If you're a business-to-business marketer in the Fortune 1000 marketplace, you know how incredibly frustrating it can be to reach every single critical member of prospect's committee with your message.

Example, Ken Woods, Director Americas Marketing for Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, told me he needs to start a permission-based relationship with 10-20 different execs at each prospect company.

No matter how wonderful your search marketing, white paper syndication, and webinar offers are (the three most typical b- to-b tech marketing tactics these days), your chances of engaging all 20 needed execs in a single organization at the right time are, well, chancy in the extreme.

Which is why in addition to all the standard branding, online, and DM campaigns, Ken started an outbound telemarketing campaign last year. The goal is simply to get more of the perfect execs to agree to be emailed with educational offers.

Key -- his team *does not* merely ask, "What's your email address?" Nor does anyone ever ever ever ask a staffer "What's your bosses'/co-worker's email address?" in an attempt to flesh out the list.

That's because Ken recognizes the address alone is WORTHLESS.

If email alone was worth anything, he could get far more cheaply from any of the list brokers or online systems that offer that pure contact info. By investing (far more) in an outbound call team, Ken gets three invaluable things:

#1. Lead qualification

In corporate America job title vs. actual job function can be completely different things. You can't guess who's on the vendor selection committee, you have to ask them.

Plus, the extra tidbits of insider info you may get on the committee during that quick conversation can be invaluable for your biz dev team down the road.

"People wouldn't stop talking to us," Ken told me. "I don't know why that was. Maybe it's the way we approached them." (Note: I suspect the fact that Ken's brand strength made a big difference here. Another reason PR and brand ads have better ROI than you may think.)

#2. Permission

Your biz dev reps are hoping to close a six or seven figure deal with these folks. Why would you risk the deal itself (and/or your ability to get any email past their corporate filter in future) by sending messages they didn't proactively ask you for?

It's a bit like farting in the conference room. Yes, it will get people's attention, but... Instead of asking for blanket permission to send marcom email, after qualifying folks they reached on the phone, Ken's team offered a specific white paper he'd developed for the campaign. "Just signing up for emailed news isn't motivating enough," he notes. Next, in addition the callers asked "May we also send you other educational info from time to time on this subject?"

The prospect got their white paper via email within 24 hours with a nice text-note. Then a week later they got a polite text-follow-up offering a second info piece, along with a reward for responding (first 20 responders got an iPod). And so on.

"We're getting people to be consumers of our information," explains Ken. "We're telling them what's going to come next and rewarding them as we go on."

#3. Prospect "heat" measurement --

About 19% of the qualified prospects Ken's team reached on the phone agreed to become email info "consumers". Over the next two years (a standard sales cycle) Ken will carefully track how these execs respond differently than execs who joined the list in other ways.

But there's one data point he finds most useful right away: "We look at the number of people within a company who respond. If, for example, 10 people at United responded vs. only two at say Williams Sonoma, given our druthers, we'll follow up with United first."

And this is the kind of info a business development team can never get enough of.

Until next week,

Anne

Anne Holland - Publisher
MarketingSherpa

P.S. As always, our Case Studies and articles are open access for about 10 days. Then they go into SherpaLibrary where you can research for a small fee. The links always remain the same.

#2. Integrated Ad Campaign Results - Podcast + Avatar Banners + NYC Bar Coasters

Although you may be enjoying this winter's unusually balmy weather, consider the unhappy fate of ski resort marketers.

In response, Killington Resort has been running an all-out integrated media attack, including rich media "talking head" banners, a new podcast, and, yup, printed bar coasters in 100 of Manhattan's coolest clubs.

Find out which part of the campaign worked, and which got only so-so results:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3196
(Open access until April 1st)

#3. SPECIAL REPORT Part I: Marketing to China - Overcoming the Top 5 Challenges

According to Ernst & Young, China is the world's second largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity versus GDP. Which probably means if your organization hasn't had a how-to-expand-to-China meeting yet, it's only a matter of time now.

In Part I of MarketingSherpa's special report, discover:
-> Why China may be tougher than you expected
-> Tips on ad creative, PR, and Web content for China

Plus, quick Do's and Don'ts for your first business trip to China. (Yes, bring your CEO on a road trip.):
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3218
(Open access until April 2nd)

#4. How to Design & Write Email Postcards for Max Response

How long do you think your average opened email is actually looked at by the recipient? A few seconds perhaps.

Even if you're sending a newsletter that's packed with great content, people's eyes are flickering quickly over the screen and then moving on if nothing jumps out at them right away. That's why email postcards can average 50% higher open-to- click rates than newsletters or multi-offer sales alerts.

In this classic MarketingSherpa article, discover:
- The 5 types of marketers who should test epostcards
- How to avoid common copywriting and design mistakes
- What MarketingSherpa learned from a test

Plus, be inspired by two fabulous creative samples:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2879
(Open access until April 2nd)

#5. How to Create a Software Demo Presentation That Wows Prospects: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

If you create PowerPoint slides, talking points or any other materials for software demos, this article is a must- read.

Includes highly specific details on what precisely should appear on the first three slides of your demo presentation (and your corporate overview isn't one of them.) Plus, why the Q&A time should be expanded to 75% of the demo:
http://www.MarketingSherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3213
(Open access until March 31st)

#6. Fame Briefs: 3 International Fame Opportunities

Here's a quick listing of the latest marketing, ad, and PR awards you can nominate yourself for.
http://www.MarketingSherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2632
(Open access = permanent)

#7. Help Wanteds: 35 New Jobs & 6 Seekers Available

The past week's new posts include positions from OnPoint, Bluefly.com, Delve, and American Greetings. Plus, learn how to post your own opening complimentary service).
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2522
(Open access = permanent)

#8. New Giveaway: 'Google AdSense Secrets'

who run ads on the AdSense Network. Instead, it's for online publishers (hundreds of thousands by now) who carry those ads on their sites.

Turns out by following classic "test it" tactics, along with some tweaks to ad placement, you can get much higher clicks on the ads running on your site. Which means that monthly Google check becomes a thing of joy and beauty.

Joel's donated five copies of his Report for Sherpa to give away to readers. Toss your name in the hat here:
http://sherpa.bookoffer.sgizmo.com
(Ends 04/02/06)

+ Winners of last week's giveaway are...

These five lucky marketers will get their own copies of 'Cashing In with Content' by David Meerman Scott

• Brendan Regan, Versaly Entertainment, Bellevue, WA
• Maureen Cannon, Advanstar Communications Inc. Cleveland, OH
• Chuck Fuller, StartupNation, Birmingham, MI
• Jeroen Plink, PracticalLawCompany.com, London, UK
• Renee Beaulieu, Boardroom, Inc., Stamford, CT