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B2B marketing podcast: Why B2B marketers need to understand and support sales
Dianna Huff, a fellow B2B marketing professional and friend who describes her services as “B-to-B Marketing Communications Consulting and SEO Copywriting Services” invited me to be a guest on her MarCom Strategist Podcast.
Dianna and I talked about the difference between inquiries and qualified sales leads, why marketing need to understand the sales process, and why B2B marketers need to work to ensure they are getting measurable results.
We also discussed
- why marketing should be involved in the sales process;
- tactics marketers can use to generate more qualified sales leads;
- the role of “offers” or “calls-to-action” in the various stages (lead generation, lead cultivation and lead qualification) of your sales lead management programs;
- and why marketing needs to toot its own horn.
If any of this sounds like it would benefit your organization, please listen in on our twenty minute conversation. The podcast is available at http://marcom-writer-blog.com/?p=158.
great topic for the podcast. I also tried to approach this in a series of topics on one blog post. In the business world, everyone is running to get sales… and more sales. Which is fare and just, ’cause this is why companies are founded after all. So marketing needs to be aligned as a strategy to produce and encourage sales. Even in investing in branding or any other long-term marketing programs, it’s still sales that will get the final result after all, so why not just have sales as your main goal in a marketing program, when, especially for b2b, this is guaranteed to be the only real and objective measure of success for your marketing programs …
Posted by: Loredana Niculae | Oct 8, 2007 at 10:15 am
I sell advertising space for a living and your insight into the relationship between sales and marketing explains it in a nut shell.
All too often marketing complains that sales does not follow up on inquiries, and getting them to do so is like pushing string up hill.
Your definition of “inquiry” and “sales lead” needs to be pasted on all board room walls when they discuss marketing budgets.
Good for you
Posted by: Marc Spector | Oct 16, 2007 at 8:36 am