle has been named to SLMA’s “20 Women to Watch” list as well as the “50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management.”   Twitter handle: @janelle_johnson   About Act-On Founded in 2008, Act-On is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, with offices in Roseville and San Mateo, California; Scottsdale, Arizona; London, United Kingdom; and Bangalore, India. It is backed by venture capital firms Norwest Venture Partners, Trinity Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners and Voyager Capital. In addition, the company has received an investment from Stanford University.   Act-On was created to empower businesses to effectively market online at a fraction of the effort and cost incurred by more complicated systems. Act-On introduced a solution that was far more powerful yet easy enough and intuitive enough that a marketer could use it without help from the IT department.   Act-On Software is the world's fastest growing marketing automation company; its cloud-based marketing automation platform is the foundation of successful marketing campaigns everywhere – from small, simple and direct, to complex globally implemented programs. It’s technology features an Instant-On™ database for accelerated campaign implementation; an easy, highly intuitive user interface; and a comprehensive, feature-rich solution set. This includes a best-in-class email engine with one-click integration to leading web conferencing and CRM solutions; tools for website visitor tracking, lead scoring, lead nurturing and social media prospecting; design tools for web forms, landing pages and emails; and more. Contrary to general industry practices, all contracts regardless of size are month-to-month, with prices starting at $500.   Act-On is a sponsor of the Sales Lead Management Association.

In this interview, Eric Jacobson, Co-Founder and CFO of Amplifinity, makes the argument that branding and brand advocacy is more important than ever as a source for qualified leads. About Eric Jacobson, President & CFOEric joined Amplifinity in December of 2011. He currently manages the day-to-day operations and finances of the company. Eric has served as the chief financial executive and managed operations at several venture-backed startups including Translume, Janeeva, Discera and Picometrix. Previously, Eric managed finance and accounting for Comcast’s high speed internet business, when that business unit was in its infancy, working from the company’s corporate headquarters in Philadelphia. He also managed the implementation of a variety of relationship marketing initiatives and customer loyalty programs at that company. Eric is a graduate of Syracuse University and earned an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania..About Amplifinity Brand Advocacy Solutions: Building and activating new sales channels for our customers Amplifinity knows that your company is as unique as the consumers, partners, and employees who are loyal to it. We know that the brand advocacy strategy you need is not necessarily the same as your competitors’. But we do know that the end goal is the same whether you’re a B2B, B2C or an agency: to build a customer acquisition channel that works best within your existing infrastructure; to create loyal and accessible brand advocates who will do things for your company because they are given opportunities to do so that come at the right time and in the right place; and to drive sales in the quickest, most efficient way possible. Our clients use our solutions to make that happen. Customer TouchpointsEvery place where you touch your customers and prospects is an opportunity to engage with them. AMP integrates with all of our clients’ touchpoints directly to their enterprise systems – through single sign-on via consumer accounts, dynamic widgets, or simple links. Wherever your customers are, Amplifinity’s platform allows you to connect with them, making it simple and quick for them to recommend your brand to their networks or refer them to your company Advocacy ProgramsThe work we do for our enterprise clients proves that your company’s brand advocates are out there and willing to help. But they can’t help if you don’t ask. Your brand advocates – whether customers, partners, or employees – can become part of your team by referring new customers, endorsing your products and services, and amplifying your messages. AMP makes it simple to ask your customers to spread the word on your behalf. Using their My Account page for tracking their activity, progress, and reward status, brand advocates stay engaged and know they are valuable to your company’s success. Control RoomThe AMP Control Room, as one of our clients says, is the “secret sauce that transformed the way my company does business.” AMP gives brands the control needed to build, track and manage Advocacy Programs. Our powerful configuration and customization capabilities are easy for our clients to use, modify and control. They can configure and control page layouts, workflow, and reward structuring in a few quick steps, and with the guidance of Amplifinity’s Best Practices. The AMP Control Room is the headquarters for your brand advocates’ profiles and customized reporting. Every member of your team from marketing execs to salespeople get exactly what they need through personalized access control. Amplifinity 912 North Main Street, Suite 100 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 Phone: 734.585.5684 Fax: 734.864.7329www.amplifinity.com

