b 2 Blead Generation Tactics

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BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESSLEAD-GENERATION

TACTICS:A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

M. H. Mac McIntosh


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www.salesleadexperts.com Page 2

M. H. Mac McIntosh

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESSLEAD-GENERATION

TACTICS:A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

M. H. Mac McIntosh is considered by many to be

one of Americas leading business-to-business marketingand sales consultants and an expert on

the subject of sales leads.

Successful marketing includes using a broad range of tactics. Some tactics aredesigned primarily to build brand awareness or brand loyalty. But no business-to-business marketing tactics are more important than those designed to

generate qualified sales leads. Marketing for leads drives sales. Done correctly, itwill increase the bottom line and help the company achieve its growth goals.

In marketing for leads, the recipe for success includes the following:

Relationship marketing to nurture and qualify prospectsA good marketing database Direct marketing to generate inquiries
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BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS LEAD-GENERATION TACTICS: A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS


RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

Websites and online marketing to catchsearchers and bridge the marketing/

sales gap Events to help move prospects toward

purchase

These are themost cost-effec-tive, efficientmethods for gen-erating qualifiedleads. In general,

the marketingand advertisingtactics you use toboost your com-panys image orbrand recognitiondo not generate

leads. However, by utilizing the same dollarsin an effective lead-generation marketingeffort, you not only open the door for sales,

but you also positively support your brand.(See the Sales Lead-Generation Checklistat the end of this document.)

Relationshipmarketing refers

to cultivatinga personal,

sales-winningrelationship withyour prospects

The approach underlying all the recipe-for-success techniques is relationshipmarketing, which refers to cultivating apersonal, sales-winning relationship with

your prospects.

Remember, companies dont buy; peoplebuy. And people dont buy until theyreready. Your goal as a marketer is to createa relationship that makes it more desirableand easier to buy from your company when

the time is right. When products or servicesare perceived to be equal among

competitive companies, people will buyfrom the company that is easier to dobusiness with. Similarly, when faced withany aspect of the buying that is considereda risk, they will buy familiar products andservices, or they will buy from familiarcompanies.

Therefore, it is in your companys bestinterest to establish a sales-winning

relationship with prospects and customersfrom the beginning. Relationship marketingis the ideal way to nurture and qualifyprospects. It may include periodic contactvia mail, fax, email and phone to stay intouch with prospects and move them alongin the buying process. As part of yourrelationship-marketing program, you cansend out requested literature, newliterature, newsletters, press releases,

tradeshow invitations, article reprints andcase studies.

Developing a marketing database

The marketing database is a fundamentaltool for relationship marketing. Yourdatabase should include the companies andpeople who could buy your products andservices. These include customers, ex-

customers, prospects, inquirers,responders, suspects (people who look likeprospects but have not yet been qualified)and influencers.


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To populate your database, start with thenames provided by in-house sources such

as your marketing, sales, accounting andtechnical support departments.

Next, look outside of your company. Namesprovided by external sources, such ascurrent customers, can provide additionalcontacts to whom you can market.Respondents to marketing programs shouldbe added to the database as well.

In developing your database, think aboutthe venues your target audience frequents,including professional associationmeetings, conferences and tradeshows. Alsoconsider the media for which they are anaudience, including websites, business ortrade magazines and newsletters. Each ofthese venues and media is, potentially, thesource of a mailing list that would beappropriate for reaching your target

contacts.

You can also acquire lists from list brokersand online list providers. To track downrelevant lists, a helpful resource is theStandard Rate and Data Service (SRDS)

Direct Marketing List Source. It is a printand online service that provides information

about thousands of available lists anddatabases. The proprietary database onwhich this service is based contains sources,selects (data elements on which you canselect), costs and other information you canuse to refine your direct marketing liststrategy. You can learn more about thisservice at www.srds.com. Additional onlinelist sources for North America include thefollowing:

www.onesource.comwww.harrisinfo.comwww.zapdata.comwww.infousa.comwww.hartehanksmi.comwww.scottsinfo.com

Bear in mind that a business-to-businessdatabase should be deep. This means it

should contain several people at eachcompany, rather than just one or two peopleat each. These people are the multipledecision-makers and influencers at eachcompany. The exception to the deep ruleoccurs if you are targeting very smallcompanies. In this case, because of thenature of small companies, your databasemay contain only one or two of the toppeopleowners, for instanceat eachcompany.

Af ter you crea te your database , it isimportant to keep it up to date; you need toclean up the data on an ongoing basis tomake sure you are marketing to people who
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are there to receive your messages and whoare still interested in what you are selling.

To learn all you need to know aboutcleaning up your mailing address records,visitwww.usps.com. In addition, to updatenot only mailing addresses but also phonenumbers, fax numbers and email addresses,search the Internet using keywords such aslist clean up or database clean up orUSPS terms such as NCOA (NationalChange of Address) or CASS (CodingAccuracy Support System).

If you need additional demographicinformation about a contacts or companysindustry, size, etc., contact businessdatabase companies such as Dun &Bradstreet atwww.dnb.com/US, or InfoUSAatwww.infousa.com. You also can contactthe publishers of the trade magazines inwhich you advertise. They offer databaseservices to their advertisers.

