The Client
Industry: Human Resources
Location: New Zealand
Headquarters: New Zealand
The Client is a market leading designer and developer of payroll software in New Zealand since 1983.
Campaign Type: Lead Generation
Campaign Target Criteria
Location: New Zealand
Industry: All industries with 20 – 200 employees
Decision Makers: Business Owners, Managing Directors, Finance Managers
The Challenge
The Client prides itself with a 33-year experience in providing over 10,000 customers with low cost, simple and very effective payroll solutions. However, this market dominion was somewhat threatened when payroll system providers in New Zealand offered the same or similar packages on software functionalities like Auditing, Templates, Tracking Capabilities, Costing Statistics, Pay History, Contributions and Help Desk Support, which deflated the Client’s huge number of customer database by 20%.
The competitors were seen to be quite aggressive in generating more customers, so the Client decided to combat the move by undertaking feisty initiatives like outsourcing a lead generation company who would help them look for new customers and win back those they’ve lost.
The Callbox Solution
Callbox’s multi-channel marketing program was designed to help clients maximize the full potential of a well-profiled and managed database to get them in front of their target prospects with the right message, at the right time.
In the said campaign, the Client required the Callbox team to generate leads using two different approaches for lost customers and new targets. The generated leads were differentiated into two categories, and from which the Client customized their solution/offers:
- Prospects (new targets) who agreed to speak with the Client’s representative to discuss about the product /solution and its benefits
Approach:
This type of target customers were sent initial email copies that contained FAQs about their pain points like Holiday Pays, Leave Rates calculations, etc. As soon as the prospect opened the email or took action like clicked the Client’s website or accessed any link in the email, which were tracked real-time by the Callbox team, the contact was then scheduled in the Callbox PIpeline to be called by the agent and set for an office, online demo or phone appointment with the Client’s specialists.
- Lost customers who agreed to speak again with the Client’s specialists and were interested to know about new offers
Approach:
For winback customers, the initial email copies included cost- and time-saving offers from the Client such as systems upgrade at the same package cost, restructured payment schemes and a sample comparative script of how their old service would look like upon return. A day after the initial copies were sent out, whether or not the prospect had opened or taken any action on the email or not, the agent made follow-up calls to those targets and set them for office, online demo or phone appointments with the Client’s specialists.
In addition, the agent incorporated a customer profiling activity during follow-up calls which made the database more accurate by updating contact information like the decision maker’s name, company name and address, contact numbers, email addresses and social media accounts.
The Results
The Callbox team generated a total of 84 Leads: 11 Office and 35 Phone Appointments and 38 Online Demonstration Bookings which were all part of the 2,343 Positive Contacts that included warm follow-ups. Out of the 84 Leads, 38 (40%) were winback customers.
Callbox’s multi-channel marketing platform was effectively utilized for the payroll leader’s lead generation campaign and which realized their goals to win back lost customers and acquire new ones worth nurturing.
4 Signs That You Badly Need a Lead Generation Team
///by: GuestLead generation is simple. Just find leads and turn them into sales. Now, if the term “easier said than done” has a poster boy, it’s good old lead generation, hands down.
Lead generation may be simple, but surely, it isn’t easy. Especially if only one or two people in an organization are tasked to do it. Realistically, lead generation requires a diverse pool of specialists – be it in analytics, marketing or writing. If you’re generally having a tough time producing leads, then it’s either you’re doing it wrong, or you don’t have a team that does it – which, technically, also falls under the doing-it-wrong category.
It’s not enough to know you’re not doing it right, however. What you need to know are the signs that yell “YOU NEED A LEAD GENERATION TEAM!”. Here they are.
Sign #1: Your Sales Process is Sluggish
“Sales process” refers to a set of steps your organization takes to move the prospect from “lead” to “customer”. Because it’s a process, it repeats itself perpetually like clockwork. It follows that it also has to be systematic and efficient. The usual sales process is as follows:
- Prospecting – The process of sourcing new leads. Prospecting may involve online research to find net new prospects, or looking into an existing database of contacts. Read more about The Line Between Lead Generation and Lead Prospecting.
- Connecting – This is one of the most critical stages in the sales process because it can make or break a deal. This is where a lead generation representative makes initial contact with a prospect, gathering relevant information and assessing the quality of the lead.
- Researching – More specifically, it’s learning more about a prospect and their company. This is necessary in order for the representative to craft and offer more customized experience to the lead.
- Demonstrating – This is in the latter stage of the sales process, where formal presentation or demonstration of a product or service is done. Usually, only those prospects that are rated as “qualified” earn this privilege. Here’s the usual digital downloads used in in convincing prospects even more.
- Closing – A lead is just nothing but a lead until a deal is closed.
Related: What to Tell Clients Who Say “You’re too expensive.”
It’s a tedious process to say the least, and sluggish when done by people who need to multitask. But done right and with the right system, it becomes simple, fast, and efficient. In order to do it, an organization needs a team of experts on each stage to carry out the task proficiently and for each stage to progress as seamlessly as possible.
Sign #2: Your Sales Costs are Skyrocketing
The first instance you notice that costs are moving up faster than the price of petroleum when there’s war in the Middle East, your basic instinct tells you it’s time to fire some people. After all, a huge percentage of costs goes to salaries. But before you do that, ask yourself. Which services can’t I live without? Do I really have to fire people, or just make them work like a solid, cohesive group? Understanding this allows companies to focus sales resources where they are needed and to cut waste, not value. The key addressing this issue is to promote efficiency in the sales organization.
Related: Top 5 Sales Blind Spots in the IT and Software Industry
Sign #3: You Have Poor Brand Visibility
Have you heard of this phenomenon called social media? Yes? Cool, right? How about blogging and other marketing channels? Do you take advantage of them like you ought to? Yes? Nice. With optimum use, you can achieve maximum brand visibility using these tools. But let me tell you, if taking advantage of all these means you only have one person doing all the writing and blogging and vlogging and posting on social media, then either you’re extremely lucky to have found a human version of the Swiss Army knife, or you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Here are just some fine examples:
- Blog interview with influencers – Influencer Interview with The “Return on Relationship” Expert: Ted Rubin
- Vlogging – Email Marketing Series: How to Make Emails your Impossible to Ignore [Video]
- Mention other brands on your Blog – ‘FREE’ Lead Generation Ebooks From 3 Best Brands
Sign #4: Lacking High-Quality, Qualified leads
What do you expect from a one-man army? Chances are, this guy’s spreading himself too thin to get all the bases covered. You can’t blame poor Mr. Smith for prioritizing quantity over quality because, hey, it’s the numbers that matter. Or so you believed. With a team of dedicated and relentless individuals who clearly know what they’re doing. You’re putting your organization in the best position to achieve all its marketing goals.
There are so many proverbs that emphasize the value of team work, but my favorite is (and perhaps the corniest of all), “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. Oftentimes, we marvel at the height of achievement individuals can reach singularly. But more marvelous still are the limits individuals collectively break. That’s the essence of the human spirit – in sports, in marketing, in life.
Get help with our Expert Lead Generation Team
Talk with our Marketing Consultant, Dial 888.810.7464
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
The Client
Industry: Human Resources
Location: New Zealand
Headquarters: New Zealand
The Client is a market leading designer and developer of payroll software in New Zealand since 1983.
Campaign Type: Lead Generation
Campaign Target Criteria
Location: New Zealand
Industry: All industries with 20 – 200 employees
Decision Makers: Business Owners, Managing Directors, Finance Managers
The Challenge
The Client prides itself with a 33-year experience in providing over 10,000 customers with low cost, simple and very effective payroll solutions. However, this market dominion was somewhat threatened when payroll system providers in New Zealand offered the same or similar packages on software functionalities like Auditing, Templates, Tracking Capabilities, Costing Statistics, Pay History, Contributions and Help Desk Support, which deflated the Client’s huge number of customer database by 20%.
The competitors were seen to be quite aggressive in generating more customers, so the Client decided to combat the move by undertaking feisty initiatives like outsourcing a lead generation company who would help them look for new customers and win back those they’ve lost.
The Callbox Solution
Callbox’s multi-channel marketing program was designed to help clients maximize the full potential of a well-profiled and managed database to get them in front of their target prospects with the right message, at the right time.
In the said campaign, the Client required the Callbox team to generate leads using two different approaches for lost customers and new targets. The generated leads were differentiated into two categories, and from which the Client customized their solution/offers:
- Prospects (new targets) who agreed to speak with the Client’s representative to discuss about the product /solution and its benefits
Approach:
This type of target customers were sent initial email copies that contained FAQs about their pain points like Holiday Pays, Leave Rates calculations, etc. As soon as the prospect opened the email or took action like clicked the Client’s website or accessed any link in the email, which were tracked real-time by the Callbox team, the contact was then scheduled in the Callbox PIpeline to be called by the agent and set for an office, online demo or phone appointment with the Client’s specialists.
- Lost customers who agreed to speak again with the Client’s specialists and were interested to know about new offers
Approach:
For winback customers, the initial email copies included cost- and time-saving offers from the Client such as systems upgrade at the same package cost, restructured payment schemes and a sample comparative script of how their old service would look like upon return. A day after the initial copies were sent out, whether or not the prospect had opened or taken any action on the email or not, the agent made follow-up calls to those targets and set them for office, online demo or phone appointments with the Client’s specialists.
In addition, the agent incorporated a customer profiling activity during follow-up calls which made the database more accurate by updating contact information like the decision maker’s name, company name and address, contact numbers, email addresses and social media accounts.
The Results
The Callbox team generated a total of 84 Leads: 11 Office and 35 Phone Appointments and 38 Online Demonstration Bookings which were all part of the 2,343 Positive Contacts that included warm follow-ups. Out of the 84 Leads, 38 (40%) were winback customers.
Callbox’s multi-channel marketing platform was effectively utilized for the payroll leader’s lead generation campaign and which realized their goals to win back lost customers and acquire new ones worth nurturing.
4 Signs That You Badly Need a Lead Generation Team
///by: Judy CarollLead generation is simple. Just find leads and turn them into sales. Now, if the term “easier said than done” has a poster boy, it’s good old lead generation, hands down.
Lead generation may be simple, but surely, it isn’t easy. Especially if only one or two people in an organization are tasked to do it. Realistically, lead generation requires a diverse pool of specialists – be it in analytics, marketing or writing. If you’re generally having a tough time producing leads, then it’s either you’re doing it wrong, or you don’t have a team that does it – which, technically, also falls under the doing-it-wrong category.
It’s not enough to know you’re not doing it right, however. What you need to know are the signs that yell “YOU NEED A LEAD GENERATION TEAM!”. Here they are.
Sign #1: Your Sales Process is Sluggish
“Sales process” refers to a set of steps your organization takes to move the prospect from “lead” to “customer”. Because it’s a process, it repeats itself perpetually like clockwork. It follows that it also has to be systematic and efficient. The usual sales process is as follows:
- Prospecting – The process of sourcing new leads. Prospecting may involve online research to find net new prospects, or looking into an existing database of contacts. Read more about The Line Between Lead Generation and Lead Prospecting.
- Connecting – This is one of the most critical stages in the sales process because it can make or break a deal. This is where a lead generation representative makes initial contact with a prospect, gathering relevant information and assessing the quality of the lead.
- Researching – More specifically, it’s learning more about a prospect and their company. This is necessary in order for the representative to craft and offer more customized experience to the lead.
- Demonstrating – This is in the latter stage of the sales process, where formal presentation or demonstration of a product or service is done. Usually, only those prospects that are rated as “qualified” earn this privilege. Here’s the usual digital downloads used in in convincing prospects even more.
- Closing – A lead is just nothing but a lead until a deal is closed.
Related: What to Tell Clients Who Say “You’re too expensive.”
It’s a tedious process to say the least, and sluggish when done by people who need to multitask. But done right and with the right system, it becomes simple, fast, and efficient. In order to do it, an organization needs a team of experts on each stage to carry out the task proficiently and for each stage to progress as seamlessly as possible.
Sign #2: Your Sales Costs are Skyrocketing
The first instance you notice that costs are moving up faster than the price of petroleum when there’s war in the Middle East, your basic instinct tells you it’s time to fire some people. After all, a huge percentage of costs goes to salaries. But before you do that, ask yourself. Which services can’t I live without? Do I really have to fire people, or just make them work like a solid, cohesive group? Understanding this allows companies to focus sales resources where they are needed and to cut waste, not value. The key addressing this issue is to promote efficiency in the sales organization.
Related: Top 5 Sales Blind Spots in the IT and Software Industry
Sign #3: You Have Poor Brand Visibility
Have you heard of this phenomenon called social media? Yes? Cool, right? How about blogging and other marketing channels? Do you take advantage of them like you ought to? Yes? Nice. With optimum use, you can achieve maximum brand visibility using these tools. But let me tell you, if taking advantage of all these means you only have one person doing all the writing and blogging and vlogging and posting on social media, then either you’re extremely lucky to have found a human version of the Swiss Army knife, or you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Here are just some fine examples:
- Blog interview with influencers – Influencer Interview with The “Return on Relationship” Expert: Ted Rubin
- Vlogging – Email Marketing Series: How to Make Emails your Impossible to Ignore [Video]
- Mention other brands on your Blog – ‘FREE’ Lead Generation Ebooks From 3 Best Brands
Sign #4: Lacking High-Quality, Qualified leads
What do you expect from a one-man army? Chances are, this guy’s spreading himself too thin to get all the bases covered. You can’t blame poor Mr. Smith for prioritizing quantity over quality because, hey, it’s the numbers that matter. Or so you believed. With a team of dedicated and relentless individuals who clearly know what they’re doing. You’re putting your organization in the best position to achieve all its marketing goals.
There are so many proverbs that emphasize the value of team work, but my favorite is (and perhaps the corniest of all), “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. Oftentimes, we marvel at the height of achievement individuals can reach singularly. But more marvelous still are the limits individuals collectively break. That’s the essence of the human spirit – in sports, in marketing, in life.
Get help with our Expert Lead Generation Team
Talk with our Marketing Consultant, Dial 888.810.7464
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
Introducing: The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit To Jump start your Business!
///by: Vivien Reyes
Whether you thought of selling scented candles a decade ago, or pondering to start an online shop next week, you have a journey to take – and you’ve got to start driving now.
