Pointclear

JUNE 4, 2018

Remember the old light beer tagline: “Tastes Great, Less Filling”? It was a best of both world’s brand promise, and part of a hugely successful campaign. There's another win-win value proposition that applies to outsourced tele-prospecting: “Costs Less. Generates More.” Outsourcing inside sales really does save you money while at the same time providing you the leads and revenue you need to be successful.

Outsourcing Services 140

Outsourcing Services Revenue Prospecting Inside Sales 140

Pointclear

MAY 23, 2018

Lead nurture can triple the return on most marketing campaigns. By nurturing leads until they’re ready to turn over to sales, an organization can eliminate wasted marketing spend and increase sales results. Successful lead generation—inbound and outbound—requires nurturing. But it’s often the most underutilized marketing activity at a marketer’s disposal.

Sales Qualified Lead 124

Sales Qualified Lead ROI Lead Rank Lead Scoring 124

Pointclear

APRIL 11, 2018

One of PointClear’s business development representatives, working on behalf of a global software company, made 11 touches (calls, voicemails and emails) and his persistence paid off. He landed a huge lead for our client (with a $1 billion company). The timing and number and type of touches makes up what is called a cadence, which must be carefully orchestrated.

Sales Qualified Lead 113

Sales Qualified Lead PointClear System Leads 113

Pointclear

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

I spend a lot of time on the phone every day, talking to sales and marketing leaders—including prospects. I’m often asked what kind of companies PointClear serves. The short answer is we work with B2B technology, healthcare, financial services and business services organizations, as well as manufacturers. What they have in common are complex sales processes, and the need for outbound account-based marketing services that generate high-quality leads for sales.

PointClear 100

PointClear Sales Qualified Lead Transportation Lead Qualification 100

Pointclear

FEBRUARY 13, 2018

Jim Obermayer is the founder of the Sales Lead Management Association , and host of the Funnel Radio Channel. Jim recently interviewed PointClear’s Dan McDade about the five most important things he’s learned in business and life—in one of an ongoing series of radio programs featuring sales and marketing industry leaders. Following is an edited transcript, or you can listen to the program in its entirety here.

PointClear 124

PointClear Telemarketing Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank 124

Pointclear

FEBRUARY 7, 2018

How much should a lead cost? Understanding what goes into generating a high-quality B2B lead helps you determine whether you're getting a good deal. It takes a skilled team, a proven cadence, multiple touch points, message testing, market analysis — and plenty of perseverance —t o produce the leads that truly contribute to revenue generation. While most people wouldn't quibble with the above reality, many still measure marketing success based on the cost per lead.

Cost per Lead 204

Cost per Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring Leads 204

Pointclear

JANUARY 26, 2018

For more than 20 years we’ve talked about multi-touch, multi-media, multi-cycle processes that multiply results. At least one software company literally took PointClear’s playbook, which includes details about the multi, multi, multi approach, and turned it into a red-hot piece of software. Wish I had thought of that. Multi, multi, multi (which is multiple dials, voicemails, emails and in some cases direct mail across several sales cycles) has been re-termed “Cadence.

Sales Qualified Lead 100

Sales Qualified Lead Lead Generation Direct Mail Call-back 100

Pointclear

JANUARY 22, 2018

Merriam-Webster defines the holy grail as: “an object or goal that is sought after for its great significance.” Can companies reach the holy grail of marketing—the perfect lead? Well, what is a perfect lead? Those of us at PointClear do not believe in the alphabet soup of acronyms such as BANT, ANUM and the granddaddy of all acronyms, MAN. What is wrong with these formulaic approaches to lead qualification?

Sales Qualified Lead 106

Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring Leads 106

Pointclear

DECEMBER 21, 2017

With today’s business instability and volatility, B2B marketers are well aware that business marketing data degrades quickly. Although correcting basic data fields is an ongoing commitment of time and resources, it’s critical to lead generation success that marketers execute data segmentation and prioritization activities on an ongoing basis as well.

