Often sales people do not actively follow up on marketing generated leads. This may be a result of poor sales behaviors, but it is more likely that sales teams are not confident in the quality of the sales leads they are getting. Marketing Automation is a powerful technology, but it is important not to “over automate” the classification of the lead.

For some of our most strategic accounts over the years, we always took the time to develop a very robust and detailed account plan. One of the fun features of these account plans was the “wine glass” analysis. It was a great way to understand the level of relationship we had with certain critical stakeholders in the account.

If we placed a wine glass next to their name on the org chart, we could see at a glance the depth of the relationship. The wine glass, of course, meant that this is a person that would join us for a dinner or cocktails and with whom we have developed a personal relationship.

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Guest Post By Vanessa Fox

The energy was palpable among the 250 sales enablement professionals at the start of the Forrester Technology Sales Enablement Forum 2012 — then Brad Holmes, VP, Practice Leader, Sales Enablement and Technology Marketing, Forrester took off his jacket, and then his shirt — to reveal his Sales Enablement HERO tee shirt. He fortunately stopped there, but the enthusiasm didn’t!

We are often asked about the business case for marketing automation. In the end, it is a numbers game. There are plenty of operational advantages of course  – sales and marketing alignment, single solution replacing point solutions, etc. But, in the end, it is about revenue.

So how does marketing automation increase revenue?

We are excited by the up-coming launch of Revenue Grader, our new application for business leaders.

Inspired in part by Hubspot’s Grader apps, Revenue Grader is a management-level diagnostic tool to rapidly assess revenue performance potential and develop a prioritized top level plan – in minutes.

We were fortunate to escape the confines of the office in order to attend a NEDMA (New England Digital Media Association) Conference at the Boston Common Hotel and Conference Center.  From the moment we walked up to the second floor, we were immediately submerged in innovative ideas and new data that will help shape future marketing campaigns.

The 7 Aspects of Inbound Marketing Most People Screw Up – http://bit.ly/GYKjPh

Bit.ly logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

25 Clever Ways to Grow Your Email Marketing List – http://bit.ly/HedZp0

How to Analyze Facebook Insights to Improve Your Content Strategy [With Video!] – http://bit.ly/H1U9wZ

Content is Key to Building a Successful Email Marketing and Social Media Strategy – http://bit.ly/Hfs0mu

Social media vs. search marketing [infographic]- http://bit.ly/H7x3YN

It is not new news that a newsletter can help to strengthen your relationships with clients and to draw in potential new clients.  Small and medium sized business owners that we work with are publishing issues on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. The format, time frame, and content will depend on budget and  priorities, but we recommend a level that you can maintain easily with your capacity and resources. While more publishing and corresponding social media engagement can increase the level of activity on your website, it is pointless to over-commit and detract from your brand identity.

Here are a few tweets from the last week that we wanted to share.

Bit.ly logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How to Write Your Social Media Plan in 8 Steps http://bit.ly/GPVtaw

5 Things You Must Do to Scale Your Company http://bit.ly/zgicUw

19 Email Deliverability Terms Every Marketer Should Know http://bit.ly/GGzrHG

Google Ties Display More Closely to Keywords | ClickZ  http://bit.ly/GLIXss

#B2Bchat – Lead Scoring Best Practices [Recap] http://bit.ly/c70HGv

@NEDMA #mktgtech summit on 3/21 at the Boston Common hotel   –  Look to blog entry, coming soon…

Here are a few tweets from the last week that we wanted to share.

No B.S. – 3 Lethal Metrics That Will Increase Your Website Conversion

The Importance of Brand in an Era of Digital Darwinism

Make Google work for you!!

5 Truths that Lead to More Referrals

Your Call to Action is Lame! Here are 10 Ways to Convert it Better (Examples)

Create Content Buckets for Each Stage in the Sales Process

Marketing’s Golden Age

RT @HubSpot: Big learning opportunity! Free tickets to the @NEDMA mktg tech summit on 3/21 at the Boston Common hotel!