Host Jim Obermayer will Interview Jenny Vance, co-founder and president of LeadJen and tackle subjects such as:Why do internal lead generation staffs so often fail?What kind of process needs to be in place to improve the outcomes of lead generation?What kind of technology ( telephone solutions, data analysis, etc.) need to be in place for a lead generation team to succeed?What are the fundamentals lead generation teams?How do you know when you have quality data and what should you do with it?About Jenny VanceCo-founder and president, LeadJenFounder and CEO, PlanSoonJenny Vance is one of the leading women entrepreneurs in Indianapolis. She is the founder of LeadJen, a lead generation company, which she has grown to nearly 100 employees serving hundreds of companies across the United States, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500. She also is co-founder of SalesVue, a CRM software solution.In 2012, Jenny founded PlanSoon, a social network that helps people try new things and meet new people. PlanSoon was selected as one of three companies to be featured in the inaugural VentureCamp docu-series and tech accelerator program.Jenny has received numerous awards. For three consecutive years, she was honored by the Sales Lead Management Association (SLMA) as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management. She also was recognized by SLMA as one of 20 Women to Watch. Direct Marketing News and the Indianapolis Business Journal named Jenny to their 40 Under 40 lists, and she received the McDermond Medal for Excellence in Entrepreneurship in 2013. LeadJen was named a Mira Award winner by TechPoint in 2013 and was recognized as one of the 2012 Indiana Companies to Watch.Jenny received her bachelor’s degree from DePauw University, where she was a Management Fellow. She is an active member of the Entrepreneur’s Organization, serving as president of the Indiana chapter. She also is the founder of the Indiana chapter of The American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) and an active member of the National Association of Women Business Owners.Jenny is a frequent speaker and author of numerous articles on entrepreneurship and lead generation.About LeadJenLeadJen is a B2B lead generation company that helps corporate sales and marketing teams drive more revenue and better understand their market. LeadJen’s scientific approach, proven methodologies and market intelligence drives revenue for clients in various industries including healthcare, manufacturing, retail, financial services, life sciences and high tech. Based in Indianapolis, LeadJen is an Inc. 5000 company. Founder Jenny Vance is recognized by the Sales Lead Management Association as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management and was named a 40 Under 40 by both Direct Marketing News and the Indianapolis Business Journal. More information is available at www.leadjen.com and on Twitter @LeadJen_LLC.

SLMARadio host Jim Obermayer visited Tech Marketing 360 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Laguna Niguel, CA on Feb 19th.  He interviewed Gayle Wolski , the General Manager of Tech Marketing 360, plus an in depth interview with Aseem Badshah, and Kevin Yu, founders of Socedo a very unique lead generation company.Other interviews included:Russ Danner, Crafter SoftwareDharmesh Godha of Advaiya SolutionsElena Vaysman, Hoovers’ Inc.Joanne F. Valentino, The Medical LetterDouglas McDonald, Transiris CorporationTech Marketing 360  DescriptionTechnology is the most dynamic and challenging specialty in the world of marketing. Tech Marketing 360 is dedicated to you - the technology marketer- the unsung hero of a multi-billion dollar engine of economic growth.  Our mission is to build a community of tech marketers, for tech marketers, and at this path-breaking event, you’ll gain insight from the top thinkers at top companies, and be immersed in a community of practice, sharing, teaching and learning that will supercharge not just your skill sets, but your strategic vision.Over three days at Tech Marketing 360, 400 senior-level tech marketing professionals will discover the most current and cutting-edge innovations and strategies to drive marketing success. Attend educational sessions across five tracks, hear inspirational keynotes, meet with top industry sponsors, and engage with your peers at special networking receptions in an intimate, upscale setting at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.At Tech Marketing 360 you’ll learn how to:Develop the right mix of digital and traditional channelsFind new ways to scale your messaging and sales enablement at low costNavigate the change from packaged, on-premise solutions to Cloud-based and subscription modelsLeverage social and mobile technologies to drive real business outcomesCombine deep subject-matter expertise with the need for horizontal and multi-audience solutionsBridge the gap and learn how to identify, engage with and market to CIOs, IT, developers and other technology-buying decision makers