A quote caught my eye in Jill Konrath’s new e-book Selling to Big Companies. “As a sales purist, it’s hard to admit that no matter how hard I work with my corporate clients to improve their sales effectiveness, it’s just not enough anymore. Sales desperately needs marketing to take the lead and up the ante.”

Wow! Are we witnessing a B2B marketing renaissance here? The e-book goes on to outline a five-point approach for B2B marketing to “radically” impact sales

1. Radically embrace a thought-leadership mindset.
2. Radically optimize lead generation and lead nurturing.
3. Radically develop a sales enablement portal.
4. Radically leverage sales intelligence.
5. Radically invest in this change now.

For the whole e-book, download at www.sellingtobigcompanies.com.

“Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear” – Frank Luntz

Is a rose as sweet by any other name? Apparently not, according to Frank Luntz in his blockbuster book. From electing Presidents to garnering support for Social Security reform to gaining advocacy for the Oil & Gas Industry or for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Luntz has tested the words that work and the ones that don’t in politics, in labor relations and in industry.

Luntz doesn’t talk generalities; he gives you the numbers. For example, 17% more Americans favor eliminating the “Death Tax” than favor eliminating the “Inheritance Tax” – even though they are the same thing. Luntz shows how industries have rebranded themselves by changing their names: from gambling to gaming, liquor to spirits and banks to credit unions. Even Newt Gingrich relies on Frank’s Ten Rules of Effective Language to get his message through.

As marketing communicators, can we ignore these realities? Read “Words that Work.” Then you decide.

CNN and other major media outlets recently ran stories on the U.S. government introducing the redesign of the $5 bill, which the Bureau of Printing and Engraving did via online press conference.

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What ROI are you getting for your marketing bucks?

The book, “Your Marketing Sucks,” really puts it to you. Author Mark Stevens doesn’t mince words. He’s a slick New York ad agency guy who’s not shy about getting to his key point: “If you aren’t getting a known ROI on your marketing bucks…your marketing sucks.”

Admittedly, the author is not a B2B marketing specialist. Yet a good portion of what he’s pushing makes sense for all of us. Stevens claims traditional agencies offer “lazy marketing,” which is marketing done with no strategy to increase sales or business profitability.

In our view, once you get past the outrageous title, the book is well worth the read. “Your Marketing Sucks” urges you to expect more, demand more and so get more for every marketing dollar you spend. Now that’s an idea that certainly doesn’t suck.

NBC’s “The Office” delved deeper into the evolving world of B2B last night as the paper company’s new e-commerce Web site officially launched. This sparked a true galactic battle as Dunder Mifflin’s top salesman vowed to beat the Web site’s sales for a day. Despite the humor and obvious jabs at B2B being behind the times, this raises a valid question, “Can sales teams and e-commerce co-exist?”

My answer, “Of course they can!”

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It struck me recently that marriage and marketing have at least one thing in common: both of them work best when they have open and honest communications.

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You’ve heard the 50 year old quote “Half of our advertising is working. We just don’t know which half.” Yet, it’s astonishing how many CEOs at B2B companies still accept vague marketing performance as a fact of life.

Batting 500 may be great in baseball, but not in marketing or sales. CEOs have to demand that every marketing activity has a measurable ROI. No more strikeouts. No more pop ups. Marketing objectives like branding and positioning are simply a means to an end. The true measure of marketing success has to be sales success.

In today’s Internet-enabled world marketing has to be held accountable. Why? Because B2B buyers have changed. They no longer wait for sales people to inform them about products. They are more independent. According a July 2007 survey of buyers in the chemical industry, less than 28% said they rely on sales people for information on new products. Buyers are out there on the web beginning the buying process long before your sales people call. Without marketing, you will be left on the bench. So be aware. Be demanding. Be a winner.

For those who don’t watch The Office, the sitcom parodies the 9-to-5 business world through the lives of employees at Dunder-Mifflin — a B2B company in the paper industry. In this season’s second episode, the company faces a top executive who wants to bring Dunder-Mifflin into the digital age with a new Web site to replace one that has long been under construction. The chaos that ensues is the sitcom’s own irreverent way of showing how B2B companies often struggle to adapt to new technologies that will help boost sales.

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Although I’m sure that the leadership of this PR agency trying to educate the world about the “Top 10 Lies a PR Firm Will Tell their Customers and Prospects” only had the best interest of others in mind when writing and distributing this press release, I’m curious to find out what they actually deemed to be newsworthy or, for a matter of fact, of any value at all. Or is that not a qualification for press releases distributed by their agency? If so, maybe they should add an 11th lie to their list, being “Yes! This would definitely make a good press release.”

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