Start Up Gone Wild

I am one week into my role of Performance Account Director here at Geary Interactive and I have to admit I am feeling a little star truck by the creativity here. I am not tearing up or holding my breath like a 13 year old girl at a  Justin Timberlake concert BUT, and I put that “but” in all caps because it is a big one, when I walk by the creative department it is hard not to notice the amazing work that is being developed. If you are reading this blog then you probably already have a clue as to what I am talking about. If not, then take some time to browse are new website and their work awesome work here and you will quickly become a fan.

If you are honest with yourself you will admit to loving the design and creative portion of your job, regardless of if you actually are a designer or the VP of Marketing. It is so easy to get caught up in the flashy designs, gimmicks and tag lines that in many cases we over look the meat and potatoes of your business processes.

Now, here is the problem that I see more times then not and I will use an example of a fake company to illustrate the issue. A newly founded company, Wobble Incorporated, which recently developed a new and amazing Wobble Service (I made that up, if you weren’t catching on :), just received their first round of funding for a staggering $57M. They allocated the proper budget and resources to scale operations and now are focused on generating sales leads! They build out a small Bus Dev team to hit the streets and are now extremely excited because they just hired the top rated marketing agency in town, Herald and Herald!! WoooHooo!! They talk about TV ads, which the CEO and CMO are excited about most. Their dreams of a Hollywood life are coming true, even if for only day or two! High gloss magazine ads with European models are included in the proposals given by Harold and Harold. Excitement runs through the start-up like an electric current!

However, what happens next is not so exciting. Marketing dollars are being spent at the speed of light, calls are coming in, people are visiting the website and people are knocking on their doors for their service, but money is being wasted. Why? Because leads are coming into the company and are not being worked properly. Such a simple, but gigantic step was not properly thought out. What do you do with the leads that are generated from our marketing efforts? How are you going to efficiently and quickly distribute the leads to our sales people? What happens if we cannot get in contact with the leads? What is your plan to follow up on these leads? Do you have to call the leads as soon as they come in or can you wait until the next day? So many questions were not answered prior top launching their marketing plans and now Wobble is forced to work frantically to get them answered. Its too late, though.

I am not going to turn this into the buckle your seat belt campaigns of 1980’s and tell you, “Don’t be a dummy”, or in this case “Don’t be a Wobble”, but I am going to tell you now and in future blog posts to not over look the unsexy lead management portion of your business. Don’t allow the amazing work that Geary Interactive or your internal team be done in vein. Take time to focus on what your lead management processes will be prior to launching your marketing initiatives. Working backwards through the process may seem strange at first, but it will put your company ahead of the curve and on a path to success.

Coming down the writing pike will be a few posts on the topic of lead management:
1.    Best Practices for Calling Leads
2.    Who Should the Leads Go To Within My Company
3.    Lead Follow-up, The Basics of

If you have questions on the topic of lead management, please send them to Michael.ferree@gearyi.com