Lead Rank 100

Lead Rank PointClear Data B2B 100

Pointclear

JANUARY 2, 2018

A 2017 MARTECH TODAY infographic lists the almost 5,000 companies that are part of the marketing technology landscape, up from just 150 in 2011. Yet, according to CSO Insights , despite the new tools, the mobile devices, the potential of social, and so on, many salespeople are working harder than ever just to achieve the same old results or worse. Quota attainment averaged across all geographies, industries and company sizes has dropped from 63% of salespeople in 2012 to 53% in 2016 – and 2017 w

Lead Rank 180

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead Leads 180

Pointclear

JANUARY 4, 2018

I review a lot of content on this topic and am amazed at what I find written about lead cost. For example: “The average cost per lead across all the companies surveyed is almost $200 ($198.44).Admittedly, that’s a useless statistic, as these figures vary quite dramatically depending on industry, company size, etc.” (see marketing charts analysis of HubSpot’s “2017 Demand Generation Benchmarks Report” ).

Cost per Lead 170

Cost per Lead Sales Qualified Lead PointClear Lead Rank 170

Pointclear

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Last week a prospect told me that he needed higher quality leads than were currently being provided by two third-party outsourced solution providers. His definition of a lead was the loosest that I have ever heard. An employee of a targeted company needed only to download some content to be qualified as a lead. It did not matter if they were ready to buy – or even qualified to buy.

Lead Rank 157

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead Leads 157

Pointclear

DECEMBER 7, 2017

It’s truly strange when companies enter the stealth mode. They hide phone numbers, dial-by-name directories, and employee names, but still imply you’re important to them! I called someone I know, but had not spoken to in some months. The result pushed me over the edge in frustration. This is how it went. Them. “Hi, we’re very interested in talking with you; please press 1 for sales and 2 for customer service.

Company 140

Company Hiring Call-back Lead Management 140

Pointclear

NOVEMBER 17, 2017

The age-old issue of how Sales and Marketing work together (or not) is still on the table. While everyone agrees the two organizations must be in sync to meet revenue goals and scale, the finger pointing continues. Marketing complains that Sales doesn’t follow up on their leads; Sales contends that the leads Marketing sends their way aren’t any good.

Scale 100

Scale Marketing Conversion Inbound 100

Pointclear

NOVEMBER 16, 2017

" The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said" –Peter Drucker. Those of us who use the phone to successfully generate sales leads have picked up an essential trade secret. While what we do for a living is talk, a more important part of our job is to listen. Think of those annoying robo calls. During the last election, I seemed to get one an hour.

Lead Generation 100

Lead Generation Lead Rank Lead Scoring PointClear 100

Pointclear

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

There’s plenty of mediocrity in lead generation—both in-house and outsourced. However, there are a lot of things good insourced operations and lead generation companies do well. While lead generation (or teleprospecting) is not rocket science, there are a lot of moving parts in a well-run lead generation machine. Failure to execute and coordinate all of the moving parts leads to poor results.

Lead Generation 315

Lead Generation Outsourcing Services Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank 315

Pointclear

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

PointClear’s Kimmy Netterville has been nominated as one of the 40 Most Inspired Leaders in Sales Lead Management. The Sales Lead Management Association announced today that nominations are now closed, and voting is open until Dec. 6, 2017. The list of winners will be posted on Dec. 15, 2017. Many of PointClear’s clients over the past 11 years have directly benefitted from Kimmy’s abilities managing B2B lead generation, lead qualification and lead nurturing programs.

Sales Qualified Lead 133

Sales Qualified Lead Lead Management Leads Marketing Qualified Lead 133

Pointclear

OCTOBER 24, 2017

In 2015, I wrote this blog for Sales & Marketing Magazine: Dead is Dead (in Sales & Marketing). It seemed like, suddenly, a lot of things were dying: cold calling was dead; telephone prospecting was dead; outbound marketing was dead … many said that even marketing was dead. Maybe I was just sensitive. I mean, I grew up at a time when Paul McCartney was supposedly dead (he, thankfully, lives on).