Starting up a business requires more than just having sustainable cash flow, hiring qualified staff or accessible business location, it must include the right and efficient tools that can make your product compete with the current market trends.
Let’s kick off with some refresher on lead generation from marketing experts and useful tips and tricks:
Tips and Tricks:
- Identifying Key Target Customers in Lead Generation
- Using FREE Stuff to Generate Leads
- Lead Generation Tricks and Tips
- Classification of Sales Leads: Hot, Warm or Cold
- How to Effectively Qualify a Lead
What do you do when leads are not yet ready?
- The Best Way to Nurture – Are You Being a Good Parent to Your Leads?
- Using Telemarketing – An Effective Strategy for Lead Nurturing
Grab a copy of the EBOOK version of this kit, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit. It’s FREE! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business.
This Ultimate Lead Generation Kit is comprised of the major marketing elements that drive maximum conversion for every campaign. Check it out and enjoy the ride!
- Ultimate Guide for Email Marketing
- Ultimate Guide for Social Media Marketing
- Ultimate Guide for Telemarketing
- Ultimate Guide for Content Marketing
- Ultimate Guide for SEO
Ultimate Guide for Email Marketing
It’s a non-stop ride for your email marketing strategy – send the right message to the right contact at the right time.
Email Marketing has become the lifeblood of marketers as it is the most accessible and comprehensive form of business communication today. Email marketing has become broader and efficient – marketers are now equipped with processes and tools that enable them to send out the right message to the right target contact at the right time. Take a look at some insights below that will help you get good conversion rates with every email marketing campaign.
- Statistics: 8 Effective Email Marketing Strategies, Backed by Science
- 7 Stats That Proves Email Marketing Is Still The MOST Reliable Channel [INFOGRAPHIC]
- The Beginner’s Guide for Email Marketing
- 13 Business Goals You Can Achieve Through Email Marketing
- 4 Email Marketing Tips From Email Spammers
- Tips on how to Get More Email Responses
- The Best Ways to Increase Email Conversion Rate Right Now!
Learn More Email Marketing Maneuvers, check out the expert email marketer’s blogs:
MailChimp: Send Better Email – provides online email marketing solution to manage subscribers, send emails, and track results. Offers integrations with other programs
Vertical Response – Create, send, and track emails and social posts that look great on every device
Now you’re good to go for your email marketing campaign, start sending and get more positive replies along the way.
Ultimate Guide for Social Media Marketing
Pull over. See how social media paved the way in getting more customer engagements and leads.
“Social media is here to stay” , that’s according to Andre Kay, CEO and Founder of Sociallybuzz. He noted that BIA/Kelsey study shows 74.5 percent of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) reported using social media to promote their businesses – more than any other category of media.
If you haven’t created any social media page for your business yet, then you’re letting opportunities slip off.
Pave your way in attracting more customers and generate leads on social media. Here’s how to start rocking on social networking sites.
Facebook
Facebook is far and away the most popular social media platform, boasting nearly 1.2 billion users worldwide. It’s also home to the most evenly distributed demographics of any existing platform, with rich targeting tools that allow expert paid media marketers to reach the right people at the right moments.
- 45 Fabulous Facebook Advertising Tips & Magic Marketing Tricks
- How Facebook Native Video is Engaging Brands
- 5 Ways to Offer Better Customer Service on Facebook
Twitter
Twitter, while fourth in usage, has successfully cultivated loyal stickiness – over one-third of Twitter users log in daily. In addition, Twitter is unequivocally the best platform for free-flowing engagement, real-time news, limited time offers or any other type of timely content.
- The Ultimate Guide To Building Your Twitter Presence
- Small Business Twitter Guide
- Advanced Twitter Marketing Techniques That Will Help Your Twitter Account Take Off
Google+
Heralded as a powerful marketing platform, inbound efforts on Google+ constitute more of a long-term investment than anything else. It’s constantly under scrutiny for being a ghost town, but, on the other hand, the platform serves as the hub for a surprisingly high volume of activity – official statistics count no fewer than 540 million active users.
- A Plus for your Brand: Generating Leads with Google+
- 10 Smart Tips to Leverage Google+ for Increased Web Traffic
- 5 Rich Media for Enhancing your Brand’s Influence in Google+
- How to Grow Your Google+ Engagement
To Learn More Savvy Social Media Trick and Tips, Get it from here:
- AdWeek
- is a magazine and website that covers media news, including print, technology, advertising, branding and television - Callbox – The Savvy Marketer
– B2B Marketing Blog provides winning tips and strategies on getting warm and qualified sales leads through proven process for successful lead generation campaign - Mashable
- is a leading source for news, information & resources for the Connected Generation
Ultimate Guide for Telemarketing
Telemarketing is still one of the most in-demand marketing strategies in the business world. The stats and strategies below will prove it.
You’re reading it right telemarketing. Despite the claims that it is becoming obsolete, it is still making noise as it plays a great role in multi-channel marketing approach. Not many appreciate the value of telemarketing in following up and nurturing dormant leads and creating brand awareness. So take your chances now!
Getting to know Telemarketing
Generating Customer Through Effective and Proven Telemarketing Strategies
- Pages of Success for IT Telemarketing and Part 1 and 2
- Why Use Telemarketing Among other Channels
- How to Get the Most of Telemarketing in Generating Leads
- How to Make your Outbound Campaign Standout: A B2B Telemarketing Guide
- What to do with your Telemarketing Campaign before going on a Holiday
- Increase Telemarketing Efficiency with Auto-Dialers
Outsourcing Telemarketing
There’s really good stuff in these telemarketing blogs:
- Telemarketing Guide
- Covering essential topics on telemarketing that will improve your campaign - The Telemarketing Services
- A great resource for telemarketers in improving their performance
Ultimate Guide for Content Marketing
If you dread heavy traffic on the road, you’ll surely love it this time. Find out how content marketing can drive more traffic to your website.
Content Marketing has narrowed the path for traditional marketing as consumers delve on surfing for essential information about a product, instead of relying on banners and broadcast media.
As per Content Marketing Institute:
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
Here’s to help you create consistently compelling content…
- Get to know: What is Content Marketing
- Be Sure to Have This! The Recipe for an Award-Winning Content Dish
- The Most Successful Content Distribution Strategy (Backlinko)
- How Social and Content Makes a Good Combo!
- 3 Cost-Effective Ways to Use Interactive Content in Events Marketing and Driving Relationships
We found the best content marketing strategy on:
- Content Marketing Institute
– their mission is to advance the practice of content marketing - Copy Blogger
- teaching people how to create killer online content
Ultimate Guide for SEO
The web is a jungle, one can get lost somewhere. So make your business easily searched by customers through this SEO guide.
If you have well outlined your target consumers in your business plan and have your website all up shiny and new, how would you get target consumer and shiny new website together?
The answer: Increase site usability via SEO. We all know for a fact that we’ve become a world where most depend on online information to guide their buying decisions. Check them out!
- Easy and Quick Guide: How to do SEO as a Beginner
- How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
- OFF PAGE: The 29 Point SEO Checklist Before Distributing Content
- Warning! Google Penalties You Should Be Avoiding
- Periodic Table of SEO Success Factor
See full version: The Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors
Time to ditch your bad SEO habits, learn from this guy. Read more about The Confession of a Google Spammer.
Get More Experts Tips and Tricks, Check out these Go-To Blogs for SEO:
- Search Engine Land
- A leading daily publication that covers all aspects of the search marketing industry - Moz.com
- Backed by industry-leading data and the largest community of SEOs on the planet - Search Engine Watch
- A guide to search engine marketing and search engine optimization. Forums, reviews, articles, ratings, and frequent newsletters - Bruce Clay Inc
– An agency that focuses online marketing; also offers many free SEO tools, and a complete step-by-step SEO training.
Featured: Callbox Shares Lead Qualification Secrets Through Answering 4Ws and 1H
Empower your lead generation campaign, whether in-house or outsourced, by managing all these marketing elements, Lead Generation, Telemarketing, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing and SEO in a single platform called Multi Channel Marketing Program through a dynamic marketing automation tool that will streamline all tasks effectively.
Now you’re ready to jumpstart your business…
Hold on to the steering wheel, buckle up, get on the highway and drive your way to SUCCESS!
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
Improve campaign with our lead generation services and efficient marketing tools
Dial +1 888.810.7464 / 310.439.5814
Identifying Key Decision Makers for Lead Generation
///by: Judy Caroll
The most critical aspect in any business process is making a decision – the right decision.
In a lead generation campaign, reaching the decision makers’ direct phone lines and being able to speak with them is a hurdle. More than that, one has to be keen to listen and understand if the person he speaks with is able to decide with a “yes” or a “no” to get your proposal on the boss’ table.
But it doesn’t really have to take Mr. Sherlock Holmes’ detective expertise to be able to identify a key decision maker in a lead generation campaign. All you need is the right questioning such as “What is your role in the decision-making process for this project?”
Here are the three (3) possible key decision makers in a lead generation campaign:
A recommender is someone who makes a suggestion to do something. This person is most likely to be the consultant in the company, whose thoughts are highly valued and trusted by the higher management like the executive or board level officers. His suggested ideas will be considered to be brought into the discussion table for evaluation.
Related: The Most Helpful (yet Often Neglected) Tips for a More Profitable Lead Prospecting
The evaluator is able to characterize the following points to positively impact the business:
1. Identify the value or significance of the proposed product or service to the need of the business. His decision should address concerns like: “Would the new application resolve the challenges hurdled by company”, “Would it bring in the targeted ROI and lessen operational costs”?
Related: Happiness for Warm Sales Leads: Increase Revenue by Maintaining Satisfaction
2. Foresee the worth of the project on a long term goal and not just temporary bandage to the problem.
3. Skillfully appraise the balance between goals and actions of the company. He should have a fair justification of presented facts and figures to answer questions such as: “Would the proposed action or actions like purchasing new software, outsourcing a service, or collaborating 2 processes become instrumental to achieve target results?”
Related: Quora: Is there such thing as a good B2B lead Generation Company?
Generally speaking, a person in charge is someone who was given the authority by a higher management to oversee a certain group and roll out tasks at a period of time. In businesses, the length of term of this role is dependent on the organization’s status. Note that talks with a PIC may cause delay in the decision making process and would even likely to lead the discussion to a parking lot, as PICs may not have full authority on the matter.
Decision makers are like keys. Sometimes you can grab a handful of them; at times they slip from your pocket and eventually lose them. Be on guard, once you get hold of them, chain them up in a key holder of sensible discussion – use them to unlock potentials in the business.
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
Answering Quora: Is there such thing as a good B2B lead Generation Company?
///by: Judy Caroll
Answer: Yes. There is such a thing as a good lead generation company. A good lead generation company is one who (that) delivers quality leads and able to hit campaign goals agreed on. Period. It is that simple.
We got this question from a Quora member, who heard horrific stories on lead generation agencies that overpromise but fail to deliver. There are quite a lot of that and very few who really understand the business, especially with B2B.
More than delivering the number of leads, there are a few more factors to consider. Let’s flesh out the factors one by one.
- Data integrity. Jeff Pulver once said, “You live or die on your database.” Jeff Pulver is an Internet pioneer, who is also a world renowned speaker on a variety of topics including entrepreneurship aside from the more technical such as the Internet . We couldn’t agree more with what he said. Data is the fuel that runs any marketing tactic. Without data, you work on your marketing campaigns based on guesses which will turn off your prospects. A lead generation agency has no business being in this service if they cannot prove their data’s credibility.
Related: Database Dicta: Secure and Organize your Lead Generation Data
- Customer-centric mindset. A lead generation agency is your ally. That is expected because they are paid to find opportunities for you. However, this does not mean they focus on you alone. In this era, it’s all about shifting attention on customers. The agency that you want is someone who pushes to understand your customers, not only your business. How else can they create a strategy to market you if they don’t understand your audience?
- Manages expectations. A lot of us are used to vague statements. In the lead generation business, specifics are key to succeeding. This means ensuring that all deliverables are specified, so no surprises come out because you failed to mention something that seems mundane. If you expect a number, then cite a number; a specific step, then describe it; a certain lead quality, then these should all be written down. What’s important is that the agency leads you towards this process. If not, you might be doing all the work eventually.
Related: Happiness for Warm Sales Leads: Increase Revenue by Maintaining Satisfaction
- Professionalism calls for a non-disclosure agreement or NDA. Not only does it oblige them to protect your data, but is also a way to establish trust.
- Seeks to define a lead. Sales reject leads because of a lot of reasons. Lead rejection can be prevented with a simple lead definition exercise to keep you and sales on the same page. Lead definition is different from people to people. If you don’t have a universal lead definition or ULD, then your agency should seek to have one agreed on both by sales and marketing. This way, you prevent sales rejections and steer marketing on the right path. This is probably the 2nd most important factor next to data when evaluating an agency.
Related: Classification of Sales Leads: Hot, Warm or Cold
Lead Generation is Always Customized
Yes, there are good lead generation agencies out there that take into consideration the 5factors we mentioned. Not to burst your bubbles, but a lead generation tactic might work for one but not for the other because of the factors we have enumerated. Audience type, buyer personas, product, offer, scripts, content and a whole lot more. So if an agency comes to you and says they can do the same with what they did for another client, be discerning and look to the 6 factors before engaging.
This year, TopTen Reviews had made their surveys and released their scores over top lead generators, surely these marketing companies made their checklist on the factors we mentioned above.
10. Interchanges (score 4.2/10) is a sale lead generation service that offers web-marketing tools to get your company more attention from potential buyers. While it offers many of the features that other services we reviewed offer, such as SEO optimization and email marketing, it does not offer some more common means of lead generation, including direct mail promotions or telemarketing. This service offers very basic lead generation options.
9. Bulldog Solutions (score 5.65/10) is a sales lead generation company whose focus is primarily on business-to-business leads. If your sales are more geared toward consumers, this company may not be the best choice. But what it does with B2B sales it does extremely well. It helps you create webpages, blogs and other content that is focused on terms your potential business clients are searching for to increase your leads online.
8. The Media Crew works (score 6.38/10) with a collection of divisions that can help you find a sales lead generation service that matches your needs. This works well if you would like to mix and match a few techniques to get the best outcomes for your particular company. The Media Crew’s divisions include telemarketing and mobile phone marketing as well as divisions that specialize in other services.
