Demand Generation

When I first started selling, we called it prospecting or generating leads. From "prospecting", the industry latched on to the term "lead generation" which was still prospecting but at a more sophisticated level. Trying to stay afloat in an ever changing world, specifically the world of sales, the current buzz word is demand generation. Demand Generation is merely the aggregation of all activities that are used to identify and engage a qualified prospect. Is this a marketing function or a sales function? Of course, an argument could be made for both!Depending upon the size of the company, they may or may not have a marketing effort to support the sales staff in their "prospecting". Doing things like branding, writing articles, speaking at events/conferences, and creating direct mail pieces are all marketing activities that support sales and generate demand.Companies of all sizes tend to ask their sales organizations to be responsible for some amount, if not all of the demand generation. Larger companies spend freely to generate leads, while smaller companies look to referrals and the pounding of the sales staff's shoes on the pavement to find their prospects. The common thread is the understanding that without generating new "sales cells" the "sales body" will succumb. That statement makes clear the need for demand generation. Demand generation comes in many flavors; direct mail, search engine optimization, pay per click, referral, and direct contact (for our purposes here I refer to telemarketing). Of those "flavors" listed above, only telemarketing provides a company with the ability to qualify a prospect before engaging with them, allowing the sales team to focus their efforts on highly qualified leads rather than being forced to spend their time qualifying!Each sales organization ultimately architects' the desired behavior of their sales staff. Those organizations that invest in their success with multiple demand generation initiatives reap the benefits of a constant stream of leads. Those companies that invest in telemarketing activities as part of their multi-faceted approach to demand generation will typically find a better ratio of qualified prospects than come from other sources of leads (excepting web site hits that may have an immediate need).In the final analysis, demand generation has one purpose; drive prospects that will convert to revenue! Companies constantly strive to find the best economical formula in their marketplace. Some never do and struggle to build a pipeline. Successful companies always have a healthy pipeline. Arguably, this is the major difference (notwithstanding viability of offering) between a profitable and growing company versus a stagnant, cash flow challenged company. What type of company is yours?About the Author: Murray S. Goodman has been involved in sales for over 30 years with companies large and small. In his long and successful career, he has built numerous sales organizations for both publicly traded and privately held companies. For the past seven years, he has managed his own consulting firm, Professional Sales Management. Murray has utilized his vast experience to help companies build the infrastructure required to have a successful sales organization.