The basic question was what do you do with a Web lead? Specifically, Damphousse presented his survey like this:

My question: Within a day or two of sending an initial email to someone, leaving a phonemail or posting an interesting blog article or tweet, I see they (or someone from their company) have clicked into and visited our site.

Now, how aggressively do I go after them? Do I pounce immediately? Do I pause and call shortly thereafter? Do I just nurture them? Do I wait a couple days then call?

This is definitely the top question we get about Internet lead management at Kaleidico. So, what do the experts say?

Well, the responses were varied from pounce to nurture and I think that is indicative of the complexity of lead nurturing. Every industry, campaign, and sales prospect list will drive a differnet answer to that question.

These are some of the rules of thumb I use for my clients (using the Damphousse scale):

Pounce - Call immediately
Pause - Give it 15-30 minutes, then call
Nurture - Let the visitor keep educating themselves, educate them softly if you can identify them
Wait - Wait a day or two, then casually call

Case studies in matching lead sources with lead nurturing strategy:

• Real-time leads from a lead provider: Pounce
• Aged leads from your database: Pause (give them a call, following up on your recent email - it will seem serendipitious)
• New (cold) lead list: Nurture (upgrade their priority in your CRM)
• Unknown prospect: Wait (identify several targets in the organization and start peppering in prospecting calls)

This is a great exercise! How would you answer this question for your organization or from your experience?

Sales Leads Process

Whenever you’re dealing with sales leads, you’ll need to have an effective sales process in order to manage them properly. If you do not have a sales manager, it is even more important to take the time to develop a process that is going to take you from start to finish in the easiest means possible.

You have enough to do without having to worry about what’s going on with your leads and your sales team and taking the time to handle pipeline management now will free you up in the future to handle the day to day needs of your business, while your sales are moving smoothly.

Utilizing a leads CRM system can help this process go even more smoothly, especially if you are dealing with numerous sales leads. By having a software application that can assign priority, send reminders for customer follow-ups and help you manage your sales team more effectively, you can guarantee that your sales department will function more smoothly.

Setting up a System That Works

Each company is different and you’re going to have different needs when it comes to organizing your team. The important thing to focus on is what works for your company, not necessarily what may work for another. There will be a time where you will need to test different strategies to see which ones work the best for your organization.

Pipeline management is most effective when you have a dedicated team that knows what they are doing. Do your best to make sure that the learning curve of how you handle leads is easy to understand and make your expectations clear. This will help your sales process immeasurably.

Customer Follow Up Schedules

Whether you decide to use a CRM system to schedule follow-ups or you are doing it the old fashioned way, figuring out which team members will be assigned to these tasks is an important step. You’ll want to put your best and most persuasive sales members on these calls. Don’t make the mistake of handing this off to an inexperienced sales person.

Scheduling the frequency of follow-ups is another important step to ensure your success. You don’t want them to forget about you, but you don’t want to be a nuisance either. Since some industries are more competitive than others, you’ll need to test what length of time works best for your specific organization.

Putting it Together

Your company can only be successful if you keep adding new clients and prospecting for sales. Having the right pipeline and the right lead management techniques is a vital part of this system and should never be overlooked.

Picking an Analytic Program

The first step towards measuring your marketing ROI is to select an analytic program. There are numerous different applications both for offline and online use, but one of the most popular is Google Analytics. If you are using Google’s AdWords, this application is absolutely vital to ensure you are not overspending on your campaigns.

Regardless of the application you select, the important thing is being able to effectively track and manage your sales, the results of your different campaigns and your marketing metrics. Without this information, you are effectively working in the dark and your business will suffer, even if you don’t realize it.

Interpreting the Data

It’s one thing to have the data for your marketing metrics at hand, it’s another to be able to interpret it correctly. This is why picking the right application is necessary for your success. You need to be able to easily look at the data and see where you may be going wrong. You need to have the ability for testing campaigns and measuring their effectiveness against one another.

While you can do this manually, it is more work than necessary and it is simply much easier to have an application take the data and present it to you in reports that are easy to understand. If you have a sales manager, they will find their work made much easier when they can collaborate with you on these reports and see what areas they need to improve on as well.

Enacting Change

Once you have the ability to measure marketing ROI and you’ve got the data in front of you, it will only be worth anything if you actually enact change. Testing campaigns helps you see what may or may not be working and allows you to easily make even the smallest changes before they can get out of hand.