7. Intelliverse (score 6.4/10) is very traditional, making use of telemarking campaigns to create leads. It lacks the online tools we look for in a sales lead generation service, such as SEO optimization, website design, social media and email campaigns. But if you have the talent in-house for SEO, creative design and other online strategies, Intelliverse might be the right tool for finding and following up with business-to-business leads.
6. CandorWorks (score 6.78/10) has many features that we like to see from sales lead generation services, with a nice balance of online tools and telemarketing resources. This company is particularly useful for companies that do primarily business-to-business sales and need assistance tracking down quality sales leads.
5. Idea2Result (score 8.38/10) is a no-fuss, no-commitment option that can help you generate sales leads without growing your staff. The control you have over who is making contact with potential clients on your behalf is a definite plus. Hiring Idea2Result instead of hiring more sales agents can end up saving you money. When the service finds great leads for your business, you can have your own sales staff track them down and make the sale.
4. Overdrive Interactive (score 8.6/10) has less to do with the old-fashioned methods of lead generation like appointment setting and telemarketing, which may not be a drawback for most companies. Rather, its focus is on the most up-to-the-minute online marketing methods. It is well equipped to help you connect with quality sales leads through SEO, email marketing and especially social media marketing.
3. Strategic Sales & Marketing (SSM) (score 9.13/10) is a sales lead generation company that specializes in business-to-business sales, and it has been doing that for a comparatively long time.
2. LeadGeneration.com (score 9.75/10) represents all of the most modern tools of the lead-generation trade. It can help many types of businesses up their presence online and get sales leads with potential.
Callbox: The Golden Award Winner!
1. Callbox (score 10/10), despite its name, offers much more than telephone calling for sales lead generation. In fact, what makes Callbox stand out is that it offers traditional telemarketing as well as all of the most modern online tools to help find you the potential customers to make your business thrive. This is why it has earned the Top Ten Reviews Gold Award. This service has helped generate leads for businesses of many different sizes from many different fields, including IT, financial services, commercial cleaning, education, healthcare, real estate, travel and more.
Source: http://sales-lead-generation-services-review.toptenreviews.com
With enough perseverance and passion, you can always achieve more that what is just good but the best.
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
The Client
Industry: File Transfer Appliance
Location: Singapore
Headquarters: Germany
A group of file transfer software experts from Germany founded this File Transfer Appliance Company in 1996 which later spanned to France and Singapore in 2007.
The company stands on a mission to offer the latest Hardware Technologies coupled with the leading Software Solutions as “Plug-and-Play” appliances designed for security problems and compliance tasks.
Target Criteria
Location: Singapore & Malaysia
Industries: Oil & Gas, Architecture firms, Precision Engineering firms, Property Developers, Advertising Media or Graphic Design Houses, Large Manufacturing companies, Government-linked companies, Lawyers, Health, Pharmaceutical companies, and Building and Construction.
Annual Turnover: More than SG$ 2 Million
Employee Size: More than 20
Target Contacts: Directors, Business Owners, IT Managers, Person in Charge of IT
The target criteria have remained the same since the campaign started running until the last month.
Campaign Type : Lead Generation
Summary
The campaign’s initial run in April 2011 mainly focused on the Singapore market. The client preferred to cater to companies that send out big files. These are companies that have worldwide presence and do site-to-site file sending, or those that require file-sharing with their resellers or customers.
The initial campaign production delivered 19 leads. Such number was instrumental to the client’s positive decision to renew for another campaign that was even more impressive with 34 leads. Since then, the team continuously worked on for the lead generation campaign. The number of leads fluctuated but nevertheless quality was maintained at its best. The following campaign period brought in 28 leads with positive contacts at 63%, the next with 26 leads at 50% positive contacts, followed by another month with 35 leads at 71% positive contacts, and proceeded to another renewal month with 14 leads at 71% positive contacts and the last month with 23 leads at 76% positive contacts.
As the Singapore database was close to being exhausted, Callbox proposed to the client to divert its focus to other countries. In 2012, Malaysia came into the picture and kicked off with 30 leads in the 1st run, and went on alternately running MY and SG markets for the rest of the campaign period, with 18-20 leads per month, renewing contract after contract of 3 or 6 months, until the final leg in May 2015.
Challenges Encountered
Quality vs. Quantity
The campaign required the Callbox team more effort compared with the other campaigns. The leads that were passed were strictly qualified based on the set criteria, which were subjected to the client’s scrutiny and approval.
Database Use
The 4-year run made the most of its target database of contacts. Towards the end of the last 2 months of the campaign, both the Malaysia and Singapore databases went all in, as both target markets have been saturated, yet the campaign was still able to produce 18 leads at the least.
What A Difference It Has Made
This is one of the most successful and longest running campaigns in Callbox. But how was this huge success achieved?
The client truthfully engaged himself with the campaign by sharing full product knowledge with the team by conducting a thorough training on the product specifications, features and usage benefits.
The Callbox team had a first-hand experience of the product as they were able to practically navigate its interface which helped the calling agent efficiently position the offer to the prospects. These best practices also made the leaders effectively coach the caller on the challenges encountered in the calls, making them able to easily address issues that arise from day to day calling.
All available resources in Callbox were utilized.
Calling, sending of emails and other marketing resources like the social media were substantial to the exceptional results of the campaign.
Definitely, this campaign has made history with Callbox.
Use the Psychology of Free Stuff to Generate Leads
///by: Vivien Reyes
Nothing is more irresistible that anything that is free. In an article on www.smallbiztrends.com, Vinay Pantakar highlighted how to use this psychological response of buyers towards free items as a part of their marketing strategy.
Let’s take a look at how we can take advantage of this overused marketing jargon and generate leads. Don’t worry, tips are free of charge.
If you’ve ever worked in advertising, you’ll know the power of the four-letter F word … Free.
Free samples, free trials, buy one-get one free.
The thought of getting something for nothing is what makes people line up to avoid spending a couple of bucks, like when Krispy Kreme launched in Cardiff, Wales, and had more than a thousand shoppers lining up for over two hours to get free donuts. And I’m pretty sure that’s a mild example.
More proof comes from Duke professor Dan Ariely in a paper written at MIT:
“His study of 398 MIT students measured people’s reaction (and overreaction) to two different products: Hershey’s candies and Lindt truffles. Under normal circumstances, the Hershey’s products are already significantly cheaper than Lindt products — and the latter also have an air of exclusivity or cache, too. By all measures, the Lindt item has a higher value. Yet, when asked to choose between a free Hershey’s product or a dramatically discounted Lindt candy, the vast majority of students opted for the item that was free, even if it wasn’t objectively the best deal.”
Ariely says that the word free “gives us such an emotional charge that we perceive what is being offered as immensely more valuable than it really is.”
As strange as it seems so far, I’m not here to talk about food. Free is also something people want and expect on the Internet.
Searching for popular words like ‘book’, ‘blog’ and ‘game’ in Keyword Planner reveals that a large chunk of the searchers want these things for free.
And aside from blogs, books and games, what else do people tend to want for free?
The answer? It’s things of value, that would usually cost money.
This is especially apparent from the fact that people want free TVs.
Free stuff can be hard to resist and increase sales by up to 2000 percent, but is met with a great deal of skepticism. As much as we love free stuff, we want to feel like we’ve earned it:
“When people pay for something, it gives those people a sense of accomplishment, pride, and ownership, meaning they’ll value the goods or services more and complain less.”
So, how do we balance the power of free stuff with the problem that people find value in transactions?
This is the part you’ve been waiting for.
Content Upgrades
Content upgrades offer useful resources on a transactional basis, and the currency is an email address.
With so much for free on the Internet already, it’s unlikely anyone will pay for your content. You can, however, get their email address and their permission to be marketed to in one go … As long as you’ve got something they want.
Have you seen calls to action embedded in blog posts? They look like:
Those are content upgrades. The perfect balance of ‘paying’ with your email address and getting something for ‘free’ has got some crazy results. Backlinko’s Brian Dean increased conversions by 785 percent in one day by using them. BloggerJet’s Tim Soulo increased conversions by 300 percent over the course of a month.
So how can you do the same?
Using Content Upgrades to Generate Leads
A content upgrade, in case you’ve never signed up for one, or used one yourself, is an additional piece of bonus material. Examples include checklists, PDF files, email templates, workflows, videos and extra items in a list post.
The difference between content upgrades and lead magnets is that content upgrades are highly focused and relevant to the article they’re found in, while lead magnets are generic downloads like free ebooks which appear in the sidebar of every blog post, regardless of its content.
Content upgrades need to be obvious, valuable and relevant to work. Plugins like Content Upgrades Pro take care of making it obvious, leaving value and relevance left to figure out.
Content Upgrade Ideas
To be clear once again: Content upgrades have to add value to the post they’re attached to.
You can think of them like bonuses, or extensions. Every time you create content, think “How could I extend this?”.
Here are some examples of how I would offer content upgrades to fictional articles:
Case Study: How I Increased Subscribers by 311% Overnight
Content upgrade: A .pdf Checklist of the Exact Process Used
How to Use Flat Design to Create a Beautiful New Website
Content upgrade: 41 Flat Design Icon .png Files
Pitch like a Pro — Get Your Startup Noticed by Journalists
Content upgrade: 25 Attention-Grabbing Subject Line Templates
5 Words Copywriters Shouldn’t Ignore
Content upgrade: 3 More Words, and Why They Work so Well
One tactic often used is to talk about how your readers can get the same results as you, then offer exactly what you did as a content upgrade (or, the other way around).
A bad approach to content upgrades, however, is to leave out anything of worth from the main content. It won’t get shared if it isn’t good in the first place, especially not on the merit of a downloadable item only part of your readers will see.
For a good place to start, go back through old content that gets a lot of traffic and add a content upgrade. You know the original piece is good enough already, so you’re not hiding value behind an email address wall, but you’re definitely harnessing the power of free stuff to build your list, generate leads and make sales.
So, go and check out your high traffic posts and start brainstorming ways you could make them better.
The ROI is so high, it’s hard to resist.
Speaking of FREE stuff, grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
Callbox Multi-touch Multi-Channel Approach:
Turning Targets to Sales-Ready Leads With a 50% Shorter Lead Nurturing Cycle
A Callbox Multi-touch Multi-channel Campaign is essentially a Comprehensive Marketing Funnel designed to unearth opportunities from an initial list of prospects compiled from basic target demographics, and deliver them to a client as qualified, pitch-ready, warmed-up sales leads.
The Callbox method combines the efficacy of highly-personalized traditional marketing communication with the intelligent efficiency of automation. In our years of experience, we have found that touches via phone and email remain to be most effective at establishing connections in the B2B world. Data from various campaigns also clearly suggests the importance of timing. Our findings on optimizing triggers and actions form the basis of our Callbox Pipeline’s design. In its latest incarnation, the Callbox Pipeline provides clients with a flexible, user-friendly platform for Lead Nurturing.
This case study traces the success of a B2B client from effective utilization of Callbox’s Lead Generation and Lead Nurturing technology.
Client Profile
The client was the North America marketing manager for a software company specializing in SAP enterprise software solutions and business intelligence. The company is also an SAP consultancy with expertise in areas of SAP Implementation, Process Upgrade and Data Management. The company has roots in Canada and wanted to expand into the US market.
The client was introduced to Callbox by an IT solutions business through the Callbox Referral Program. The California-based referrer company has been running a campaign targeting businesses nationwide with Callbox since January 2015.
The client had worked with two other vendors for telemarketing services and three email service providers in the past. While these vendors were able to deliver basic calling and mass email services, the client needed a more efficient and comprehensive solution that could work seamlessly across both channels. Working with separate vendors for each channel left the client’s sales team the burden of coordinating campaign activities on different platforms, setting up each component of the campaigns themselves and much time spent on prequalification of leads generated.
Callbox’s proposal for full service multi-touch multi-channel lead generation was found to be a more costefficient and all-inclusive alternative compared to contracting separate marketing services independently. The promise of a campaign greater than the sum of its parts and time savings on the client’s part allowing them to focus on sales efforts were part of the reasons behind the client’s decision to partner with Callbox.
The Target Market
The company wished to increase its market presence in California, New York and Texas. While the company has had customers from a wide range of industries, the client wanted to focus the campaign on the Manufacturing sector.
Companies with annual sales of $1M to $500M and with 10 to 2000 employees were included in the database.
C-Level executives, Directors and Managers in charge of the business’ enterprise software solution were the target decision makers.
Around 1500 records for each of the three states were mined from the Callbox Data Warehouse based on these parameters.
Campaign Objectives
- Gather information on the prospect’s setup and plans concerning their company’s enterprise software
- Arrange for a face-to-face or phone meeting with one of the client’s team of SAP Consultants
- Send out an EDM (electronic direct mail) with a link to a video showcasing the client company’s latest suite of enterprise software solutions
- Obtain a fully-profiled contact list for upcoming marketing efforts
Marketing funnel
A Callbox appointment is created when a prospect goes through the five stages of the marketing funnel. Our Lead Nurturing methods are designed to move as many prospects from one stage to the next, and allowed the client to obtain the most possible number of meetings.
Contacts
The Callbox Data Warehouse is comprised of over 50 million business records in over 7 countries. With the aid of our Data Specialist and our data mining tools, the client was able to zero in on the portion of this data pool that matched their market criteria.
Conversations
To begin converting inert contacts into leads, Callbox initiated a Conversation – an exchange over phone or email with a decision maker. Multiple contact attempts and pre-conversations with non-decision makers (gatekeepers, recommenders and evaluators) were often needed in order gather information on and establish contact with a decision maker. In the conversation stage, the decision maker was given a presentation of client’s offer.
Inquiries
Positive responses to a presentation were classified as inquiries. Inquiries often involved an initial request for information (brochure). Some cases required Callbox to make follow up calls and/or emails to confirm interest and check if the lead is ready to move to the next stage.
Qualified Leads
Whenever a decision maker makes a contact request to get a full presentation and/or formal proposal from the client, the lead is said to have graduated to this stage. In cases when the prospect had an immediate need and very high level of interest, the leads were converted directly into Qualified Leads from the Conversation stage.
