brian's blog

My Lead Generation Experience - A TeleArk Team Member Perspective

Posted Sun, 2009-06-28 08:33 by brian

When I first started my job as a lead generation representative I really had no idea what I was getting into. With no formal training or experience, I had to pick things up on my own. Years later I have moved on to a new and higher position and the skills I learned gave me the foundation that I needed to carry on with my new lead generation responsibilities. I took many of the skills that I practiced on a daily basis and perfected them. I continued to enhance myself professionally. Although my title and pay may have changed, the techniques I employed in this position have not.

A new age of selling

Posted Wed, 2009-04-29 16:18 by brian

It’s really hard to differentiate one marketing firm from the other nowadays. Reason being that many marketing firms offer the same kind of services without really offering something unique and competitive. When you hire a marketing company to find sales prospects for you, all that they do is give you some companies/leads to work on claiming that these are real opportunities. Sure, sometimes you get some real hot leads but the rest can be complete “garbage”. As a result, you end up looking like a dog chasing its tail. The problem with these companies is that their way of thinking is very antiquated. They use outdated techniques and often use "sweatshop labor" to get the job done.
Most traditional selling/marketing systems use the following steps in generating their leads and appointments:

Generation and Retention

Posted Wed, 2009-03-11 14:16 by brian

By: brian 2009-03-11 14:16:00 -0500

When you look at businesses that have been in existence for a number of years, you can’t help but ask yourself how they’ve survived for so long. Big names like FORD, Boeing, Hancock Insurance and so many others have been around for quite some time long before most of us were even born. This is not a part of the “ordinary” since the business realm is of the dog eat dog kind. Many have come and gone and this vicious cycle continues till this day. Yet as complicated as it may sound, maintaining a business is not rocket science. A lesson that I have learned from all the companies that I have been with in the past and one  that I hold close to my heart is that for any business to continue, their has to be a healthy marriage between generating new business and maintaining current ones.

Lead Generation: In-House vs. Outsourced

Posted Wed, 2009-02-11 11:31 by brian

By: brian 2009-02-11 11:31:07 -0500

Lead generation is fast becoming an integral part of many companies’ marketing arsenals. It is so far, one of the most effective and efficient ways to find sales prospects. Cold calling is a facet of lead generation that is most often used and it can either be done “in–house” wherein the company itself would hire their own internal cold callers or “outsourced” wherein the company would look to an outside firm to do the cold calling for them. For companies that are just starting out with their lead generation/cold calling programs, the question of whether they should go in-house or outsourced would be a bit pressing. Therefore, it is critical for any Business Development/Sales officer to evaluate both sides of each coin before making a decision: