I connected with a good friend a couple weeks ago who asked me for my thoughts on enterprise lead and demand generation for early stage companies.  I am way overdue in getting back to him and over the weekend ended up pulling together a pretty lengthy write up on the topic.  In addition to finally getting back to him, I thought I would share it here over a few posts starting with #1, #2, and #3 below.

I am a firm believer in building a layered approach to lead and demand generation where simultaneous programs are running over time to build awareness and generate interest.  Obviously, your results will be better if you have achieved product/market fit and know who you are targeting.  If you are still figuring this out, you can use these efforts to include/exclude targets and learn along the way.  Just make sure to watch your budget and ensure there is institutional patience to go through the process.

For this exercise, I came up with fourteen areas that can be used ranked based on degree of "touch" and, in many cases, dollars required:

   1. Brokered introductions
   2. Partner marketing
   3. Direct outreach & appointment setting
   4. Tele-prospecting/tele-surveys
   5. Guaranteed lead generation programs
   6. Sponsored email blasts
   7. On-line advertising
   8. Email newsletter nurture programs
   9. Direct mail
  10. Events
  11. Market awareness – self generated
  12. Market awareness – through a PR firm
  13. Analysts
  14. Print advertising

1. Brokered introductions

• The elusive warm introduction that gets you to the decision maker who has the budget and is open to doing business with someone they have never heard of.  It does happen…but rarely.
• These types of relationships are important if you are looking for your first deals.
• Some VC firms can broker these discussions based on their relationships or find you the person who use to be the SVP of something important at BigCo who knows the CEO at BigCo.  Be prepared to pay 10% of the deal value if something closes.
• You may also be able to find folks that are willing to walk you into opportunities for a cut as well.  These may be independent sales reps, retired/out of work major account managers, etc.  Be prepared to be disappointed so don't pay a retainer, pay a commission.
• There are firms that provide services like this as well.  Their models vary but generally include some type of retainer plus commission percentage
• Searching on "sales acceleration" or the like will turn up some options
• Also take a look at companies like Landmark Ventures, Insight Ventures, or the Roundtable Network which is security focused

2.  Partner marketing

• Bar none, partner leads are the most qualified you can get.  If you don’t have partners, get some
• Keep in mind partnering is time and resource consuming.  It can also be perilous so don't put all your eggs in one basket
  
• A referral selling agreement is a must have in the legal docs arsenal.  It should be short and sweet that allows both parties to get paid if they refer business to each other.  Either a fixed dollar amount per deal or something like 8-10%.  Maybe has a co-marketing or press release agreement as well.
• Companies that you combine with to offer a whole solution will be more amenable to referral agreements and I believe they are the first step to securing reseller/OEM type deals because it allows both parties to formally work together and test the market.
• Reseller/OEM relationships are more complex w/ VARs and resellers wanting 20-40% depending on how far they carry the deal.

3. Direct outreach & appointment setting

• This can be done with a dedicated inside sales person or contracted consultant.  Consider compensation tied to meetings secured, those that convert to forecasted deal, and/or those that convert to close
• This can also be done with a 3rd party although I have never seen this work well.  It will, however, rapidly generate sales pipeline activity.  They generally get the right people to the phone but rarely qualify them as interested buyers. 
  
• Lean on your own sales team to prospect and set appointments themselves.  A territory/major account plan can help with this.  Hoover's is the standby contact manager but check out Jigsaw for more meaningful/relevant contacts.