In this case, direct marketing refers to anymarketing program designed to stimulaterecipients of the message to responddirectly to the marketer. The most commondirect marketing media for business-to-business are direct mail, email andtelemarketing. With all these methods ofdirect marketing, the central goal should

be to generate leads. Let us consider each.

DIRECT MARKETING

Direct mail

Common business-to-business postaldirect-mail formats include letters,newsletters, invitations, postcards,

information kits, self-mailers, catalogs andbrochures accompanied by a letter.

Letters. Of all these formats, businessletters folded and mailed in No. 10envelopes provide the lowest cost percontact and the lowest cost per response.

Success with letters, or with any directmarketing technique, depends heavily onthe quality of your list (see the Developinga Marketing Database section above) and

your offer. Therefore, when sending direct-mail letters, you should

Mail to a trusted list. Include multiple offers designed to appeal

to people at different stages of their buyingprocess. Make the offers compelling tospur more responses.

Repeat the offer throughout the letterat the beginning, middle and end.

When writing a letter, use the techniquesoutlined in the Sales Lead-GenerationChecklist at the end of this document. Inaddition, make sure to

Get right to the point. Often, direct-mailletters are overwritten, with one or twounnecessary paragraphs describing theprospects situation. Eliminate the scene-setting prose and dive right into how youcan solve the prospects businessproblem. Start with something like, Thisis a seminar you cannot afford to missor Request your complimentary guideto selecting mail-room equipment thatsright for your business.
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Create a personal and targeted message.If you are mailing to manufacturing

companies, say something like, Youllfind that our expertise in manufacturingis only exceeded by our excellentcustomer service.

Use language that is easy to understand. Answer the question, So what? Why

would a prospect care if your companyhas been inbusiness for twen-ty years? You

should explainthat these years ofexperience haveprepared yourcompany to solvethe prospectsb u s i n e s sproblem. Have a pro-fessional editor or

a coworker withgood writing skills proofread your letter.You dont want to send your prospects aletter that contains grammatical, spellingor other types of embarrassing errors. Anonline proofreading service worthconsidering iswww.proofreadnow.com.

Address the letter to a person rather thanto a company. If that is not possible,address it to a title or function such asAttn: H.R. Director or Attn: Themanager responsible for online sales.

The golden rule for successful direct-mailmarketing is, Test, test, test! You can find

The most common

direct marketingmedia for

business-to-business are

direct mail, emailand telemarketing

the most productive tack only by testingdifferent things. But for a test to be valid,

you need to change only one thing at a time(i.e., the offer, a tease on the envelope).Otherwise, you wont know what tactic isresponsible for improving the response toyour program.

Cost is an important element of any direct-mail campaign. To reduce costs, usewindow envelopes (this eliminates envelopeaddressing), stay away from heavy paper

and die-cuts and reduce the number ofprinted colors on commercially printedenclosures. Finally, consider whether emailwould be just as successful in getting yourmarketing message out to prospects.

Here are two online services that can helpyou send letter mail from your desktop:

www.usamailnow.com

www.zairmail.com

Postcards. Like letters, postcards are aninexpensive direct-mail method. Thelimitation with postcards, of course, is theirfinite size. You have a limited space on
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which to communicate your offer. Twoonline services to help you create a

postcard-marketing program are

www.modernpostcard.comwww.amazingmail.com

Newsletters.Another effective direct-marketing tool is the newsletter, whetherdelivered by mail or email. A key benefit ofnewsletters versus personalized campaignsis that you can provide something for

everyone in each issue, thus reaching alarger range of your prospect base with

each mailing. Ifyou sell medicaldevices, insteadof creating onedirect-mail oremail campaignfor surgeons,another for ane-

sthesiologists anda third for hospital administrators, you canprovide a newsletter with some articles thatappeal to each of these groups

A newsletter is a good way to keep yourcompanys name, products and services inthe minds of prospects. To make sure itdoesnt come across as an advertisement,you should include information that isuseful to readers. When they perceive thatyou are sending something of value, theywill keep reading it from issue to issue. Byfeaturing existing clients in your newsletterarticles, you can communicate to prospectswhat you have done for companies like their

Email

The rules for writing a successful directemail letter include all the rules wevediscussed for writing a direct-mail letter aswell as a few that are unique to theelectronic medium:

Email subject lines should be short, clearand personal.

The introduction to your offer, in the bodyof the email, also should be personalized.Sam, I thought this how-to guide toboosting data networking bandwidthwould interest you or Shelly, this mightsolve your data networking securityheadache will work better than Werethe specialists in data networking.

Do not use the words free or clickhere in subject lines or in the body ofyour emails, as they will trigger spamfilters. Visitwww.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter_avoidance.htm for more onthis subject. In addition, search onavoiding spam filters using your favoriteInternet search engine to learn moretechniques to keep your emails frombeing categorized as spam and thus not

delivered. Make the text portion of your emails shortand to the point.

Give your emailreceipients the

chance to opt-outof future mailings

own. To access a number of how-to articlesabout creating a company newsletter, visit

www.companynewsletters.com.
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Make sure email attachments are no morethan 2 MB. Many companies screen out

attachments larger than this unless therecipient has made special arrangementswith the corporate IT department.

