The LeadGen.com Blog

Patience Is a Waste of Time

I’m sorry, but the situation with Marketing just keeps getting dumber and dumber.

People are always coming to us complaining that they ran some marketing program, maybe an email drip, or a pay-per-click thing.

And when they didn’t get an instant payback, they complained to the vendor – who usually came back with, “Well, such-and-such a method just takes time.”

Or, “you have to leverage the repetition effect.”

Or some other such nonsense to keep them buying.

And then they still don’t get a payback, and that why they’re calling us. But, of course, they don't have any money left.

So today I was checking one of the absolute worst offenders, a networking site that sounds like a-shmine-able.

And there was a discussion about podcast sponsorships, and how important the repetition effect is.

One guy says, “Patience is the biggest piece of any entrepreneurial journey.”

And another says, “Brand awareness is a marathon, not a sprint.”

So, let me tell you about the repetition effect.

There’s no question that it exists. But it only works if the underlying message gets at a real need or pain point.

If the need is current, then the repetition effect is actually a misnomer for insuring coverage.

And if the need is latent, then the repetition effect doesn’t work because of the repetition, it works if, and only if, you can find a way to rip off the scab.

Jeez, guys, when are you going to stop milking this old cow?

Telling Ain't Selling

So yesterday I had a call with a gentleman who, evidently, wanted to tell me about his firm’s retirement planning services.

I’m not really in the market right now, but I learn a lot from listening to other people, particularly their approach to sales, so…

After the opening niceties, where he told me about:

• his background,
• his business successes, and
• some typical health challenges,

he started explaining to me how business owners often make mistakes when they set up their retirement programs.

Evidently there are all sorts of pre-tax things you can do, and plans you can set up to defer, and even avoid, taxes, as well as to make sure you don’t outlive your money.

So, having gone to Customer School, I listened. And after around twenty minutes or so, while he was catching his breath, I complemented him on how terrific his service sounded.

And then I asked him, by the way, what was the purpose of the call.

So he then tells me that he has all these leads, but he doesn’t understand why people aren’t jumping at the chance to reduce their taxes, make their money last longer, and otherwise take advantage of his services.

Can you guess my answer?

Just Get Me in the Door

Beware of Sales candidates who brag that they can close anyone, but who condition it on someone else getting them in the door.

What they're telling you is that they can't do the hardest part of the job.

Even worse is that the problem isn't that they can't close.

The problem is that they're making an excuse for when they later fail. Because If they didn't get the sale it must have been because they really weren't in the door - not because they couldn't close.

Next candidate!

Free Advertising Agency!

OK, so yesterday I saw the absolute dumbest post ever from a guy who says he’s starting up a new advertising agency.

Anyway, this guy gets on and announces that he’s starting up an advertising agency where you don’t have to pay for anything up front. You don’t pay for campaign planning. You don’t pay for copywriting. He’ll even front you the media.

And you only pay if he brings you paying customers.

Now we all know that the glut of so-called Marketing Experts has forced a lot of people to work on a pay-per-lead basis – which is a lose-lose in its own right.

But this guy is willing to trust not only that he can produce good leads, but that you, the client, can close them. And that you’ll pay him when you do.

Look, we get about 50 requests a day from companies that want us to work on the back end. So it’s not like there’s no demand for this kind of “free lunch.”

And so it’s not like this guy just re-invented the wheel.

But you have to ask yourself, it he’s so good at Marketing, why is he investing his talents in such a risky venture?

Go Birds!

The Fifth P

We had an interesting discussion in one of our groups the other day, this time about the 4Ps of Marketing, and whether or not “positioning” is the 5th P.

I argued that Positioning was just another go-to-market tool, based on Kotler’s subsequent correction; but my counterpart argued that the 4Ps are about tactics, while positioning was part of your “strategy”.

And he asserted, correctly, that there are a bunch of articles on the topic, and research, and lots of big companies that subscribe to that theory.

Look, if you’re working for a Fortune 100 company, I get it. Some high-level brain trust decides on how they want to position the company and its products in the market, and then the Marketing weenies get to play with the marketing mix, pricing, channels and promotions.

