Lead Generation Archives

Top Appointment Setting Tips to Fill Up your Calendar

July 18, 2018/in Appointment Setting, Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

The end goal of all your marketing efforts is the sales close. It’s basically the culmination of the tactics you have applied right from the beginning of your lead generation campaign down to an appointment with a sales representative.

From the get-go, careful strategizing is essential to generating the right audience for your product or service. But to translate these opportunities into actual sales demands a lot more than just the usual lead nurturing tactics that are being implemented by your competitors

After all, B2B appointment setting is crucial to the success of your marketing campaigns for obvious reasons. The fact that you need to transform your leads into paying customers is essential to growing your revenue. Without a proper process for setting appointments with potential clients, it will be difficult for you to reach the revenue goals you have set for your business.

Easy Appointments?

What could be possibly harder than that? Well, a lot of businesses outside the B2B arena are quick to say that appointment setting should be the easiest marketing task there is. In fact, there are a lot of misconceptions about setting appointments with qualified clients. One of these misconceptions is that scheduling an appointment isn’t complicated at all. Do you know what’s easier? Flying a 747 jumbo jet.

If you catch our drift, then appointment setting isn’t all that easy, to begin with. Being the threshold between a lead and a juicy sale, it’s an activity that involves a great deal of detail in order for it to produce the results you wanted.

This is the reason why most B2B companies, especially in Australia, are investing a lot of their resources on getting more booked sales appointments on the regular. Sure enough, the dynamics have become increasingly difficult for these businesses. As B2B buyers have become even more meticulous when it comes to selecting and purchasing the right solutions for their enterprises.

Creating the right plans

This poses a considerable challenge for businesses to handle. The aim right now is t focus on value and reduce the number of appointments it takes to rake in a sale.

For this, it’s vital for sales reps as well as the marketing team to plan effective strategies that can help their businesses close more deals.

Here are some of the best tips to help you with that:

Make the conversation sound natural

As much as we are all excited for the rise of automation in marketing, we can’t deny the fact that decision makers seek real human interactions. Though new CRM tools such as Google Duplex provide an easier path for businesses to navigate around a sales appointment, it’s still vital for sales reps to personalize their interactions and avoid relying too much on automated responses and call scripts. Opt to train your in-house appointment setters themselves and you will be filling up your calendar in no time.

Propel value

Nothing motivates prospects to take a course of action more than knowing the benefits on the other end. In other words, it’s important to provide your prospects with a good view of what they should expect from your product or service. By prioritizing what’s valuable to your prospects and avoiding being an advocate for your brand, you will be able to secure a better position for setting them up with a sales rep.

Ask the right questions

Decision makers instantly drop a telemarketing call due to the wrong queries. In appointment setting, it’s always best to calculate your steps, because the words you say no matter how insignificant they seem to you will determine the likelihood of a sales deal. For this, you will need to draft a guide containing the questions your appointment setters can use to nail a sales meeting.

Outsource your appointment setting

If you are cut for resources and time, you can consider outsourcing your appointment setting tasks. That way, your marketing and sales teams can focus more on generating leads and closing deals, respectively. To get the best results for your campaigns, you can delegate your these tasks to a marketing firm that knows your industry inside and out.

How to Approach Lead Generation in the Second Half of the Year?

July 17, 2018/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

Businesses in Australia, much like other companies across the world, have their eyes set on generating a high number of qualified leads. For the most part, leads translate to sales if the messages are right and if the proper strategies are set.

But in terms of acquiring B2B leads that are likely to convert, businesses will have to explore better approaches to the way they handle their marketing campaigns – if it means securing their positions in their respective markets.

It’s a no-brainer that lead generation comprises much of the activities that businesses will need to apply in order to build their audience as well as open up sales opportunities. But like previous years, the same problems continue to persist. And although businesses have differing opinions as to the issues they are facing with lead generation, these issues still require them to apply fresher and newer approaches.

Faster changes

After all, strategies in B2B lead generation change over time, which means to say, businesses will have to adapt to the changes in order to keep up with the competition. Sure enough, most of these changes can happen within a single year. So, just when you thought you have gained substantial successes with the strategies you have applied in January, can expect these strategies to be rendered obsolete in no time.

In other words, you shouldn’t always assume that your plans should work well across the board. Buyer preferences are changing and they are changing fast. Likewise, the methods to reach out to them are also rapidly evolving as disruptive technologies are being introduced on the regular.