Booked Appointments
In this stage, final preparations were made prior to endorsing the lead to the client. As required by the client’s qualifying criteria, screening questions were asked according to the approved call script. The prospect was also booked for a face-to-face or phone appointment with the client’s representative.
Multi-touch Multi-Channel Approach
Callbox effectively combined six different channels to initiate contact, generate conversations and responses from prospects, and nurture leads.
Targeted Email
Email copies were formulated to have attention-grabbing subject lines, brief but precise body text and compelling calls to action in order to generate the most opens and replies. A total of 15,000 initial and follow-up emails were sent via Callbox’s email system — fully equipped with open and click tracking, and KPI reporting. The campaign’s Lead Nurturing schemes relied mostly on Callbox Pipeline’s programmable email marketing triggers.
Calling
Outbound calls facilitated by Callbox’s Dialer System ensured that more than 200 live calls were made 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Callbox Pipeline also allowed the calling agent to efficiently leave pre-recorded voicemail messages.
Web Visits
A landing page was created to complement the campaign’s outbound efforts via email and calling. Designed with professional and marketing aesthetics in mind, it featured the client’s brand and highlighted the main features of the client’s software. The landing page was also equipped with a web form to allow prospects to send in a contact request.
Social Media
Callbox Pipeline’s integrated Linkedin features allowed the Callbox team to find matching Linkedin profiles for each prospect in the contact list. Linkedin connection requests were sent to as many contacts as possible with an accompanying introduction text. Client also opted to have Callbox send out messages to all connections made as another possible avenue to generate leads.
Postal Mail and SMS
The client was one of the first to take advantage of Callbox’s supplementary snail mail and SMS capabilities. For this campaign, these channels were used to deliver promotional postcards to the prospects’ business address and send out mobile appointment reminders.
Nurturing Leads The Callbox Way
Lead Nurturing was the key to this campaign’s efficiency and success. The client was able to take full advantage of the Callbox Pipeline’s dragand-drop Lead Nurturing suite and the Callbox team’s knowledge of multi-channel lead generation best practices
Callbox Pipeline’s tools for Lead Nurturing allowed the Callbox team to maximize the campaign hours and reserve manual effort for more critical tasks (eg. presenting to decision makers, customized email response handling) and left most of the repetitive and time-sensitive legwork to automation.
I. Online lead Nurturing Scheme
An Introduction email was sent out to all email contacts in the prospect’s list (See Fig. 3). Three follow up emails spaced five days apart were programmed to be sent out to contacts who had no opens recorded, allowing multiple opportunities to convert contacts into opens.
Emails were mostly set to send out between 8:00AM to 10:00AM local time, as these were determined to be the optimal hours for email blasts based on Callbox analytics. Latter follow-up copies were set to send out at 4:00PM- 6:00PM to increase the chances of generating opens if the first attempts were unsuccessful.
Contacts who opened the email and visited the landing page were added to a Priority Call List for further nurturing by phone.
Email responses and inquiries from the landing page are logged into the Callbox Pipeline and inquiries not converted into booked appointments after three days were lined up for a round of follow-up emails.
By the end of the Online Lead Nurturing Cycle, all contacts with no opens recorded were also collected into another Call List, to which the Call Lead Nurturing Scheme was applied.
Web Inquiries
Prospects were led to the landing page primarily via email sendouts. Each contact request sent in by a prospect was received by the Callbox team as an email notification and treated as in inquiry.
II. Call Lead Nurturing Scheme
Automated actions under the Call Lead Nurturing Scheme (See Fig. 4) were determined by the Call Result Tag applied to the contact after each call attempt. Callbox Pipeline was programmed to send out different email copies if the call resulted in (a) no contact with a decision maker, (b) a decision maker requesting for a follow up or a (c) non-interested decision maker. Email brochures and meeting reminders were sent out automatically to all booked appointments.
Campaign Results
Production and other KPIs
By the end of the campaign term, the client was averaging 12 face to face meetings and 23 phone appointments per week. The client’s sales team was able to move 82% of all appointments into proposal stage and garnered 2 closed deals within the first two weeks, generating a three-fold return from their initial investment in the Callbox campaign.
Of the 15,719 emails delivered, 2247 opens (14.3%) and 193 click-throughs (1.2%) were recorded. 218 inquiries were generated out of 943 total replies received. Email marketing contributed to roughly 38% of all appointments generated while meetings from contact form inquiries comprised another 9%.
Out of the 9046 records comprising the initial campaign list, 7870 records (87%) were fully profiled, complete with verified names, job titles and email addresses.
“Both my marketing team and sales team are very happy. Marketing sits back and only has to monitor because they have done their job on the setup and almost everything is automated; while my salesforce are very busy fulfilling booked appointments.” says the Client’s CEO
Below is the number of Targets on each stage of the Marketing Funnel after only 12 weeks in the Callbox Multi-touch Multi-channel Lead Nurturing Campaign.
With the Client’s previous telemarketing and email marketing service providers, the Client was able to convert 2% of raw targets into booked appointments only after running the campaigns for about 6.5 months or 26 weeks. Callbox cut this time into half, and significantly moved more targets into the later stages of the marketing cycle. This was enough to convince the Client to expand the number of campaigns they are running with Callbox.
Marketing Funnel Conversion Summary
A plus for your brand: Generating leads with Google+
///by: Vivien Reyes
Social media platforms have established themselves as great lead generators when it comes to brand awareness and sales. Among them is social networking site Google+, which puts itself at the forefront when it comes to setting up business pages.
Its seamless integration with search engine Google gives Google+ content and engagement the best SEO benefits, putting your brand ahead of search rankings for potential customers to immediately notice.
These customers now shy away from hard sell and are looking for genuine content they can relate and engage with – and Google+ is the best place to do that! Here are some ways to generate leads through this social networking platform.
Start – and continue – with compelling content
This is how your customers will see you. Make sure your Google+ page is filled with well-written content that’s curated and valuable to your audience. This includes information about your brand, as well as related content that may not necessarily be about the brand itself but lends credibility to it. Include links to your website or your other social media accounts.
As mentioned, the benefit of Google+ above all other social media platforms is its inherent precedence in organic search rankings, driving your page on top of that search result page.
Make it visual
People like seeing pretty pictures. Include visual content like photos and videos (even popular GIFs!) to your posts, as these tend to have better engagement with audiences and are likelier to be shared to friends. Images on Google+ can be turned into links, which allows your audience to click through the photo and land on your website or any other content about your brand.
Bonus tips: A Lesson in Lead Generation: Add Some Sauce to your Storytelling
Target the correct audience
Google+ allows for filtering followers in Circles, which can be used to segment your audience according to what kind of message your brand wants to send out. Hashtags are also another way to attract the right customers, using the correct keywords that will bring them to your page and see your content. The “+” sign also allows you to address another person directly by tagging them.
Bonus tips: Building your Brand? Create Productive B2B Social Campaigns with these Tips
Mind the frequency of your posts
Content optimization is not just about what you post and where you post, but when you post it. Review your audience’s behavior and determine when the best time is to post your content; too few and they will forget your existence, while too many may overwhelm them and make them tune out.
The lead generation opportunities on Google+, combined with its innate SEO advantages, are enough reasons for businesses to consider the platform as one of their best options when it comes to building their business online.
Download a Copy Now!
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5 Rich Media for Enhancing your Brand’s Influence in Google+
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A Lesson in Lead Generation: Add Some Sauce to your Storytelling
///by: Rom Agustin
The precedence of blogging and social media in B2B marketing has led to an increase in the need for “unique” and “engaging” stories as buyers have developed a more sophisticated decision-making ethic.
But with the way things are changing, companies are under constant pressure to craft as much content as possible. And the result has always led to the same thing: A stream of repetitive and low-quality blog articles and informational materials created just to add “meat” for corporate websites.
The worst part of this is the little regard for uniqueness and customer engagement.
This is obviously a bad thing because who would want a bland steak anyway? Where’s the sauce?!
It appears that storytelling has deviated from its original role of establishing valuable relationships and instead embraced a world of content quotas.
It all seems fair to say that audiences want unique relationships which can only be attained by promoting stories that play into the emotional and rational biases of B2B audiences. Current demands point to an increasing primacy for content that:
Address present issues: Regardless of the type of industry you belong, there are always client issues for you to urgently solve. You will need to identify these issues and position your solutions in a way that satisfyingly tackles them.
Related Post: What Marketers Should Learn from Google Glass’ Failure
Has balanced diversity: Settling for a purely technical content campaign is like sitting on a stool with two legs missing. It is vital therefore for you to augment your white papers and case studies with creative text- and image-based content and to this effect build a sturdy digital lead generation campaign.
Related Post: 3 Cost-Effective Ways to Use Interactive Content in Events Marketing and Driving Relationships
Are consistent with your goals: What numbers are you aiming to improve? Whether it is your bounce rate or conversions, you will need to map out your strategies providing the most suitable routes for attaining these goals.
Related Post: Having a Lifeless Marketing Campaign? Give your Lead Generation a Soul with these Blogging Tips
Put audiences first: It’s easy to say that the search engines provide visibility. But creating highly valuable experiences for potential clients is an issue you shouldn’t risk neglecting in favor of meeting a keyword quota. Substance is after all essential in turning site visitors into high quality leads.
Related Post: A Match Made in Heaven: How StumbleUpon can Drive Web Traffic
Use credible sources: For want of a better brand image and a loyal client base, take pains to search for credible data to support your infographics and other blog content. Always source your information from places like B2BMarketing.net and ContentMarketingInstitute.com.
Lead generation success is possible once you play up these principles in creating content. It may involve a lot of work, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.
Source: http://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/transform-b2b-lead-generation-storytelling-01189803
Lead Generation for IT Consulting Services: Where is your Strategy?
///by: Vivien Reyes
The IT consulting sector has seen a steady rise in the past years. Businesses have noted the importance of expert advice to the creation of robust IT infrastructures.
According to IBIS World, “As the economy recovers, improving business sentiment and corporate profit levels will further drive (the IT consulting industry’s) performance.” As new technologies are introduced each year, corporations have found it necessary to seek competent people to guide them in IT implementation and maintenance.
The industry alone has around 400,000 active IT consulting businesses that cater to a diverse array of industries. Whether you are an independent contractor or a large firm, you will need to put in extra efforts to place your IT consulting services above the competition.
Lead generation, in this case, is vital because it grants you a considerable share of decision-makers seeking consulting services for a variety of IT concerns. But irrespective of its value, undertaking a campaign to acquire specific clients poses a taxing and costly challenge.
Nonetheless, successful IT consultants were able to bypass these difficulties by simply embracing new marketing tactics and approaches that drive high volumes of clients into their IT lead management databases.
So, where is your strategy? Are you using the same approaches the top guns use?
The Best Marketing Strategies for Consulting Services
- EBooks – Publishing ebooks is a great way to generate leads because it builds your authority as an expert on a specific field. Nowadays, top industry leaders hire consultants based on the amount of literature they published and also the popularity garnered through them. Achieving a following warrants the use of original ebook content that addresses current IT concerns.
- Blog – Keep your target audience informed and updated through your blog. Consistent online posts are essential toward driving online visibility, but you will need expert copywriting skills to produce content that brings quality leads.
- Whitepapers – In the same way as ebooks, whitepapers provide your audience the information they need about you, your proficiencies and your capabilities as an IT consultant.
- Social media – Contrary to some assumptions, social media can be valuable in targeting decision-makers spend more time on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Create informative posts with links to specific content on your website. Also, tweet your thought leadership and strive to increase your followers.
- PPC – Pay-per-click advertisements may cost much, but they are always an excellent source for high quality IT leads. Considering a PPC campaign? Optimize your landing pages first and employ professional writers to create attention-grabbing copies.
There are many strategies available for IT consulting firms but it all dwells down on creating better profile and earning people’s trust.
What other techniques do you know? Share us on the comment box.
Interested in getting more clients, try our lead generation service for IT consulting.
The 3 R’s of Appointment Setting for the Healthcare Industry: Relationships, Revenue, and Reputation
///by: Vivien Reyes
This year, it appears the healthcare industry (at this point worth $3 trillion in an article by Forbes) would be expanding further as it emphasizes the need for value-based healthcare. Indeed, appointment setting plays a great role.
Hospitals, clinics and other medical institutions are investing to update their capabilities in providing low-cost treatments and services without diminishing quality. This entails numerous opportunities for B2B vendors offering such solutions that are in line with current standards.
In this case, healthcare providers need to implement effective B2B appointment setting, since it allows them a whole range of benefits in terms of:
Relationships.
Engaging prospects is a critical aspect of selling healthcare services and products. It is not a simple matter of talking to someone and convincing them to make a purchase. It rather puts greater emphasis on creating valuable, long-term relationships between providers and important decision-makers).
Revenue.
B2B appointments are essential for generating profits since they represent sales possibilities. They facilitate the possible transformation of a warm lead into a paying customer, hence driving growth and competitiveness.
Reputation.
When talking to a sales prospect, healthcare providers are also putting their names on the line. The messages and propositions they give can directly affect how their target institutions perceive them, hence granting an opportunity to propel their brand toward market acceptance and achieve a following.
Without B2B appointment setting, it is difficult for providers to organize effective messaging around the current needs of their constituents. Then again, there is always an increasing need to put quality on the table. It is one thing to generate qualified leads, but a more complex process is involved in driving appointments.
In this case, marketers will have to implement their appointment setting taking account of:
1.Proper skills and talent – Highly proficient sales staffs are needed to drive important and steer clear of obstacles. They will need to be flexible and trained well enough to conduct value-based sales calls.
Related Post: 4 Surefire Solutions to Grow your Sales without Exhausting your Staff
2. Efficient marketing and sales system – In addition to competent personnel, providers will also need to implement technologies that allow them to better manage leads and determine if they are ready to engage in a sales appointment, aided of course by effective market research and customer profiling.
Related Post: 7 Most Effective Market Research Tools for Creating Effective Lead Generation
3.Software and technology – One concern about the B2B healthcare industry is that it has yet to make important strides in terms of using technology to their advantage. While this is true, providers can always employ a lead generation service featuring integrated marketing automation.
Related Post: Lead Nurturing Done Right: Introducing Callbox Pipeline’s Lead Nurture Tool
Pages
The Client
Industry: Human Resources
Location: New Zealand
Headquarters: New Zealand
The Client is a market leading designer and developer of payroll software in New Zealand since 1983.