For example, let’s say that you are running a PPC ad promotion for a specific product. The click through rates on your ads are fantastic, but you’re not closing the deal. This is an indication that something is wrong with your landing page. The longer you let it sit, the more money you’re going to be wasting on your pay per click ads. You’ll need to make changes and watch the trends to see what precisely needs to be done.

In today’s online world, we have so many different options available that can help us be successful, but we need to make use of them and we need to listen to the data that is being presented. Once you have this in motion, you’ll be able to achieve your sales goals much more easily and you may even surpass them.

Social Networking is Tricky

Social networking is incredibly powerful, but you have to use the right technique if you want to be successful. You can’t run in with your marketing guns blazing and hope to see increased sales and new customers. Today’s internet users are far too savvy for these techniques and your efforts will be for naught.

This requires a good deal of finesse and it is important to understand this or to work with someone that does when you are first starting out. Online marketing is not a one size fits all industry and you’re going to need to do a little modifying along the way if you want to stay on top and reap the rewards it can bring.

Lead generation on Facebook is remarkably easy, if you go about it the right way. The most important thing to remember is twofold. First, you have to consider your brand and second, you have to consider your clientele.

The Power of Facebook

Facebook is an application that quickly skyrocketed into popularity once it was opened to the general public. While most people use it to keep in touch with their friends, there are numerous ways that companies can utilize it for lead generation. The first is by actually connecting with consumers and building your own group.

This helps you achieve two goals at the same time. First, you’ll be establishing yourself and your brand as an authority and this will translate into increased sales down the road. Second, you are setting up direct lead generation that is highly targeted to your industry, making your sales job even easier.

The second way you can utilize Facebook for online marketing and lead generation is through the use of their advertising system. This is a great way to get new sales leads, and again you are dealing with highly targeted results. Millions of people are using this application on a daily basis and you can easily find new customers without much effort.

The Right Approach

We mentioned this briefly earlier in this article, but it bears repeating. Your online marketing approach needs to be different. You need to work on subtly and focus first on providing value and building a relationship with your new leads. This is not the time to hit them hard with a sales pitch – you’ll only alienate them and make a bad name for your company.

Remember, the internet is an incredibly small space and once you have a black mark on your company it is very difficult to recover. Take the time to build those relationship and work slowly and you’ll see much better results.

Sales Force Motivation: 5 Steps

Step 1 – Find the Strengths of Each Member. Your sales management staff should be able to assist you in determining the strengths and weaknesses of each individual team member. If you manage them on your own, you should already have a pretty good idea of what they can and cannot do. Take the time to study their past performance and put together a graph that shows how well they are doing. Having it in front of you in black and white makes a big difference.

Step 2 – Pick a Sales Goal. Before you start sales motivation, it is important to take a look at what you hope to accomplish. Your business is about more than just closing deals and if you are looking to create long term relationships with your clients, or if you need to see a specific amount of sales, this will need to be worked into your overall goal. Once you have an idea of what your team will be striving for, it will be easier to divide up the work.

Step 3 – Find Their Motivation. Unfortunately, motivating an entire team is not a one size fits all solution. Some may be motivated by monetary gains, while others would rather work towards another tangible goal. The key is having something tangible that has a high perceived value. No one wants to put in extra effort to win something that they could get elsewhere.

Step 4 – Set up a Timeline. In order to increase sales performance, you’re going to need to have a timeline and share this with your team. If the promotion will be ongoing and you don’t mind keeping up the incentives, then you can leave this open ended. However, most employees work best when they have a specific goal to meet and a specific time in which to do it.

Step 5 – Provide Individual Help. Some team members may need additional guidance and support in order to perform at their peak level. Have your sales management staff monitor team members to see if anyone is having difficulty meeting their goals. The sooner this issue is tackled, the less likely you will be to have to either fire a team member or have them quit. Since it’s easier to work with existing sales staff than train someone new, this is a great technique to utilize.

Sales motivation can be fun when your whole organization is working together towards a common goal. It helps increase employee morale and the benefits your organization can reap are numerous and more than just increased sales. If your company is struggling to make it in today’s tough economy, consider implementing these strategies.

Social Media Setup

If you are not familiar with online social media, it is a good idea to take a week to familiarize yourself with the different sites. Each one serves a specific purpose. For example, Digg.com is used to help promote useful or interesting pages, while Facebook is more for traditional networking. Twitter is a new service that allows you to collect followers and communicate with them in 140 character posts.