Include a link to particular pages on yourwebsite that offer the documents whichexceed 2 MB in size, instead of using anattachment.

Issues surrounding email marketing andspam have recently been topics of much

debate and legislation. If you choose toinclude direct email marketing in yourmarketing mix, be careful not to spamyour prospects. To learn more, vi si twww.spamlaws.com for information aboutcurrent and pending spam legislation.

You also can use the Internet to edu-cate yourself about permission-basedemarketing. This includes opt-in, double

opt-in and opt-out functionality, which youneed to understand. Definitely give youremail recipients the chance to opt-out offuture mailings.

There is still a lot of debate about whetherto use simple text email or more graphicHTML formats. The benefit of using textemail for direct marketing is that itresembles email the recipient receives fromcolleagues and friends; in other words, itdoesnt look like advertising. In addition,you dont need to worry about colors andlayout with a text email. On the other hand,the graphical possibilities of HTML give youthe opportunity to enhance your marketingmessage. The downside of HTML emails is

they are more demanding to create than textemailsand they look more like ads than

text messages do. The best solution is totest both approaches and see what worksbest in your situation.

Fax

If email is not an option for your directmarketing program, fax technology may beappropriate. It is more expensive thanemail, but more economical than the

U.S. mail.

Before you decide to do fax directmarketing, you must familiarize yourselfwith the laws regulating this medium.Specifically, the U.S. Federal TradeCommission (FTC) has amended theTelemarketing Sales Rule; as a result,marketers are prohibited from spammingpotential customers with direct-mail faxes.

The penalties for doing so are stiff. For moreon the Amendment to the TelemarketingSales Rule as well as the National Do NotCall Registry, visitwww.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/donotcall.

Telemarketing

Telemarketing is a personal marketingtechnique that offers a cost-effective,

efficient alternative to field selling, but itcan be significantly more expensive thandirect mail and email. Using tele-marketing, you can reach up to thirtydecision-makers a day at a cost of $15 to$20 per contact. In contrast, with fieldsales, you can reach only four or five
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decision-makers a day at a cost of $325 ormore per contact. Direct mail may cost aslittle as a dollar, and email is often muchless.

Start planning your telemarketing programby defining your objective: What do youwant to have happen as a result of the call?

That will help you identify the right peopleand companies to call and assist you inwriting a telemarketing script or call guidefor your phone representatives.

The telemarketing call can be divided intofour parts:

The opening statement. Yourtelemarketers should identify themselves

and your company, and then quicklyexplain why they are calling. They shouldask if they have called at a convenienttime. Under no circumstances shouldyour telemarketers inquire, How are youtoday? This is a question friends andcolleagues use to start a conversation, not

Six Steps for Hiring In-house Telemarketers

1. Require applicants to apply via voice mail.

2. In your outgoing voice-mail message, describe the job and the best candidate.

3. Instruct the phone applicant to leave your name and phone number slowly and clearly at thetone, then take up to three minutes to tell me why you think youre the best candidate for the job.

4. Use the telephone to further screen those who impressed you with their voice-mail messages.Ask the applicants to email you their resumes and explain in the email why they think they areright for the job.

5. Conduct in-person interviews with finalists only.

6. Administer aptitude tests to those whom you are considering hiring.

telemarketers. Instead, your phonerepresentative should tell the prospecthis/her name and company, explain thepurpose of the call and ask if it is a goodtime to talk.

Engagement. Your telemarketersshould engage prospects in a conver-sational interview and not just talk at

them.Qualification. Using your telemarket-

ing script or call guide, your reps will beable to determine whether or not theprospect meets your lead-qualificationcriteria.

The close. To close the call, thetelemarketer should restate the agreed-to next steps and ask for confirmation.

Telemarketing programs can often fail if youdo not take the following steps:

1. Plan call execution appropriately2. Obtain management support3. Measure the results


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Personnel issues are the other major reasonfor failure. You cant put just anybody on

the phone or give telemarketers two jobs.You must hire the right people for the joband train them. In addition, be sure to treatyour telemarketers well as they take a lotof rejection on the phone and need to feelrecognized for their efforts.

Depending on your marketing needs andresources, you may decide to outsourcetelemarketing to a third-party provider. To

select the most appropriate telemarketingcompany, consider the providersqualifications:

Industry experience References Sizewill your company be a big fish or

small fish to the provider?

Make sure you know who at the

telemarketing firm will own your businessrelationship and that you think that personis someone with whom you can work well.Also make sure you set clear expectationsregarding the quantity and quality of leadsyou require.

ONLINE MARKETING

Online marketing tactics include websites,

Internet advertising and search engineoptimization.

Websites

There are two approaches to using websites:

Use your companys website as amarketing medium. To make the bestimpression on visitors, make sure yourwebsite is well designed, offering eyeappeal, helpful content and easy-to-navigate functionality.

Leverage third-party websites to generateleads. Examples include placing banner

ads on the home pages or special sectionsof industry sites, writing articles for thosewebsites, including your company inonline directories and advertising in othercompanies email newsletters.