B2B 392

B2B Cold Calling PointClear Outbound 392

Pointclear

OCTOBER 21, 2017

There is no such thing as a good list. I am sure that my opinion about lists makes purveyors of lists unhappy, but it is the truth. For the most part, lists suck. There are reasons: Chief among the reasons is that lists are incredibly expensive to keep clean. People change jobs, big guys buy little guys. Big guys buy big guys. Big and little guys shut down.

Direct Mail 124

Direct Mail Vendor Incentives Incentive 124

Pointclear

OCTOBER 12, 2017

To make your forecast for the new year, look at sales for the coming year in terms of units. How many units must be sold? Review the existing pipeline and your closing ratio. Now you have the number of units that will be sold in the coming months without lead generation. This is the basis for projecting the number of leads needed to make the forecast from sales leads for the new year.

Sales Forecasts 138

Sales Forecasts Forecasting Sales Qualified Lead Leads 138

Pointclear

AUGUST 29, 2017

Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. In 1943 Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others.

Buyer 200

Buyer Compensation Forecasting Decision Maker 200

Pointclear

AUGUST 9, 2017

Several years ago, I was in Las Vegas with friends and we always went for at least one meal at our favorite restaurant because they have great steaks and a great bar. One night our waitress asked us if we wanted to play “Two Truths and a Lie.” She told us that for a big tip she would go first. Here is what she said: I graduated with honors from Vassar College.

Lead Generation 149

Lead Generation Outbound B2B Marketing 149

Pointclear

AUGUST 2, 2017

The answer to this question is a lot more complicated than it looks. There are many factors that impact the percent of leads that should be closed by sales. This blog will take you through five factors that impact lead close rate and a calculation you can use to determine the minimum close rates your product or solution requires. The five main factors in lead close rate are: Market definition.

Sales Qualified Lead 160

Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring Closing 160

Pointclear

JULY 19, 2017

“What could derail this project?” a prospect asked me, following our discussion about PointClear’s lead generation, qualification and nurturing services. We had just finished talking about the importance of marketing and sales coming together to mutually define a lead prior to starting a lead generation program. We’d spent some time on the persistent yet professional cadence we employ.

Lead Generation 124

Lead Generation PointClear Leads Marketing Qualified Lead 124

Pointclear

JULY 12, 2017

I read and reread Andy Paul’s book Zero-Time Selling , and gave it to my sales reps. We discussed the 20 chapters in sales meetings each week, with a different representative taking 2-3 chapters and highlighting what he or she had learned. We expected everyone in the sales team to chip in. In the book, Andy discussed 10 essential steps to accelerate every company’s sales.

Proposal 124

Proposal Engineering Top of Funnel eBook 124

Pointclear

JUNE 15, 2017

Some companies have several inside departments to take in, qualify, nurture, and filter sales leads to such a finite extent that few leads go to anyone. If the raw lead count is high but there is a mere trickle going to the salespeople, you have a substantial problem. You are: Delaying talking to buyers and reducing your chances of making the sale by 50%, because salespeople, on average, aren’t getting the leads until weeks after they’re created.

Sales Qualified Lead 140

Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring Telemarketing 140

Pointclear

JUNE 9, 2017

PointClear is known for its perseverance. While some sales people stop after placing one or two calls (if they don’t get the prospect on the phone or don’t get a call back, they deem the lead no good) our sales support associates keep trying. We know that in the lead generation, lead qualification and lead nurturing business, it takes multiple tries, across multiple cycles, to fully work a lead.

Lead Qualification 183

Lead Qualification Sales Qualified Lead PointClear Leads 183

Pointclear

MAY 16, 2017

When it comes time to exploring how you can increase lead generation ROI, that is, produce better leads more cost effectively, move "technology" to the bottom your to-do list. Technology is great at automating best practices, but you have to have them in place first. So start by engineering your processes to focus on lead quality not quantity. Then implement the workflow that encourages both sales and marketing to be acccountable for their role in revenue generation.

