Sales departments wish that marketing would stop thinking they are the rulers of the earth, marketing departments wish sales departments would take their cocky arrogant attitudes to another planet for… well… ever, and the tech crew wishes that sales and marketings’ peanut-sized brains would grow at least to a size where they could identify what caused a problem rather than stating what the problem is.

Today (and this was confirmed through some meetings we’ve had in recent weeks), companies large and small have these three vital departments wasting TONS of time, energy and resources due to a lack of understanding in modern business principals.

Marketing departments need to understand that the days of throwing a hundred grand at a TV or billboard campaign and watching the sales teams phones light up are a thing of the past. People are able to educate themselves about you now with the click of a mouse. They are doing the research light years ahead of when they used to… and they’re doing it without your help. It’s just them and their Dell laptop. That’s right sales guys… there’s no cheese ball with a big ‘ol smile “helping” them in making their “best choice”. They are all alone and there’s nothing you can do about it.

So, here’s what needs to happen… and quickly… or your fortune 500 company or dream of a Fortune Small Business cover story may just go bust in the next few years.

Tech

Guys and gals… listen up… Your job isn’t to sit in a room and code any more. That’s part of it, but put your marshmallow shooter away because you need to put in a little more time now. Marketing is now in your job description whether you like it or not. It’s your job to create lead generating web sites, content management systems, and automated follow up systems for the marketing department. Don’t like it? OK… go work for Microsoft or Google in a department that has no influence on sales or marketing. When you’re part of a company that has active sales representatives and spends money on marketing… it’s your job now to get involved and think ‘tech’ with sales and marketing in mind.

When it comes to technology, today’s marketing department members tend to be dopes. Don’t be offended marketers… it’s not all of you, just the majority. They were taught the ins and outs of marketing and it had NOTHING TO DO WITH TECHNOLOGY. The “idiocity” that you sense really isn’t “idiocity”… it’s ignorance, and they are uncomfortable stating that they don’t understand something. Work with them, teach them, and show them the creative side that 80% of you possess. Prove that you can make their lives better and easier… it’s finally time for you to shine, my friend… so do it brightly.

Marketing

Listen closely… you DO NOT know everything. I know! That education of yours was “way expensive” and you did learn a lot about psychology and how people react to the color blue… but tech has something to offer you. And guess what… It’s now your job to do the sales reps job! What???!?!?! I know, it hurts to hear that and your ears and cheeks are getting redder and redder. Listen though.

Product and service buyers (whether consumers or businesses) used to have to call a sales rep to get information. Well, now it’s right online. All “Bonnie Buyer” has to do is give Google a shout and Google tells all right then and there. So first off, if Google doesn’t feel you’re the most important when Bonnie types “” into the search engine, give “Timmy Techguy” a call and have them get you to the top of the engines. If they don’t know how, hire someone to.

Once they find you… your job isn’t done. You need to convert them into a lead by getting their information. Here’s where A LOT of SEO’s screw up royally. So many search engine optimizers are so consumed with getting to the coveted number one spot that they don’t even think about what’s going to happen with the traffic once it gets there. Type just about anything into google and click on the number one result. You’ll find that about 90 percent of them don’t even have a call to action on the page. WHAT A WASTE!!!

OK, so you’re getting traffic and getting leads now, right? So now you’re going to give them to sales, right? NO! STOP! DON’T. If you do the water cooler talk in the sales department will sound something like this:

“Man, Harry… how about these horrible leads that marketing’s been sending over… they really suck!”

Now, am I saying that sales is “right”? No, I’m not… but if you want growth in your organization… you need to “cultivate the leads” so that they actually turn into prospects. So, call “Timmy Techguy” again.

Have Timmy build you a customized CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. Or, of course, he could use ours if he calls us. 8 )

The CRM will automatically follow up with the leads via email and schedule things like letters, phone calls, thank you cards, gift sending and more to your clients based on the product or service that they’re interested in. Marketing… you’re now the “assistant” to the sales team. Does that tick you off? Well it shouldn’t… just deal with it.

Sales People

I’m going to make this simple. Ditch the BS. Toss out the superficial attitude. It smells like the trash can in my garage (I have 4 kids… two in diapers) and EVERYONE can smell it a mile away. But here’s the thing, you don’t need it anymore. When you get leads from marketing, it’s because they have been followed up on and they’re now ready to buy. Your job becomes explaining to them why they should buy from you and not one of your competitors. Be respectful and understand that any attempts to snowball them can be stopped with the click of the mouse. A huge issue I see every day with sales people is their lack of technical ability… especially those over the age of 35… it like an epidemic. Go take a class for goodness sake.