Campaign Type: Lead Generation
Campaign Target Criteria
Location: New Zealand
Industry: All industries with 20 – 200 employees
Decision Makers: Business Owners, Managing Directors, Finance Managers
The Challenge
The Client prides itself with a 33-year experience in providing over 10,000 customers with low cost, simple and very effective payroll solutions. However, this market dominion was somewhat threatened when payroll system providers in New Zealand offered the same or similar packages on software functionalities like Auditing, Templates, Tracking Capabilities, Costing Statistics, Pay History, Contributions and Help Desk Support, which deflated the Client’s huge number of customer database by 20%.
The competitors were seen to be quite aggressive in generating more customers, so the Client decided to combat the move by undertaking feisty initiatives like outsourcing a lead generation company who would help them look for new customers and win back those they’ve lost.
The Callbox Solution
Callbox’s multi-channel marketing program was designed to help clients maximize the full potential of a well-profiled and managed database to get them in front of their target prospects with the right message, at the right time.
In the said campaign, the Client required the Callbox team to generate leads using two different approaches for lost customers and new targets. The generated leads were differentiated into two categories, and from which the Client customized their solution/offers:
- Prospects (new targets) who agreed to speak with the Client’s representative to discuss about the product /solution and its benefits
Approach:
This type of target customers were sent initial email copies that contained FAQs about their pain points like Holiday Pays, Leave Rates calculations, etc. As soon as the prospect opened the email or took action like clicked the Client’s website or accessed any link in the email, which were tracked real-time by the Callbox team, the contact was then scheduled in the Callbox PIpeline to be called by the agent and set for an office, online demo or phone appointment with the Client’s specialists.
- Lost customers who agreed to speak again with the Client’s specialists and were interested to know about new offers
Approach:
For winback customers, the initial email copies included cost- and time-saving offers from the Client such as systems upgrade at the same package cost, restructured payment schemes and a sample comparative script of how their old service would look like upon return. A day after the initial copies were sent out, whether or not the prospect had opened or taken any action on the email or not, the agent made follow-up calls to those targets and set them for office, online demo or phone appointments with the Client’s specialists.
In addition, the agent incorporated a customer profiling activity during follow-up calls which made the database more accurate by updating contact information like the decision maker’s name, company name and address, contact numbers, email addresses and social media accounts.
The Results
The Callbox team generated a total of 84 Leads: 11 Office and 35 Phone Appointments and 38 Online Demonstration Bookings which were all part of the 2,343 Positive Contacts that included warm follow-ups. Out of the 84 Leads, 38 (40%) were winback customers.
Callbox’s multi-channel marketing platform was effectively utilized for the payroll leader’s lead generation campaign and which realized their goals to win back lost customers and acquire new ones worth nurturing.
4 Signs That You Badly Need a Lead Generation Team
///by: GuestLead generation is simple. Just find leads and turn them into sales. Now, if the term “easier said than done” has a poster boy, it’s good old lead generation, hands down.
Lead generation may be simple, but surely, it isn’t easy. Especially if only one or two people in an organization are tasked to do it. Realistically, lead generation requires a diverse pool of specialists – be it in analytics, marketing or writing. If you’re generally having a tough time producing leads, then it’s either you’re doing it wrong, or you don’t have a team that does it – which, technically, also falls under the doing-it-wrong category.
It’s not enough to know you’re not doing it right, however. What you need to know are the signs that yell “YOU NEED A LEAD GENERATION TEAM!”. Here they are.
Sign #1: Your Sales Process is Sluggish
“Sales process” refers to a set of steps your organization takes to move the prospect from “lead” to “customer”. Because it’s a process, it repeats itself perpetually like clockwork. It follows that it also has to be systematic and efficient. The usual sales process is as follows:
- Prospecting – The process of sourcing new leads. Prospecting may involve online research to find net new prospects, or looking into an existing database of contacts. Read more about The Line Between Lead Generation and Lead Prospecting.
- Connecting – This is one of the most critical stages in the sales process because it can make or break a deal. This is where a lead generation representative makes initial contact with a prospect, gathering relevant information and assessing the quality of the lead.
- Researching – More specifically, it’s learning more about a prospect and their company. This is necessary in order for the representative to craft and offer more customized experience to the lead.
- Demonstrating – This is in the latter stage of the sales process, where formal presentation or demonstration of a product or service is done. Usually, only those prospects that are rated as “qualified” earn this privilege. Here’s the usual digital downloads used in in convincing prospects even more.
- Closing – A lead is just nothing but a lead until a deal is closed.
Related: What to Tell Clients Who Say “You’re too expensive.”
It’s a tedious process to say the least, and sluggish when done by people who need to multitask. But done right and with the right system, it becomes simple, fast, and efficient. In order to do it, an organization needs a team of experts on each stage to carry out the task proficiently and for each stage to progress as seamlessly as possible.
Sign #2: Your Sales Costs are Skyrocketing
The first instance you notice that costs are moving up faster than the price of petroleum when there’s war in the Middle East, your basic instinct tells you it’s time to fire some people. After all, a huge percentage of costs goes to salaries. But before you do that, ask yourself. Which services can’t I live without? Do I really have to fire people, or just make them work like a solid, cohesive group? Understanding this allows companies to focus sales resources where they are needed and to cut waste, not value. The key addressing this issue is to promote efficiency in the sales organization.
Related: Top 5 Sales Blind Spots in the IT and Software Industry
Sign #3: You Have Poor Brand Visibility
Have you heard of this phenomenon called social media? Yes? Cool, right? How about blogging and other marketing channels? Do you take advantage of them like you ought to? Yes? Nice. With optimum use, you can achieve maximum brand visibility using these tools. But let me tell you, if taking advantage of all these means you only have one person doing all the writing and blogging and vlogging and posting on social media, then either you’re extremely lucky to have found a human version of the Swiss Army knife, or you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Here are just some fine examples:
- Blog interview with influencers – Influencer Interview with The “Return on Relationship” Expert: Ted Rubin
- Vlogging – Email Marketing Series: How to Make Emails your Impossible to Ignore [Video]
- Mention other brands on your Blog – ‘FREE’ Lead Generation Ebooks From 3 Best Brands
Sign #4: Lacking High-Quality, Qualified leads
What do you expect from a one-man army? Chances are, this guy’s spreading himself too thin to get all the bases covered. You can’t blame poor Mr. Smith for prioritizing quantity over quality because, hey, it’s the numbers that matter. Or so you believed. With a team of dedicated and relentless individuals who clearly know what they’re doing. You’re putting your organization in the best position to achieve all its marketing goals.
There are so many proverbs that emphasize the value of team work, but my favorite is (and perhaps the corniest of all), “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. Oftentimes, we marvel at the height of achievement individuals can reach singularly. But more marvelous still are the limits individuals collectively break. That’s the essence of the human spirit – in sports, in marketing, in life.
Get help with our Expert Lead Generation Team
Talk with our Marketing Consultant, Dial 888.810.7464
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
The Client
Industry: Human Resources
Location: New Zealand
Headquarters: New Zealand
The Client is a market leading designer and developer of payroll software in New Zealand since 1983.
Campaign Type: Lead Generation
Campaign Target Criteria
Location: New Zealand
Industry: All industries with 20 – 200 employees
Decision Makers: Business Owners, Managing Directors, Finance Managers
The Challenge
The Client prides itself with a 33-year experience in providing over 10,000 customers with low cost, simple and very effective payroll solutions. However, this market dominion was somewhat threatened when payroll system providers in New Zealand offered the same or similar packages on software functionalities like Auditing, Templates, Tracking Capabilities, Costing Statistics, Pay History, Contributions and Help Desk Support, which deflated the Client’s huge number of customer database by 20%.
The competitors were seen to be quite aggressive in generating more customers, so the Client decided to combat the move by undertaking feisty initiatives like outsourcing a lead generation company who would help them look for new customers and win back those they’ve lost.
The Callbox Solution
Callbox’s multi-channel marketing program was designed to help clients maximize the full potential of a well-profiled and managed database to get them in front of their target prospects with the right message, at the right time.
In the said campaign, the Client required the Callbox team to generate leads using two different approaches for lost customers and new targets. The generated leads were differentiated into two categories, and from which the Client customized their solution/offers:
- Prospects (new targets) who agreed to speak with the Client’s representative to discuss about the product /solution and its benefits
Approach:
This type of target customers were sent initial email copies that contained FAQs about their pain points like Holiday Pays, Leave Rates calculations, etc. As soon as the prospect opened the email or took action like clicked the Client’s website or accessed any link in the email, which were tracked real-time by the Callbox team, the contact was then scheduled in the Callbox PIpeline to be called by the agent and set for an office, online demo or phone appointment with the Client’s specialists.
- Lost customers who agreed to speak again with the Client’s specialists and were interested to know about new offers
Approach:
For winback customers, the initial email copies included cost- and time-saving offers from the Client such as systems upgrade at the same package cost, restructured payment schemes and a sample comparative script of how their old service would look like upon return. A day after the initial copies were sent out, whether or not the prospect had opened or taken any action on the email or not, the agent made follow-up calls to those targets and set them for office, online demo or phone appointments with the Client’s specialists.
In addition, the agent incorporated a customer profiling activity during follow-up calls which made the database more accurate by updating contact information like the decision maker’s name, company name and address, contact numbers, email addresses and social media accounts.
The Results
The Callbox team generated a total of 84 Leads: 11 Office and 35 Phone Appointments and 38 Online Demonstration Bookings which were all part of the 2,343 Positive Contacts that included warm follow-ups. Out of the 84 Leads, 38 (40%) were winback customers.
Callbox’s multi-channel marketing platform was effectively utilized for the payroll leader’s lead generation campaign and which realized their goals to win back lost customers and acquire new ones worth nurturing.
4 Signs That You Badly Need a Lead Generation Team
///by: Judy CarollLead generation is simple. Just find leads and turn them into sales. Now, if the term “easier said than done” has a poster boy, it’s good old lead generation, hands down.
Lead generation may be simple, but surely, it isn’t easy. Especially if only one or two people in an organization are tasked to do it. Realistically, lead generation requires a diverse pool of specialists – be it in analytics, marketing or writing. If you’re generally having a tough time producing leads, then it’s either you’re doing it wrong, or you don’t have a team that does it – which, technically, also falls under the doing-it-wrong category.
It’s not enough to know you’re not doing it right, however. What you need to know are the signs that yell “YOU NEED A LEAD GENERATION TEAM!”. Here they are.
Sign #1: Your Sales Process is Sluggish
“Sales process” refers to a set of steps your organization takes to move the prospect from “lead” to “customer”. Because it’s a process, it repeats itself perpetually like clockwork. It follows that it also has to be systematic and efficient. The usual sales process is as follows:
- Prospecting – The process of sourcing new leads. Prospecting may involve online research to find net new prospects, or looking into an existing database of contacts. Read more about The Line Between Lead Generation and Lead Prospecting.
- Connecting – This is one of the most critical stages in the sales process because it can make or break a deal. This is where a lead generation representative makes initial contact with a prospect, gathering relevant information and assessing the quality of the lead.
- Researching – More specifically, it’s learning more about a prospect and their company. This is necessary in order for the representative to craft and offer more customized experience to the lead.
- Demonstrating – This is in the latter stage of the sales process, where formal presentation or demonstration of a product or service is done. Usually, only those prospects that are rated as “qualified” earn this privilege. Here’s the usual digital downloads used in in convincing prospects even more.
- Closing – A lead is just nothing but a lead until a deal is closed.
Related: What to Tell Clients Who Say “You’re too expensive.”
It’s a tedious process to say the least, and sluggish when done by people who need to multitask. But done right and with the right system, it becomes simple, fast, and efficient. In order to do it, an organization needs a team of experts on each stage to carry out the task proficiently and for each stage to progress as seamlessly as possible.
Sign #2: Your Sales Costs are Skyrocketing
The first instance you notice that costs are moving up faster than the price of petroleum when there’s war in the Middle East, your basic instinct tells you it’s time to fire some people. After all, a huge percentage of costs goes to salaries. But before you do that, ask yourself. Which services can’t I live without? Do I really have to fire people, or just make them work like a solid, cohesive group? Understanding this allows companies to focus sales resources where they are needed and to cut waste, not value. The key addressing this issue is to promote efficiency in the sales organization.
Related: Top 5 Sales Blind Spots in the IT and Software Industry
Sign #3: You Have Poor Brand Visibility
Have you heard of this phenomenon called social media? Yes? Cool, right? How about blogging and other marketing channels? Do you take advantage of them like you ought to? Yes? Nice. With optimum use, you can achieve maximum brand visibility using these tools. But let me tell you, if taking advantage of all these means you only have one person doing all the writing and blogging and vlogging and posting on social media, then either you’re extremely lucky to have found a human version of the Swiss Army knife, or you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Here are just some fine examples:
- Blog interview with influencers – Influencer Interview with The “Return on Relationship” Expert: Ted Rubin
- Vlogging – Email Marketing Series: How to Make Emails your Impossible to Ignore [Video]
- Mention other brands on your Blog – ‘FREE’ Lead Generation Ebooks From 3 Best Brands
Sign #4: Lacking High-Quality, Qualified leads
What do you expect from a one-man army? Chances are, this guy’s spreading himself too thin to get all the bases covered. You can’t blame poor Mr. Smith for prioritizing quantity over quality because, hey, it’s the numbers that matter. Or so you believed. With a team of dedicated and relentless individuals who clearly know what they’re doing. You’re putting your organization in the best position to achieve all its marketing goals.
There are so many proverbs that emphasize the value of team work, but my favorite is (and perhaps the corniest of all), “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. Oftentimes, we marvel at the height of achievement individuals can reach singularly. But more marvelous still are the limits individuals collectively break. That’s the essence of the human spirit – in sports, in marketing, in life.
Get help with our Expert Lead Generation Team
Talk with our Marketing Consultant, Dial 888.810.7464
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
Introducing: The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit To Jump start your Business!
///by: Vivien Reyes
Whether you thought of selling scented candles a decade ago, or pondering to start an online shop next week, you have a journey to take – and you’ve got to start driving now.