Lead Rank 169

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Leads Marketing Qualified Lead 169

Pointclear

MAY 11, 2017

PointClear was recently given a verbal approval for a pilot program by the SVP of Sales for a technology solutions provider. He liked us. Trusted us. Told us we had the deal. Then we got turned over to sales operations and purchasing (supposedly a formality). After a few additional conversations, we were told that a competitor provided a quote for half of what we charge for “the same services.

Lead Generation 140

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Lead Cost per Lead Leads 140

Pointclear

APRIL 28, 2017

An embolism is a blockage caused by one or more bubbles of air in the circulatory system. These bubbles can travel to your brain, heart, or lungs and cause a heart attack, stroke, or respiratory failure. Stopping or slowing down lead generation, qualification and nurturing programs creates what I call a “bubble-in-the-funnel.” It may not kill you, like an air embolism could, but it can be dangerous to the health of your company.

Marketing 124

Marketing Sales Qualified Lead Top of Funnel Lead Generation 124

Pointclear

APRIL 19, 2017

On April 13, 2017, I attended the #OutBound conference in Atlanta, GA. Remarkably, despite the road destruction in downtown Atlanta, everyone got there on time – about 400 attendees. The event was held at the Hotel Intercontinental in Buckhead and Cirrus Insight did a great job as a sponsor. The coffee was hot and the lunch was great. Thank you. The entire day was spent talking about prospecting.

Conference 124

Conference Outbound Social Media PointClear 124

Pointclear

APRIL 14, 2017

Last week I published a blog that provided five ways to avoid getting burned by outsourced B2B sales lead generation, qualification and nurturing. You can read the blog here. In that blog, I wrote: “When the pipeline is weak, desperation and fear take over. Sales/B2B Marketing execs feel intense need to do something, but are afraid to risk budget. So, they settle for a cheap solution—which is how mediocre sales lead generation firms survive.

Lead Generation 147

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Lead Outsourcing Services Pipeline 147

Pointclear

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

In the search for the holy grail of marketing KPIs, we want ones that correctly emphasize ROI over lead cost, tie lead generation to overall revenue and profits, identify the most successful marketing initiatives and deliver insights that can be leveraged to run future high-return activity. Cost-per-lead is not the correct metric for measuring marketing initiative success for the following reasons: It incorrectly incents volume over quality.

Cost per Lead 157

Cost per Lead Sales Qualified Lead Lead Rank Lead Scoring 157

Pointclear

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Qualified leads can be generated any number of ways: phone calls email, webinars, direct mail and even marketing automation if done well. It's not, however, the quantity of leads that counts. It’s the quality of the leads. Lured by the promise of easy money — "sales-ready" leads pouring in — many well intentioned b2b marketers have jumped on the "inbound marketing" bandwagon with both feet.

Inbound 100

Inbound Pipeline Direct Mail Cost per Lead 100

Pointclear

JANUARY 27, 2017

During the last week of December I asked a panel of experts for feedback on our Leads to Revenue Calculator. I was surprised at the level of detailed feedback I received. Not all of it was positive, but it was all valuable. You will hear from Matt Heinz, Dave Brock, David Hubbard and Ardath Albee. The above graphic is a sample from our Lead to Revenue Calculator.

Lead Rank 100

Lead Rank Marketing Qualified Lead Sales Qualified Lead Revenue 100

Pointclear

JANUARY 23, 2017

Companies that spend less on their marketing programs and generate better and bigger deals using a super-targeted approach to marketing are using an approach that you might have heard about—account-based marketing. Here’s a specific example for you. One healthcare IT solutions company with a complex solution and a finite market learned first-hand just how account-based marketing works.

Account Based Marketing 100

Account Based Marketing Account Sales Qualified Lead Marketing 100

Pointclear

JANUARY 18, 2017

We recently turned over a huge opportunity to one of our clients. When we explained the number and type of touches this lead required, the president of that company said: “our AE’s would never have been persistent enough to get this opportunity.”. Here are the facts: We worked the lead from August – December of 2016. It took thirty-two total touches from start to finish.

Account Based Marketing 100

Account Based Marketing Opportunity Decision Maker Scale 100