But for the rest of us, and, frankly even for 90% of the divisions of those Fortune 100 companies, especially orphan divisions, positioning is just as fungible as everything else. And, in fact, it may be more-so.

In other words, you may be locked into your product mix. You may have invested heavily in your channels and can’t swap them out. Your ad buys may be committed for a year. And your pricing may be – in fact, is probably – controlled by your competition.

And the ONLY thing you may have to work with on a day-to-day basis is your positioning.

But hey, don’t worry about it. When your strategy fails, being positioned wrong in the market gives you the perfect excuse for blaming someone else for the failure.

Jump-Starting Your Sales

The material in the Learning Center includes content, tools, services, and access to coaching for business owners, and Sales and Marketing professionals, who want to increase their sales, their market share and their profitability based on the book "The Lead Generation Paradigm" - to which this site is an adjunct.

It is highly recommended that you read the book, watch the videos, or listen to the podcast before trying to use any of the tools on this site, as they probably won't make much sense without the context provided by the book.

Missed the Bus

Today's question comes from a Website developer who met a small business owner at a networking event. Evidently the owner was unhappy with his Website, and expressed interest in talking about it.

According to the developer, the owner did have some real problems with his Website. But the guy got busy, and forgot to call him back. And so he was asking the group if it was okay to text the owner and try to re-kindle the lead.

Not surprisingly, almost everyone in the group recommended calling him, not texting, figuring, what have you got to lose?

And there were a couple of good answers. For example: Most people said he should apologize for dropping the ball. And re-establish some rapport.

And there were some stupid answers. For example, some said the developer should drip on him with email, and see if he responds. And a few said the developer should just send a quote, to show that he had done some work.

OK.

What I don't get was that no one said the guy should check the Website to see if the owner had already fixed his problem before calling. What would it have taken? Five seconds?

Go Birds!

How We Generated Over $4,000,000,000 in New Sales - and How You Can Do It, Too!

For the past 35+ years we've been obsessed with trying to figure out what works in Marketing and Sales, and how to make it work - for any business, in any market.

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So you can exceed your goals for sales, market share and profitability - no matter what you're selling, or to whom.

About the book:

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Whether you're a business owner, Sales Manager, BDR or Marketing professional, Lead Generation has everything you need - so you can generate the sales you want!

Lead Generation: How We Generated Over $4,000,000,000 in New Sales - and How You Can Do It, Too

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Now available at eBook

Appearing on Whiskey WinsDay!

Mark your calendars!

I'll be participating in the "Whiskey WInsDay with Jessie Lizak" panel discussion tonight, August 28, 2024, along with Alisa Manjarrez, Managing Director of Stories Bureau.

Tonight's topics are:
1. Podcast for B2B: Advocacy and Content
2. Making Marketing Accountable: Aligning with Sales
3. B2B Marketing: Storytelling, Team Building, and Podcasts
4. Platforms Wire the Game: Connecting Systems

If you're looking for the "Secrets to Success in B2B", tune in at 9:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm CT, 7:00 pm MT, 6:00 pm PT at:

https://streamyard.com/hgz3tsmm2u

Prizes WILL be given away...

Tonight's discussion is for anyone in B2B who wants to grow their sales, their market share and their profitability.

And as an added bonus, tonight's giveaways include:
- Swag Pack from HighLevel
- 10 hours with a Virtual Assistant from Cherry Assistant
- Wireless headset from Headset Advisor
- Free year of Lavender Pro from Lavender
- One Month Free Taking Up Space Program from Jessie Lizak
- Cold Calling Seminar from Jeff Josephson

Location:
https://streamyard.com/hgz3tsmm2u

Date/Time: August 28, 2024, 9:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm PT.

What’s an effective approach when doing cold messages?

Responding to a forum post that says: For context, we have sent thousands of cold messages before (LinkedIn, FB, IG) but open rate is low and conversion rate is lower. In fact, I think the conversion for those thousands of messages sent is actually zero.

So one person answered: Find a way to connect and be human.

Another one said: Identify your target audience and make sure you are targeting the right audience according to your niche.

And someone else said: The messages we usually send are personalized. Address them by their name, send something from their profile, and ask them how they are. We don’t usually hard sell and just want to connect first.

