Lead Generation for the Complex Sale is a new book by Brian Carroll, CEO of InTouch Incorporated.
In the book, Brian focuses on providing a proven process for generating business-to-business leads for complex sales, where complex sale’ is defined as a sales process occurring over a period of 6- to 36-months.
Brian is probably one of the first people to write about this subject in consideration of today’s business environment and the new technology tools available to marketers. He writes:
In light of the challenges posed in the complex sale, marketers cannot afford to focus their budgets on building brand through traditional advertising when broad-scale media are so costly and lack the proper targeting. In short, a good reputation leads others to make conclusions about the corporate brand, but the corporate brand itself does not create the reputation.
[t]actics like thought leadership, public relations, and analyst coverage are more effective than traditional advertising efforts. These build trust on the strength of outcomes and capabilities.
In Chapter 12, entitled “Lead Generation on the Web”, Brian looks at the importance of the Internet in the process of lead generation:
Clearly the Internet has become the go-to resource for most companies looking for solutions. Today, in many instances, marketers are seizing control of the company Web sites. With this comes the responsibility for optimizing its heralded potential to turn visitors into customers. Is your Web site ready to fill the role of the presales consultant?
Having a preales consultant via the Web is particularly important if you are an independent consultant like me. I simply don’t have the time to qualify every lead myself.
Of course, new tools like blogs, RSS, and podcasting are now widely available and are particularly helpful when it comes to driving the thought leadership mentioned earlier. Brian calls blogging the great equalizer for small businesses. And he backs that up by what it has done for his company (do a search on B2B lead generation – his blog comes up first):
[blogging] is used in a variety of ways and means to support the sales process[b]logging is also important to our lead nurturing program.
I really enjoyed Brian’s book and thank him for sending me a preview copy (which I unfortunately did not get a chance to review until this past weekend). It is well organized and well written. I highly recommend it and hope you will enjoy it too.
For some other thoughts, check out what Debbie Weil had to say about the book in relation to Book Launch 2.0.
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Ken Yarmosh is a consultant who helps organizations get the most out of their technology investments. He works with technology users and creators across various industries, focusing on technology education and strategy. With over 7 years IT experience, Ken has worked with small businesses, non-profits, federal agencies, and multi-million dollar companies.
His online efforts include acting as the Editor for the Corante Technology Hub and authoring the TECHNOSIGHT blog.
