http://blog.reachforce.com B2B Marketing and Sales Tips Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:59:01 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We practice what we preach and recommend you practice it too!  You need to build a profile of common denominators or qualifying criteria for companies in your target market “sweet spot.” The next step is to identify your decision making unit (DMU). The DMU consists of everyone involved in the ... http://blog.reachforce.com/sales-and-marketing-tips/targeting-the-right-decision-makers-makes-all-the-difference/ To accurately target the right companies in your in-house database, first use what you already have ― your CRM data and your website visitor logs With your CRM data – Profile your top-performing market segments. Where are you winning? Identify your best target markets. What kinds of deals close the fastest? Determine key qualifying ... http://blog.reachforce.com/sales-and-marketing-tips/targeting-the-right-companies/ Dirty data costs companies billions every year in wasted resources and lost productivity. This is true whether the data is purchased, gathered via download offers or stored in a company’s internal database. This problem is driven by several factors. Today’s mobile workforce is changing jobs faster than ever before. According to ... http://blog.reachforce.com/sales-and-marketing-tips/understanding-the-problem-of-dirty-data/ To get more from your in-house data for lead generation, you need to keep it clean ― but that’s like hitting a moving target. With companies merging or going out of business and a workforce that is constantly changing, marketing databases get dirtier at an alarming rate. In fact, 2.1% of ... http://blog.reachforce.com/database-marketing/how-to-get-more-from-your-in-house-database/ Aberdeen recently released a great report on leveraging customer data to better serve your marketing efforts. Here are some of the take-away points we thought were worth sharing: If your database is in the slow lane: Start by using data for activities that will have a positive ... http://blog.reachforce.com/direct-marketing/move-your-sales-and-marketing-database-out-of-the-slow-lane/ Circuit City, Bank One, Enron, Lehman Brothers…these are folks you might be shocked to find still sitting in your sales and marketing databases.  What’s the common theme among all of these companies? They aren’t doing business anymore. Some of them have made very splashy exits from the scene (ehhem Enron??) ... http://blog.reachforce.com/sales-and-marketing-tips/dont-talk-to-the-ghosts-of-businesses-past/ Like it or not, data fuels the engine of your business. Your sales teams need it to prospect, cross-sell and upsell. And your marketing teams need it to create viable campaigns so your sales team has a message to sell. With that in mind, what exactly are you doing with ... http://blog.reachforce.com/sales-and-marketing-tips/your-database-no-longer-your-enemy/ You have an HR handbook, departmental training materials, and documented procedures. But do you have standards and rules for your marketing and sales database?  You should.  Without some law and order, your database will start looking like the wild West of marketing and sales data.  Here are some of our ... http://blog.reachforce.com/sales-and-marketing-tips/is-your-database-in-a-complete-state-of-lawlessness/ In addition to starting the New Year with great optimism about the prospects for all of us marketers, I am excited and privileged to serve you as ReachForce’s new President.  Based on feedback from you, I plan to continue communicating within our present theme of lessons learned, insights and tips ... http://blog.reachforce.com/sales-and-marketing-tips/challenges-and-priorities-to-consider-for-2010/ A lot of companies have created great online user communities filled with best practice content, forums and wikis.  But depending on your customer base, it may be difficult to get them to take full advantage of the community.  You might try sending weekly (or bi-weekly or monthly - up to ... http://blog.reachforce.com/sales-and-marketing-tips/increasing-engagement-in-user-communities/