Look, no one cares that you’re human. And if you’re not targeting the right audience, why are you even in the job? And do you think they can’t tell it’s spam if it starts with their name?

Here’s our answer:

Anytime you’re going in cold, whether it’s by email, telephone or smoke signal, the most important thing is to first identify a real need, and then pitch to it.

To be clear, this doesn't mean guessing what they need (e.g. like assuming everyone needs a widget), or assuming the prospect can infer a need based on your product's description.

Rather, let's say you're selling IT services to mid-sized businesses. Call into the companies at a relatively low level and just survey the employees for actual complaints and problems.

Then, when you call the CIO or CEO, say "I was talking to so-and-so about your problem with X. Do you have a moment to speak?"

How hard is that?

The ICP Concept is Wrong

I got into a bit of a debate today with a Marketing expert on the importance of identifying your Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP.

They claim that it's something you have to do. I claim it's wrong, and that it leads to waste and an enormous number of failures, when it comes to marketing and sales.

In short, according to them, the Ideal Customer Profile provides a detailed description - using attributes such as demographics, firmographics, psychographics and behavioral data to characterize prospects who are most likely to buy your product or service.

Your job then becomes to focus your marketing and sales efforts on those archetypes because, supposedly, that's where you'll get the biggest bang for your buck.

The problem is that, as a strategy, it's almost entirely wrong. And the reason is simple.

In short, the ICP concept conflates Target Marketing and Market Segmentation, and ends up sub-optimizing both.

Here's what you need to know:

Target Markets are groups of prospects (or customers) who have common demographics, firmographics, psychographics, that can be effectively targeted in the media or with sales development efforts.

Market Segments are groups of prospects (or customers) who have common "needs, pains, problems and unmet goals" that you can address.

And rarely do those groups overlap.

Basically, your goal should be to find and reach your market segments. You may only be able to do that via targeting accessible attributes, but if you start by targeting an ICP you will generally miss your market - even if you iterate.

Sorry, but this is just a huge fallacy in the industry. And it leads to a huge number of marketing failures.

Good Reasons for Not Advertising?

So the question for today comes from a user who sells digital advertising, who asks:

What’s the best excuse you’ve heard for NOT advertising?

And I have to admit to being a bit confused by the answers he got.

One person said, for example: Everyone in this town already knows who I am.

Another one said: My customers aren't on the internet.

And another one said that the best reason they've heard is that the company they were talking to says that they already have too much business. And if they start advertising, they won't be able to keep up with demand.

I guess what’s confusing is that, to me, these aren’t GOOD reasons not to advertise. They’re BAD ones.

I mean, if you can’t keep up with demand, hire more people.

If you’re customers aren’t on the internet, find out where they are and advertise to them there.

And if everyone already knows who you are, does that mean you’re now just printing money?

I don’t know, it seems to me that the only good reason not to advertise is if it doesn’t work.

And if it doesn’t work, you probably ought to figure out how to make it work.

But what do I know?

In the case of a limited budget, which marketing actions yield the greatest returns?

So someone posted this question to a forum I participate in over the weekend:

And it got several answers, most of which I think were kind-of wrong.

I mean, is there ever a case where the Marketing budget isn’t limited?

I’ve never seen it, so an answer can't carve this case out as an exception. And any answer that does should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

In general, marketing budgets should be tiered. You know, what do I do if I have $100? What do I do if I have $1000, etc.), and percentages (which can change by tier) within each tier deployed for specific purposes (creating awareness, creating desire, triggering actions, etc.)

Again, this formula holds whether you have $0 or $100,000,000.

With that in mind, you can now ask the right question:

What should I do if I only have $X to work with, and I'm selling such-and-such a product to this particular market, and I want to achieve so-and-so objective, against a competitive environment that looks like this, and with these available channels to reach my prospects.

Without those parameters, any answer you get is likely to be pretty meaningless.

This Job Market Sucks

So I was doing a little research to try and get a sense of what’s happening in the job market for salespeople lately, because everyone talks about how low unemployment is, and how tech is booming. But all I hear about is how people are struggling.

