As the fourth quarter is upon us, it’s probably clear whether reality is meeting yearly expectations. If you require generous fourth-quarter sales to achieve your quarterly and yearly sales quota, you still may be able to meet your projections.
A year ago, Cisco-Eagle, a material handling company headquartered in Dallas, TX was conducting extensive research in order to uncover sales leads. They were utilizing Google News and press release services to discover any type of industrial expansions, new construction, or capital purchases in the warehouses, manufacturing, and distribution centers across the United States. It was a tedious process. At times it produced results, but many times it was already too late. Evan Fleishacker, the Sales & Marketing Analyst knew something better had to be out there in the market. By remaining active within his marketing network, Mr. Evan Fleishacker was introduced to a new platform.
Q: What was the new platform? And describe the evaluation process?
Evan F: The platform that came as a recommendation was SalesLeads Inc. I learned that the Company focused on the industrial marketplace and that I would be able to get current information with contacts, project descriptions, and more.
It took all of a week to evaluate the platform. It was very intuitive and I was able to experience for myself the quality of the projects, including the project stage along with key contacts.
Q: What was a surprising aspect or feature of the platform that you didn’t know it could provide for you?
Evan F: Couple areas. First, I was able to experience first-hand the timeliness of the information. For instance, my manager contacted me to share a sales lead. I looked it up in our CRM and saw that we received the opportunity 4 months prior. If we didn’t have the platform, the opportunity would have passed us by. Instead, I knew that the sales rep was already in the account, moving forward through the sales process.
Second, the sales team at Cisco-Eagle is looking for more than the plant or facility manager. Our sales team was able to conduct a thorough follow-up with contacts from the architecture or engineering firm. In addition, because of the breadth and depth of products we offer, its often that sales work to penetrate the account from different departments. This can include the CEO, CTO, safety manager, or maintenance manager. All of these various contacts are within the SalesLeads platform. It’s proven to be a valuable resource for long-term customer success.
Q: How do you utilize the information in the SalesLeads Platform from a marketing operations perspective?
Evan F: The information goes directly into our CRM system. Once there, I assign it to a sales professional within the territory. They utilize the leads right away with the sales process that provides the most success. I really appreciate the sales team as they provide notes and statuses of their sales journey. This allows me to assess the quality of the leads, provide additional assistance to sales, and allocate time on other marketing endeavors such as digital campaigns, collateral creation, and marketing automation.
The ability to know that sales find value and quality in the sales leads makes the job rewarding. Thank you for sharing your marketing and sales success.
About the Author
Cherise Kennerley is from ROI Marketing. The concept for ROA Marketing began in 2000 based on my experience working with advertising and public relations agencies. As a result, the company grew organically focusing its attention on companies from $2M to $500M searching for marketing, sales, and business solutions that are tailored to meet the goals of the company in a cost-effective way. Now 19 years later, ROI Marketing has watched the competition come and go, but the concept of the Company remains strong. ROI currently serves industrial, construction, material handling, high-tech, and transportation industries. Prior to ROI Marketing, Kennerley was the Vice President or Director of Marketing in high tech companies.