Even though these services are typically used for personal reasons, with the right marketing touch, they can be modified to suit marketing needs. The key to making social networking work for your company is how you approach it, and how you carry out your marketing plan.

Building a Plan

As with any form of networking, finesse is necessary. Online users of social media are incredibly savvy and they don’t appreciate blatant advertising. In order to be successful with social networking, you need to develop a plan, keeping this in mind.

For example, if you plan to use Twitter, it is best to keep blatant marketing posts to a minimum, and intersperse them with useful posts that provide your followers with useful information. In a nutshell, that is the absolute key to making any form of social media work for your company.

Useful Information = Devoted Followers = New Clients

Branding Made Easy

Social networking has made branding incredibly easy and incredibly perilous. With one wrong post, you can tank your company’s image and it can be very difficult to rise again. Although even today’s largest companies are using Twitter and Facebook, they still keep this in mind. The founder of Zappos, one of the world’s most successful shoe stores, uses Twitter daily, and there is much that can be learned from his approach.

Branding your company through sites like Facebook or Twitter can be accomplished in the way you interact with your followers, and the value that you provide them in exchange for following you. If you give them information that they can use, and you maintain a aura of professionalism, you will see results.

Making Your Network a Success

The best way to see how beneficial social media can be is to get out there and give it a try. Observe what other people are doing and find the approach that will work for your company. Take the time to develop relationships with your followers and you’ll be building a foundation for permanent growth for your company.

Although there are a few downsides to this form of marketing, by far it is the most cost effective means that small businesses can use to get their message across, build their brands, and increase their sales.

If you are interested in expanding your business through this type of marketing, there are a few things that you need to know ahead of time. If you feel at all uncomfortable or unsure about your campaign, it will show. In many cases, it is best to hire a professional telemarketing center to assist you, particularly if you don’t have the time, resources or simply the drive to get the job done on your own.
Let’s start with some common mistakes and how to overcome them.

Cold Calling Jitters

Even those who have been in marketing for years can shrivel up at the prospect of having to call thousands of leads. It’s easy to get tripped up by this fear, and this in turn leads to failure. Cold calling is powerful, but it should not be abused, or ignored. Here’s how to strike the balance.

1.    Offer something of incredible value that you honestly believe in. The secret to cold calling success is having a product or a service that you can really get behind. The enthusiasm will show in your voice, and that in turn will help that consumer warm to your pitch.

2.    Practice, Practice, Practice. You need to practice your pitch until it is completely memorized and flawless. Try it out on family and friends first, and see how they react. Take the time to change what isn’t working. The benefit to this extra work is that it won’t sound like you’re “reading” your pitch on the phone, and you’ll have that ingrained confidence that will help you sell your product.

Increase Contact Rates

Next, let’s focus on how to get people to listen to that great pitch that you just spent hours perfecting. Keep in mind that you’re not always going to be able to meet your goals, and there are certain times of the day when you may fall flat on your face. The key is testing and figuring out what time period and what days work best for the product you are selling.

Always follow the FCC rules for telemarketing and never attempt to break them, the consequences are harsh. You’ll improve your contact rates if you stay within the provided time schedule and avoid calling those who are on a do not call list.

One of the realities of telemarketing is that you will get people who will hang up on you. Don’t take it personally. For every ten that do, you’ll have one person that is ready to hear what you have to offer. You’re working for that person – for that sale. The key is perseverance, dedication and above all, believing that you can do it.

Before you start, you will need to have some idea of sales management, or you will need to hire someone that can handle this for you. Many company owners simply do not have the time to manage every facet of their business and as a result, sales can suffer. It is better to spend the extra money on a manager which in turn will be repaid through increased sales.

The Basics

First, you’ll need to figure out your target audience and what they are looking for. If you have a product that you feel confident will be a big hit with your audience, a period of testing is necessary to see if this is going to bear out. While you can always hope for the best, it is far better to be prepared and to target your audience correctly.

Next, you will need to come up with a general plan of the different types of marketing avenues that you are going to pursue. Will you be relying on radio, print or online marketing to promote your product? Most find that a mix is the best way to go, but if your promotion funds are limited, online marketing will be the most cost effective method.

Your sales process will depend heavily on the path you decide to take and will need to be customized for each one. While there are similarities in all forms of marketing, there are also inherent differences that will need to be understood if you want to have a sales system that is effective.

Online Marketing Sales Process

In order to take advantage of all that online marketing has to offer, you will need to create a sales process that will allow you to use as many as possible without losing your focus. For example, social networking is incredibly powerful, but pay per click marketing can also be effective.