For example, this one guy wrote: “I have a good amount of sales experience. Pretty diverse background. Also have experience working for a top tier tech company. Yet I’m applying to countless SDR/BDR roles and can’t get a bite. At this point I’m almost willing to take anything with a decent base. Is there any company out there that’s actually looking for salespeople?

Some of the responses would seem to suggest that someone’s lying:

• One guy says: Everyone is struggling right now. As of now, SDR positions are going to desperate AEs willing to get demoted to put food on the table.
  
• Another says: Yeah. It seems like every industry is going through a low season right now (It takes an average of around 100-200 applications to land a role)
  
• And another says: Our sales team was laid off this month. Even after I was hitting 70% to yearly target at end of Q2. Been applying where I can with sales. 300 applications, 1 interview, only to be told they are going internal.
  

You know, here’s a funny statistic. According to the Harvard Business Review, annual turnover among salespeople is around 27% - which is, in itself, twice the rate in the overall labor force.

But you know what it is for salespeople at the 2-year point? 65%.

Yeah, things are just peachy in tech.

Cold Calling 101: 4.14 AIDA

The classic model that we use for this process, which actually dates back to the 1930’s, is called “AIDA.”

AIDA stands for getting the prospect’s Attention, stimulating their Interest, getting them to Desire or want to do something about it, and then getting them to actually Act on that desire. Although it originally applied to consumer sales, we’ve found that these four steps are equally effective in B2B cold calling. And they provide an excellent model for designing both a cold call and a cold calling program.

Consequently, that’s what we’re going to do today, design a cold calling program, and your cold call, around this AIDA model so you can make more money, have more fun, and achieve the success you want to achieve.

Cold Calling 101: 4.13 Creating Demand

In our experience, the process of creating demand starts with finding a suspect, someone who could potentially buy your product or service.

It then means getting their attention and engaging them in a conversation where you uncover their needs, pains and problems, as well as their unrealized hopes, dreams and goals, with which you can help. It then means getting them to want to solve those problems and achieve those goals, ideally sooner rather than later.

It also means positioning your product or service as a solution, as a means to those ends, and then getting the prospect to commit to a meeting with you or your rep to talk about it as the next step in the process of getting there.

But creating demand, and successful cold calling in particular, is the quintessential case of making something out of nothing, or at least out of nothing more than a phone call.

Cold Calling 101: 4.12 Cold Calling Scenarios

The skills that you’re going to learn in this course are vital though, and they work, regardless of whether you’re just trolling for needs, or you have to actually educate the prospect in order to get in the door, or any situation in between. This is because even if you’re just trolling for needs, you probably still have to unhook a competitor, which takes skill. And the fact of the matter is that if your only advantage is price, you’re only hurting yourself if all you do is offer a discount in order to win the business.

But the main reason that you need to understand the full technique is that, regardless of how you go to market, account control, the foundation for which is built during the cold call, is critical to your long-term success. So learning these techniques will not only help you find more business, it will help you close it, and keep it too, no matter what kind of market you’re competing in.

Cold Calling 101: 4.11 The Purpose of Cold Calling

Before we get too far into the methodology – and understand that we have a long way to go – we need to talk about what cold calling means to you and for your company. This is because, for some companies, demand is just out there and all you have to do is look for it, while other companies have to actually create demand for their products or services.

For example, if you’re selling a commodity that everyone needs, then getting a shot at the business is often just a matter of calling a Purchasing Manager and offering a lower price. On the other hand, if you have to educate your prospects about your application or persuade them of your value, or get them to see the need before they can be interested (or if you want to raise your prices in a commoditized market) that’s a different and much tougher problem.

Cold Calling 101: 4.10 Objectives of the Course

One problem, as we said, is that most companies, and most sales and marketing managers, simply don’t know what works when it comes to cold calling. Most resort to the old adage of “smile and dial.” Or they tell you it’s a numbers game, and that the more calls you make, the more leads you’ll get. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, and you don’t have a process that actually works, doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result is, as they say, the very definition of insanity.

In this course, however, you’re going to learn exactly what works, and how to make it work for you. How to get past gatekeepers and voice mail, how to reach decision makers, how to stimulate interest and uncover needs for your products or services, how to create urgency and stop the endless postponements, and how to persuade your prospect to want to meet, and eventually to buy. In short, how to generate high quality leads that result in more sales, at a lower cost, with less time and effort, while having more fun, and all the rewards that come with success.

