KNOWLEDGE BASE
B2B marketing and sales can be complex. Below, however, you'll find tools and perspectives you can use to help you understand them better, and how to achieve success.
The Failure of Marketing 2.0
The pandemic has revealed the fundamental flaws underpinning the Marketing 2.0 movement - starting with the fact that, if you build it, that doesn't mean they're coming. [continue]
Building a Sales Engine
The dream of many business owners is to have a "sales engine". This is their vision of a process and organization where they can put a little money in one end and get a lot of money out the other end. We've made it happen. For a lot of companies. [continue]
Outsourcing Decision Guide
When you have a marketing problem, you have three options: hire someone, outsource, or call LeadGen.com. This guide will help you decide which option is best. [continue]
Accountability (part 2)
To many people, accountability means making sure your vendors have "skin in the game." But if "management gets what it measures," incentivizing your vendors may not get you the results you're looking for. [continue]
CRAP Marketing
If you need more sales, then you need Cold-Calling, Research, Advice and Promotion from LeadGen.com. [continue]
Our Approach
The Internet may have changed the way companies go-to-market, but it didn't overturn the principles of marketing. That's why the timeless approach still works, and is explained here. [continue]
Why You Shouldn't Buy from LeadGen.com
There is one main reason why you shouldn't, at least, consider buying from LeadGen.com. It is: If you know exactly what the problem is, exactly why it's happening, and exactly how to fix it, don't call us. Call a mechanic. But if you're not sure, call us. [continue]
Strategy vs. Tactics
A primary reason why companies today fail to achieve their revenue or profit goals, particularly companies in the B2B market, is because there's a fatal disconnect between their "strategy" and their "tactics." Here's how to solve the problem. [continue]
Liars, Lying and Delusion
Doesn't it worry you that the salesperson you hired because he's willing to tell a prospect "I'm not trying to sell you something" or "I only need 15 minutes of your time" might have also lied when he said to you "Just get me in the door, and I promise you I can close them"? [continue]
Accountability
You can't hold your vendor accountable for sales if you don't give them control of the entire process. [continue]
To Maximize Your Marketing ROI, Eliminate Waste
Waste is your single biggest marketing expense. Spending money on market research to eliminate it is almost always a sound investment [continue]
The Fallacy of Contact Lists
Targeting businesses based on size, industry or location is a waste of time, money and opportunity. Better is to target businesses based on their needs. [continue]
Nostradamus and Forecasting
500 years ago, Nostradamus predicted everything from the Great London Fire to the assassination of JFK. What can he tell us about Marketing today? [continue]
The Commoditization Trap
With all the marketing and sales solutions available today to help you market and sell your product, it's easy to shop for the lowest price. But that's what gets you into trouble.[continue]
Introducing MindReader
Reading people's minds is much faster, less expensive and less risky than trying to guess who needs your company's products or services. With MindReader you can now know what they're thinking, when they're thinking it. So you can eliminate waste, and maximize your sales. [continue]
Getting More from Your Channel Program
For companies that market or sell their products through Value Added Resellers (VARs), distributors or manufacturers reps, the initial savings and easier entree into local markets that channel partners can bring can be quite attractive. At the same time, channel partners often require significant support. [continue]
The Pay-per-Lead Disaster-in-Waiting
If you need qualified sales leads, a performance-based service (e.g. pay-per-lead, pay-per-appointment, commission-based, etc.,) probably sounds like an attractive way to go. [continue]
The Economics of Social Media Marketing in the B2B Market
The introduction of Social Media Marketing (SMM) represents a sea change in the solutions being offered to and used by business-to-business (B2B) marketers. The "Web 2.0" hype is loud enough. But before investing tens, or hundreds, of thousands of dollars in SMM, you should recognize that for most companies in the B2B market SMM represents a dubious investment of time, effort, money and opportunity. [continue]
Is SEO a Scam?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the fastest growing promotional methods available for businesses today. At its core, SEO is simply a set of programming and marketing tactics designed to increase the ranking of a company's Web site in the natural results of the major search engines. Because so many people rely on search for information, the first page of a search result is, for most companies, the most valuable piece of commercial real estate in the world. [continue]
The Economics of B2B Telemarketing
