I saw a funny Farside comic that described the disconnect between what people say to their pets and what their pets actually hear. After a long conversation the dog only hears his name “Spot” while the cat doesn’t even acknowledge its name. Here’s how the same disconnect occurs during those sales/marketing status meetings:
What Marketing Says:
“In January we completed 2 email campaigns, 1 trade show and 3 press releases. Of the [Read more →]
It dawned on me this morning while writing the previous post (Defining a B2B Sales Ready Lead) that a lot of the anxiety B2B marketers feel is rooted in a lack of confidence. I’ve mentioned this before but some organizations put marketing in a no-win situation. If the company has a great quarter, sales gets the credit. If the numbers stink, marketing gets the blame. It’s hard to be confident if you don’t get some credit when good things happen.
Maybe it’s time for a different approach. Figure out specifically what you can do that directly impacts the sales team and join them in victory!
I would love to hear how others have bridged this gap.
I’ve heard the term “sales ready lead” along with “nurturing” and “drip” marketing” mentioned many times over the past few months in B2B marketing circles and decided to figure out exactly what they mean. As a B2B sales person myself for 20 years I know what works and what doesn’t and I’m skeptical of anything that sounds “slow”. What I’ve found is that there is often a disparity between a sales and marketing definition of sales ready lead (which I’ve also seen discussed at length and seems to be at the core of the issue).
A sales person’s definition of a sales ready lead:
“A sales ready lead is any prospect that has a business problem your company can solve at a price it can afford, now or in the future.”
A marketer’s definition (from my observation, please correct me):
