The Universal Value of Information For ERP Leads

The Universal Value of Information For ERP Leads

There come times in the field of lead generation where proponents of a particular method would 'go to war' with the users of other methods. One common clash is the debate of offline marketing versus online marketing. For the latter, the internet is the new frontier and that companies should dedicate their efforts making every possible use of IT resources. The former on the other hand, insists that there is still place for the old ways and that they are in fact even superior to online methods in certain aspects.

The sad thing about all this arguing however is that they focus too much on what makes them different than what makes them similar.

Common flaws are in fact included.

Take for instance the B2B leads generated for ERP software. Now the online marketing camp might immediately say that computer-assisted methods like email marketing, website creation, and social media are the most suitable. However, those who are humble enough to experience failure will cite obstacles like spam filter, competition for search engine attention, general lack of interested visitors, and making a particular product 'social'.

As expected, these are flaws commonly cited by the opposing camp representing offline lead generators. However, that doesn't make them any more infallible. Things like business cards, cold calling, and media advertising are just likely to fail. Telemarketing calls are mostly subject to rejection (angry and irritated ones at that) and advertisements can be mostly ignored if demand isn't high (which most likely isn't for B2B products like ERP software).

So what exactly do all these flaws actually have in common? Frankly, it's lack of information.

For the sake of simplicity, the examples shall be reduced to two methods representing each side. Email marketing for online lead generation and telemarketing for offline. Now as you're well aware, suppliers of ERP software always target key decision makers in their prospect companies. As stated above, the demand really isn't high for more publicized advertising because they don't work for getting those leads. In fact, the process for generating these leads is even longer than most B2C products that it even has another term called 'software appointment setting'.

It's expected really. If you were the target decision maker, wouldn't you want at least some time first to think about it?

See this is where a good amount of information would come in handy and boost the effectiveness of both methods. The reason why telemarketing calls can't even bypass the gatekeeper or that emails are sent to the spam filter, is that both approaches acted on poor (if not absolutely zero) information on who they were trying to contact. Honestly, how are you going to get these people to make an appointment with you when you can't even reach them?

Information however, will increase your chances of gaining that access. If you take the time to know each of your individual targets, then you can make your approach more personalized and show that you know enough about them to say you software is exactly what they need.

Granted the costs of time and experience with handling these leads can be taxing on your financial resources. In such cases though, you can still outsource to lead generation companies to help you out. As a matter of fact, these companies even make use of both online and offline methods. They recognize the universal value of information. It's high time you did the same.

Claire Hansen works as a marketing communications program manager. She is inviting you to visit http://www.erpsoftwareleads.com to learn more about lead generation and appointment setting for the software industry.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Claire_M_Hansen/1183821

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6926661

_(By Claire M Hansen).