The CRAP Report

HubSpot’s blog featured a guest entry yesterday from Sales 2.0 CEO Nigel Edelshain, entitled “What the Heck is Sales 2.0 (& Why Should I Care)?”  Nigel, as I found out in the article, is the man who coined the term “Sales 2.0:”

Sales 2.0 is about sales people using Web 2.0 tools and social media to sell more effectively

In the entry, Nigel goes on to make the analogy that inbound marketing and Sales 2.0 are like children who size each other up before playing together; slow to get along at first, but when playtime is over, nobody wants to leave one another.  The article is great, but of particular interest to me was this, when talking about businesses that sell something very expensive and have a small prospecting pool from which to generate leads from:

“I always imagine a sales rep in this scenario whose boss comes to him and says ‘how are we getting on penetrating GE’ and the rep who loves inbound marketing too much says ‘we’re waiting for them to hit our website and download a white paper.’”

Inbound marketing certainly makes it easier for an organization to be found, but I believe there is still a need for teleprospecting teams to find qualified sales opportunities.  As marketing and sales teams become more synchronous, I think that teleprospecting can play a great part in helping to bridge the current gap, and then be a part of the grease that makes the unified team run smoother.  Go and check it out, then let me know what you think!

*Photo Credit:  ralphbijker via Flickr

On Tuesday I shared with you a link to lead generation expert The Funnelholic’s The Marketing Hipster Dictionary, Part I.  Today, he posted part two with some help of folks like The Lord of The Leads Tom Scearce (on Twitter @TLOTL) and Chris Jablonski (on Twitter @cjablonski).  The Funnelholic certainly more than gets by with a little help from his friends, adding words like “Return on Contribution” and “Buyer Engagement.” 

My favorite: 

49.  Trapping the chicken in the courtyard:  A semi-obscure “Rocky II” reference/metaphor describing the relentless and often frustrating pursuit of repeatable marketing and sales success. “I feel like a Kentucky Fried idiot.” — Rocky Balboa (@TLOTL)

You can check out The Marketing Hipster Dictionary, Part II here.

Nice work guys!

Hey everybody!

Been real busy today, so unfortunately I have nothing original to share with you. 

Do not fret, though! 

Craig Rosenberg, marketing and lead generation expert also known as the Funnelholic, has come to the rescue!  Today, Craig posted a great blog article over at his site, where he is creating The Marketing Hipster Dictionary.  What a great idea!  Basically, what he’s doing over the course of a couple of different entries (today and next Thursday), is compiling a list of terms that are used not only on his site, but throughout the sales and marketing space.  From defining the term “Marketing Hipster” to “Maven Marketing,” Craig covers it all and offers up some great examples of folks to follow (on Twitter) in appropriate categories.  If you’re not, you can follow Craig on Twitter at @funnelholic.

You can check out The Marketing Hipster Dictionary here.  One thing is for sure:  someday, when I grow up, I want to make it on the list and be a Marketing Hipster myself.

Great job, Craig!

So you’re thinking about building an in-house teleprospecting team, huh? I mean, someone has to follow up on all of those inbound leads you’re getting, right? Maybe you’re hosting webinars and need those attendees followed up on, right? The most logical thing to do would be to build some sort of qualification machine to follow up on all the contacts you’ve got from all of the marketing programs/events/campaigns you’ve run (and more than likely never got around to getting in touch with). You could give them to your sales guys, no doubt. Trish Bertuzzi, President and Chief Strategist over at the inside sales consulting firm, The Bridge Group, blogged about this with some help from Kirko Papjanis over at her blog, Inside Sales Experts Blog, where Kirko urges folks to put their sales reps in front of prospects sooner. While I agree with him, it’s been my experience that not all sales reps are willing to be put in front of prospects without having them fully qualified, nor are they as effective. So, if you’re thinking about building an in-house teleprospecting team to generate sales qualified leads, there are some things you need to think of. Read more… »

