Lead Generation / Demand Creation

I had the priviledge yesterday of attending an OCRI Zone5ive event entitled Filling the Pipeline:
How two Ottawa software companies are creating and managing demand by applying industry best practices.

For those who are not familiar, Zone5ive events start off with a networking lunch where you fill your plate and circulate around the room, then everyone heads into Council Chamber at Ben Franklin Place (Nepean) for the presentation.

The presentation started off with a small chat from this events sponsor, drive2, a lead generation / demand creation company (who couldn’t use a few more leads and a bit more demand for their services?).

drive2 did something very cool - they demonstrated how tactical execution of a lead generation campaign can be driven from an event sponsorship. Since they were the sponsors of this event, they had a pair of Sens tickets to give away and would send an email to all of the registrants of yesterdays sessions with an opportunity to enter into the draw for the tickets. I wasn’t sure if I would click through as I wasn’t sure if I was ready to discuss using their services.

Their landing page was awesome - right in the first paragraph they indicated “We won’t call you, solicit you or even email you unless you ask us to. Promise.” I was sold! And you know what? I asked them to contact me! What the heck happened from the time I received the email until the time I filled out the form? I don’t know…they seem harmless…I do want to see what they have to say and if they can create demand!

Now for the rest of the presentation, I walked away with a few tidbits about filling the pipeline:

1. One needs to be able to measure their demand creation and see at a glance what is in the pipeline
2. Ideally the pipeline is filled with qualified leads. Ensure this happens by pre-qualifying your leads with a measurable scoring formula
3. Use a CRM to keep track of the above information plus more; identify your Key Performance Indicators such as the number of responses you receive from an event (such as this Sens draw), the # of opportunities (people who agree to be contacted), the cost per opportunity, etc. Each company needs to define their own KPIs.
4. This one I loved…the pipeline should be 70% full of leads that are generated as a result of your marketing activities! Doh! DriveTraffic has not done a great deal of marketing…we have relied on word of mouth thus far. Guess it is time to change all that!

Salesforce.com was mentioned as a CRM tool; we are looking into Sugar CMS as they offer an open source option.

Overall it was a highly informative presentation and I look forward to other similar ones!