Your website. You can use yourcompanys website to bridge the gapbetween sales and marketing with in-depthpresales information about your products

and services, the industries and applicationsyour company supports and competitivecomparisons. Your website is an ideal placeto start a dialogue with prospects and toshorten the sales cycle.

Make it easy for your prospects to seethemselves in the marketing messages onyour website. You can do this by includingtestimonials from actual customers, a listof past and/or current clients, a descriptionof industries you have served, applicationnotes and customer case studies.

Use strong offers and easy-to-use responseforms to persuade visitors to request moreinformation, thus identifying themselves asprospects. After you have captured the


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prospects contact information this way, youcan transfer the data to your marketingdatabase for use in future lead-generationmarketing.

Your website should include plenty of offers,such as a free enewsletter, white papers,how-to guides or tip sheets. There shouldideally be an offer on every page.

In addition, you need to put a human faceon your company. Customers dont really

hire your company, they hire your people.Therefore, you should include photographsof your people, smiling and looking friendly,on your website. You could even use stockphotos for this purpose. Stock photographyis available from corporate stock-imagerywebsites, including www.corbis.com and

Get More Information from Your Website Visitors

There are two approaches worth considering if you want more than a minimum of information fromyour website visitors: either give them something special in return for giving you more informationabout themselves or try the dating approach.

Give them something special.

This approach means that in order to qualify for the special offer, prospects must give you morethan their email addresses. Many people will gladly give you additional contact and qualifyinginformation if they perceive that they will value your offer. When the manufacturer of my car sentme an announcement of the companys new website, I tossed the letter in the wastebasket.However, when the company later offered me a pair of high-quality binoculars just for registeringat the same website, I found myself digging in the glove box of my car for the requested vehicleidentification number!

Dating

This approach involves waiting for the right time and circumstances to ask for more informationabout your visitors. Prospects perceive this as less intimidating and less pushy. Just as askingsomeone to marry you during the first date is unlikely to result in a yes, asking first-time websitevisitors to tell you everything about themselves can be asking too much too soon. Instead, offer tosend them additional information right away, along with an offer for more if they tell you moreabout themselves.

www.comstock.com. Or search the Internetfor stock photos using your favoritesearch engine.

Use your website to connect prospects withyour people, and make it intuitive forvisitors to find the information they requireto make a response. Post your companysphone numbers, fax number and emailaddresses in an obvious place, typically ona Contact Us page. If visitors are forcedto hunt through your website for a way to

respond, they may well leave withoutcontacting youand never return.

You can use your website to provide accessto a range of data and services, includingsubscriptions to new product and service
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emailings, seminar registration, eventcalendars and your own online newsletter.

Design your website with functionality thatmakes it easy for visitors to spread the wordabout your company. One way you can dothis is with a tell a friend button.

To make sure visitors can quickly find yourwebsite in the future, include a bookmarkthis page button.

Include a printthis page buttonon pages thatprospects willlikely want toprint. Make sureyou design thesepages so that theyprint well or sothat they link to a

printable versionof the page.

Finally, make it easy for visitors to obtaininformation about your products orservices. On every page of your site, includean information request button. Thisenables readers to identify themselves andtheir needs and to request that detailedinformation be downloaded as files orquickly emailed or mailed to them.

Third-party websites. Building apresence on a third partys website can bean effective way to reach more prospects.Third-party websites include portals,association sites, business publications,directories, other companies websites and

industry or community sites. Rememberthese tips if you decide to explore this

option:

Make sure the website has an audienceand that the audience is the right one foryour products and services.

Make sure the owner promotes thewebsite.

Check to see if other advertisers aregetting good results.

Make it easy foryour prospects tosee themselves in

the marketingmessages onyour website

Search engine optimization

Search engines provide a great service tomarketers and buyers alike. As amarketing medium, Search enginesprovided the lowest cost per lead amongvarious direct marketing methods,according to Jack Myers LLC and U.S.Bancorp Piper Jaffray, a subsidiary of U.S.Bancorp (Direct Marketing Association,

March 2003). In addition, Seventy-fourpercent of C-level executives rely on theInternet to find out about new products,eMarketerreported (December 2002).

Therefore, you should use search engineoptimization to increase your chances ofattracting visitors to your website. Yourgoal is to have your website come up nearthe top of the search results whenprospects type keywords related to yourbusiness into a search engine, such asGoogle, AltaVista, Excite, Lycos, Yahooor MSN.


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Search engine submission tools are a goodstarting place for search engineoptimization. For example, MicrosoftbCentrals Submit It! service, available atwww.bcentral.com/products, is designed tochannel customers to your website by listingyour companys URL on hundreds of leadingsearch engines and directories.

The next step is to familiarize yourself withservices available for search engineoptimization. To learn more about suppliersof these services, visit the following sites:

sherpastore.com/page.cfm/1759www.searchenginewatch.com

In addition, an ebook entitled The UnfairAdvantage Book on Winning the SearchEngine Wars is available from Planet Ocean.You can buy the book and six months ofupdates atwww.planetocean.com.

You may determine that the best way tooptimize your website for search engines isby buying keywords. Online services are

Tips for Submitting Your Website to Search Engine Providers

Put keywords or phrases people will use to search for your kind of company, product or serviceinto your websites page titles, meta tags andin the visible text on each webpage, so that searchengine spiders will catch them.

