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Mari Anne Vanella

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CEO | Founder, The Vanella Group, Inc.

396 points

* Founder of The Vanella Group, Inc. which provides high-touch/high-quality tele-services and outbound lead generation for the tech industry.
* Creator of Telesales 2.0(TM) formula for identifying and engaging with active sales cycles for enterprise technology solutions and services ...

* Founder of The Vanella Group, Inc. which provides high-touch/high-quality tele-services and outbound lead generation for the tech industry.
* Creator of Telesales 2.0(TM) formula for identifying and engaging with active sales cycles for enterprise technology solutions and services
* Leading Expert in Lead Generation with a client list that includes SAP, HP, Sun, Hitachi, Borland, and many others.
* Author of the best selling book "42 Rules of Cold Calling Executives" available on Amazon, Target.com, and other book channels.
* The Aberdeen Group mentioned The Vanella Group, Inc. to represent the Market Intelligence-to-Opportunity category as part of their recent B2B Outsourced TeleServices Study.

* Successful track record in Executive Management positions with mature mainstream companies 500M+, early and late stage start-ups, and services firms.

Specialties:
Telesales, Sales 2.0, Telesales for High Tech, Pre-Sales, Sales Development, Lead Generation, Telemarketing, Appointment-Setting, Sales 2.0, Sales Training, Account Profiling, Sales, Cold Calling, Direct Marketing, Channel Development, CRM, List Building, Tradeshow Follow-up, Sales Leads, Lead Development, Prospecting, Lead Generation Services

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WEB: Cold Calling Blog

Feb. 13, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella recommends this answer by Steven Moody

How B2B enterprises can generate a qualified audience for the company's Facebook page?

Yuliya, let me propose this question differently:
"How can I get my qualified audience of businesses to invite me, a marketer, into their living room?"
Facebook is the virtual living room. Its private. Your salespeople should be there, connecting with customers as friends. Your HR ... more

Content Marketing

Online Marketing

Feb. 6, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella recommends this answer by Steven Moody

Does the B2B distinction matter any more?

The trend is partially true, but it conflates all of B2B as one group.
B2B used to imply large ticket items. When your CRM proposal is for a $2M implementation, the dynamics of the sale look like traditional B2B: long process, many decision makers, and ... more

Feb. 6, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella recommends this answer by Steven Moody

Will e-mail marketing go away in 2012 (or ever)?

I use Linkedin for marketing: roughly 1 in 2 responses to a Linkedin message reply with an email. Changing medium, like this, is not normal: whens the last time a prospect responded to your email by tweeting or calling you?
Email will remain the most ... more

Feb. 6, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella recommends this answer by Michael A Brown

Does it ever make sense to outsource your lead generation follow up?

Hi Rod! This may be helpful. It is from our BtoBEngage newsletter:
WHERE TO NURTURE LEADS: IN-HOUSE OR AT A THIRD-PARTY VENDOR?
A software company was swayed by the "not-your-core-competency" pitch and hired a call center. When the board of directors learned that certain officers ... more

Lead Generation

Feb. 3, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella recommends this answer by Mike Muhney

What are some sales practices that were acceptable 20 years ago but should now be avoided at all costs?

Hi Nicholas. Great question. Mari Anne Vanella certainly provided one key answer to the question when she said you cannot be unprepared for a first call/meeting given the over-abundance of information available today with which to be prepared.
Another one from my perspective is to ... more

Marketing Technology

Feb. 3, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella and 17 other people answered this question at this roundtable

20 Years of Selling—A Discussion of Truth [2/3 @ 11 am]

What skills are essential for success in sales today?

Hi Jay,
1. Get familiar with the research platforms out there, i.e, Data.com, InsideView. Hoovers, Google, LinkedIn, etc. Understand how to find information on your prospects--not just getting contact names but understanding the data you find. Just a few examples, is a large percentage of ... more

Marketing Technology

Feb. 3, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella is now following Steven Moody and 17 other people

Jan. 5, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella and 3 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Top Technology Marketing Strategies for 2012 [1/5 @ 11 am]

What themes or recommendations from the B2B marketing blogosphere/thought leaders are not realistic?

One is the idea that everything can be automated. It is more realistic to understand that some things can be automated, and some things will require active monitoring and human involvement to get the highest return. Lead delivery is a good example of this--sales reps ... more

Jan. 2, 2012

Mari Anne Vanella and 3 other people answered this question

How do you choose the right virtual team?

I've been hiring and managing virtual teams for over 12 years. It is a highly successful model and quite different from hiring onsite staff. It also gives you access to fantastic people all over the country you wouldn't be able to work with otherwise, so ... more

Oct. 25, 2011

Mari Anne Vanella and 22 other people answered this question

How can you train sales reps to have better conversations with prospects vs just pitching?

Having open discussions is really a mindset. Much of it boils down to how sales reps perceive themselves in relation to the prospect. If a rep sees a prospect as merely a means to meet a quota, and if the prospect feels the rep doesn't ... more

General Management

Oct. 6, 2011

Mari Anne Vanella and 2 other people answered this question

Do I need more than one website/URL?

Hi Roger,
If your offers are vastly different, I agree with Jackie to have individual websites. Based on the topics you mentioned, you can likely merge some of those topics--such as copywriting and blogging, photography and design, etc.
One thing to be cautious of is how your ... more

Aug. 8, 2011

Mari Anne Vanella and 1 other person answered this question

What percent of your first call sales appointments get rescheduled and what do you do to minimize?

How a company engages with prospects in the first place has a huge bearing on the prospect keeping the meeting with a rep.
If the purpose of the sales call is to "push" more information at the prospect, via a demo or presentation, that will take ... more

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