In the years that I've been writing about sales and marketing, Brian Carroll has been one of the sources I trust the most, hands-down.

He understands both sides in a way that many self-styled gurus don't. He knows what does and doesn't work in real-world situations, and he offers practical advice, not fluff. Best of all, Brian isn't afraid to challenge conventional marketing or sales wisdom.

So having the opportunity to work with him to produce our special guest clinic on lead generation was not only educational, but a lot of fun. The feedback from clinic participants suggests that Brian and Flint delivered plenty of valuable insights that hit the mark with our audience (both B2B and B2C).

You can now access "A Proven 'Playbook' For Growing Your Leads" in three formats:

• Complete version (slides and audio in Flash player)
• Research brief (print-friendly HTML)
• Audio version (MP3)

You'll notice that this clinic is somewhat different than our usual MarketingExperiments web clinics. As Flint mentions in the clinic, these strategies don't revolve around making your contact form or call to action stronger; this playbook is about what happens after prospects hit the "submit" button, and how marketing and sales teams can work together more effectively to expand their customer base and get the most revenue per lead.

As Brian explores the five steps that make up his lead generation playbook, he also shows how applying those steps helped a partner company achieve gains of up to 375% in a matter of months -- without a significant budget increase.

Ready to be a marketing hero?

Absorb this clinic and the playbook, then apply Brian's five steps to your own lead generation and nurturing process. Then send us a photo of the view from your new corner office ...

Posted by Hunter Boyle on October 2, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Our posse of B2B marketers has recently been asking for more lead-generation and optimization strategies.

So we called in our lead-gen gunslinger, Brian Carroll, and rustled up a free web clinic on this topic for Wednesday, September 24.

This special clinic is all about getting more leads into your marketing funnel -- and growing your sales through more effective lead management.

As you probably know, Brian literally wrote the book on the subject: Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. (In fact, we'll be giving away 10 free copies of his book to some lucky clinic attendees.)

Teaming up with Flint McGlaughlin, Brian will discuss the strategies that doubled a partner's sales leads in a matter of months, without increasing the partner's budget. He'll also demonstrate his five-step "playbook" for effective lead management, and conduct a live Q&A session to answer participants' specific questions.

This year has been a tough one for many B2B marketers. And with so many economic questions swirling around, now is the time to optimize your funnel and lay a stronger foundation for 2009.

Join us for this free web clinic and get expert insights and answers to help you do just that.

Posted by Hunter Boyle on September 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)

Our most recent free webinar included case studies and live optimization focused on subscription-path pages. But the underlying principle we covered is just as important to ecommerce, demand and lead generation, email -- across all marketing communications, really.

The principle: Clarity trumps persuasion.

Sounds simple, right? Maybe even too elementary? Perhaps you're thinking, "My CEO and six-figure marketing budget don't need catchy maxims. Give me something I can use."

Don't be fooled. There's a powerful idea hiding in those three little words. But it's easy to miss because we've been trained to persuade. To sell the sizzle, not the steak.

We try to entice prospects into our sales funnels with peppy copy, splashy offers and incentives that don't cost too much. Meanwhile, behind the curtain of our clever creative, we're not concerned about connecting with people. We're chasing sales numbers and revenue goals. So we ignore the fact that our prospects hate being pitched and sold to -- just like us, when we're in their shoes.

Problem is, that leads to web pages that make prospects wary and distrustful. Sites that make users jump through hoops. Transaction pages loaded with elements that create friction and anxiety in users' minds.

Want to slash through all that on your site, and improve conversions? There are many ways to do that, but the foundation starts with building simple, straightforward pages and processes that match your visitors' intentions. In other words, clarity trumps persuasion.

Click here to learn how to apply this principle and see how three sites used it to lift their conversion rates by 200%, 76% and 38%.

Posted by Hunter Boyle on June 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)

As Brian Carroll would say, it starts with a lead. Carroll was a featured guest in our recent web clinic, Filling the Pipeline: How a LeadGen Test Strategy Achieved an 86% Increase.

If you couldn't catch it live, we hope you'll find the presentation valuable. Flint McGlaughlin broke down three recent tests we conducted that yielded major increases, and discussed ways to use friction and incentive to improve lead generation efforts.

One of the more surprising ideas is a model for increasing friction intentionally and using it to improve lead quality as opposed to volume. If your sales team is always pushing for more leads and better leads, you'll want to start testing this idea immediately.

Our thanks also go out to TruckSchool.com -- the website that our experts and attendees critiqued in a quick-fire live optimization session.

Questions or comments on the presentation? Does the info square up with your own lead-gen results? Post a comment and let us know.

Posted by Hunter Boyle on June 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)