Submit every appropriate page of your website to leading search engines, with a maximum of fiveURLs (page addresses) at a time.

Refresh your sites content and resubmit to the search engine providers often.

Encourage other websites to include links to your website.

Use Flash sparingly. Todays popular search engines cant read it.

available to help you do so. These servicesinclude the following:

Google AdWords, which provides cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, so you pay onlywhen users click on your ad. You controlyour costs by setting a daily budget for whatyou are wi ll ing to spend. For moreinformation, go to www.google.com and

click on the Business Solutions link.Overture Premium Listings, whichalso offers CPC pricing and assures that yourwebsites URL appears in the leading U.S.search engines. With this service, you setthe price youre willing to pay for each saleslead and pay only when your customersclick through to your site. For moreinformation, go towww.overture.com.

EVENTS: TRADESHOWS

Generating high-quality leads at tradeshowsrequires preshow, at-show and postshowplanning.
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Preshow

Show selection.You must carefullyevaluate and select the tradeshows at whichyou will exhibit. Are the shows attendeeslikely prospects for your products orservices? Its better to have a couple ofhundred very qualified leads than thousandsof leads from people who may not be realprospects. Business-to-business marketerswho focus on a particular industry orvertical solution often report great success

at tradeshows that specifically target theirindustry.

Goals. You cant determine the success ofyour exhibit without first knowing what youwant to achieve. Therefore, you need to setmeasurable goals. Marketing and salespersonnel, as well as your exhibit vendor,should be involved in establishing thepurpose of exhibiting. Make your goals as

specific as possible. How many qualifiedleads do you hope to generate? What is yourdefinition of a qualified lead?

Show plan. Put your show plan in writing,including a workable schedule anddesignations of who is responsible for eachtask. Dont wait until the last minute to dothis, and make sure your management signsoff on the plan.

Messaging. Like all good marketing, agood exhibit communicates one majormessage clearly. This will more effectivelyattract prospects to your booth than thecluttered image projected by companiestrying to communicate too much.

Booth design. Design an open, inviting

booth. Dont block booth access with tablesand countersyour goal is to drawattendees into your booth. Use interestinggraphics to engage them. If space permits,provide comfortable chairs to encourageprospects to linger.

Invitations. Identify your key prospectsand invite them to visit your booth. You alsocan mail your customers and prospectscomplimentary passes to the exhibits; thesepasses often are available free from showmanagement. Call and remind invitees tostop by your booth, and pique their interestby telling them about your new products orservices.

Merchandising.Leverage your marketingcommunications to merchandise showparticipation. For example, include a tagline in your email signatures such as, See

us at Booth 1525 at the Widgets Expo. Youcould also include free exhibit passes withyour inquiry-response materials. You couldpublish an article in your companynewsletter listing tradeshows andconferences where you plan to exhibit.


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To generate media attention, send a mediaadvisory email about any new product or

service you are highlighting at the show, andhave a press release or press kit explainingnew products or services you will beintroducing at the tradeshow ready andavailable in the press room. Taking this astep further, invite editors to stop by orschedule appointments with your keypeople. Be sure to have your spokespersonprepped with the key messages you aretrying to get across to the reporter. And haveresources for the reporter to use, includinga company backgrounder, a fact sheet oneach new product or service, a bio of thespokesperson, and stats and facts about theproblems the industry is facing that yourproduct or service resolves. The easier youmake it for the reporter to tell your story,the more likely it is that you will getcoverage.

Training. A show is your staffs first

opportunity to make a good impression ofyour company. It is imperative to train yourexhibit staff before each show so they knowwhat is expected of them. They also needdetailed information about any newproducts, services or company policies youplan to announce at the show.

Lead qualification. You should designa custom lead form to use at tradeshows.Be sure to include questions that will qualify

your prospects according to the immediacyof their needs, purchasing authority,budgetary situation and so forth. (For moreinformation on lead qualification, seeHowto Boost Your Companys Sales withMarketing, another how-to guide availablefrom Mac McIntosh Incorporated.)

At-show

Staff identity.To create a unique identityfor your booth personnel, have everyonewear matching blazers or tee-shirts. Orsimply give each staff member aboutonniere to wear and ask everyone towear the same color pants and shirts. Thegoal is to make it easy for prospects insearch of information or assistance toidentify your people.

Giveaways.If its appropriate, build boothtraffic by handing out premiums thatinclude your company and contactinformation. You can also merchandiseyour giveaways in preshow invitations. Forexample, include the cap from a high-quality pen in a preshow mailing that invitescustomers and prospects to pick up the restof the pen at your booth.

Demos .You can use li ve or videodemonstrations to attract attendees to yourbooth and teach them more about yourcompanys products or services. Demosalso give you the chance to effectivelycommunicate to a number of prospects atone time.

Record everything. Large shows mayhave electronic systems available to capturelead information by swiping the attendeesbadge, but you may find yourselfparticipating in regional shows that do notoffer this option. At these smaller shows,you need to train your booth staff to obtain


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each prospects business card and/or torecord all prospect information.This

includes everything they can learn aboutprospects needs and applications.Emphasize the importance of obtainingphone numbers, email addresses and faxnumbers. As an incentive, considerawarding a prize to the employee who turnsin the most completed leads in each shift.