Never put all of your online eggs into one basket and take the time to test out different varieties of online marketing before settling on the one that is going to work the best for your unique product or service. This will help you build a strong sales system that you can rely on.

Using the Right Tools

Sales management for online marketing campaigns can be made easier by utilizing specific tools, such as analytic programs to gauge overall effectiveness. Since many of these are free or low cost, like Google Analytics, there is no excuse to avoid using them. Often, they can mean the difference between success and failure.

By utilizing all of these techniques, your sales management will be made easier and more effective and your ROI will improve.

Getting Started with PPC

First, let’s discuss what pay-per-click marketing is and what you can expect. Unlike other forms of advertising, where you generally pay a set price to be viewed by a set amount of people, your ad will be visible throughout the duration of your campaign, until you reach the set amount of clicks you have agreed upon.

It is a good idea to start by setting a budget of what you plan to spend on your ppc campaign. Most services, such as AdWords allow you to set not only a total ad budget, but also what you would prefer to spend for each day. Your ad will then show until you hit that marker. Be forewarned, if you do not set a budget, you may end up spending a good deal more than you planned to with your campaign.

PPC marketing requires testing before you commit to spending a large budget. Ideally, you should have at least three versions of your ad for testing purposes. Set a small budget and run the ads for a few days. See which one performs the best and then use that for your campaign. You will need to monitor its effectiveness however, and you may need to change the ad in mid-campaign if it’s not performing well.

Secrets to Your Campaign Success

Having more than one ad is not the only secret to your success. You will also need to have at least one landing page set up that gives your visitors an instant look at what you have to offer. You may want to have two of these pages, and just like before, test them to see which one is the most effective.

By far, one of the best tools that you can use for testing purposes is Google’s analytics feature. This will integrate with your AdWords account and allow you to get precise testing data on not only the ad, but also the landing page. You may also want to consider using a service like CrazyEgg.com that offers mapping of your page to see where people are clicking.

What Should You Offer?

While you can promote nearly anything with a pay-per-click marketing campaign, most businesses find that it is ideal for either giving away small products, or promoting inexpensive products that have an upsell. You will need to factor this in when you are creating your campaign.

This will also have an effect on your budget, and the range of cost per acquisition that you are comfortable with. Although PPC is cheaper in the long run, and more effective, there are no guarantees. Approach pay-per-click marketing like you would any new marketing campaign. Be careful, test the waters and never get in over your head.

1.    Start Small. Never overspend on a marketing campaign, whether it’s your first, or your hundredth. No matter what type of marketing you are using, it is vital to test its effectiveness first. Unlike traditional advertising, the online marketing world allows you this luxury and it is very important to make use of it.

2.    Measuring Campaigns. In order to get a true idea of just how effective a test is, or an entire campaign, you will need to have plenty of data to analyze and a way to interpret that data. Google Analytics is the premier choice of many online businesses, particularly those who use AdWords for their promotion. This analytics tool allows you to track a variety of different data, from the text of your ads, positioning on landing pages, and even the overall effectiveness of a page.

There are also many other forms of marketing metrics that can help you succeed. From heat maps that will tell you where people are clicking (and where they aren’t) on your site, to side by side comparison of landing page effectiveness, this data is your view into your target audience – don’t waste it.

3.    Be Realistic. Many people are under the impression that online marketing is the way of salvation for a small business and can make everyone a millionaire. The truth is, while thousands of people have made their fortunes online, it is more than just a matter of luck, and most experienced plenty of failures along the way.

Set goals for your marketing ROI and what you would like to see in a perfect world, and then scale that back to a more realistic number. It’s better to count on a smaller ROI and be pleasantly surprised than to devote too much time and money to a failing campaign.  Measuring campaigns is a big part of being realistic and successful in online marketing.

4.    Stay on Your Toes. Online marketing can change from day to day and the ad that worked wonders yesterday may be met with indifference today. You cannot stay stagnant and hope to win the internet marketing game. That is the main reason that analytics are so vital to your survival.

You need to have plans in place, and alternate versions of ads, landing pages, and even color schemes before you begin. This reduces down time and helps you laterally shift a marketing campaign without missing a beat.

By combining the right amount of marketing metrics, the willingness to change and the right product or service, you can be a success and your marketing ROI will skyrocket. While it is entirely possible to have a hit without knowing what you’re doing, it is far better to take the time to plan ahead and cover all of the bases ahead of time.