With that being said, it has become essential for Australian companies to be vigilant of new innovations that could spell the difference between success and failure. In a way, the best strategy for lead generation should always involve modifying your marketing tactics, goals and key performance indicators to better flow with the changing times.

Best strategies before the year ends

Time does fly too fast, and the only way we can live with it is to keep up the pace. For that, your lead generation should always be continually optimised to suit prevailing trends.

For Australian companies, here are the strategies that would definitely work best before the Christmas bells start ringing again.

Approach No.1. Automate your Marketing

Marketo makes a perfect case for encouraging businesses to use advanced AI systems in managing their sales pipelines. Right now, marketing automation platforms have become even smarter. And the key innovation that drives the success of this technology is predictive analytics. From a CRM standpoint, such tools can benefit companies by simplifying the process of managing and nurturing leads. In this sense, automation would be your ultimate weapon when it comes down to increasing your lead volume and, in the long run, increasing your sales conversions.

Approach No. 2. Focus more on video and other visual content

Content still reigns supreme when it comes right down to generating qualified lead traffic. But if your company still prioritizes pure text content, then you might want to tone down a little on writing How To’s and listicles. Audiences right now engage a lot quicker through effective images and visuals. As a good rule of thumb, you can focus on producing informative and relevant videos as these will help you build inbound links on top of nurturing potential clients.

Approach No 3. Tone down on cold calling

Sure, telemarketing strategies are still significant in their own little way, but these methods are being pushed to the sidelines by digital marketing. While cold calling isn’t dead yet, it boosts your marketing further if you allocate a bulk of your resources on channels that produce the best results. And this is because the number of attempts at calling potential leads has increased. In this sense, a wiser approach would be to focus on approaches that drive engagements. You can start by beefing up your SEO efforts and delve into areas you haven’t explored yet, such as PPC.

B2B marketers in Australia will find it beneficial to drop whatever it is they are doing right now and adopt what’s currently “hot” and trending. But this doesn’t mean they should stop the strategies that offer consistent results. When you are in doubt about the supposed trends in lead generation right now, you can always consult your analytics to give you a more accurate illustration of the market landscape.

By adopting new trends and drive them using analytics, you will be able to secure your position or surpass the competition during the last half of the year.

The 5 F’s of Data Hygiene for Deeper Sales Conversations [VIDEO]

July 12, 2018/in Data Cleansing & Verification, Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

Data is the new oil.
Without it, your sales engine stops running.

Like oil, data needs to be refined.
Or else, it won’t fuel your sales machine.

The problem is that B2B data has a very short shelf life.

24% to 36% of your CRM data decays each year Tweet this!
25% of sales contacts are invalid at any given time

Poor data causes reps to waste 27.3% of their time,
and ends up costing you 12% of revenues.

The good news is that,
by following a few simple data hygiene best practices,
richer data-driven sales conversations are always within your reach…

#1 Find out what’s wrong

Start with a thorough audit of your CRM
Interview key data handlers and users
Identify what types of errors and potential issues you encounter

#2 Fix what’s broken

Validate data entry errors and typos first
Research and update inaccuracies like phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
Define rules for merging and removing duplicate records

#3 Fill missing values

Use the main company phone number as a placeholder until you obtain a direct line
Infer email addresses from common company-specific email patterns
Populate empty fields with data from publicly-available sources and third-party providers

#4 Fit data together

Follow standard naming conventions for contacts and businesses
Make sure to use consistent abbreviations and punctuations throughout a column
Create formatting rules for categorical fields (e.g., job titles, industries, etc.)

#5 Feed into a data management process

Plan for each stage of the data lifecycle (from collection to removal)
Automate as much as you can, but keep humans in the loop
Farm out a specific task when you don’t have the resources to do it in-house

Keep in mind that data hygiene is a continuous process, not a one-time thing.
Always go back to the 5 F’s:

Find
Fix
Fill
Fit
Feed

The Killer Way To Convert Leads Into Sales [GUEST POST]

July 11, 2018/in Lead Generation /by admin

Lead generation is one thing and lead conversion another.

The vast majority won’t convert on their own simply by following your standard funnel—they’ll often need that extra little kick to make them pick up the phone or make a purchase.

Whether you’re in a product or service-based business, here are some helpful tips to boost your lead conversion rates.

Focus on Lead Segmentation

Before you can improve your lead conversion, you’ll want to put some effort into qualifying and segmenting those you’re generating.

