An Interview with Kelly Scott

Today we interviewed Kelly Scott about viewpoints on Demand Generation and what best practices are being used to help marketing drive revenue. TPG: 1.  What are some of your most effective lead generation programs? Kelly : We've had lots of success with webinars, "lumpy package" direct mail campaigns, and live product demo events. TPG: 2.  How do you measure your marketing performance?  What are some of the key metrics you use? Kelly : Our #1 metric is the % of leads that convert into 1st appointments for our sales team. TPG: 3.  What percentage of your budget is allocated towards lead generation? Kelly : Not nearly enough. TPG: 4.  How do you achieve alignment with your sales organization? Kelly : Blunt force... just kidding! We constantly communicate back and forth to make sure everyone's on the same page. TPG: 5.  How do you define a qualified lead? Kelly : A qualified lead for us is someone who is in the market for a new phone system. TPG: 6.  What role does technology play in your lead generation efforts? Kelly : It plays a major role. As a technology firm, we have to make sure we stay on the cutting edge. TPG: 7.  How is your organization leveraging social media to drive demand? Kelly : We have a company blog, our CEO twits (or is is tweets?), and we're also on FaceBook. TPG: 8.  What are your three top priorities for this year? Kelly : 1. Increase Revenue 2. Increase Revenue 3. Increase Revenue Oh, and I think we're trying to increase revenue. TPG: 9.  What advice would you give a marketer who is just getting started with lead generation? Kelly : Don't be afraid to try something new. Just remember to test and retest. You never know when you'll stumble across something that works. TPG: 10.  How do you see the role of marketing changing? Kelly : I see marketing becoming less and less "theoretical" and more metrics and results driven, especially with the new technology that's available to give marketers more access to data.