If you’re company is like most organizations, there is always pressure to continue to increase the number of leads and drive revenue, no matter what the economic conditions are.  During the recent “Great Recession,” we’ve heard a lot of people say things such as ‘flat is the new up.’

Well, here at Response Capture, we’re not buying it and we’re not alone.

According to a Lead Lifecycle Management report by AberdeenGroup, from July 2008 – July 2009 the Best-In-Class marketing organizations continued to increase revenue by an average of 35%.  A closer look reveals a series of trends and best practices.

Most best-in-class organizations do the following:

• Segmentation and targeting
• Lead scoring
• Lead nurturing
• Utilize marketing automation tools
• Effective measurement of marketing functions and return on marketing investment
• Have Marketing & Sales agree upon a definition of:  A qualified lead, the buying cycle and the sales cycle.

This may seem like a lot.  We recommend that you start by looking within your own organization first and determine where the most pressing challenges or bottlenecks exist.

Here are a few other key questions to think about.

• What is my penetration in my key verticals?  Are there additional companies out there that I’m not communicating with?
• Are my marketing & sales teams focused on the accounts that have the highest probability of becoming my next, best customers?
• Am I able to test & measure the effectiveness of the initiatives that my marketing department is undertaking to ensure that I’m driving a strong ROI every time?
• Does my organization have a series of rules and definitions for how the entire marketing & sales engines function?

If you answered no to any of these, you’re not alone… and is the reason that Response Capture continues to experience tremendous growth (and also why we have not been blogging as often lately).

What we’ve found is working is to start with your top-line revenue goal, establish your benchmark sales metrics, build a list of highest priority targets, and operate the engagement process with continued testing that will drive your revenue target with the lowest possible investment.

Make growth the new “In” at your organization…