Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation

Music Gerhard Gschwandtner: Hi, my name is Gerhard Gschwandtner and welcome to Selling Power TV. Today we have the pleasure and privilege of meeting with Michael Scher who's the founder and president of Frontline Selling. Welcome Michael. Michael Scher: Thank you. Good to be here. Gerhard Gschwandtner: Michael, what does demand generation look like in industries where they have high-ticket sales items? Michael Scher: Well Gerhard, in industries that have high-ticket items, demand generation is very, very different than traditional lead generation. What happens is that these system or these solutions require a complex long, like, long drawn-out sale cycle. And at some point in the sale cycle, you need to get to a senior executive. In demand generation, we look at it and say, you know, why not get to that senior executive first because after all, that senior executive is the one who has the vision for what the business problems are and how to best address them or the person who you certainly can influence. Gerhard Gschwandtner: So the advantage, obviously, is it's great to start at the top. The disadvantage may be the top is not readily available. Michael Scher: Absolutely. And the top is not readily available and a lot of people have trouble -- a lot sales executives have trouble for a whole bunch of reasons not gaining access, not gaining the time and attention of these senior executives. One of the challenges they might have is that they don't necessarily have the time to do the necessary prospecting, the calling, etc. What we've done is we've actually developed the system on how to identify, access, and engage with these senior executives. Gerhard Gschwandtner: What's the secret; tell us here? Michael Scher: Well, there is -- in some cases, it is very, very simple and in another case, it's a bit complex. What you really need to do is you have to think a little differently about what you're trying to accomplish and think a little differently about the environment that you're prospecting into. So, for example, a lot of people think that when they're prospecting to a senior executive, maybe a CIO or COO is that they're trying to break through this imaginary eight-foot concrete barrier with two feet of electrified barbed wire on top of it. Gerhard Gschwandtner: A firewall. Michael Scher: Yeah, firewall. And you think that's the infrastructure that's around that person; you're going to take what amounts to essentially criminal activity in order to break through that. Gerhard Gschwandtner: Right. Michael Scher: We look at it a little differently. We look at from a practical standpoint. We look at and say, you know, these people want to talk to -- they want to talk sales executives. They want to talk to folks like your readers. The problem is not that how do we get through the wall, the problem is they only have time to talk to maybe two or three in a month's time. These are busy, busy people -- Gerhard Gschwandtner: Right. Michael Scher: -- especially the higher you get up. So the real challenge is how do you get them to choose you versus choose the two or three hundred other folks who are trying to them? Michael Scher: And really, to us the simple answer is you just need to ask them a bunch of different times a bunch of different ways. Gerhard Gschwandtner: So what do those number of different ways look like? Michael Scher: Well, they're actually very simple. It's voice mail. It's email. It's speaking to administrative assistants. It's referrals, it's, you know, direct conversations with executives. So it's not only the number of different types of touches, but it's the combinations that make the most impact. And that's what we do. We not only teach these methods and these processes, but we're also and outsourcer of these same solutions. So companies either hire us to do it for them or they hire us to teach their inside outside and their -- Gerhard Gschwandtner: Right. Michael Scher: -- channel sales teams on how to do this so that -- Gerhard Gschwandtner: Right. Michael Scher: So all the methods are actually rooted in practical measureable results. Gerhard Gschwandtner: So let's I'm a VP of sales of a technology company -- Michael Scher: Um-hmm. Gerhard Gschwandtner: -- and I want to reach the C-Level executives in one specific industry. I can give you the targets and you contact them for me and make appointments? Michael Scher: We can set that appointment for them absolutely. As a matter of fact, we -- because of the way we set it, we actually don't call them appointments, we actually call them meaningful interactions because the method by which we go about this, we're actually having the key player participates in the decision process to actually want to speak to that sales executive. Gerhard Gschwandtner: So you can get those top level executives into the prospect pipeline and engage them so that then salespeople can take over and take the sales from the there? Michael Scher: Yes, absolutely. We can engage them. We can inspire them to want to spend a half hour -- Gerhard Gschwandtner: Um-hmm. Michael Scher: -- of their valuable time wanting to speak to a company about supply chain Inaudible. Gerhard Gschwandtner: How much does -- for your charge? Michael Scher: Generally, a lot less expensive than hiring somebody perhaps or it's a lot less expensive than, you know, failing with maybe some other approach. Gerhard Gschwandtner: So what you're saying it's cost effective because the time of the salesperson chasing phantoms is -- Michael Scher: It is absolutely cost effective. Gerhard Gschwandtner: -- money down the drain. Right. Michael Scher: You, you know, in some cases your salespeople are the most expensive telemarketers you can have -- Gerhard Gschwandtner: Right. Michael Scher: -- in the organization. Gerhard Gschwandtner: So it's a good idea to outsource that. Michael Scher: Exactly. Gerhard Gschwandtner: Thank you Michael. We're going to continue our conversation with Michael Scher and tomorrow we explore different strategies for engaging high-level executives.

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