Starting up a business requires more than just having sustainable cash flow, hiring qualified staff or accessible business location, it must include the right and efficient tools that can make your product compete with the current market trends.
Let’s kick off with some refresher on lead generation from marketing experts and useful tips and tricks:
Tips and Tricks:
- Identifying Key Target Customers in Lead Generation
- Using FREE Stuff to Generate Leads
- Lead Generation Tricks and Tips
- Classification of Sales Leads: Hot, Warm or Cold
- How to Effectively Qualify a Lead
What do you do when leads are not yet ready?
- The Best Way to Nurture – Are You Being a Good Parent to Your Leads?
- Using Telemarketing – An Effective Strategy for Lead Nurturing
Grab a copy of the EBOOK version of this kit, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit. It’s FREE! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business.
This Ultimate Lead Generation Kit is comprised of the major marketing elements that drive maximum conversion for every campaign. Check it out and enjoy the ride!
- Ultimate Guide for Email Marketing
- Ultimate Guide for Social Media Marketing
- Ultimate Guide for Telemarketing
- Ultimate Guide for Content Marketing
- Ultimate Guide for SEO
Ultimate Guide for Email Marketing
It’s a non-stop ride for your email marketing strategy – send the right message to the right contact at the right time.
Email Marketing has become the lifeblood of marketers as it is the most accessible and comprehensive form of business communication today. Email marketing has become broader and efficient – marketers are now equipped with processes and tools that enable them to send out the right message to the right target contact at the right time. Take a look at some insights below that will help you get good conversion rates with every email marketing campaign.
- Statistics: 8 Effective Email Marketing Strategies, Backed by Science
- 7 Stats That Proves Email Marketing Is Still The MOST Reliable Channel [INFOGRAPHIC]
- The Beginner’s Guide for Email Marketing
- 13 Business Goals You Can Achieve Through Email Marketing
- 4 Email Marketing Tips From Email Spammers
- Tips on how to Get More Email Responses
- The Best Ways to Increase Email Conversion Rate Right Now!
Learn More Email Marketing Maneuvers, check out the expert email marketer’s blogs:
MailChimp: Send Better Email – provides online email marketing solution to manage subscribers, send emails, and track results. Offers integrations with other programs
Vertical Response – Create, send, and track emails and social posts that look great on every device
Now you’re good to go for your email marketing campaign, start sending and get more positive replies along the way.
Ultimate Guide for Social Media Marketing
Pull over. See how social media paved the way in getting more customer engagements and leads.
“Social media is here to stay” , that’s according to Andre Kay, CEO and Founder of Sociallybuzz. He noted that BIA/Kelsey study shows 74.5 percent of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) reported using social media to promote their businesses – more than any other category of media.
If you haven’t created any social media page for your business yet, then you’re letting opportunities slip off.
Pave your way in attracting more customers and generate leads on social media. Here’s how to start rocking on social networking sites.
Facebook
Facebook is far and away the most popular social media platform, boasting nearly 1.2 billion users worldwide. It’s also home to the most evenly distributed demographics of any existing platform, with rich targeting tools that allow expert paid media marketers to reach the right people at the right moments.
- 45 Fabulous Facebook Advertising Tips & Magic Marketing Tricks
- How Facebook Native Video is Engaging Brands
- 5 Ways to Offer Better Customer Service on Facebook
Twitter
Twitter, while fourth in usage, has successfully cultivated loyal stickiness – over one-third of Twitter users log in daily. In addition, Twitter is unequivocally the best platform for free-flowing engagement, real-time news, limited time offers or any other type of timely content.
- The Ultimate Guide To Building Your Twitter Presence
- Small Business Twitter Guide
- Advanced Twitter Marketing Techniques That Will Help Your Twitter Account Take Off
Google+
Heralded as a powerful marketing platform, inbound efforts on Google+ constitute more of a long-term investment than anything else. It’s constantly under scrutiny for being a ghost town, but, on the other hand, the platform serves as the hub for a surprisingly high volume of activity – official statistics count no fewer than 540 million active users.
- A Plus for your Brand: Generating Leads with Google+
- 10 Smart Tips to Leverage Google+ for Increased Web Traffic
- 5 Rich Media for Enhancing your Brand’s Influence in Google+
- How to Grow Your Google+ Engagement
To Learn More Savvy Social Media Trick and Tips, Get it from here:
- AdWeek
- is a magazine and website that covers media news, including print, technology, advertising, branding and television - Callbox – The Savvy Marketer
– B2B Marketing Blog provides winning tips and strategies on getting warm and qualified sales leads through proven process for successful lead generation campaign - Mashable
- is a leading source for news, information & resources for the Connected Generation
Ultimate Guide for Telemarketing
Telemarketing is still one of the most in-demand marketing strategies in the business world. The stats and strategies below will prove it.
You’re reading it right telemarketing. Despite the claims that it is becoming obsolete, it is still making noise as it plays a great role in multi-channel marketing approach. Not many appreciate the value of telemarketing in following up and nurturing dormant leads and creating brand awareness. So take your chances now!
Getting to know Telemarketing
Generating Customer Through Effective and Proven Telemarketing Strategies
- Pages of Success for IT Telemarketing and Part 1 and 2
- Why Use Telemarketing Among other Channels
- How to Get the Most of Telemarketing in Generating Leads
- How to Make your Outbound Campaign Standout: A B2B Telemarketing Guide
- What to do with your Telemarketing Campaign before going on a Holiday
- Increase Telemarketing Efficiency with Auto-Dialers
Outsourcing Telemarketing
There’s really good stuff in these telemarketing blogs:
- Telemarketing Guide
- Covering essential topics on telemarketing that will improve your campaign - The Telemarketing Services
- A great resource for telemarketers in improving their performance
Ultimate Guide for Content Marketing
If you dread heavy traffic on the road, you’ll surely love it this time. Find out how content marketing can drive more traffic to your website.
Content Marketing has narrowed the path for traditional marketing as consumers delve on surfing for essential information about a product, instead of relying on banners and broadcast media.
As per Content Marketing Institute:
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
Here’s to help you create consistently compelling content…
- Get to know: What is Content Marketing
- Be Sure to Have This! The Recipe for an Award-Winning Content Dish
- The Most Successful Content Distribution Strategy (Backlinko)
- How Social and Content Makes a Good Combo!
- 3 Cost-Effective Ways to Use Interactive Content in Events Marketing and Driving Relationships
We found the best content marketing strategy on:
- Content Marketing Institute
– their mission is to advance the practice of content marketing - Copy Blogger
- teaching people how to create killer online content
Ultimate Guide for SEO
The web is a jungle, one can get lost somewhere. So make your business easily searched by customers through this SEO guide.
If you have well outlined your target consumers in your business plan and have your website all up shiny and new, how would you get target consumer and shiny new website together?
The answer: Increase site usability via SEO. We all know for a fact that we’ve become a world where most depend on online information to guide their buying decisions. Check them out!
- Easy and Quick Guide: How to do SEO as a Beginner
- How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
- OFF PAGE: The 29 Point SEO Checklist Before Distributing Content
- Warning! Google Penalties You Should Be Avoiding
- Periodic Table of SEO Success Factor
See full version: The Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors
Time to ditch your bad SEO habits, learn from this guy. Read more about The Confession of a Google Spammer.
Get More Experts Tips and Tricks, Check out these Go-To Blogs for SEO:
- Search Engine Land
- A leading daily publication that covers all aspects of the search marketing industry - Moz.com
- Backed by industry-leading data and the largest community of SEOs on the planet - Search Engine Watch
- A guide to search engine marketing and search engine optimization. Forums, reviews, articles, ratings, and frequent newsletters - Bruce Clay Inc
– An agency that focuses online marketing; also offers many free SEO tools, and a complete step-by-step SEO training.
Featured: Callbox Shares Lead Qualification Secrets Through Answering 4Ws and 1H
Empower your lead generation campaign, whether in-house or outsourced, by managing all these marketing elements, Lead Generation, Telemarketing, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing and SEO in a single platform called Multi Channel Marketing Program through a dynamic marketing automation tool that will streamline all tasks effectively.
Now you’re ready to jumpstart your business…
Hold on to the steering wheel, buckle up, get on the highway and drive your way to SUCCESS!
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
Improve campaign with our lead generation services and efficient marketing tools
Dial +1 888.810.7464 / 310.439.5814
Identifying Key Decision Makers for Lead Generation
///by: Judy Caroll
The most critical aspect in any business process is making a decision – the right decision.
In a lead generation campaign, reaching the decision makers’ direct phone lines and being able to speak with them is a hurdle. More than that, one has to be keen to listen and understand if the person he speaks with is able to decide with a “yes” or a “no” to get your proposal on the boss’ table.
But it doesn’t really have to take Mr. Sherlock Holmes’ detective expertise to be able to identify a key decision maker in a lead generation campaign. All you need is the right questioning such as “What is your role in the decision-making process for this project?”
Here are the three (3) possible key decision makers in a lead generation campaign:
A recommender is someone who makes a suggestion to do something. This person is most likely to be the consultant in the company, whose thoughts are highly valued and trusted by the higher management like the executive or board level officers. His suggested ideas will be considered to be brought into the discussion table for evaluation.
Related: The Most Helpful (yet Often Neglected) Tips for a More Profitable Lead Prospecting
The evaluator is able to characterize the following points to positively impact the business:
1. Identify the value or significance of the proposed product or service to the need of the business. His decision should address concerns like: “Would the new application resolve the challenges hurdled by company”, “Would it bring in the targeted ROI and lessen operational costs”?
Related: Happiness for Warm Sales Leads: Increase Revenue by Maintaining Satisfaction
2. Foresee the worth of the project on a long term goal and not just temporary bandage to the problem.
3. Skillfully appraise the balance between goals and actions of the company. He should have a fair justification of presented facts and figures to answer questions such as: “Would the proposed action or actions like purchasing new software, outsourcing a service, or collaborating 2 processes become instrumental to achieve target results?”
Related: Quora: Is there such thing as a good B2B lead Generation Company?
Generally speaking, a person in charge is someone who was given the authority by a higher management to oversee a certain group and roll out tasks at a period of time. In businesses, the length of term of this role is dependent on the organization’s status. Note that talks with a PIC may cause delay in the decision making process and would even likely to lead the discussion to a parking lot, as PICs may not have full authority on the matter.
Decision makers are like keys. Sometimes you can grab a handful of them; at times they slip from your pocket and eventually lose them. Be on guard, once you get hold of them, chain them up in a key holder of sensible discussion – use them to unlock potentials in the business.
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
Answering Quora: Is there such thing as a good B2B lead Generation Company?
///by: Judy Caroll
Answer: Yes. There is such a thing as a good lead generation company. A good lead generation company is one who (that) delivers quality leads and able to hit campaign goals agreed on. Period. It is that simple.
We got this question from a Quora member, who heard horrific stories on lead generation agencies that overpromise but fail to deliver. There are quite a lot of that and very few who really understand the business, especially with B2B.
More than delivering the number of leads, there are a few more factors to consider. Let’s flesh out the factors one by one.
- Data integrity. Jeff Pulver once said, “You live or die on your database.” Jeff Pulver is an Internet pioneer, who is also a world renowned speaker on a variety of topics including entrepreneurship aside from the more technical such as the Internet . We couldn’t agree more with what he said. Data is the fuel that runs any marketing tactic. Without data, you work on your marketing campaigns based on guesses which will turn off your prospects. A lead generation agency has no business being in this service if they cannot prove their data’s credibility.
Related: Database Dicta: Secure and Organize your Lead Generation Data
- Customer-centric mindset. A lead generation agency is your ally. That is expected because they are paid to find opportunities for you. However, this does not mean they focus on you alone. In this era, it’s all about shifting attention on customers. The agency that you want is someone who pushes to understand your customers, not only your business. How else can they create a strategy to market you if they don’t understand your audience?
- Manages expectations. A lot of us are used to vague statements. In the lead generation business, specifics are key to succeeding. This means ensuring that all deliverables are specified, so no surprises come out because you failed to mention something that seems mundane. If you expect a number, then cite a number; a specific step, then describe it; a certain lead quality, then these should all be written down. What’s important is that the agency leads you towards this process. If not, you might be doing all the work eventually.
Related: Happiness for Warm Sales Leads: Increase Revenue by Maintaining Satisfaction
- Professionalism calls for a non-disclosure agreement or NDA. Not only does it oblige them to protect your data, but is also a way to establish trust.
- Seeks to define a lead. Sales reject leads because of a lot of reasons. Lead rejection can be prevented with a simple lead definition exercise to keep you and sales on the same page. Lead definition is different from people to people. If you don’t have a universal lead definition or ULD, then your agency should seek to have one agreed on both by sales and marketing. This way, you prevent sales rejections and steer marketing on the right path. This is probably the 2nd most important factor next to data when evaluating an agency.
Related: Classification of Sales Leads: Hot, Warm or Cold
Lead Generation is Always Customized
Yes, there are good lead generation agencies out there that take into consideration the 5factors we mentioned. Not to burst your bubbles, but a lead generation tactic might work for one but not for the other because of the factors we have enumerated. Audience type, buyer personas, product, offer, scripts, content and a whole lot more. So if an agency comes to you and says they can do the same with what they did for another client, be discerning and look to the 6 factors before engaging.
This year, TopTen Reviews had made their surveys and released their scores over top lead generators, surely these marketing companies made their checklist on the factors we mentioned above.
10. Interchanges (score 4.2/10) is a sale lead generation service that offers web-marketing tools to get your company more attention from potential buyers. While it offers many of the features that other services we reviewed offer, such as SEO optimization and email marketing, it does not offer some more common means of lead generation, including direct mail promotions or telemarketing. This service offers very basic lead generation options.
9. Bulldog Solutions (score 5.65/10) is a sales lead generation company whose focus is primarily on business-to-business leads. If your sales are more geared toward consumers, this company may not be the best choice. But what it does with B2B sales it does extremely well. It helps you create webpages, blogs and other content that is focused on terms your potential business clients are searching for to increase your leads online.
8. The Media Crew works (score 6.38/10) with a collection of divisions that can help you find a sales lead generation service that matches your needs. This works well if you would like to mix and match a few techniques to get the best outcomes for your particular company. The Media Crew’s divisions include telemarketing and mobile phone marketing as well as divisions that specialize in other services.
