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Evaluating Your Marketing Capabilities

Here is a scenario I have witnessed time and time again while working with growing software companies. Once the product is half-baked, the company's founders and top executives start drumming up business. Whether successful or not, at some point they bring in the "Professional VP Sales" - either to bring in the sales they could not close or to take sales to the next level and build a sales organization. Sooner or later, the VP Sales comes to the conclusion the sales people need more leads.

Looking For Renewed Growth

Sometimes you have to take a step back before you move forward. Being in the high-tech industry, we've all experienced this. When the market slowed down, we all had to take a step back and readjust. Now, many of us are ready to move forward into growth mode. As we move into renewed growth, we face a new reality in the high-tech world, and especially in the enterprise software market.

Understanding the Partnership Lifecycle : An interview with Eyal Shavit, AxcessNet

Eyal Shavit is the founder and president of AxcessNet (Waltham, Mass., Tel. 781-466-8888) which since 1985 helped dozens of early stage companies effectively penetrate the US market. AxcessNet is also the Broadview representative to the Israeli market. Prior to AxcessNet, Eyal was a founder and executive in a number of successful Israeli enterprise software companies. He is also the author of a seminal e-commerce patent that was sold to Oracle in 2001. Eyal has invested and serves as board member and advisor in numerous start-ups and venture funds. He is a member of the Walnut Ventures angel investors group. Eyal's primary interest is in software ventures, with specific focus on security applications and infrastructure.

Marketing and Sales Alignment: How Siebel Does It

Siebel Systems is best known for its commanding share of the CRM market. Recently, the company has opened up to showcase how it uses its own marketing software to support some of the best practices in marketing and demand generation. You need not worry; this is not a Siebel commercial. As you will quickly realize, this is mostly about organization, process, and measurement. Here are some of the highlights, based on Andrew Clarke's presentation at the Marketing Roundtable and a similar presentation given at a Siebel webinar.

Build Your Permission Marketing Database

Hi Eran: You mention "target customer permissions" in your article and I'm just trying to understand this concept. Here's an example: I buy my target lists from companies and use them to conduct direct marketing. (Large AS/400 companies). Now, gathering customer permissions - is this the ability to obtain information about a direst mail respondent and to now add them to my marketing contact 'mix'? - Do I need permission to add them to the mix?

The Five Key Elements Of B2B Branding

Lately, I have come across a number of articles and colleagues pronouncing the demise of B2B branding. I would like to offer a different viewpoint: B2B branding is not obsolete. At the same time, it has to be redefined to fit the context of B2B today.

The Fallacy of Qualified Leads

"We don't get enough qualified leads!" How many times have you heard your VP of Sales make this statement? The common answer from marketing is "we have generated lots of leads, but sales doesn't follow up on them." "But these leads are not qualified", would be the familiar rebuttal from the sales trenches.

Eran Livneh Answers Software Marketing Questions

Working in the software market, one has to be acutely aware of the technology adoption cycle and its implications on company's strategy at any given stage. B2B software marketing has been Eran's area of expertise for over ten years, most of them spent in senior management positions with companies in this space. He now runs the MarketCapture consulting practice, helping software companies combine this kind of strategic awareness with hands-on approach to tactical execution of marketing programs.

Measuring Marketing ROI - How Low Can You Go?

Following a previous article on marketing metrics, many of you raised the question of measuring marketing impact on the company bottom line. While the general consultant answer - "it depends" - would hold true here as well, my real answer to most of you in the enterprise software world is simple but disappointing: YOU CANNOT.

Accelerated Proof

The happy 90's were all about speed. Speed is still important, but it has taken on a different meaning. Where speed is most important today is in proving your solution to potential buyers. I call it Accelerated Proof. Put yourself in the customer's shoes. When you make a major purchase, you want to try it out first. Purchasing enterprise software is a major commitment with financial, operational, and strategic implications. Fear of failure could be the number one reason for people not to buy your product. How can you help them overcome their fears?