Todd Ebert

The World's First Site Devoted to the Deplorable Problem of Lead Leaks

Our goal is to make marketing so useful that people not only seek it out but stick around once they visit.  Toward that end I'm proud to announce our latest effort aimed at helpfing businesses solve the deplorable problem of lead leaks. What the heck are lead leaks?  Essentially they are the places in your sales and marketing process where you are losing potential customers to competitors because your marketing, website, or follow-up isn’t up to par.  Or stated another way, the places where you are throwing away customers and revenue. 

Two quick examples of lead leaks:

• What percent of your website visitors leave without contacting you? Not having a fresh, professional, conversion-friendly website is like turning away potential customers at your front door.
• How many of your calls go to voicemail or are after hours? Waiting too long to follow up with new contacts (even just more than an hour) usually means they choose someone else.  

These are just a couple of common lead leaks, but there are so many more.

Anyway, it was driving us crazy to see so many businesses waste so many of the leads they’re working so hard to get – without even knowing it. So, we created an entire website dedicated to educating the world about lead leaks and helping businesses get more customers from their marketing.

Check out the site at www.dontleakleads.com for helpful info like:

• Candid “leaks on the street” videos with real consumers that will open your eyes to the problem
• Ebooks, articles, infographics, and presentations explaining the most common ways businesses leak leads (and what to do about them)
• A Marketing Math calculator that enables you to calculate the number of customers and amount of revenue you could get by fixing lead leaks
• Other fun stuff like videos and memes you can share

Are you leaking leads? New infographic shows you where to check.

More fun with funnels. Our best infographic yet.  Make sure you aren't leaking leads at each step of the buying journey customers take to discover, contact and choose your business. 

See more on the ReachLocal Learning Center

How to Drive More Customers Through Your Sales Funnel

Every marketer leaks leads from their sales funnel so we created an ebook to help them plug the holes and get more customers. 

Are you a mindless marketer?

The “Good” and the “Ugly” – sending an educational guide to prospects vs. sending a press release

As a marketing leader at my company I receive dozens of email and direct mail vendor communications every day.  Most are just average, many are awful and a select few are excellent.  Usually I give each a 5 second review and toss them before I even leave the mailroom.  One day last week I got two marketing pieces that I thought I’d share. As background, I’ve never heard of either company.

The first was a direct mail piece with a press release from BZ Media that explained in detail the executive  moves/appointments at their publication Systems Management News.  Several questions came to mind as I opened the letter.  Who is the publication and why/how did I get on their database?  Why in the world would they go to the trouble and cost to print a press release and send it to me via snail mail when an email would have been free? [ They have my email address since I also get numerous emails from their sales rep but to my knowledge I have never opted-in.] Why, since I’ve never been a customer would they assume I know who they are?  Why would they think that I would remotely care about their internal management shuffle?    This is classic brainless marketing on so many levels.  Hopefully someone at BZ Media comes to their senses and actually engages me with some type of marketing of value…how about starting with a brief email or letter explaining who they are and how their service would benefit me?  I guess they, and a lot of others, forgot the first lesson of Marketing 101 which is always, always remember to answer the WIFM question!  If a reader can’t discern the value you provide or problem you solve in the first 5 seconds you’ve lost them.

  In contrast, the same day I opened a direct mail package with a 40-page full color guide to direct marketing sponsored/written by MetricaDirect.  It immediately caught my attention as a high-end piece worthy of more than the usual 5 second review and toss.  They rightly assumed that I did not know who they were, so rather than just sending me info on their services they started with a thought-leadership approach to build credibility.  The cover letter was well written and succinctly reviewed WIFM...explaining how the guide would provide proven strategies for solving some of my most pressing marketing pain points.  I’m usually a skeptic when it comes to guides as they typically are company brochures in disguise, but this one is excellent….full of very useful information on demand generation strategy and tactics.  You can download it here.  I was left with a great impression of their company, checked out their website and bookmarked it in my “good vendor” folder (where I keep the only the few vendors I would call when I have a project).

Unfortunately, many in our profession either aren’t trained properly in direct marketing, or are too lazy to do the job right, preferring the spray and pray approach which is a total waste of their budget, and worse, creates a negative brand impression.    It may seem obvious to say, but we need to take the time to understand the prospect’s pain points and quickly communicate how our product helps them relieve the pain (i.e. the value of our solution).  Why do so many people forget/skip this basic tenet of marketing?

Are you forgetting to partner with Sales?

The "Good" - driving more true sales opportunities out of your demand generation program by partnering with Sales

I just rejoined a software company after a 2 year stint elsewhere. As such, nearly all of the sales execs are new.  As I started to re-establish the demand gen engine at the company I made sure to spend lots of time with the Sales team to mutually identify the targets, outline the lead process/flow and create detailed lead definitions.  We've only just gotten started but already I can notice a huge difference in the effectiveness of the joint teams over prior regimes that remained in separate ivory towers. 

It really is quite simple but so often we get too busy/lazy to communicate what we are doing, or are hindered by disparate locations, but we must make the effort to engage Sales upfront and on a weekly (if not daily) basis. Kirk Crenshaw at DemandBlog wrote a great post that summarizes some simple steps that will get you started.

Calling all integrated demand generation agencies...

The "Bad" -  trying to find a full service integrated demand generation agency.

I just took over marketing at a small software company and want to create a demand/lead generation engine in order to help build the sales pipeline.  The problem is that we are very light on marketing staff and don't have decent marketing automation or CRM systems.  My choices are to buy a slick system (e.g. Eloqua, NetSuite) and hire a staff to build the capability in house, or I can go the outsource route by hiring a full service integrated demand agency who can run the programs for me.  The problem I am running into is that there are lots of B2B teleprospecting firms and even more direct marketing agencies but very few vendors who provide both...i.e. integrated demand generation.  I've talked with many of the top B2B teleprospecting agencies, and while they are quite good at dialing for leads they have virtually no real direct marketing capability.  Most say they do, but I found that it usually means their tele-agents send emails to the people they just spoke with.  That is hardly what I would call direct marketing. 

I'm looking for a firm that can provide a truly integrated capability where they profile the segments, build the database, develop the messaging/communications strategy, and then execute the demand gen programs (themselves, not through subcontracted partners) utilizing the full spectrum of channels including a minimum of email, direct mail, web, and call center to drive qualified leads.  Moreover, the firm I'm looking for will develop and execute a lead nurturing program for the other 90% of the prospects that are not immediate sales-ready leads.  And, they will use their CRM system and its inherent analytics to refine and optimize the campaign messages and tactics on an ongoing basis.

Maybe there are some firms like this out there and I just haven't found them yet. There certainly is a market need for this type of outsourced marketing since there are lots of other companies in the same boat as mine that would love to utilize best practice integrated demand generation programs but can't afford to build it themselves.  If you know of any vendors that fit this description please shoot me a note.