7. Intelliverse (score 6.4/10) is very traditional, making use of telemarking campaigns to create leads. It lacks the online tools we look for in a sales lead generation service, such as SEO optimization, website design, social media and email campaigns. But if you have the talent in-house for SEO, creative design and other online strategies, Intelliverse might be the right tool for finding and following up with business-to-business leads.
6. CandorWorks (score 6.78/10) has many features that we like to see from sales lead generation services, with a nice balance of online tools and telemarketing resources. This company is particularly useful for companies that do primarily business-to-business sales and need assistance tracking down quality sales leads.
5. Idea2Result (score 8.38/10) is a no-fuss, no-commitment option that can help you generate sales leads without growing your staff. The control you have over who is making contact with potential clients on your behalf is a definite plus. Hiring Idea2Result instead of hiring more sales agents can end up saving you money. When the service finds great leads for your business, you can have your own sales staff track them down and make the sale.
4. Overdrive Interactive (score 8.6/10) has less to do with the old-fashioned methods of lead generation like appointment setting and telemarketing, which may not be a drawback for most companies. Rather, its focus is on the most up-to-the-minute online marketing methods. It is well equipped to help you connect with quality sales leads through SEO, email marketing and especially social media marketing.
3. Strategic Sales & Marketing (SSM) (score 9.13/10) is a sales lead generation company that specializes in business-to-business sales, and it has been doing that for a comparatively long time.
2. LeadGeneration.com (score 9.75/10) represents all of the most modern tools of the lead-generation trade. It can help many types of businesses up their presence online and get sales leads with potential.
Callbox: The Golden Award Winner!
1. Callbox (score 10/10), despite its name, offers much more than telephone calling for sales lead generation. In fact, what makes Callbox stand out is that it offers traditional telemarketing as well as all of the most modern online tools to help find you the potential customers to make your business thrive. This is why it has earned the Top Ten Reviews Gold Award. This service has helped generate leads for businesses of many different sizes from many different fields, including IT, financial services, commercial cleaning, education, healthcare, real estate, travel and more.
Source: http://sales-lead-generation-services-review.toptenreviews.com
With enough perseverance and passion, you can always achieve more that what is just good but the best.
Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
The Client
Industry: File Transfer Appliance
Location: Singapore
Headquarters: Germany
A group of file transfer software experts from Germany founded this File Transfer Appliance Company in 1996 which later spanned to France and Singapore in 2007.
The company stands on a mission to offer the latest Hardware Technologies coupled with the leading Software Solutions as “Plug-and-Play” appliances designed for security problems and compliance tasks.
Target Criteria
Location: Singapore & Malaysia
Industries: Oil & Gas, Architecture firms, Precision Engineering firms, Property Developers, Advertising Media or Graphic Design Houses, Large Manufacturing companies, Government-linked companies, Lawyers, Health, Pharmaceutical companies, and Building and Construction.
Annual Turnover: More than SG$ 2 Million
Employee Size: More than 20
Target Contacts: Directors, Business Owners, IT Managers, Person in Charge of IT
The target criteria have remained the same since the campaign started running until the last month.
Campaign Type : Lead Generation
Summary
The campaign’s initial run in April 2011 mainly focused on the Singapore market. The client preferred to cater to companies that send out big files. These are companies that have worldwide presence and do site-to-site file sending, or those that require file-sharing with their resellers or customers.
The initial campaign production delivered 19 leads. Such number was instrumental to the client’s positive decision to renew for another campaign that was even more impressive with 34 leads. Since then, the team continuously worked on for the lead generation campaign. The number of leads fluctuated but nevertheless quality was maintained at its best. The following campaign period brought in 28 leads with positive contacts at 63%, the next with 26 leads at 50% positive contacts, followed by another month with 35 leads at 71% positive contacts, and proceeded to another renewal month with 14 leads at 71% positive contacts and the last month with 23 leads at 76% positive contacts.
As the Singapore database was close to being exhausted, Callbox proposed to the client to divert its focus to other countries. In 2012, Malaysia came into the picture and kicked off with 30 leads in the 1st run, and went on alternately running MY and SG markets for the rest of the campaign period, with 18-20 leads per month, renewing contract after contract of 3 or 6 months, until the final leg in May 2015.
Challenges Encountered
Quality vs. Quantity
The campaign required the Callbox team more effort compared with the other campaigns. The leads that were passed were strictly qualified based on the set criteria, which were subjected to the client’s scrutiny and approval.
Database Use
The 4-year run made the most of its target database of contacts. Towards the end of the last 2 months of the campaign, both the Malaysia and Singapore databases went all in, as both target markets have been saturated, yet the campaign was still able to produce 18 leads at the least.
What A Difference It Has Made
This is one of the most successful and longest running campaigns in Callbox. But how was this huge success achieved?
The client truthfully engaged himself with the campaign by sharing full product knowledge with the team by conducting a thorough training on the product specifications, features and usage benefits.
The Callbox team had a first-hand experience of the product as they were able to practically navigate its interface which helped the calling agent efficiently position the offer to the prospects. These best practices also made the leaders effectively coach the caller on the challenges encountered in the calls, making them able to easily address issues that arise from day to day calling.
All available resources in Callbox were utilized.
Calling, sending of emails and other marketing resources like the social media were substantial to the exceptional results of the campaign.
Definitely, this campaign has made history with Callbox.
Use the Psychology of Free Stuff to Generate Leads
///by: Vivien Reyes
Nothing is more irresistible that anything that is free. In an article on www.smallbiztrends.com, Vinay Pantakar highlighted how to use this psychological response of buyers towards free items as a part of their marketing strategy.
Let’s take a look at how we can take advantage of this overused marketing jargon and generate leads. Don’t worry, tips are free of charge.
If you’ve ever worked in advertising, you’ll know the power of the four-letter F word … Free.
Free samples, free trials, buy one-get one free.
The thought of getting something for nothing is what makes people line up to avoid spending a couple of bucks, like when Krispy Kreme launched in Cardiff, Wales, and had more than a thousand shoppers lining up for over two hours to get free donuts. And I’m pretty sure that’s a mild example.
More proof comes from Duke professor Dan Ariely in a paper written at MIT:
“His study of 398 MIT students measured people’s reaction (and overreaction) to two different products: Hershey’s candies and Lindt truffles. Under normal circumstances, the Hershey’s products are already significantly cheaper than Lindt products — and the latter also have an air of exclusivity or cache, too. By all measures, the Lindt item has a higher value. Yet, when asked to choose between a free Hershey’s product or a dramatically discounted Lindt candy, the vast majority of students opted for the item that was free, even if it wasn’t objectively the best deal.”
Ariely says that the word free “gives us such an emotional charge that we perceive what is being offered as immensely more valuable than it really is.”
As strange as it seems so far, I’m not here to talk about food. Free is also something people want and expect on the Internet.
Searching for popular words like ‘book’, ‘blog’ and ‘game’ in Keyword Planner reveals that a large chunk of the searchers want these things for free.
And aside from blogs, books and games, what else do people tend to want for free?
The answer? It’s things of value, that would usually cost money.
This is especially apparent from the fact that people want free TVs.
Free stuff can be hard to resist and increase sales by up to 2000 percent, but is met with a great deal of skepticism. As much as we love free stuff, we want to feel like we’ve earned it:
“When people pay for something, it gives those people a sense of accomplishment, pride, and ownership, meaning they’ll value the goods or services more and complain less.”
So, how do we balance the power of free stuff with the problem that people find value in transactions?
This is the part you’ve been waiting for.
Content Upgrades
Content upgrades offer useful resources on a transactional basis, and the currency is an email address.
With so much for free on the Internet already, it’s unlikely anyone will pay for your content. You can, however, get their email address and their permission to be marketed to in one go … As long as you’ve got something they want.
Have you seen calls to action embedded in blog posts? They look like:
Those are content upgrades. The perfect balance of ‘paying’ with your email address and getting something for ‘free’ has got some crazy results. Backlinko’s Brian Dean increased conversions by 785 percent in one day by using them. BloggerJet’s Tim Soulo increased conversions by 300 percent over the course of a month.
So how can you do the same?
Using Content Upgrades to Generate Leads
A content upgrade, in case you’ve never signed up for one, or used one yourself, is an additional piece of bonus material. Examples include checklists, PDF files, email templates, workflows, videos and extra items in a list post.
The difference between content upgrades and lead magnets is that content upgrades are highly focused and relevant to the article they’re found in, while lead magnets are generic downloads like free ebooks which appear in the sidebar of every blog post, regardless of its content.
Content upgrades need to be obvious, valuable and relevant to work. Plugins like Content Upgrades Pro take care of making it obvious, leaving value and relevance left to figure out.
Content Upgrade Ideas
To be clear once again: Content upgrades have to add value to the post they’re attached to.
You can think of them like bonuses, or extensions. Every time you create content, think “How could I extend this?”.
Here are some examples of how I would offer content upgrades to fictional articles:
Case Study: How I Increased Subscribers by 311% Overnight
Content upgrade: A .pdf Checklist of the Exact Process Used
How to Use Flat Design to Create a Beautiful New Website
Content upgrade: 41 Flat Design Icon .png Files
Pitch like a Pro — Get Your Startup Noticed by Journalists
Content upgrade: 25 Attention-Grabbing Subject Line Templates
5 Words Copywriters Shouldn’t Ignore
Content upgrade: 3 More Words, and Why They Work so Well
One tactic often used is to talk about how your readers can get the same results as you, then offer exactly what you did as a content upgrade (or, the other way around).
A bad approach to content upgrades, however, is to leave out anything of worth from the main content. It won’t get shared if it isn’t good in the first place, especially not on the merit of a downloadable item only part of your readers will see.
For a good place to start, go back through old content that gets a lot of traffic and add a content upgrade. You know the original piece is good enough already, so you’re not hiding value behind an email address wall, but you’re definitely harnessing the power of free stuff to build your list, generate leads and make sales.
So, go and check out your high traffic posts and start brainstorming ways you could make them better.
The ROI is so high, it’s hard to resist.
Speaking of FREE stuff, grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit Ebook! Updated with links to the best and latest techniques that will help generate quality sales leads for your business
Callbox Multi-touch Multi-Channel Approach:
Turning Targets to Sales-Ready Leads With a 50% Shorter Lead Nurturing Cycle
A Callbox Multi-touch Multi-channel Campaign is essentially a Comprehensive Marketing Funnel designed to unearth opportunities from an initial list of prospects compiled from basic target demographics, and deliver them to a client as qualified, pitch-ready, warmed-up sales leads.
The Callbox method combines the efficacy of highly-personalized traditional marketing communication with the intelligent efficiency of automation. In our years of experience, we have found that touches via phone and email remain to be most effective at establishing connections in the B2B world. Data from various campaigns also clearly suggests the importance of timing. Our findings on optimizing triggers and actions form the basis of our Callbox Pipeline’s design. In its latest incarnation, the Callbox Pipeline provides clients with a flexible, user-friendly platform for Lead Nurturing.
This case study traces the success of a B2B client from effective utilization of Callbox’s Lead Generation and Lead Nurturing technology.
Client Profile
The client was the North America marketing manager for a software company specializing in SAP enterprise software solutions and business intelligence. The company is also an SAP consultancy with expertise in areas of SAP Implementation, Process Upgrade and Data Management. The company has roots in Canada and wanted to expand into the US market.
The client was introduced to Callbox by an IT solutions business through the Callbox Referral Program. The California-based referrer company has been running a campaign targeting businesses nationwide with Callbox since January 2015.
The client had worked with two other vendors for telemarketing services and three email service providers in the past. While these vendors were able to deliver basic calling and mass email services, the client needed a more efficient and comprehensive solution that could work seamlessly across both channels. Working with separate vendors for each channel left the client’s sales team the burden of coordinating campaign activities on different platforms, setting up each component of the campaigns themselves and much time spent on prequalification of leads generated.
Callbox’s proposal for full service multi-touch multi-channel lead generation was found to be a more costefficient and all-inclusive alternative compared to contracting separate marketing services independently. The promise of a campaign greater than the sum of its parts and time savings on the client’s part allowing them to focus on sales efforts were part of the reasons behind the client’s decision to partner with Callbox.
The Target Market
The company wished to increase its market presence in California, New York and Texas. While the company has had customers from a wide range of industries, the client wanted to focus the campaign on the Manufacturing sector.
Companies with annual sales of $1M to $500M and with 10 to 2000 employees were included in the database.
C-Level executives, Directors and Managers in charge of the business’ enterprise software solution were the target decision makers.
Around 1500 records for each of the three states were mined from the Callbox Data Warehouse based on these parameters.
Campaign Objectives
- Gather information on the prospect’s setup and plans concerning their company’s enterprise software
- Arrange for a face-to-face or phone meeting with one of the client’s team of SAP Consultants
- Send out an EDM (electronic direct mail) with a link to a video showcasing the client company’s latest suite of enterprise software solutions
- Obtain a fully-profiled contact list for upcoming marketing efforts
Marketing funnel
A Callbox appointment is created when a prospect goes through the five stages of the marketing funnel. Our Lead Nurturing methods are designed to move as many prospects from one stage to the next, and allowed the client to obtain the most possible number of meetings.
Contacts
The Callbox Data Warehouse is comprised of over 50 million business records in over 7 countries. With the aid of our Data Specialist and our data mining tools, the client was able to zero in on the portion of this data pool that matched their market criteria.
Conversations
To begin converting inert contacts into leads, Callbox initiated a Conversation – an exchange over phone or email with a decision maker. Multiple contact attempts and pre-conversations with non-decision makers (gatekeepers, recommenders and evaluators) were often needed in order gather information on and establish contact with a decision maker. In the conversation stage, the decision maker was given a presentation of client’s offer.
Inquiries
Positive responses to a presentation were classified as inquiries. Inquiries often involved an initial request for information (brochure). Some cases required Callbox to make follow up calls and/or emails to confirm interest and check if the lead is ready to move to the next stage.
Qualified Leads
Whenever a decision maker makes a contact request to get a full presentation and/or formal proposal from the client, the lead is said to have graduated to this stage. In cases when the prospect had an immediate need and very high level of interest, the leads were converted directly into Qualified Leads from the Conversation stage.