Cold Calling 101: 4.9 Goals

So that’s why we’re here, and this is where we want to go, to enable you to generate high quality appointments that lead to more sales, more income and more fun, while expending less time, effort, money and frustration.

So with that as our goal, let’s drive it down a level, starting with how do we get there.

Cold Calling 101: 4.8 Benefits of Success

On the other hand, success can have its benefits. Being able to generate a steady stream of high-quality appointments (ones that convert into sales) is the lynchpin for growth at many companies. It means revenue success, opportunity, and growth, not just for you, but for your entire company. Success is certainly more fun than failure, and it can feed on itself, leading to higher pay, promotion, and even faster growth rates, as success, as they say, breeds success.

Cold Calling 101: 4.7 Consequences of Failure

For many sales and marketing professionals, not being able to generate new business can quickly lead to missed expectations, revenue shortfalls, frustration, and job loss, particularly when other marketing activities aren’t available to pick up the slack. And it’s often not just you who suffers. If you’re supposed to be making appointments for an outside salesperson, it means they may miss their numbers, the production department may have to cut back, and, of course, your own family may pay a price for your poor performance.

So while success can have benefits, failure on the phones can pull the rug out from under you, your job, your co-workers and your company.

Cold Calling 101: 4.6 Ineffective Techniques

But other approaches to lead generation work even less well, and often cost much more.

For example, while John Wanamaker said a hundred years ago, “Half my advertising budget is wasted, I just don’t know which half,” today it’s perfectly easy to waste your entire advertising budget. Networking is fine if you like trying to sell to people who can’t buy. Email gets your Web site blacklisted. SEO is an arms race where the only winners are the search providers. Using social media for B2B is like trying to get nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Most PR is nothing but a bit bucket. And Decision Makers don’t go to trade shows.

So the pressure to perform falls right back on the individual telemarketer, salesperson or business development specialist, pressure that usually just mounts until something, or someone, breaks.

Cold Calling 101: 4.5 What Have You Tried?

These problems are exacerbated by the fact that most sales directors, call center managers, marketing professionals and business owners simply don’t know what works to generate a good lead on the phone. So they fall back on the numbers game, a classic case of doing the same thing over and over again, and hoping for a different result.

Or they use the threat of firing to motivate high performance, a truly Darwinian solution for those who believe that creative destruction is capitalism’s greatest virtue, when the real problem is that they basically don’t know what they’re doing.

Cold Calling 101: Your Challenges

The problem is, though, that it isn’t easy to do, particularly with some products, and in some markets.

You may be challenged by bad lists, getting past gatekeepers, rejection or inaccurate information on who the decision makers are. You may have trouble stimulating interest because people don’t seem to respond to your message. You may be getting dumped into voice mail. Or you may just be getting blocked by objections like no need, no interest, the presence of an incumbent vendor, or everyone’s favorite objection: not now.

Cold Calling 101: Your Goals and Objectives

If you’re like most people who are responsible for finding new business or making appointments, you know that cold calling can be one of the most powerful weapons in your marketing arsenal, provided that you can do it well.

Having a painless and effective approach for cold calling means that you can generate more and better qualified sales leads, and find more new business for your company, faster, more consistently and for a far lower cost and risk compared to advertising, direct mail, SEO, networking, trade shows, social media marketing, PR or any of the hundreds of other marketing solutions.

Welcome to Cold Calling 101

In this series we’re going to show you how to generate Qualified Sales Leads using the example of developing and implementing a cold calling program in order to sell a Cold Calling service. As you can surmise, we use cold calling as the example go-to-market tactic because it’s one of the most challenging to execute effectively.

For example, it requires you to understand your prospects’ needs, and know how to get their attention. It requires you to stimulate their interest. It requires you to get them to want to talk with you, meet with you, and potentially buy from you. It requires you to get them to take some action, like provide information or get another decision maker involved, in order to move the Sell Cycle forward. And it requires you to do all this in barely a few seconds, where they can easily hang up on you if you’re not really, really good.