How can you tell who is likely to make the purchase compared to someone who is probably window shopping?

Look at those who have converted and identify patterns, so that you can put the structures in place to mimic that journey with others.

Your customers will vary in their needs, their budgets, and how they like to do business. Tailoring your communications to these factors will instantly pump up your conversion rate, while also increasing engagement and connection with your business.

Emphasise the Value

Another widespread issue is forgetting to communicate the value of your product or service as an investment.

Particularly for high price points, it’s too easy for potential customers to convince themselves that your offering is not essential. Instead, they’ll put it on their list of nice-to-haves when business is going well, and quite likely never get around to reaching out.

To target these almost-buyers, the secret is to place weight on the return on this initial investment—how are you going to revolutionise the way they do business or live their life?

As well as inserting this type of communication into your lead conversion and lead generation funnels, it’s the proposition that should underpin your entire business, and therefore be front and centre on your website and your pitch.

It’s completely possible that your USP will change over time as you get to know your customers and your target market.

Every six months or so, revisit your pitch and your web copy to ensure that it’s as relevant to your current market understanding as possible.

Remember to Ask

One of the most fundamental mistakes that’s common across organisations’ digital marketing strategies is also the most basic—they forget to flat-out ask.

It’s called a call to action, and it’s a must-have ingredient in every piece of communication in your funnel, be it a landing page, an email, or a pop-up window.

A well-timed and well-placed ‘Ready to buy? Here’s how’ can work wonders for your conversion rates.

Build Campaign-Specific Landing Pages

Landing pages are not just great for sending your readers exactly where they want to go.

They’re also spectacular for tracking lead generation and conversion. Rather than making estimates about your website traffic, you can specifically see which campaigns were successful and which could do with improvement.

Landing pages should be designed to convert, and they’re instrumental parts of all the best digital marketing strategies.

That means having a strong heading or value proposition, a clearly-placed CTA, and minimal detailed information.

Follow the best practices for quickly conveying communication, like including headings, dot points, colour and imagery where needed.

For starters, here are 15 web design hacks that convert traffic into leads.

Offer a Relevant Incentive

We all love free stuff. We particularly love it when it’s exactly what we’re after. If you want someone to sign up, and you can see they’re engaged with a particular content topic, offer them an ebook designed to address the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.

If they’re hovering around your shopping cart, but aren’t following through, offer them a discount to sweeten the deal.

Introduce a Deadline

Similar to an earlier point, adding a deadline to convert can bring that much-needed sense of urgency to your would-be customers.

It might be a simple ‘Buy before this date for your free gift’, or it might be one final email to non-responders announcing that this will be your final communication with them unless they would like to make a purchase.

As well as upping your lead conversion, this one weeds out the bad leads and helps you refine your digital marketing strategies regardless.

Anticipate Questions or Concerns

When you’re in the headspace of your customer, you’ll be able to better anticipate what they’re thinking, and what potential issues they might have with your product or service.

Send a piece of communication that resolves it and you’ve broken down one more barrier to purchase.

Is your product tricky to grasp? Send a how-to video.

Perhaps you know that your leads are often stolen at the last minute by your competitor. Write a piece comparing your offerings, and why yours is the better choice.

An FAQ page on your website is another handy tool, as is a pop-up chat window for people who want a question answered before they commit.

Follow Up With a Call

For service-based or high-cost product-based businesses, it can be quite remarkable to watch how much a simple follow up call can nudge people into taking action.

For one-off, lower-cost products, this kind of time and effort is going to be a waste of your resources.

But when we’re talking about ongoing clients or serious figures for every sale, it can certainly be worth your while.

A phone call is better than an email for a number of reasons.

First of all, it’s instant. It encourages action in the moment when you have them on the phone.

Second, it’s more personal. Connecting to an actual human voice is extremely valuable, as most of us know that the majority of our emails come from maligning lists and are subject to spam filters.

Third, it’s more of a transparent two-way dialogue. This can be your chance to answer any questions and give your final conversion pitch.

Content Marketing to Conversions: Is It Really Possible? [GUEST POST]

July 10, 2018/in Content Marketing, Lead Generation /by admin

Content marketing involves writing clear, fluent and high-quality content that will be able to promote the product it describes. High-quality content is likely to archive a high search engine ranking meaning it will be read by a large number of potential customers. The idea in content marketing is that the content should not only be read by a high number of potential customers, but also be persuasive enough to change the readers to customers and customers to fans. The primary goal of content marketing is making money from these contents but it is also possible the contents can lead to conversions if written by an experienced writer. Converting content is very important for successful content marketing. Below, are some of the ways in which you can make content marketing converting.

