How to Improve CTO and CIO Lead Generation For a Data Center-Related Business

Joshua Feinberg discusses strategies for improving lead generation, mainly targeting CTOs and CIOs.

He emphasizes the importance of consistently defining leads within the team and outlines the stages from lead to sales-qualified lead to opportunity.

He stresses the need to be an early, trusted advisor, understanding customer goals and challenges.

Feinberg highlights the significance of multiple touchpoints and recommends a plan to engage with and build relationships after the event.

He also addresses post-purchase lead generation, focusing on client onboarding and cross-selling, and underscores the necessity of segmenting leads based on their journey for effective lead generation.

This video is excerpted from the podcast Ep. #53 Joshua Feinberg, CEO of DCSMI | Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast.

Action Items

Develop a consensus on defining a "lead" across the marketing, technology, and sales teams.
Create an editorial and events calendar to deliver value throughout the buyer's journey.
Evaluate the company's ability to engage with prospects in multiple touchpoints beyond just events.
Implement a strategy for post-purchase lead generation through account management and customer success.

Outline

Defining Leads and Stages in the Sales Funnel

Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of consistently defining a lead within the team, especially between marketing, technology, and sales enablement.
He explains the progression of a lead from the early stage to the marketing qualified lead (MQL) and then to the sales qualified lead (SQL), highlighting the manual review process by the sales team.
The concept of a sales accepted lead (SAL) and the importance of forecasting deal size and close date are discussed.
Joshua points out that many people use terms like MQL and SQL interchangeably, leading to confusion about lead generation versus opportunity generation.

Building Trust and Educating Prospects

Joshua stresses the need to meet prospects where they are, understanding their goals, challenges, and stressors to build trust and educate them.
He highlights the importance of being seen as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert, even if it means not immediately pushing them into a sales process.
Developing an editorial and event calendar that delivers value throughout the buyer's journey is crucial for generating good opportunities.
Joshua underscores the significance of being early and consistent in engaging with prospects to stack the deck in favor of the company.

The Role of Touch Points in Lead Generation

Joshua discusses the importance of having multiple touchpoints between a stranger and a purchase, emphasizing the need for a plan to engage and build relationships over time.
He explains how companies in the data center industry invest in Field Marketing and Event Marketing to create impactful experiences, such as cocktail parties and keynote sessions.
Joshua highlights the risk of leaving engagement to chance, noting that prospects are unlikely to wait a year for the next event.
He mentions working with major event companies to help them monetize leads effectively and avoid wasting resources.

Post-Purchase Lead Generation and Client Onboarding

Joshua introduces the concept of post-purchase lead generation, where account managers and customer success teams play a crucial role.
He explains the importance of onboarding new clients to achieve initial value and extending that value through cross-selling and upselling.
The need for a different deals board and thought process for post-purchase lead generation is discussed.
Joshua emphasizes the importance of segmenting based on clients' stages of engagement with the

Resources

Watch the full podcast Ep. #53 Joshua Feinberg, CEO of DCSMI | Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast

Do you want to stay up to date about upcoming episodes?

Subscribe to the Data Center Sales and Marketing Newsletter

Data Center Colocation