For most companies in the business-to-business (B2B) market, telemarketing can be the fastest, most reliable and most economical way to find new sales. But many companies have difficulty achieving success. [continue]
High Performance Market Opportunity Development
Despite the continuing expansion of technology and innovation, developing a successful venture, or even just determining which opportunities to pursue, is a daunting task. This is particularly the case in today's risk-averse, recessionary economy where funding is scarce and the penalty for failure is high. [continue]
Lead Generation
There are many misconceptions about Lead Generation. This White Paper provides an accurate overview of the concept, and outlines the steps needed to develop an effective program. [continue]
Skill Deficiencies in the Telemarketer Candidate Pool
As a firm specializing in business-to-business (B2B) telemarketing and lead generation, JV/M (on behalf of its clients,) requires its Lead Generation Specialists to have a specific set of skills. This includes especially sales skills, but also business knowledge, a comfort level with technology and its terminology, and time management skills, among others. [continue]
The "Missing Link" Problem
In business-to-business (B2B) sales, the Missing Link problem refers to the different definitions used by Marketing and Sales professionals when they talk about what constitutes a "sales lead" - or, more precisely, what each considers to be a qualified sales lead. [continue]
How to Prosper in a Recession: Fire Your Low-Performing Salespeople
It's said that recessions are optional; but that doesn't mean it's easy to do the things you have to do to avoid them. [view]
What Causes Success?
JV/M reviewed the data from 164 campaigns implemented over the past four years in an attempt to determine what factors best explained success for the client. [view]
Recession-Proof Your Business (2008)
With a chorus of analysts declaring that we are in a recession, 2008 has started off with a 14% decline in the Dow, tens of billions of dollars in investments have been written off, and the housing market is facing a slump that sees no bottom. [view]
The Most Powerful Weapon in Your Marketing Arsenal
If you sell in the B2B market, the telephone is the most powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal. The problem is that very few people know how to use it effectively. But "The Most Powerful Weapon in Your Marketing Arsenal" will teach you everything you need to know to generate highly qualified sales leads. [buy]
Business Owners of the World Unite!
Free yourselves from the siren call of Marketing 2.0 [continue]
The Marketing Zombie Apocalypse
They're out there, and they're coming to get you. The Marketing Zombies - the undead hoard infected by the virus of new-age marketing, social media and Web 2.0. And they will absorb you into their grotesque spasm of waste and failure! Use this guide to prepare yourself for the Marketing Zombie Apocalypse before it's too late! [continue]
The Missing Link in B2B Marketing and Sales
The reason that most companies don't achieve their objectives is because there are incorrect assumptions underlying their sales and marketing programs, and unforeseen gaps between them, that doom them from the start. [continue]
How to Calculate Your True Cost-per-Lead
When it comes to the economics of B2B marketing and lead generation, it's not the cost-per-hour that counts, or even your cost-per-click, cost-per-download, cost-per-hit, cost-per-attendee, cost-per-response or cost-per-impression that matters. When measuring the performance of your B2B marketing program, what matters most is your cost-per-appointment for the initial appointment with the prospect who has a need, along with your ultimate cost-per-sale, your revenue and your profitability. [White Paper, Go to the Cost-per-Lead Model]
The 3 Pillars of More Effective B2B Sales and Marketing
Our mindless obsession with listicles. [continue]
57% of the Purchase Decision Process Is Complete Before the Customer's First Engagement with Sales - NOT!
There is a widely quoted study which alleges that, in B2B sales, 57% of the decision process is complete before the customer's first engagement with a salesperson. Despite its various details (57%, 58%, 68%, etc.) and repetition, the real problem is that the statistic is unsubstantiated. [continue]
How to Calculate your Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)
When it comes to calculating your Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI), there are many factors involved. Capital items, such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, are treated differently than expense items, such as direct mail programs. But if we start from the premise, one that holds in B2B at least, that the fundamental purpose of Marketing is to make Sales more efficient, then we can develop a simple approach for calculating ROMI that works across the board. [continue]
AIDA
Based on the work of Elias St. Elmo Lewis, an early advocate of advertising, AIDA describes the steps through which an advertisement should take a reader in order for it to be effective. [continue]
Is Inbound Marketing Right for B2B?