Avoid vagueness

Exactness is very important in building trust since it shows that your content is detailed and specialized in certain areas. Such content creates the urge to read more since what you are reading is well organized and to the point. Take an example of the titles “Learn about the hundreds of new baking companies” and “Learn about the 4,500 new baking companies in the U.S.”. When searching for information about baking companies, most people would choose the second title because it is specific and it is clear about what it is giving information about. This is the type of content you will read with all your concentration work by word till you finish reading it. In such cases it is likely that the text will provide you with the information you were not aware of before, thus changing your perception about baking.

Clarity

Writing content that follows the rules, doesn’t go outside the topic of discussion, is straightforward and clear ensures your work is understood by all your audience. It is wise not to write the full content from your own personal thoughts since it is likely that you will go out of topic or lose clarity in your content. Such kind of content may generate readers, but it is doubtful those readers will turn into clients. Your content should not only inform your readers but also be clear enough to benefit them so that it can increase the awareness of your brand. To create that kind of content, you should give an introduction of your topic, explain in an easy to comprehend language how it affects your readers, list your recommendations on how to face and benefit from the issue and provide clear gated content as a call for action discussing how the issues will affect your clients in the future.

Clear content is easy to understand and if the content is easy to understand, then readers will continue reading it until they finish it and sometimes even go beyond what they were searching for. Some sites give clear information in financing home improvements that is to-the-point and clear. This way the content may change their standpoint in many ways although the content was initially made for content marketing not for converting them.

Using questions

Questions are a very important weapon to the writers because of their interactive nature and their tendency to hook readers in the content by creating curiosity. They work well for conversion-oriented contents since they give room to the reader to frame a response. Take the example of the following two headlines, “Are you struggling with roofing problems? Here are 5 ways of getting the best roofing for your home” and “5 best roofing techniques”.

The question in the first headline makes it more interactive and persuasive than the second one and it is obvious that majority of the readers will choose the first headline since it looks more informative about roofing. The first impression is very crucial since readers will judge your content by it since there are other contents they can choose to get the information they need from. Questions make your content stand out from the rest thus increasing the chances for it to be chosen by readers and changing their perspective on the topic being discussed in the content.

Cut anxiety

Good content should reduce the reader’s anxiety by providing them with detailed information on the areas they are concerned with and showing them that the content they are getting the information from is credible and it comes from an experienced source who knows their needs and wants. Trust is a vital requirement for you to be successful in content marketing and cutting anxiety by providing high-quality contents for the readers is one way of ensuring that success. In your content, you should be able to describe how you, or a current customer, overcame similar problems that you were facing and what role your company’s products and tools played in addressing similar issues.

You should also share your real life and personal experience that your audience can relate to. This is a quick way of establishing trust between you and your clients and ones it is fully established, a lot of readers will look for your contents which are the aim of content marketing. It is very possible for readers to get converted by such kind of contents since they give the real-life experience and that is what many readers are looking for.

Give advice

In your content, you should give advice on the issues discussed but the readers will only believe you if your content is informative, dedicated to solving your reader’s problems and educational. For example, if your content is about the different types of leather, you should give detailed information about those types and give an advice on the qualities to consider when purchasing a leather item. If in your content you had limited information about those different types, readers will find it difficult to trust in your advice. Detailed content shows you are familiar with what you are writing about and it is very easy to change the reader’s standpoint in the process.

It is without any doubts that I say that in content marketing it is possible to change the reader’s point of view or convert him/her through a well written, persuasive content. Conversion-oriented writing grabs the readers’ attention, keeps them engaged throughout the content and encourages them to click on a CTA (Call to Action) to change readers into paying customers.

Digital Marketing Tactics for Your Melbourne Tech Business

July 3, 2018/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

We’ve all been there, another day at the office and a pretty boring one as we look through our old lists of IT leads and wonder how we can expand it. It’s happened to even the best of us digital marketing experts, but it’s no reason to worry.

Tech leads are not that hard to approach – contrary to popular belief and in this article we’ll help you devise a strategy to make sure you make the most out of your lead generation in Australia.

So sit back and get comfortable, it’s time for us to get to know the tech business in detail.

