Business Growth Strategies… Lead Qualification Part 2

April 27, 2010

Last week in my blog I wrote about Lead Qualification as a way to support your business growth strategies. I used the example of the work OpenView Labs did with Intronis in building their lead qualification process and team and then handing the team off to Intronis going forward. This work resulted in a case study that you may have interest in reviewing.

I wanted go into a little more detail about the type of work we do for portfolio companies we invest growth capital in who use the business development services of OpenView Labs by going deeper into the Lead Qualification topic.

If you read last week’s blog you know Intronis is a local Boston company so building and transferring the team over was straightforward. Other CEO’s and founders might ask how could we help them if they are not local.

We would take the exact same approach we did with Intronis where we:

  • Developed the skill set profile
  • Interviewed the candidates
  • Recruited the best candidates
  • Trained the new Lead Qualification Reps
  • Managed the team and complete process in our OpenView Labs office
  • Handed off the qualified leads to the Intronis Sales team
  • Iterated on and improved the process

Only in this case we would suggest that we hire people local to your market but for 2-4 weeks they come to Boston to work under our guidance and support and then we would send them back with complete write up on the personnel.

I have an actual write up below to give you a feel for the best practices processes we use and the detail we provide to your management team to ensure success. I have replaced the individuals name with “John Doe” and the company name with “Your Company” for obvious reasons.

cdn.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/206a9a2b-627f-446d-b836-03b603106274/ec91f66a-ef65-40a9-8081-9d2ead807529/File/9025fd32e2f4b374279592ee6daf2d1f.docx

Then after we send the newly trained lead qualification reps back we have regularly scheduled check up calls with the new reps and their manager to make sure the transfer is smooth, everyone is engaged and successful.

By the way, we take the high quality best practices process oriented approach in all the operational areas we assist our expansion stage software companies in. Not just Sales and Marketing but also Finance, Product Development, Product Management, Customer Care and Legal etc. We can provide the same great operational support regardless of where your company is located.

So if you are looking to raise some expansion capital and you are looking for a team with more than money to help you give us a call or drop us an email and let’s talk!

All the best!

G

Venture Partner

<strong>George Roberts</strong> is a Venture Partner at OpenView. He enjoys partnering with companies and helping them achieve their goals through strategy, focus and operational execution. From 1990 to 2003, George spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation, most recently having served as Executive Vice President of North American Sales. While at Oracle, George was responsible for over $1 billion in revenue and more than 2,000 employees, reporting directly to the company’s CEO and Chairman, Larry Ellison.