Driven by his pursuit of leisure, the consumer deliberately positions himself to absorb commercial messages. At the same time, the business decision maker, driven by his pursuit of profits, tends to avoid them, as they are a distinct distraction. So how does that suggest that an inbound marketing strategy - which is typically implemented as a broadcast, mass marketing, process - is right for B2B? [continue]
How Pay-per-Lead Programs Can Ruin Your Business
We are frequently asked, as a B2B lead generation company, if we would be willing to work on a pay-per-lead basis. Some potential clients call it a "performance basis." Others euphemize it as "partnering." But what they inevitably say is that, "If you're so good, why not put some skin in the game?" [continue]
Bootstrap Marketing
In this 1993 article, we describe a technique for coming up with a good idea for a business venture. [continue]
Cold Calling Isn't Dead
Despite what you read in the press, cold calling isn't dead. To paraphrase the Monty Python skit, it's not even resting. [continue]
Market Research for the 1%
For over 100 years, businesses that sell to consumers have conducted market research in order to improve their product development and enhance their promotional results. But in the business-to-business (B2B) world? Not so much. [continue]
Data Mining for B2B
Data mining can level the playing field, and provide a cost-per-lead that is at least an order-of- magnitude lower than traditional methods. [continue]
Why Market to People Who Don't Need Your Product?
Did you know that "waste" is your single biggest marketing expense? Finally, there's something you can do about it. [continue]
Should You Trust Your Marketing to a Millennial?
Millennials, alternatively known as "Gen Y" or the "Echo of the Baby Boom," are now ascendant in the workforce. People born in the eighties and nineties are being hired in droves, often because of their knowledge of and experience with social media and technology. The question for B2B firms though is whether this knowledge and experience are assets or liabilities. [continue]
If All You Have Is a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail
One of the biggest issues for many B2B business owners is deciding how to spend their scarce marketing and sales dollars. Whether you're a start-up or a mature firm, at some point your revenue goals or competitive pressures will mandate an investment in marketing. And so the question is: What should you do? [continue]
Why Guess Who Wants to Buy Your Product When You Can Actually Know Who Wants It?
Knowing the unknowable used to be the domain of prophets, seers and witches. Now these skills are available to the modern business. [continue]
The B2B Marketing Mess
Whether you're a small business owner or an executive at a Fortune 1000 company, your choices for marketing in the B2B sector today can easily seem like "too much of a good thing." [continue]
Market Share - the Key to Profitability
We didn't write this paper, but it's probably the most important paper ever written for Marketing. It appeared in the Harvard Business Review back in 1975. [continue]
Donald Trump: Marketing Genius
If you can set aside your feelings about the content of his message and his politics, an argument could be made that what Donald Trump did in order to get elected was straight out of the Marketing 101 textbook. And he got an "A" in the course. [continue]
Timing Your Promotions Better Through Telepathy
In business, as elsewhere in in life, timing is everything. The proper use of mind reading can enable you to know when to make your pitch, not just who to pitch. [continue]
Mind-Reading Improves Sales Results
The biggest cost in marketing is waste - marketing to people who don't need your products or services. By reading people's minds, you can avoid the cost of marketing to people who are never going to buy - saving time and money. [continue]
Every once in a while, something we've written gets picked up by a blog, Web site or e-zine. Here are some of the ones we know about:
- Techzone360 - Measuring Your Marketing ROI
- LifeHealthPro - How to Measure Your Marketing ROI in B2B
- Brilliant Results (see page 6) - How to Compare the Cost-per-Lead for Different Marketing Strategies
- CMO.com - The Cost of Conversion
- Sales and Marketing Management - Is Inbound Marketing Right for B2B?
- SMEI - Does Lead Scoring Miss the Point?
- TechZone360 - Does Lead Scoring Miss the Point in B2B?
- Agency Sales - Examining the Agency-Principal Partnership
- LifeHealthPro - Is Inbound Right for Prospecting in Insurance?
- Sales and Marketing Management - How PPL Can Ruin Your Business
- The Canvas Magazine - Bulls-eye (image)
If you're looking for a topical diversion, enjoy!
Analytical Models
TikToks
Below are a few videos we posted on TikTok.
You Too
The Glut of Garbage
Read the Fine Print
Great Marketing (Not)!
The Pay-per-Lead Scam
The LinkedIn Con
Introduction Part 5
Introduction Part 4
Introduction Part 3
Introduction Part 2
Introduction Part 1
New to TikTok