Postshow

Literature.You need to send requestedliterature or samples immediately after theshow, so have your literature packaged and

ready to mailor email beforeyou leave forthe tradeshow. Assoon as the showis over, get therequests for in-

formation to yourinquiry handlersimmediately. Theyshould send ther e q u e s t e dmaterial to pro-

spects within twenty-four hours. Fastresponse is your second opportunity to geta jump on your competition and make afavorable impression.

Teasers. When send ing requestedinformation, include a teaser on theenvelope or in the subject line of the email.Something like, Heres the information you

requested from the Information TechnologyExpo works well to get your package past

the assistant and into the prospects hands.

Where-to-buy information.Give yourprospects the information they need to takethe next step. In your literature package,include the names, addresses, phonenumbers and email addresses of your salescontacts.

Follow up. Use the telephone, mail and

email to follow up with prospects. Your goalis to build sales-winning relationships withyour prospects and further qualify them.Telemarketing, direct mail, email andnewsletters are cost-effective, efficient waysto do this.

Track leads.For the purposes of showevaluation and planning, its important totrack tradeshow leads through to the sale.

Did the qualified prospects buy? How muchdid they buy? You can use the answers todemonstrate to your management theshows return on investment and to increasethe odds of show budget approval next year.

Show evaluation. After each show,perform a critical evaluation to look at whatwent well and what did not. Critique eachaspect of the show and ask your salespeopleand other participants for comments. Payspecial attention to feedback pertaining tolead quality. This information will help youmaximize the effectiveness of futuretradeshows.

You must carefullyevaluate and

select the

tradeshows atwhich you willexhibit


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EVENTS: EDUCATIONAL

If you are on a shoestring budget and cantafford to exhibit at tradeshows, you can stillinclude events in your marketing mix byhosting seminars, executive briefings andlive demos.

In contrast to tradeshows, which can beused effectively to generate leads, thesesmaller events are more useful for movingknown prospects toward buying. The goalhere is to provide prospects withinformation they need to make a buyingdecision. Therefore, your guest list shouldconsist primarily of prospects with whomyou have already built a relationship.

Cheeks in seatsversus webinars

Seminars include live cheeks-in-seatsevents and Internet-based webinars. A liveseminar or demo may require as little asan hour or as much as a day. The contentyou are providing will determine the length.

Seminars, workshops or executive briefingsthat include a meal can be very effective.One approach is the lunch and learn andanother is the executive breakfast. An idealtime to get busy executives to come to alive program is early in the morning, beforethey go to the office.Avoid Mondays, as thereis an increased risk of someone headingright to the office and forgetting to showup. And avoid Friday afternoons when yourisk competing with attendees plans to startan early weekend.

Nothing beats face time with prospects;however, in-person events can have a high

price tag. Webinars can be moreeconomical and time-efficient than liveseminars, both for your company and forattendees. Executives often are more willingto fire up their Web browser and dial aphone number to participate in a webinarthan they are to drive to the local hotel fora live presentation.

Webinar technology is ideal for short

briefings, technical overviews and othersubjects that can be covered adequately inan hour or less. A few leading pro-viders of webinar serv ices includePlaceWare (www.placeware.com), WebEx(www.webex .com) and Raindance(www.raindance.com).

Whatever format you choose, there aresome basics to marketing your educational

events:

Pre-event promotion, including con-firming registrants.

For live events, sending clear directionson how to get to the venue.

For Internet-based events, sending cleardirections on how attendees will log intothe meeting.

Sending a reminder email or givingregistrants a call on the eve of the event.

Adequate follow-up after the event, withattendees as well as no-shows. The factthat someone didnt show up onlyindicates a schedule conflictthe personwould not have registered for your eventif he/she were not interested in yoursolution.
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Speaking engagements

As an alternative to hosting an event, youcan leverage the events of other groups,companies or associations by providing aspeaker. Possibilities include educationalsessions at tradeshows, local Chamber ofCommerce meetings, professionalassociation meetings and marketing eventssponsored by your companys corporatepartners. To ensure that these appearancesactually generate leads, your speaker

should ask attendees to exchange theirbusiness card for a copy of the presentationor some other relevant giveaway.

If you have implemented all the lead-generation techniques described earlier

the recipe for successand still havesome budget to invest, you may wish tobranch out into print advertising and publicrelations to generate additional leads.

ADDITIONAL TACTICS YOUCAN USE TO GENERATE LEADS

Print advertising

Print advertising opportunities range fromthe business section of your localnewspaper to industry, business or

association magazines or newsletters.

Generating qualified sales leads with printadvertising requires techniques differentfrom those used to create image or brandadvertising. The latter relies on imagery andlanguage to create an emotional response.

Lead generation is not the goal of this typeof advertising. The following tips, combinedwith the pointers in the Sales Lead-Generation Checklist at the end of thisdocument, will help you craft successfullead-generation ads.

Benefits in headlines. If you put abenefit or description of the businesssolutions your products or services offer in

the headline, youll have a better chance ofcatching the readers attention andgenerating a request for more information.