Booked Appointments
In this stage, final preparations were made prior to endorsing the lead to the client. As required by the client’s qualifying criteria, screening questions were asked according to the approved call script. The prospect was also booked for a face-to-face or phone appointment with the client’s representative.
Multi-touch Multi-Channel Approach
Callbox effectively combined six different channels to initiate contact, generate conversations and responses from prospects, and nurture leads.
Targeted Email
Email copies were formulated to have attention-grabbing subject lines, brief but precise body text and compelling calls to action in order to generate the most opens and replies. A total of 15,000 initial and follow-up emails were sent via Callbox’s email system — fully equipped with open and click tracking, and KPI reporting. The campaign’s Lead Nurturing schemes relied mostly on Callbox Pipeline’s programmable email marketing triggers.
Calling
Outbound calls facilitated by Callbox’s Dialer System ensured that more than 200 live calls were made 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Callbox Pipeline also allowed the calling agent to efficiently leave pre-recorded voicemail messages.
Web Visits
A landing page was created to complement the campaign’s outbound efforts via email and calling. Designed with professional and marketing aesthetics in mind, it featured the client’s brand and highlighted the main features of the client’s software. The landing page was also equipped with a web form to allow prospects to send in a contact request.
Social Media
Callbox Pipeline’s integrated Linkedin features allowed the Callbox team to find matching Linkedin profiles for each prospect in the contact list. Linkedin connection requests were sent to as many contacts as possible with an accompanying introduction text. Client also opted to have Callbox send out messages to all connections made as another possible avenue to generate leads.
Postal Mail and SMS
The client was one of the first to take advantage of Callbox’s supplementary snail mail and SMS capabilities. For this campaign, these channels were used to deliver promotional postcards to the prospects’ business address and send out mobile appointment reminders.
Nurturing Leads The Callbox Way
Lead Nurturing was the key to this campaign’s efficiency and success. The client was able to take full advantage of the Callbox Pipeline’s dragand-drop Lead Nurturing suite and the Callbox team’s knowledge of multi-channel lead generation best practices
Callbox Pipeline’s tools for Lead Nurturing allowed the Callbox team to maximize the campaign hours and reserve manual effort for more critical tasks (eg. presenting to decision makers, customized email response handling) and left most of the repetitive and time-sensitive legwork to automation.
I. Online lead Nurturing Scheme
An Introduction email was sent out to all email contacts in the prospect’s list (See Fig. 3). Three follow up emails spaced five days apart were programmed to be sent out to contacts who had no opens recorded, allowing multiple opportunities to convert contacts into opens.
Emails were mostly set to send out between 8:00AM to 10:00AM local time, as these were determined to be the optimal hours for email blasts based on Callbox analytics. Latter follow-up copies were set to send out at 4:00PM- 6:00PM to increase the chances of generating opens if the first attempts were unsuccessful.
Contacts who opened the email and visited the landing page were added to a Priority Call List for further nurturing by phone.
Email responses and inquiries from the landing page are logged into the Callbox Pipeline and inquiries not converted into booked appointments after three days were lined up for a round of follow-up emails.
By the end of the Online Lead Nurturing Cycle, all contacts with no opens recorded were also collected into another Call List, to which the Call Lead Nurturing Scheme was applied.
Web Inquiries
Prospects were led to the landing page primarily via email sendouts. Each contact request sent in by a prospect was received by the Callbox team as an email notification and treated as in inquiry.
II. Call Lead Nurturing Scheme
Automated actions under the Call Lead Nurturing Scheme (See Fig. 4) were determined by the Call Result Tag applied to the contact after each call attempt. Callbox Pipeline was programmed to send out different email copies if the call resulted in (a) no contact with a decision maker, (b) a decision maker requesting for a follow up or a (c) non-interested decision maker. Email brochures and meeting reminders were sent out automatically to all booked appointments.
Campaign Results
Production and other KPIs
By the end of the campaign term, the client was averaging 12 face to face meetings and 23 phone appointments per week. The client’s sales team was able to move 82% of all appointments into proposal stage and garnered 2 closed deals within the first two weeks, generating a three-fold return from their initial investment in the Callbox campaign.
Of the 15,719 emails delivered, 2247 opens (14.3%) and 193 click-throughs (1.2%) were recorded. 218 inquiries were generated out of 943 total replies received. Email marketing contributed to roughly 38% of all appointments generated while meetings from contact form inquiries comprised another 9%.
Out of the 9046 records comprising the initial campaign list, 7870 records (87%) were fully profiled, complete with verified names, job titles and email addresses.
“Both my marketing team and sales team are very happy. Marketing sits back and only has to monitor because they have done their job on the setup and almost everything is automated; while my salesforce are very busy fulfilling booked appointments.” says the Client’s CEO
Below is the number of Targets on each stage of the Marketing Funnel after only 12 weeks in the Callbox Multi-touch Multi-channel Lead Nurturing Campaign.
With the Client’s previous telemarketing and email marketing service providers, the Client was able to convert 2% of raw targets into booked appointments only after running the campaigns for about 6.5 months or 26 weeks. Callbox cut this time into half, and significantly moved more targets into the later stages of the marketing cycle. This was enough to convince the Client to expand the number of campaigns they are running with Callbox.
Marketing Funnel Conversion Summary
A plus for your brand: Generating leads with Google+
///by: Vivien Reyes
Social media platforms have established themselves as great lead generators when it comes to brand awareness and sales. Among them is social networking site Google+, which puts itself at the forefront when it comes to setting up business pages.
Its seamless integration with search engine Google gives Google+ content and engagement the best SEO benefits, putting your brand ahead of search rankings for potential customers to immediately notice.
These customers now shy away from hard sell and are looking for genuine content they can relate and engage with – and Google+ is the best place to do that! Here are some ways to generate leads through this social networking platform.
Start – and continue – with compelling content
This is how your customers will see you. Make sure your Google+ page is filled with well-written content that’s curated and valuable to your audience. This includes information about your brand, as well as related content that may not necessarily be about the brand itself but lends credibility to it. Include links to your website or your other social media accounts.
As mentioned, the benefit of Google+ above all other social media platforms is its inherent precedence in organic search rankings, driving your page on top of that search result page.
Make it visual
People like seeing pretty pictures. Include visual content like photos and videos (even popular GIFs!) to your posts, as these tend to have better engagement with audiences and are likelier to be shared to friends. Images on Google+ can be turned into links, which allows your audience to click through the photo and land on your website or any other content about your brand.
Bonus tips: A Lesson in Lead Generation: Add Some Sauce to your Storytelling
Target the correct audience
Google+ allows for filtering followers in Circles, which can be used to segment your audience according to what kind of message your brand wants to send out. Hashtags are also another way to attract the right customers, using the correct keywords that will bring them to your page and see your content. The “+” sign also allows you to address another person directly by tagging them.
Bonus tips: Building your Brand? Create Productive B2B Social Campaigns with these Tips
Mind the frequency of your posts
Content optimization is not just about what you post and where you post, but when you post it. Review your audience’s behavior and determine when the best time is to post your content; too few and they will forget your existence, while too many may overwhelm them and make them tune out.
The lead generation opportunities on Google+, combined with its innate SEO advantages, are enough reasons for businesses to consider the platform as one of their best options when it comes to building their business online.
Download a Copy Now!
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5 Rich Media for Enhancing your Brand’s Influence in Google+
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A Lesson in Lead Generation: Add Some Sauce to your Storytelling
///by: Rom Agustin
The precedence of blogging and social media in B2B marketing has led to an increase in the need for “unique” and “engaging” stories as buyers have developed a more sophisticated decision-making ethic.
But with the way things are changing, companies are under constant pressure to craft as much content as possible. And the result has always led to the same thing: A stream of repetitive and low-quality blog articles and informational materials created just to add “meat” for corporate websites.
The worst part of this is the little regard for uniqueness and customer engagement.
This is obviously a bad thing because who would want a bland steak anyway? Where’s the sauce?!
It appears that storytelling has deviated from its original role of establishing valuable relationships and instead embraced a world of content quotas.
It all seems fair to say that audiences want unique relationships which can only be attained by promoting stories that play into the emotional and rational biases of B2B audiences. Current demands point to an increasing primacy for content that:
Address present issues: Regardless of the type of industry you belong, there are always client issues for you to urgently solve. You will need to identify these issues and position your solutions in a way that satisfyingly tackles them.
Related Post: What Marketers Should Learn from Google Glass’ Failure
Has balanced diversity: Settling for a purely technical content campaign is like sitting on a stool with two legs missing. It is vital therefore for you to augment your white papers and case studies with creative text- and image-based content and to this effect build a sturdy digital lead generation campaign.
Related Post: 3 Cost-Effective Ways to Use Interactive Content in Events Marketing and Driving Relationships
Are consistent with your goals: What numbers are you aiming to improve? Whether it is your bounce rate or conversions, you will need to map out your strategies providing the most suitable routes for attaining these goals.
Related Post: Having a Lifeless Marketing Campaign? Give your Lead Generation a Soul with these Blogging Tips
Put audiences first: It’s easy to say that the search engines provide visibility. But creating highly valuable experiences for potential clients is an issue you shouldn’t risk neglecting in favor of meeting a keyword quota. Substance is after all essential in turning site visitors into high quality leads.
Related Post: A Match Made in Heaven: How StumbleUpon can Drive Web Traffic
Use credible sources: For want of a better brand image and a loyal client base, take pains to search for credible data to support your infographics and other blog content. Always source your information from places like B2BMarketing.net and ContentMarketingInstitute.com.
Lead generation success is possible once you play up these principles in creating content. It may involve a lot of work, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.
Source: http://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/transform-b2b-lead-generation-storytelling-01189803
Lead Generation for IT Consulting Services: Where is your Strategy?
///by: Vivien Reyes
The IT consulting sector has seen a steady rise in the past years. Businesses have noted the importance of expert advice to the creation of robust IT infrastructures.
According to IBIS World, “As the economy recovers, improving business sentiment and corporate profit levels will further drive (the IT consulting industry’s) performance.” As new technologies are introduced each year, corporations have found it necessary to seek competent people to guide them in IT implementation and maintenance.
The industry alone has around 400,000 active IT consulting businesses that cater to a diverse array of industries. Whether you are an independent contractor or a large firm, you will need to put in extra efforts to place your IT consulting services above the competition.
Lead generation, in this case, is vital because it grants you a considerable share of decision-makers seeking consulting services for a variety of IT concerns. But irrespective of its value, undertaking a campaign to acquire specific clients poses a taxing and costly challenge.
Nonetheless, successful IT consultants were able to bypass these difficulties by simply embracing new marketing tactics and approaches that drive high volumes of clients into their IT lead management databases.
So, where is your strategy? Are you using the same approaches the top guns use?
The Best Marketing Strategies for Consulting Services
- EBooks – Publishing ebooks is a great way to generate leads because it builds your authority as an expert on a specific field. Nowadays, top industry leaders hire consultants based on the amount of literature they published and also the popularity garnered through them. Achieving a following warrants the use of original ebook content that addresses current IT concerns.
- Blog – Keep your target audience informed and updated through your blog. Consistent online posts are essential toward driving online visibility, but you will need expert copywriting skills to produce content that brings quality leads.
- Whitepapers – In the same way as ebooks, whitepapers provide your audience the information they need about you, your proficiencies and your capabilities as an IT consultant.
- Social media – Contrary to some assumptions, social media can be valuable in targeting decision-makers spend more time on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Create informative posts with links to specific content on your website. Also, tweet your thought leadership and strive to increase your followers.
- PPC – Pay-per-click advertisements may cost much, but they are always an excellent source for high quality IT leads. Considering a PPC campaign? Optimize your landing pages first and employ professional writers to create attention-grabbing copies.
There are many strategies available for IT consulting firms but it all dwells down on creating better profile and earning people’s trust.
What other techniques do you know? Share us on the comment box.
Interested in getting more clients, try our lead generation service for IT consulting.
The 3 R’s of Appointment Setting for the Healthcare Industry: Relationships, Revenue, and Reputation
///by: Vivien Reyes
This year, it appears the healthcare industry (at this point worth $3 trillion in an article by Forbes) would be expanding further as it emphasizes the need for value-based healthcare. Indeed, appointment setting plays a great role.
Hospitals, clinics and other medical institutions are investing to update their capabilities in providing low-cost treatments and services without diminishing quality. This entails numerous opportunities for B2B vendors offering such solutions that are in line with current standards.
In this case, healthcare providers need to implement effective B2B appointment setting, since it allows them a whole range of benefits in terms of:
Relationships.
Engaging prospects is a critical aspect of selling healthcare services and products. It is not a simple matter of talking to someone and convincing them to make a purchase. It rather puts greater emphasis on creating valuable, long-term relationships between providers and important decision-makers).
Revenue.
B2B appointments are essential for generating profits since they represent sales possibilities. They facilitate the possible transformation of a warm lead into a paying customer, hence driving growth and competitiveness.
Reputation.
When talking to a sales prospect, healthcare providers are also putting their names on the line. The messages and propositions they give can directly affect how their target institutions perceive them, hence granting an opportunity to propel their brand toward market acceptance and achieve a following.
Without B2B appointment setting, it is difficult for providers to organize effective messaging around the current needs of their constituents. Then again, there is always an increasing need to put quality on the table. It is one thing to generate qualified leads, but a more complex process is involved in driving appointments.
In this case, marketers will have to implement their appointment setting taking account of:
1.Proper skills and talent – Highly proficient sales staffs are needed to drive important and steer clear of obstacles. They will need to be flexible and trained well enough to conduct value-based sales calls.
Related Post: 4 Surefire Solutions to Grow your Sales without Exhausting your Staff
2. Efficient marketing and sales system – In addition to competent personnel, providers will also need to implement technologies that allow them to better manage leads and determine if they are ready to engage in a sales appointment, aided of course by effective market research and customer profiling.
Related Post: 7 Most Effective Market Research Tools for Creating Effective Lead Generation
3.Software and technology – One concern about the B2B healthcare industry is that it has yet to make important strides in terms of using technology to their advantage. While this is true, providers can always employ a lead generation service featuring integrated marketing automation.
Related Post: Lead Nurturing Done Right: Introducing Callbox Pipeline’s Lead Nurture Tool
