Episode 230: Christopher Ryan
Meet
Christoper Ryan
Christoper Ryan is CEO and founder of Fusion Marketing Partners. As an expert in helping B2B companies grow revenue, Chris leverages his extensive experience to create successful and cost-effective lead-to-revenue frameworks. A primary focus is to find new and innovative lead sources and develop lead generation and lead nurturing programs that are consistent, repeatable and scalable. Chris Ryan’s six books on B2B revenue growth and marketing include the recently published B2B Revenue Growth Playbook. When not helping clients grow revenue, Chris is an adviser and featured columnist at CustomerThink.com and a regular presenter on the Sales Expert Channel on BrightTalk.
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Why do you NEED a formal lead generation process? What is Christopher Ryan’s Revenue Machine Blueprint? How can it impact your lead generation, prospecting, and revenue? Christopher is the CEO and founder of Fusion Marketing Partners. As an expert in helping B2B companies grow revenue, Chris leverages his extensive experience to create successful and cost-effective lead-to-revenue frameworks. He shares his expertise in this episode of Sales Reinvented. Don’t miss it!
Outline of This Episode
- [1:15] The difference between prospecting and lead generation
- [1:57] The Revenue Machine Blueprint
- [3:19] Christopher’s ideal prospecting process
- [6:11] The attributes of a great salesperson
- [9:28] The skills to develop to exceed at prospecting
- [11:34] Top 3 prospecting and lead generation dos and don’ts
- [13:52] Why you NEED a formal lead generation process
The Revenue Machine Blueprint
Lead generation and prospecting are the precursors to generating revenue in a B2B environment. They’re an essential part of the process. Chris espouses the Revenue Machine Blueprint, which is a four-step process that every single person goes through to buy something—no matter what the selling medium is. What are the steps?
- They have to become aware of you.
- They need to be educated about what you offer.
- They need to engage with you in some way.
- They need to get involved in the sales process and become customers.
The “Always be closing” mantra can damage your reputation and your bottom line. Christopher emphasizes that you must be cognizant of moving prospects through the process.
Christopher’s ideal prospecting process
Christopher follows a “Lead to Revenue” process. It’s a systematic process from awareness all the way to generating revenue. He’s surprised that many large companies still don’t have a lead to revenue process and they just wing it. But if you can’t measure something, you can’t improve it. How many inquiries will you generate? How many will turn into leads? How many will turn into opportunities?
There are 4–7 conversion steps in the revenue generation process. If one part of the process is only operating at 50%, it impacts the output of everything. If you create a process, measure each step, and fix what isn’t working, it can profoundly impact end results.
But Chris believes you also need to differentiate push marketing and pull marketing. One approach is getting people to come to you and converting those people to leads. The other approach is to push and find people. Cold-calling is a form of push marketing. An online search done by a potential customer is pull marketing. You want increased “pull” traffic because it’s less expensive in the long run.
The attributes of a great salesperson
Chris notes an effective salesperson needs the ability to take no for an answer without feeling personally rejected. For example, an insurance salesperson makes a $500 commission and on average, closes 1 out of 20 leads. They have to hear “no” 19 times. But what if you look at each sales pitch as making $25? A rejection becomes part of the process to get to a yes.
You also have to leverage contacts. Turn people that you meet online into influencers or advocates for your product or your service—even if they don’t buy themselves. Another attribute is a giving spirit. Focus on serving, not selling. When you adopt that attitude, you can sell more by selling less. It may feel counterintuitive, but it’s true.
Chris points out that this is another biggie: sales reps must apply the principle of reciprocity. You give something to the prospect without expectation. But when you give without expectation, the prospect feels an obligation to do something for you.
What else? You need to develop domain expertise. You need to have knowledge of the industry, what’s happening in it, how connections are made, and what the newest trends are. You want to understand more about the industry than your prospect so you can become a value-add to them. You want to be a resource—not a nuisance.
What other attributes and skills should a salesperson embody? What are Christopher’s top 3 dos and don’ts? Listen to learn more!
Why you NEED a formalized lead generation process
15 years ago, Christopher worked in a software company as the CMO. His sales counterpart was very skeptical about implementing a formal lead generation process. They fought over it a lot. They did end up implementing the process. Within one quarter, he made this guy a believer. He’s a close friend and advocate 15 years later. It takes discipline to apply metrics, measure them, and improve them. Sometimes it takes some pain to get to the right thing. You have to be brave and push what you believe in. You must be persistent to get to the goal.
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Resources & People Mentioned
Connect with Christopher Ryan
Connect With Paul Watts
Audio Production and Show notes by
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More About Christopher Ryan
What was the last book you read?
B2B Data-Driven Marketing by Ruth Stevenson.
Who / What inspires you?
Forward-looking and game-changing speakers and motivators like Dan Sullivan.
Are there any aspects of your prospecting and lead generation skills that you are working on improving at the moment?
Yes…working on the right blend of digital strategies to deliver cost-effective lead-to-revenue models for clients.
Hobbies, Interests?
I enjoy golfing, pickleball, hiking, bike riding, and playing acoustic guitar.
How can our listeners contact with you?
Connect with me on LinkedIn or send an email to cryan(at)fusionmarketingpartners.com
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