So let’s mount up.

Trust Me!

Some people can't help themselves. And some people actually believe what they're saying.

Like when your Marketing Director tells you that all you have to do is re-build your Web site, create and publish content, buy some Google AdWords, connect with Decision Makers, and send out several million emails - and the leads will just come flooding in.

Or when your salesperson tells you that all you have to do is get them in the door and they'll be able to close anyone.

But when it doesn't happen, where does that leave you?

Marketing 2.0 - The Crime of the Century

Who among us hasn't heard that "57% of the decision process is completed before a sales person is ever contacted by the prospect"?

And who among us hasn't been told, time and again, that "if you build it, they will come," and then invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in websites, content, blogs, posts, and all manner of digital detritus - none of which will anyone ever see, read or respond to?

And who among us hasn't read about the historically high failure rate of new businesses, upwards of 70% of PE-funded companies in 2021?

You may not want to hear it but, for most businesses, Marketing 2.0 is a scam. It's a paradigm designed to separate business owners and investors from their money, and put it in the pockets of the platforms, the solution providers, and the so-called Marketing professionals hired to manage them - who then move on to their next gig when it all goes south.

Why else would turnover among Marketing professionals be nearly 40% per year?

But, hey, at least you got a great Web site out of it.

The End of the Universe

The comedian Lewis Black tells a joke about the time he saw a Starbucks, in a Houston-area shopping center, and it was right across the parking lot from another Starbucks.

He declared that this was the end of the universe - where parallel lines converge. And the only people who don't see the problem have Alzheimers.

Now we have a major social media platform announcing that it had discovered hundreds of fake accounts, with many connecting to other fake accounts on the site.

We have to wonder, are the people who are managing these accounts working from a Starbucks in Houston?

Doing Things Right vs Doing the Right Things

After you drank a full pitcher of Marketing 2.0 Kool-Aid, and did everything the experts told you to do, you're ready for the sales to start rolling in.

And yet you're not getting the results you need.

What's going on???

The sad fact is that virtually the entire Marketing 2.0 approach is a scam. It's a game you can't win.

It's a misdirection designed to make it look easy, to get you to waste your time, and to spend your money, and then move on when the money runs out.

At least you can comfort yourself knowing that it's not you; it's them.

The Digital Marketing Life Cycle

Digital Marketing is a powerful tool for any business that wants to fail as slowly and as painfully as possible.

Digital Marketing says "Build a Web site that's going to stand out from the 11 billion other Web sites. Optimize around terms that either no one will ever use, or ones that all your competitors already own. Do a bunch of other stuff that sounds good, but doesn't actually work. And then wait until you run out of money before you actually think about lead generation."

After all, if you build it, they will come, right?

Do you really think your content is going to break through the clutter?

Do you really think your prospects are just waiting around for your solution to show up?

Seriously. Is it any wonder that the business failure rate is over 70%?

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If you need more sales, the answer is easy.

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And remember, if anyone tells you that the answers are complex, don't listen to them. They're probably just a consultant.

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Congratulations! You started your business with a great idea and a few friendly customers.

But when you tried to grow beyond the people you knew, you hit a ceiling.

With our Most Uplifting Escalator, though, you can break through that ceiling. And take your business to the next level.

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So if your business is stuck on the ground floor, we can help you move to the second floor, and beyond!

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Why settle for a page 12 ranking, or worse, on Google?

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Our Best Phone Monkeys

Growing businesses need stimulation, companionship and - most of all - engagement.

And you'll get all that, and more, with our genuine Phone Monkeys.

Our phone monkeys are great at helping your shy, young business make new friends while providing you with hours of entertainment.

Because, after all, who doesn't like monkeys?

Our Finest Door

Whenever you hear it, you know that's the sales candidate for you:

"Just get me in the door, and I can close anyone."

And that's why you need our finest door.

Constructed from the richest veneer glued over the sturdiest frame, our classic two-panel door will make your new rep proud that he'll never have to make cold calls again.

And if you need someone to actually open the door, don't forget to call our Service Department - by appointment only, of course.

Our Strongest Guarantee

You know there are no guarantees when it comes to Marketing.