How Do I Go About Getting Leads?

There are plenty of ways for you to generate tech leads, especially in the Melbourne tech business. However, you have to note that you have to get your foundation firmly in place.

In these days, there is no substitute for customization and personalization, especially with reaching out to your customers and it’s the same with IT leads. You have to have the right information in place before you can start reaching out. Find out who your prospects are and do not be afraid to qualify them.

There should be a focus on the quality of the leads instead of the quantity because you want to minimize resource wastage at every step of the process. There has been a growing trend with companies using account-based marketing and inbound marketing because it is more resource efficient.

Once you have your information in place, you shouldn’t forget about the systems that you need in place so that you can track things.

Make sure that you also know what the competition is up to and adjust accordingly. Now we’re not telling you to steal leads, but we’re telling you to make sure that you are always well positioned and ready.

Using Digital Marketing For Tech Business Lead Generation in Australia

Now that you have the basics in place, you are ready to start harnessing the power of digital marketing to maximize your lead generation efforts.

Warm Up Your Prospects

Your first step is warming up your prospects, and social media is going to be your best friend at this stage. You can start sharing content that is directed to your prospects using channels that they frequently use such as mobile or email.

Start engaging with your followers while you are trying to build up a loyal following. You will find that it is easier to demonstrate your company’s prowess if you can show them your worth with the content that you are providing.

LinkedIn is a great place to start relationships and make connections that you can use for your business. However, it is important not to oversell yourself and instead focus on proper engagements and problem-solving.

Set Up Automation Procedures

We are living in a world of AI bots and automation, and you can’t be a tech business if you do not harness the power of technology. Set up automation for cold email outreach and replies, make sure you can get at least simple bot to answer questions for customer service, and exude that feeling of technological savviness.

Ensure You Make Use of CRO and SEO

Search engine optimization ensures that you are ready to hit the first page of SERPs, but how’s your CRO doing? Conversion Rate Optimization makes certain that everything from your CTA buttons to the way your forms respond is up to speed and can aid in conversion.

Are your landing pages built for conversion? Are your forms just too long? Is your meta description not “click-worthy”? These are just some of the things you have to consider.

Track and Then Track Some More

We mentioned this earlier, and this involves everything from cookies to Google Analytics. Set up goals and KPIs for you to be able to track the effectiveness of your campaigns. Torn between marketing options? Then, conduct A/B testing or split testing, tracking is the only way that you can tell what works and make sure that you are always up to speed.

Nurture Your Prospects

Last, but definitely not the least, is prospect nurturing. You have to make sure that the opportunities that you currently have are well taken care of. Some say emails are annoying, but we still think that they are still one of the most useful tools that we have.

Send your prospects customized content to have them interact with your site, link to your landing pages, and whatever it is you can do to add value to their experience with your business.

How To Manage(and Convert) Your Inbound Leads

June 27, 2018/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

More than 6,200 marketing experts from 99 countries coming from various industries, company sizes, and seniority or rank levels have spoken on the current state of Inbound this 2018. See what they have to say on this report from Hubspot.

69% of the respondents prioritize converting leads to customers, 54% aims to grow website traffic, 44% wants to increase revenue derived from existing customers, 42% would like to prove the ROI of marketing activities, 37% target sales enablement and 29% would want to reduce the cost of contact acquisition.

Here’s more, another study vouched on the strength of inbound: inbound marketers believe in their efforts more than outbound marketers with 68% inbound marketers and only 48% of outbound marketers claim their marketing efforts to be ‘effective’, 46% reported inbound marketing gave higher ROI, and only 12% reported for outbound. While discussion on higher quality leads for sales, 59% were positive for inbound and 16% for outbound; and when asked if which marketing tactic has improved in the last two years, 59% noted increase on inbound marketing and only 16% for outbound.

Looking at the reports, inbound marketing seems to be overbearing with potentialities and tenacity, yet marketing challenges are still encountered along the process which hamper achievement of the above goals: 61% of the respondents are challenged on generating traffic and leads, 39% on proving the ROI of their marketing activities, 27% on securing enough budget, 25% on managing website, 24% on identifying the right tools for their marketing goals, 23% on training the team, 22% on hiring top talent and 20% on targeting content for an international audience.

The sales funnel has a wide opening which means that it can accommodate a large number of leads, but this does not mean however that marketers could freely pour in just any amount into it. In order to maximize time, effort and costs for a lead generation program, one must ensure quality right from the start point of the process – generating quality leads that are highly sales-convertible.