Discuss applications. If your productor service is ideal for specific applications,say so. When readers recognize theirapplication for your product or service, theyare more likely to respond. For example,youre more likely to get an inquiry fromsomeone in warehouse operationsmanagement if she notices your radiofrequency identification solution is ideal fortracking inventory.


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Make an offer they cant refuse. Ifyou want readers to respond, you need to

give them a convincing reason to do so.Compelling offers include

Application notes showing how otherbuyers solved their problem using yourproduct or service.

A product sample or demonstration CD,cost permitting. Prospects may want totry your product before they buy, and thisgives them the chance.

Useful premiums or advertisingspecialties. Try to make sure your offer isof interest only to qualified prospects. Forexample, a guide to selectingthermoforming equipment will only beinteresting to people who are thinkingabout buying thermoforming equipment.However, a lot of people might want a freepocket screwdriver set or the chance towin a DVD player; many would inquire

for the sole purpose of getting thepremiumnot because they have a needfor your product or service.

Spur fast response.Give your readers acompelling reason to inquire right away.Youll receive more inquiries if you designan offer that rewards those who inquireimmediately. Consider the following twoexamples:

If you are one of the first 500 to inquire,well also send you a free booklet entitled15 Ways to Cut Your Customer ServiceCosts While Increasing CustomerSatisfaction.

Request more information beforeDecember 31, and well include a coupon

good for $500 worth of free training.

Buying cycle. Match your offers to thebuying cycle. When prospects are juststarting to gather information, they mayneed literature, but are not yet ready for asales call. When it is almost time to buy,prospects are usually anxious to attend aseminar, speak with your salespeople, seea demonstration or discuss pricing.

Packaging your offer. Advertisers havefound that the packaging can be asimportant as the offer itself. For example,if youre offering literature or samples,include a small picture of the item. If youuse a coupon, show a little pair of scissorscutting out the coupon. If you use toll-freephone numbers, make sure the numbersare big and bold in the marketing message

so that they stand out. These techniquesmake it very clear what the readers nextsteps should be.

Mention your website. Make it clear toreaders that they can get the rest of the storyabout your products or services instantlyby visiting your website. Then make sureyour website makes it easy for them to findthis information. Consider using a uniqueweb address for each ad you run. This is aneasy, inexpensive way to track youradvertising response rates and help getresponders directly to the information theyseek.


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Frequency. Maximize your advertisingdollars and frequency by using fractional

ads, such as half-page and quarter-page ads.

Media selection. When choosingpublications in which to advertise, con-sider your companys geographic scope. If

you do businessin only one geo-graphic region,you dont needto advertise in

national mag-azines. Selectregional pub-lications thatserve your mar-ket, such as thenewsletter of thelocal chapter ofan engineeringassociation.

Public relations

Generally speaking, public relations (PR)includes everything from writing speechesfor the CEO to managing crisiscommunications. But when it comes tomarketing for leads, the most relevant PRactivities are those that create qualified sales

leads. The most common lead-generatingPR technique is garnering editorialcoveragegetting a mention of yourcompany, products, services and/ormanagement in articles published by the

magazines and newspapers your prospectsread or getting a by-lined article written by

a member of your company in a targetpublication. This approach can have asignificant impact on your marketing-for-leads effort.

As with print advertising, you need to havethe basics of your marketing-for-leadsrecipe firmly in place before branchingout to public relations.

Although editorial coverage is much lesscostly than paid advertising, it requires timeand commitment to developingrelationships with the important reportersin your industry. For the greatest success,you should plan to do a full program gearedtoward editorial coverage rather than anunstructured series of attempts to get ink.

General information about public relations

strategy can be found at

www.prsa.orgwww.iabc.com

Your PR program should incl ude acombination of the following elements:

Stand-alone press releases, email pitchesand/or media advisories

Press kits (including items such as acompany backgrounder, managementbios, product or people photographs,press releases and reprints of articlesabout your company)

Setting up your management as a sourceof experts for media interviews

Generatingqualified sales

leads withprint advertising

requires tech-niques different

from those used tocreate image or

brand advertising
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Relationship building with editors Customer success stories

Feature articles written by yourmanagement (or ghostwritten for them)

If you have the funding and managementcommitment to launch a PR program butlack the expertise to do the work in-house,look for third-party PR professionals whocan help you plan and execute yourprogram. This kind of help is available ona contract basis. Find a PR professional with

expertise in your industry. Ask the localtrade press reporters who they wouldrecommend and/or ask the PR departmentof your trade association to recommendprofessionals who know your business.

You can also find professionals who areexperts at public relations through websitessuch as

www.prsa.orgwww.workinpr.com

PR tips

Whether you hire a contractor, a PR agencyor create your own PR program,you shouldtake the following important steps:

Create a list of target publications

and get to know them.Whoreads it?What kind of in fo rmat ion does theperiodical publish? If the publicationspecializes in product news, the editorsprobably dont want your press releaseannouncing the appointment of a new chieffinancial officer.