But since you're going to insist on one, here it is!

Our 100% certified money-back guarantee!

Backed by years of back-room finagling, clever wordsmithing and legal foot-dragging, our guarantee is the best in the business.

We would tell you that it's not worth the paper it's printed on, but who uses paper these days?

Our Most Heartwarming Pillow

You know that your boss doesn't understand all this Digital Marketing mumbo-jumbo.

That's why she hired you.

Up your game, and get them to up your budget, with this all-natural, dacron polyester blend.

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Our Most Self-Fulfilling T-Shirt

Show the world that you can create eye-catching content with this 100% cotton show-stopper!

This stylish and media-savvy number comes in all sizes and genders.

And it will stand up through dozens of job interviews.

Cold water wash only.

Our Best Sales Leads

For decades, Marketers have struggled to show their impact on sales.

Media companies have invented all sorts of metrics, like impressions and circulation, to show their value.

And Marketing Managers have made up all sorts of excuses to justify spending money, often being satisfied with half the advertising budget they asked for.

But now we're pleased to offer our genuine "Marketing Qualified Leads"!

Justify whatever budget you want!

Clicks! Hits! Downloads! Form fills! Opens! Oh, my!

The conversion rate, though? That's someone else's problem, of course.

Our Warmest Digital Marketing Mug

Digital Marketing is a powerful tool for driving an endless demand for Digital Marketers.

And now you can show them who's the boss!

Order our new custom-printed Digital Marketing Expert coffee mug, and sip your favorite hot beverage while comforting yourself that, by the time they find out it didn't work, you'll be long gone!

Digital Marketing: Never have so many spent so much for so little.

Our Best Revolving Door

Here at the LeadGen.com Digital Marketing Academy, we know Marketing!

And the one thing we know about Marketing is that "you can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time."

And that's why were now offering - exclusively for you - our Professional Digital Marketing Training Program!

In the Official LeadGen.com Professional Digital Marketing Training Program:

• You'll learn to create and post content that no one will ever read!

• You'll learn to generate Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) that will never convert!

• And you'll learn to update your resume so that it's always fresh and ready-to-go!

If you're looking for a job with high demand, high pay, and high turnover, Digital Marketing is the job for you!

Call 1-800-INBOUND today, and get $10 off our regular, low price of only $10!

Join the Virtual Army, Generate Virtual Results!

The world has gone digital. And Marketing is leading the way!

Forget about the power of salesmanship. That's old school.

Who cares about uncovering needs? That's just Boomer narcissism.

Today, its Digital or Die!

Today's Digital Marketing soldiers know how to post content. They know how to upload TikToks. And they spend like there's no tomorrow.

Because, for most businesses, there isn't.

Join the Digital Marketing Army, and Be All You Can Be!

The Hope Springs Eternal Gift Box

Inbound Marketing is the ultimate gift.

It's the promise of a waiting for the phone to ring.

It's the hope of that first traffic after going live.

It's the smile of making that LinkedIn connection.

In fact, it's whatever you want it to be.

For the business you love, it's always Inbound Marketing.

Who cares if there's no ROI?

Because it's the thought that counts.

The Three Lies Custom Throw Pillow

Remember how everyone showed up for the baseball game in Field of Dreams - even though Ray Kinsella did absolutely no advertising whatsoever?

Remember how you felt when you heard that Inbound Marketing was going to save your sales team from ever having to make cold calls again?

And didn't it just warm the cockles of your heart knowing that all you had to do to beat your competition was to put the right keywords in your meta tags?

Now you can bask in the comfort of all your favorite Digital Marketing tropes with this custom throw pillow from LeadGen.com!

Or you can cry yourself to sleep knowing they were all lies.

But at least it's super soft, and super absorbant!

The New Marketing Matrix

As anyone who studied Marketing in college has learned, Ansoff's Marketing Matrix describes the different strategies for growth, depending on whether the products and markets are old or new.

But the world has changed.

And we now have a New Marketing Matrix:

Obsolescence

Today, if you try to sell your old products into your old markets, you quickly find that your product is obsolete - displaced by faster, better and cheaper competitors.

Your best strategy is to appeal to nostalgia.