Here are three major ‘responding to inbound leads’ tips that will not only generate more quality leads but decrease chances of marketing challenges:

Utilizing The Right Tool

Marketing automation is the trend and has proven effectivity on many accounts because of its qualification capabilities. However, marketers must couple their automation tool with the right lead scoring and grading to screen leads before they move down to the sales team to follow up.

Lead Response Time

A study from Harvard Business Review showed that sales reps are seven times more likely to have substantial conversation with prospects if they respond to them within the first hour; 60 times more to qualify a lead that if waited for 24 hours to follow up a lead.

Profiling The Prospect

The CRM may contain all pertinent information about the prospect but that won’t suffice the quality required. With careful probing and asking the right questions, reps will be able to profile the prospect’s demographic and psychographic data, his buying behavior and the business need.

Biggest B2B Lead Generation Challenges in Australia

June 13, 2018/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

2017 made a promise to beat the competition via some marketing tools that would make tracks on lead generation campaigns this 2018: Guestpost.com, IFTT, Wyng, Adwords Performance Grader, Colibri.io, Crazy Egg, Agorapulse, Todoist, Nuzzel, Social Image Resizer Tool, Wistia, Keyhole, Bananatag, VWO, and OptimizePress were the top recommendations. These tools were told to help maximize posting efforts, automate tasks, integrate one task with another like landing pages with existing software, identify expenditures, monitor conversions, customize images and insight on analytics. But has these tools paved the way for better lead generation campaigns this 2018?

Recent reports showed the following biggest B2B lead generation challenges in Australia:

Convert shared, that 38% of leads generated were invalid due to incorrect details like false names, invalid email and invalid phone numbers. These were processed leads, which means that time, money and effort have been spent in acquiring them but just went to nothing.
70% of CRM data is useless. These are false, outdated, incomplete or duplicated data filtered during database cleanse that eventually becomes uncontactable.
Related: A B2B Marketer’s Guide to a Fresh Marketing List
45% of data is submitted on a mobile device. This is a top concern on user experience for forms, landing pages, and on-form technology. Since almost half of the leads are generated thru mobile devices, every collateral you create must be mobile-compatible.
93% of B2B companies claim content marketing generates more leads than traditional tactics as per Marketo and Forbes. Your content marketing success depends on the kind of content you create and publish.
Related: The Difference with Australia-Specific Content to Generic Ones
93% of B2B buying process starts with an online search as per Pinpoint Market Research and Anderson Jones PR. Aside from reinforcing the importance of successful content marketing is putting emphasis on paid advertising in your search marketing efforts.
96% of website visitors are not possible buyers, Marketo found out. Getting high traffic on your website is not enough so a good lead nurturing process is required.
68% of B2B companies will still be using landing pages to nurture new sales leads for future conversion. Landing pages with more specific messages are likely to answer website visitors queries.
B2C companies that publish blogs more than 11 times per month generate 4x more as many leads than those who blog only 4 to 5 times per month, As per Hubspot. Although this is statistically true, marketers have to make ensure quality over quantity and understand that search engines work best for unique, detailed content over repetitive/short pieces.

Despite the growth of new innovative tools marketers continue to encounter lead generation challenges. Looking into the brighter side, this cycle will keep the marketing world competitive as emerging challenges will drive marketers to build better and greater marketing tactics year after year.

A Marketer’s Guide To Selling To The 4 Types of B2B Decision Makers

May 29, 2018/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

With the help of advanced sales and marketing tools, B2B decision makers are now easy to reach. However, one of the major challenges that marketers continue to encounter is getting a good number of quality leads which could be due to varied reasons like data validity, proper tools utilization, call handling etc. But one factor that may apparently affect quality leads acquisition is the sales and marketing person’s skill in profiling B2B decision makers – the capability to get to know the prospect better and understand his buying behaviour by just the way he talks and respond in conversations. This is a crucial point which could impede the buying process.

Take a look at the 4 types of B2B decision makers.

The Easy Buyer

The ‘easy buyer’ type is maybe the easiest decision maker to talk with. He could swiftly decide on an option when prompted with possibilities, but no one can question his decision making instincts. His snap judgments may seem superficial but you should never take that for granted as he might just expect the same treatment from you; more so don’t keep him hanging on with questions and second thoughts, otherwise, you will lose the grip.

