August 30, 2005

Lead Generation for Sales Team

On Friday, I knew that Tom was stressing over our sales figures. The delays in the VAR signing messed up the anticipated five deals we wanted to sign that will now be in September. He rescheduled our Friday 1-on-1 meeting to Monday afternoon. I could tell at Noon that I should put on my Marcom hat, knowing Tom would want to focus on lead generation for September.

Org Charts to Organize My Thoughts

I first approached the lead generation by understanding the integrated marketing communications framework. I segmented the market, then by new prospects, existing customers, and former customers. I identified the marketing goals of build volume, add-on sales, and maintain/renew contract. Once I outlined the goals, I was able to think through the marketing tools.

Observations from Former Company

For lead generation, I outlined the Website, cold calls by sales reps, public relations, and direct & email. In my last company, for some reason I had managed the search engine optimization effort, Google Ad word campaigns and Website to a certain extent. I identified these activities in my org charts and made sure I focused my attention on the Website, since I knew our VAR wanted a demo calendar to be established and one Webinar. I also outlined our own efforts for this, adding to the other activities I listed.

Important Topics for 1:1 Meetings

We always start our meetings on the most casual note. This time it was, “I’m serious. I really like your office and I want to move stuff around in my office. Will you look at, what do you think? I’m thinking I could flip the desk and…” Tom says as he tries to figure out why his work area isn’t working for him. I said frankly to him, “Well, you need to open up the door area, keep your desk facing the door, but remove non-essential furniture, remove one guest chair since you don’t need three, and you should get a nice executive desk chair because your brand image is everything.”

I continued, “Also, I think you shouldn’t use this work station. How about a desk? It looks more executive. I think the problem you may be having is trying to use the corner of the L-shaped desk for your primary work area. Have you noticed that I don’t use that area on my desk? I need angles; I need to have my computer perpendicular to my desk pad. Maybe that’s the issue you’re having.” “You’re right! I never know where to work or write!” he says as if he’s solved a perennial problem.

That’s what I like about Tom. He’ll tell you, “Sorry, I’m a little A.D.D., but I am listening…I just had another thought and I want to show you before I forget,” as he types away in our meeting, then reaches for a file, then talks again. I was right; he was hooked on the lead generation and the Website. Once he knew they had Webtrends, he called the COO to ask for the information, so he could login and view Webtrends reports.

“But What Should We Do for September?”

After Tom told me that, the VAR wouldn’t have their email campaigns up and running until the third week of September, I knew we had to do something ASAP. I looked at my org charts, then started marking it up as I circled the Website, Webinar, and email campaigns. Then I said to him, “Okay, when Jonathan gets on board, his top priority will be to clean up Salesforce.com and get it ready for campaigns. As we get ready for campaigns, Amanda and Jamie need to start their cold calling efforts. Jamie will most likely start with her Rolodex and Amanda will work her opportunities.”

Sales Territories

“But,” I say with hesitation, “You need to define their territories and do it fairly.” He asks, “Can’t we match them up to the VAR’s territories?” “Nope, we really should define, and you should have CTO run query to confirm they have comparable targets in each of their regions.” Tom will be the first to admit that managing sales is new to him. Today was one of the days again. He agreed with my advice and will work with key Management Team members to nail down the regions before getting Amanda and Jamie’s feedback.

Webinar by End of September

After I rattled off my sales advice, I continued by telling Tom, “We can start the email campaigns in mid-September with the call-to-action a Webinar by you. But I will need to review all your presentations so far, combine it with our ROI findings, and come up with a new Webinar topic, then create your deck. I’ll have to update the Website, so we can start promoting it there and remove old content. We’ll have to get a registration process in place and Jonathan can start tracking in Salesforce.com. We can have this for you by the last week of September.”

Tom gives me a blank stare, and then finally blinks. “You can do that? A Webinar in the last week of September?” he asks. “Yep, Jonathan won’t have any problems with Salesforce. I can work on the Website, come up with the topic, and create your presentation. I’ll be your [celebrity] handler; all you have do is practice once, and then show up. But I’d prefer you to review the content, approve it, and feel good about it.” I told him. “I’ll do anything you want. Just tell me what to do! You can be my handler.” Tom is so much fun because he’s always enthusiastic.

Test Driving Marcom

I could tell Tom was unsure of my Marcom abilities. He has the utmost confidence in organizing and planning, today he just wanted to know that we could do lead generation for him since our VAR is letting us down. I completed on the work plan by identifying all the work blocks of activity and the tasks within each block. Now, I just need to make sure I factor this into my product marketing work. Jonathan will find the work easy so I have no worries there.

The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here.

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