Irrelevance

If you try to sell your old product into a new market, you quickly find out that your product is irrelevant.

Your best strategy is to beg for an appointment.

Commoditization

If you try to sell your new product into an old market, you quickly find that the cost-of-change is too high.

Your best strategy is to lower your price.

Scamification

If you try to sell your new product into a new market, you quickly find that Google and the other platforms are running a scam.

Your best strategy is to wait until your funding runs out, and then get a new job.

Why Are MQLs and SQLs Even a Thing?

As the digital marketing train wreck grew over the last few years, it became more and more obvious that, for most companies, the investment was wasted. Most programs just produced junk leads.

So what did they do? They did what any good marketer would do:

They re-branded their junk as a "Marketing Qualified Lead".

Get it through your heads people: There is no such thing as a Marketing Qualified Lead. If Sales doesn't want it, it's junk.

With that out of the way, we can now talk about what you ought to be doing, and how to do it.

Buyer Liar

By now, everyone has heard about the so-called "study" proving that 57% of the buyer's decision is made before they ever engage with a sales rep.

The statistic has been used to justify spending billions of dollars on Inbound Marketing.

But did you know it's completely bogus?

It turns out that they never actually did a study - which I found out by talking to a secretary at the originating company. It was a made-up number from a casual conversation. But they threw it in their pitch deck, and it eventually went viral. And here we are.

But here's how you know it's nonsense:

If it were true, how would anyone ever sell something where the buyer hadn't previously been aware of their need????

Marketing Crossword #3

Yeah, we know. It's not as though you need another meaningless task.

By the same token, if all Marketing challenges were this easy, you'd be rich, right?

Anyway, if you need help with growing your business, we're here for you.

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

Deciding on what promotional tactics to use before you've really worked out an effective marketing strategy is one of the leading causes of business failure.

We see it all the time: A business has a great idea for a new product or service. They invest in building it. And then they put together - often with the help of a so-called "marketing expert" - a plan to promote it.

And then it fails to get traction.

What happened?

Companies often become enamored with the latest-and-greatest marketing tool or technique. When they combine that with their enthusiasm for their product, they become blinded to the real challenges of the market: How to break through the clutter and get people's attention, how to stimulate their interest, and how to get prospects to actually want to talk to you. It's a recipe for disaster.

One thing is clear: A good marketing strategy isn't just a bunch of marketing tactics strung together. Developing the strategy comes first, and it often requires doing market research, and classic market planning. But it's a whole separate exercise. And it's often the critical step on the path to success.

Decisions, decisions

As a business owner you're faced with a virtual tsunami of marketing options. Everyone is selling the next big thing, the newest way to generate leads, or the one tool you absolutely need to grow your business.

Email marketing! Data mining! Pay-per-lead! AI! Content marketing! SEO!

"Just use our solution and the world will beat a path to your door", they scream.

Well, here's the reality: It's all nonsense, because none of it works - at least not for you.

When it comes to marketing, if you think that you need to be doing "X", you've already lost the battle.

And there are lots of names for it: Grasping at straws. Throwing a bunch of you-know-what against the wall and seeing what sticks. And "hope as a strategy" are just a few.

If you want to win the game, you have to start with the fundamentals. You have to work through your value proposition and your positioning, your targeting, and how to actually create awareness and stimulate interest with potential buyers.

Only then should you consider what tools you need.

Making it Rain!

What is a Rainmaker?

The sales equivalent of a unicorn. Great sales people are made, not born.

Stop the Revolving Door!

With the constant revolving door of salespeople, what question should you be asking yourself? Find out now:

Are you hiring for turnover?

There are those who can sell. Then those who can't, do marketing.

The problem isn’t that Marketing isn’t a legitimate function. So what is the problem then?

It’s that everyone is convinced that it’s not accountable for sales. How’s that working out?

Marketing and Sales 2021

It’s the epic battle between Marketing and Sales. MQLs vs SQLs! And guess who loses?

You do – because there’s no such thing as an MQL. It’s either worth the salesperson’s time, or it’s not.

Want to Generate Leads for Free?

Are you frustrated with expensive marketing solutions that fail to deliver? Do you need real sales leads?

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