The Inquisitive Buyer

The ‘inquisitive buyer’ may be asking you a lot of questions but that doesn’t mean he is zero on the subject you discuss; at some point maybe, yes, but you must consider the idea that he might be prying on how well-thought of a marketer you are. So you must be knowledgeable, if not the expert, on the subject matter you speak about. This type of buyer does not quickly decide regardless how enticing the offer may be. Keep some notes handy.

The Debater

The ‘debater’ type of buyer is similar to the inquisitive who does his research well but one who is always ready for a debate. He shoots a lot of question but could quickly cut you off when he hears information or ideas contrary to his as he appears to be the most logical. He may sound too pushy but he just knows the ropes well, making him the best decision maker among the group. Be courteous and honest especially in gray areas of the subject but be sure to come back to him with accurate answers.

The Devil-May-Care Buyer

The ‘devil-may-care’ type may have done his research well and have carefully evaluated the options but one who would opt to toss a coin when nothing comes clear despite everything. His decisions may not be the best at all times so the responsibility of taking things on the right track is weighted more on your side. Lay down some more options and suggest forward ideas to help the lead roll down the sales funnel.

Track These KPIs and Learn How to Increase Sales Call Volume [VIDEO]

May 17, 2018/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

Telemarketing still pretty much remains a numbers game.

To deliver results, calls need to be made at scale.

Not convinced?

Let’s do the math…

Let’s say your funnel looks like this:

If you want your reps to meet 20 opportunities,
you need to call up over 1,000 prospects.

Keep in mind that’s all based on some pretty decent conversion rates.

If those percentages go down,
you have to call more contacts to hit your targets.

That’s why you need volume to get results.

To manage and improve sales call volume,
keep a close eye on these 4 crucial metrics…

#1 Calls Per Hour

This shows you the average rate an agent/rep places calls.
High calls-per-hour numbers are generally a good sign.
But when this metric is too high, it indicates low-quality conversations.
So, don’t look at this metric by itself.

#2 Average Call Length (Average Talk Time)

This indicates how much time an agent/rep usually spends on each call.
You want to keep average talk times below some threshold.
But very low call lengths can also mean low-quality conversations.
To understand this metric, also look at script complexity and amount of admin work required.

#3 Occupancy Rate

This is the ratio of time spent on calls versus time spent between calls.
It tells you how efficiently agents/reps use their time.
Occupancy rates greater than 1 indicate agents are spending more time calling than not calling.
If it’s below 1, it means something is keeping an agent preoccupied between calls.

#4 Calls Per Record

This shows how many times an agent/rep dials a record, on average.
It tells you how persistently agents pursue each contact.
Keep in mind that it takes up to 18 touches to reach a lead.
So, always be sure this metric is flashing on your dashboard.

To start managing your sales call volume, keep track of:

Calls per hour
Average talk time
Occupancy rate
Calls per record

Don’t Miss This Year’s Tech Trade Shows in Australia

May 15, 2018/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

Business events will no doubt continue to play a significant role in enabling companies to thrive in a highly volatile and competitive ecosystem. Trade shows, in particular, prove to be very effective along the lines of creating business linkages and building rock-solid brands.

In the age of social media, engagement basically drives business success. There is an even greater need for participation, and with that said, it has become essential for Australian tech companies to not miss out on the most important trade shows in Australia for the year.

Here’s a list you would want to put into your organizer.

CeBIT Australia

When: 15-17 May 2018

Where: International Convention Centre Sydney, Darling Harbour

If you are looking to exhibit your products and services to the right audience and in the right venue, this year’s CeBIT provides you a great venue for doing so. Now on it’s 17th year, the event rakes in at least 15,000 attendees with 300 plus organizations taking part in the tech exhibition, with products ranging from cybersecurity, AI and financial services.

Topics touching on industry issues, trends, and innovations will be delivered by some of the biggest names behind global brands, such as Symantec CEO Greg Clark, Yamaha CEO and Managing Director Horoshi Saijou, and AKIN CEO Liesl Yearsely.

Didn’t register in time for the CeBIT? Don’t fret. Read on and discover more tech events you can join in.

Integrate

When: 22-24 August 2018

Where: International Convention Centre Sydney, Darling Harbour

INTEGRATE is another important event in Sydney you wouldn’t want to miss out, especially if you are in the business of VR and AR integration. IT professionals and industry leaders will converge to explore new horizons in the AV industry, best business practices and seminars to enhance current knowledge on new AV products. For now, organizers are searching for people who can take part as education advocates and influencers.