Do you know the definition of what a “vicious circle” is?  According to dictionary.com it’s, “a situation in which effort to solve a given problem results in aggravation of the problem or the creation of a worse problem.”  Maybe you’ve seen it comically played out in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.  Spoiler alert for those of you who’ve never seen it in the last ten years, but there was a character in it named Fat Bastard, a Scottish hit man, played by Mike Meyers.  Per his name, he really is a fat guy under the employ of the movie’s main antagonist, Dr. Evil.  Near the end of the film, Fat Bastard tries to kill Austin Powers and his co-spy in the movie, Felicity Shagwell, by pretending to be a UPS delivery guy.  Fat Bastard crashes through their front door and tries to kill them, and eventually breaks down in tears and admits that, “I eat because I’m unhappy, and I’m unhappy because I eat. It’s a vicious cycle. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s someone I need to get in touch with and forgive: meself.”  If you find yourself thinking that you don’t have any budget to put towards teleprospecting in 2010, I think you’re going to find yourself falling into the same vicious circle that got you to that point in the first place. Read more… »

I’m sure around the holidays that you, like me, will have a good number of parties to attend.  Now, some may be family affairs while others may be for work, but for the most part those holiday parties typically have the same thing in common – food.  Wherever you go, I’m sure that there’ll be plenty of food to eat.  Folks will have spent time preparing and cooking great appetizers and main dishes, and desserts, too.  One of the things that may run through your mind while you’re at an event, and probably while you’re eating, is “how can I make this at home?” For a lot of you, though, the better question will be, “how can I make this better at home?”  That’s what cooks, do, right?  They find something they like and then they make it better.  The same thing can be said for your teleprospecting efforts, you know?  You’re sales prospecting machine may be great, but there’s always a way to make it better right?  Of course there is! Read more… »

I’m not too young that I can’t remember Lee Majors as Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man.  Sure, it came out in 1974 and ran until 1978, when I turned five years old, but I know I watched it on reruns.  I even had the really cool Bionic Man action figure; you know, the one where you look through his eye for bionic vision?  That show (and action figure) was awesome!  Here’s this astronaut who is badly injured during a crash and the government comes along and gives him cybernetic parts, and basically turns him into a superhero.  The opening to the show was so cool, too.  “We can make him better than he was before.  Better, stronger, faster.”  How can you do that with your teleprospecting campaigns?  How can you take a sales prospecting effort that’s crashed and burned and rebuild it? Read more… »

Well, if you’re anything like me, you’ve spent your day with family and you’ve had your fill of turkey and bad football.  Hopefully you’ve also had the opportunity to reflect on things you’re thankful for.  While the typical stuff comes to mind for me – my wife and my son, their health and happiness as well as the same for my extended family, the usual is really no less important.  Every year that I spend with my family makes me truly more thankful that they’re in my life than the year before.  On a more professional note, there are a number of things that I’m thankful for as well, and what a better day to share them with you than today? Read more… »

So, if you’ve been reading The CRAP Report now, you know that I’m typically writing for folks that may either be looking to outsource their teleprospecting efforts or that may have their own internal sales prospecting team.  I’m also writing for folks that are looking to improve their Business Development Rep’s, be they a vendor or an in-house team.  Oh yeah, and my Mom.  Today, though, I really want to speak to those folks who’ve outsourced their sales opportunity generation efforts.  There may be some take-aways for others, but if you’re working with a vendor who is finding sales qualified leads for you and your sales team, this one’s for you. Read more… »

Matt, Jill, Eric, Lexy, Pete, Kevin, Craig, Brad, Stephen

Okay, okay, I know – this is really predictable.  A lead generation blog entry with a Halloween theme?  I agree, but nevertheless, I do have a couple of points to make here.  I’m not really big on horror movies.  I liked them as a kid, but somewhere along the line, the idea that all fiction has its basis in reality crept into my head and now most horror movies freak me out.  That being said, I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that they all pretty much have the same elements to them (especially ones from the 80’s).  These clichés, I’ve found, have a direct link to teleprospecting and I want to share them with you on this day before All Hallows eve (insert spooky music here). Read more… »