Ruth P. Stevens - Maximizing Lead Generation: The Complete Guide for B2B Marketers (Que Biz-Tech)

The Complete Guide for B2B Marketers

Ruth P. Stevens

800 East 96th Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240 USA

Maximizing Lead Generation

Copyright 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-4114-1
ISBN-10: 0-7897-4114-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Stevens, Ruth P. (Ruth Palmer)
Maximizing lead generation : the complete guide for B2B marketers /
Ruth P. Stevens.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-4114-1
ISBN-10: 0-7897-4114-8
1. Internet marketing. 2. Industrial marketingData processing.
3. Advertising, IndustrialData processing. 4. Advertising
campaignsData processing. I. Title.
HF5415.1265.S745 201
658.8'04dc23
2011020686

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: July 2011

Editor-in-Chief
Greg Wiegand

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Katherine Bull

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Que Biz-Tech Editorial Board
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Jason Falls
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Peter Shankman

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Ruth P. Stevens consults on customer acquisition and retention, and she teaches marketing at Columbia Business School. She is past chair of the DMA Business-to-Business Council, and past president of the Direct Marketing Club of New York. Crains BtoB magazine named Ruth one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Marketing, and the Sales Lead Management Association listed her as one of 20 Women to Watch in lead management. She is the author of Trade Show and Event Marketing, and she has been a columnist and feature writer for DMNews, DIRECT, and EXPO magazines. Ruth serves as a director of Edmund Optics, Inc. She has held senior marketing positions at Time Warner, Ziff-Davis, and IBM and holds an MBA from Columbia University. Reach her at .

My sincere thanks go to the many people and companies who supported this book with ideas, interviews, statistics, and general good will. Among the individuals are Andrew Drefahl, Ann Fatino, Ardath Albee, Bernice Grossman, Bill Flatley, Bill Hebel, Bill Vorias, Bob Bly, Bob Burk, Bob Hacker, Cesar Correia, Cyndi Greenglass, Dave Laverty, David Azulay, David Gaudreau, Denise Olivares, Gottfried Sehringer, Hugh McFarlane, Jan Wallen, Jim Lenskold, Jim Obermayer, Joe Pulizzi, John Hasbrouck, John Price, Karen Breen Vogel, Katherine VanDiepen, Larry Chase, Laurie Beasley, Lee Marc Stein, Leonard Bronfeld, Linda Tenenbaum, Mark Klein, Marten G. van Pelt, Mary Brandon, Michael A. Brown, Michael Veit, Mike Chaplo, Mike Schultz, Paul Gillin, Reggie Brady, Richard N. Tooker, Richard Vancil, Rob Lail, Robert Lesser, Robert Reneau, Russell Kern, Sean Shea, Spyro Kourtis, Stephen D. Armstrong, Steven R. Lett, Susanne Sicilian, T.J. Gillett, Ted Birkhahn, Tom Judge, and Valerie Mason Cunningham.

Among the companies and organizations are the Content Marketing Institute, The Direct Marketing Association, GlobalSpec, Marketing Sherpa, MarketingProfs, the Sales Lead Management Association, and the Hacker Group.

I also thank the Pearson editorial team, Katherine Bull, Ginny Munroe, and Anne Goebel, for their excellent guidance.

In particular, I want to thank Steve Gershik, who generously read the book in manuscript form and provided much insight and wisdom, and Jackie Ball of WriteB2B, who tirelessly helped shape the manuscript and added enormous value to the project.

R. P. S.

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Lead generation involves identifying prospective customers and qualifying their likelihood to buy in advance of making a sales call. In short, its about motivating prospects to raise their hands.

Lead generation is the single most important objective of any business-to-business (B-to-B) marketing department. Other objectives, such as brand building, brand stewardship, public relations, and corporate communications are also on the list, to be sure. But, providing a sales force with a steady stream of qualified leads is job one.