Talk to the editors.Before contactingany editor, review the publication and its

website. Then determine which editor is thecorrect one to contact. Call that editor andask about his/her needs and preferences.A current editorial calendar can usually befound at the publications website in theadvertising section. After reviewing thecalendar, you can decide which stories youcan offer to be a source or expert for, orwhich months you could offer a writtenexpert opinion piece.

If you are persistent, eventually you willspeak with an editor on the phone or inperson. Its a good idea to mention trends,research and technological developmentspertinent to the publication or the editorsbeat. This is the kind of information editorscircle back to as they receive assignments.

If you have a story idea you want to pitch,

call your editorial contact. Explain how thestory relates to the editorial calendar. Beprepared to send in a synopsis and storyoutline ASAP. If the editor asks you to submitthe entire article, be sure to meet or beatthe deadline, recognizing that the editorialdeadline is usually different from theadvertising deadline.

Press releases

When writing or reviewing a press release,make sure that what you are announcingactually is news. Editors are looking forinformation their readers want to know,usually about a service or product thatsolves a business problem or something thatis a new way of doing something or a way
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to save money. When talking about yournews, you need to address it from a readers

point of viewhow it will benefit the readerto know more about your product orservice.

A well-written press release should answerthe following questions:

What business problem is as yet unsolved?What is the product or service and how

does it solve the problem?

What does it do? How does it do it? Why should a reader care about this

product?What are its benefits?What are its capabilities?What are its key features? How much does it cost?When will it be available?

In addition, the release should avoid self-praise or glorification of your company.Eliminate words like revolutionary,unique or best. Its always better to havetestimonials or comments from customerswho have used the product to solve aproblem than to praise the product yourself.Also, be careful of jargon. Have someonewho doesnt know anything about theproduct read it and see if he or sheunderstands it. Remember, reporters do nothave the depth of knowledge about yourproduct or service that you do. Write simplyand clearly.

Your re lease must include contac tinformation as well. Include contact namesand titles, phone numbers, fax numbers and

email addresses clearly marked, either atthe top of the press release or at the bottom.

Offer photography to publications that useit, asking the editor about preferredformats. Today, most publications preferdigital files of photographs. However, if youare mailing the release with printed photosor transparencies, attach a sticker to theback of each indicating the product name,company name and contact information.

Although it is better to accurately target yourreleases to specific editors at specificpublications, there are some press releasemass-distribution services available on theInternet. These services will, for a modestfee, send your release to editors for you.Some to consider include

www.prnewswire.comwww.prweb.com

www.send2press.com

SUMMARY

Business-to-business sales lead gen-eration tactics such as letters, email,newsletters, the Internet, tradeshows,educational events, print advertising andpublic relations will generate the qualified

leads your organization needs to meet yoursales goals. The tactics outlined in this guidewill provide quantifiable proof that yourmarketing dollars are working for you, andthey will provide the repeated touchesnecessary for successful relationshipmarketing.
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When you implement an ongoing series oflead-generation programs that include

these proven tactics, you will stimulatequalified prospects to raise their handsand take the first step in the sales cycle. Itis a recipe for success.

To learn more about putting together amarketing plan designed to generate sales

leads, please refer to How to Boost YourCompanys Sales with Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Success-ful Business-to-Business Marketingfor Leads Program, available atwww.salesleadexperts.com/tools.

As you plan your lead-generation campaigns, use the following checklist to maximize results.

These techniques can and should be applied to all the types of lead-generation programs

discussed in this how-to guide.

Focused on inquiries instead of image/awareness

Easy to skim

Subheads

Bulleted copy

Captions for photos and illustrations

Talks about uses for the product or service

Uses testimonials (persons name/title or company name)

Runs frequently (to be there when the prospect is thinking about his/her problem)

Mentions multiple products or services

Talks benefits, not just features (answers Whats in it for me?)

Talks to both sides of the brain (photos, illustrations, icons, etc.)

Offers a compelling reason to respond today

Makes both kinds of offers (product/service andwhat theyll get if they inquire)

Merchandises the offer (Widget Selection Guide vs. brochure)

Uses compelling words like new and free (but dont use free in e-mails)

Talks second person (you and your, not we and our)

Makes multiple offers to appeal to various stages of the sales cycle (i.e., literature forearly, demo or seminar for middle, sales contact for late)

Asks for the order (tells prospect to inquire and how)

Offers multiple ways to respond (reader service, phone, e-mail, fax, website, coupon,

reply card, etc.)

Uses unique addresses (department number, URL, etc.) or phone numbers (phone

extension, etc.) to enable tracking of leads source

Sales Lead-Generation Checklist
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Mac McIntosh Incorporated601 Pendar Road

North Kingstown, RI 02852-6620 USAPhone: 800-944-5553 or 401-294-7730

Fax: 800-944-5513 or 401-679-0176Email: [email protected]

Website:www.salesleadexperts.com

2003 M. H. McIntosh. All rights reserved.

OUR MISSION IS TO HELP YOU: OUR EXPERTISE INCLUDES:

Generate more high-qualitysales leads

Convert more sales leads

into sales

Track, measure and increaseyour ROI

Demand generation

Inquiry Handling & Sales LeadManagement

Telemarketing

Direct Marketing

Database Development & CRM

Outsourcing of MarketingServices

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