Register here to represent your organization at Integrate.

Technology and Gadget Expo Melbourne

When: 13-14 October 2018

Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center

The Technology and Gadget Expo or TGE is one of Australia’s biggest technology and innovation events. Slated in the last quarter of the year, the TGE gathers influencers and entrepreneurs from Australia and other parts of the globe to showcase what innovations they have in store for the tech market. Product demonstrations and discussions are on the menu for companies from various industries including gaming, robotics, wearable technologies, and health.

Women in Technology Conference

When: 6-7 September 2018

Where: International Convention Centre Sydney

Women play a vital role in tech innovation. In fact, a considerable number of tech firms are run by women, demonstrating how the tech industry supports empowerment. This is the very reason why the Women in Technology Conference is being held. At least 1,000 delegates are expected, with discussions centering on the instrumental role that women have in organizational decision-making as well as key insights into specific technological trends and innovations. Aside from the usual keynote addresses, participants will also undergo technical classes and career development workshops. Though it doesn’t involve a lot of product exhibitions, the conference is no doubt a good way to involve your brand in issues that matter in the industry.

Be inspired by attending the Women in Technology Conference. Visit their site to learn more

Best Practices in Data-Driven Marketing You Wouldn’t Want to Ignore

April 30, 2018/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

As things go in the B2B industry right now, data remains to be a key ingredient in business. For sure, major players, as well as startups, will have to realize the value that data can provide to the bottom line. More than ever, businesses that want to compete for leads will have to come up with a data-driven marketing approach that will deliver the best results in lead generation.

Still, the challenges to a more data-centric strategy still remain even though a good 80 percent of marketers consider data as a crucial component in their promotional activities. Despite the fact that a majority of marketers are seeing great potential in using data, reliability and accuracy continue to prevent businesses from accomplishing their goals.

What’s more, adopting a data-driven marketing approach is an issue in and of itself, requiring B2B companies to make significant changes in the way they deal with their clients. This would involve breaking from routine marketing approaches and embrace methods that work out for the best.

Here are just some of those methods.

#1 Hire the best talents

The demands of clients are ever-evolving, and companies will have to make an effort in adapting to these demands rather than to just flow with it.

For sure, marketing trends are ever-changing, and you will see yourself implementing adaptive changes. In other words, you will be in a constant search for individuals who are capable of handling current technologies and understanding the present business terrain.

Marketing is slowly shifting towards data (or rather, it already has succumbed to data!), and this brings up the need for B2B enterprises to build teams that have a thorough understanding of marketing analytics and market intelligence to help you build effective strategies. After all, as more and more organisations handle an increasing volume of data, they will have to get the best talents to help them get around the intricacies and go straight to what needs to be done.

#2 Keep constant tabs on the most important numbers

Your business thrives on your numbers, so it is always best to keep your eye on the figures that show you how you are performing.

Still, marketing metrics is not every bit fun compared to content marketing. But crunching up and analysing these numbers is essential to creating an effective audience outreach approach. You just have to know which metrics to use to gauge your brand’s successes.

Ignite Digital Founder Matthew Goulart was able to list the most important metrics in an article posted on Entrepreneur. For him, creating effective strategies should be based on ROI, cost-per-action, returns on advertising spend, customer lifetime values, and customer retention rates. By focusing on these key metrics, organizations can improve their messaging and, eventually, open up more opportunities to get quality leads.

#3 Get the best technology to help you out

Your IT infrastructure determines how you are going to implement your strategies. Without effective software and equipment, you would not be able to realize your most crucial goals.

Data-driven marketing approach requires a considerable investment in technology for it to be able to work out for the best. For this alone, it matters a lot to select IT solutions that will surely unlock your campaign’s potential.

A word of advice: Aim for those companies that make use of behavioural marketing approaches.

#4 Work on your channels

The choice of a marketing channel is vital to engaging the right audiences. For one, every demographic behaves in certain ways, and this little-known fact should prompt you to find a marketing channel that offers the best numbers in terms of engagements.

For a start, you can identify social media platforms that are normally used by certain groups. Being able to observe the way they interact in these channels enables you to create relevant and engaging content.

A good way to approach this is to insert your brand into important conversations. Observe proper timing and you will be able to open up as many opportunities as you can handle.