So look, all of you get in the same room together, and it will be uncomfortable. Tech… you’re the kingpin bringing it all together, so if you don’t like to talk in groups, get some help. The bottom line is: get traffic - get leads - cultivate leads (through automation and personal touch) - close leads.

This is your show. Now have at it.

As you know, a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. In the same way, lead generation is only as strong as a company’s sales force. In other words, it’s important that the leads that are generated by your customized lead generation campaigns are followed up just as strongly as any other lead you would receive in your company. Many companies make the mistake of looking at online generated leads as not being as high a priority, when in reality those leads are just as important. The online consumer thinks about making a buying decision much earlier than your typical brick and mortar lead that comes into your building or even the lead that gives you a call.

Understanding the Online Consumer

The Internet has done amazing things for business but one of the bad things that it is done is added a bit of confusion. Think about this for a second. Every single piece of data that you could ever need is now available like your fingertips via an Internet connection. What this has enabled consumers and people looking to purchase business-to-business products and services the ability to be able to do all of the research online instead of doing things like calling for a quote. Therefore, these Internet leads are often much earlier in the buying process. So often, business sales people let these leads go to waste by not following up with them on a regular basis. The leads then end up still making a purchasing decision. The problem is, they do it from someone else.

We have literally spent years educating business people on how to follow up with online generated leads. After learning that there are virtually no programs available to simplify the process of follow-up, we decided that we would create one ourselves.

We are proud to present Prospect Maximizer.

Prospect Maximizer is a solution that enables customized follow-up to all of your leads, whether they’re generated online or off-line. Online leads can automatically be entered into prospect maximizer and with a simple selection of a campaign, they can automatically be followed up with via e-mail, phone calls, letters, postcards and more. Off-line leads are just as easy. We have an incredible import feature which will allow you to take leads, from a trade show for example, and upload them directly into the system. Those leads will then be followed up with, just as your online generated leads are.

Our Prospect Maximizer solution is web-based, and therefore can be accessed from virtually any computer anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.

To learn more about Prospect Maximizer simply fill out our form, give us a call, or send us a text message using the navigational bar the right.

There are so many different forms of marketing that don’t really make sense. For years, companies have spent countless dollars on marketing vehicles like magazines, television commercials, billboards and more without having an understanding of what the exact results would be.

There is no longer a need to do that. The guys at ProspectMX have figured out a way to guarantee you results for your marketing dollars. Just imagine what it would be like if you could go to your advertising agency and tell them that you weren’t going to pay them if they didn’t produce you results.

As experts in search engine marketing and online at lead generation, we are able to figure out exactly how consumers who are interested in your products will respond to certain advertisements and offers they are presented with over the Internet.

Imagine for a second that you sell golf balls. It would probably be true that you wouldn’t want to market your golf balls to people who don’t golf. The customized lead generation pages that we create for your company would specifically target an audience who golfs. Not only would the page target that audience, but so would the marketing campaign that we put together. We can create marketing campaigns that not only specifically target an audience in terms of interests but also an audience in terms of geography. What we have created is truly unique and powerful and will do wonders for your businesses bottom line.

How It All Works

The first, and most important thing that we can do is to have a phone consultation where we will go over your current marketing systems. It is important that we understand exactly what your current ROI is in your different marketing programs. If you’re currently not measuring those bottom lines, we can consult you on ways to do so. Without proper measurements, it’s impossible to understand how beneficial the results are.

Once we understand your current marketing systems, we will be able to begin identifying your target customer. Understanding things like what terms your target customer might search for on the Internet, their age, sex and other factors will help us to put together an incredible test campaign. This test campaign is what defines the cost per lead, retainer fees and other aspects of your customized lead generation program.

The next, and most exciting, part of this entire process is the test campaign. This is where we find out exactly how consumers in your industry respond to the offers that we present to them on the Internet. Before we ever do any of this testing, we sit down with our team and analyze what offers your customers may or may not be interested in. We also do research that tells us what terms are popular on the internet. Then we create specific advertisements for each of those offers and keywords. This is a long process where we do a lot of thinking about your target customer. There is a nonrefundable $500-$1000 fee for the testing phase. In some rare cases it may actually be more, but you will know this before we do the campaign.

Finally, we will present you with an agreement. This agreement will outline three basic things:

1. The total cost per lead.
2. The number of leads that we can create in a given amount of time.
3. The retainer required to get the campaign started.

Once we have agreed upon the terms we will begin your campaign, we will continue to deliver leads to you until your retainer runs out. When it does, you’ll have the choice to give us more of a retainer or to stop the campaign altogether. In most cases, we do not do long-term contracts. However, we will provide you with a discount if you do so.

To get involved with our exciting customized lead generation solutions. All you have to do is give us a call at 717-431-0505 or send us a text message using the box to the right.