DCIG Content is for “Closers”

As a young sales executive years ago I had a really annoying manager who, after seeing Glengary Glennross, used ’s character as his managerial leadership model. I have to say that we all universally hated him; especially those of us who were actually doing well for the company. I wanted him to pack up his briefcase, his attitude and go away…but I wanted him to leave the leads.

Leads are what every sales person wants. Leads make sales people closers. Closers make the company money. Money is ultimately what makes owners and shareholders happy.

Leads are what DCIG is laser-focused on helping produce for its clients. Since we began our mission has been to initially create traffic and buzz about your company and products and then ultimately turn that buzz using DCIG’s solid industry recognized analysis into actionable leads for your sales team and channel partners.

I recognized that leads are the lifeblood of any sales organization and at DCIG we have created in the last year an amazing lead generation factory for many of our clients. Our analyst team has focused their efforts in the last year on creating some great products that have led to instant lead generation and closed sales for our clients.

I will give you a few of the highlights that you should know about:

1. Case Studies: DCIG has seen a 300% increase in case studies in calendar 2010 for our clients. Those clients are telling us that the value of our case studies is immense. They are done from an end user’s perspective who are using our clients’ products in real world settings. There are no meat pitches that are served up to study; just real world application analyzed by other end users. The case studies have created hundreds of leads in mere months and are influencing buying decisions. 2. Executive White Papers: We introduced these last year and they have been a great extension for DCIG’s blogging clients. Executive white papers are blog entries that are re-purposed into 1 page, 2 sided pieces of collateral. It adds shelf life to a blog entry while putting the content into the hands of sales people, trade show attendees, and prospects as a download. 3. DCIG Buyer’s Guides: This is the single product that we are the most proud of here at DCIG. We have so far released 2 Buyer’s guides and have 10 or so more lined up to release in 2011. There is NOTHING else in the analyst market that is as bold and life changing as a DCIG Buyer’s guide.

When we licensed the Midrange Array Buyer’s Guide in May 2010, it led to a sale that was closed on the very day it was licensed by our client. The leads generated by that guide are now numbering in the TENS of THOUSANDS….yes that’s right tens of thousands.

Similarly the most recent Buyer’s Guide that was released in December 2010 has generated over 1000 downloads just from the gateway link from DCIG’s site, let alone the downloads that are occurring on the licensee’s site.

These guides are chosen from topics that we see as needed in the industry. They are then developed by researching the topic; identifying what products are in the market space; sending out surveys to all vendors with products in the market space; scoring the features according to feedback from end users; and, finally, ranking the products top to bottom (not creating an ethereal quadrant.) DCIG then makes the Buyer’s Guide available for licensing. DCIG also has “Special Reports” for those companies that have done particularly well in individual categories but may not be the overall aggregate winner. The companies using these Buyer’s Guides and Special Reports have told us that they are closing deals hand over fist.

So like ’s character, or , or Ed Harris, or even Alan Arkin who said to “It’s about the leads!” I tell you they are right. It is about the leads, and if you want to have a fantastic 2011, you need to consider what you are doing from a lead gen perspective.

Trade shows are great, but we were told by one client that they spent over $100K for one trade show and got only 1000 total leads. Further, of those leads, “How many were there to just get the free T-Shirt?”

The leads that are generated by the downloaded DCIG products are in the long run cheaper per lead than those generated by a trade show as readers are downloading it and reading solely for the content in order to help them make Buying Decisions about the products you sell.

I am not saying that you should not do trade shows, I would never say that. What I am saying is that your analyst budget needs to include some DCIG products and you should talk to me, Jim Nash, DCIG’s Vice President of Business Development about upcoming Buyer’s Guides and Special Reports.

If you find me at the upcoming ExecEvent give me your business card and you will be entered into a drawing for a free Blog/Executive White Paper. If you are reading this on the web, send me an email at [email protected] and I will enter you into a separate drawing for the same product.

So in the end, it comes down to what Alec Baldwin’s character said that your sales team should be doing; the ABC’s of sales A: Always B: Be C: Closing Always Be Closing…..to do that as Lemmon’s character said, is “About the Leads” it is and DCIG is here to help you with the leads.

Now sign up for a DCIG product, and pour your sales folks a cup of coffee, because coffee is for closers.