More from Bob McCarthy, This Time Around on Mac McIntosh

Bob McCarthy, one half of McCarthy & King Marketing, Inc., and a past president of NEDMA, is here with us again this week, this time around to blog about M. H. “Mac” McIntosh, the closing keynote speaker – in the afternoon of June 15 – at NEDMA ’06, It’s a Brave New World. 

You’re on, Bob…

I must confess when I first started writing direct mail back in the early ‘80s, selling was new to me.  All of my previous writing assignments were promotional or informational, but never with a specific sales goal in mind. 

It took some time in the DM trenches for me to fully understand the sales process and appreciate how direct mail can be used to generate a lead (lead generation) or close a sale (order generation). 

As I became more familiar with direct response, I began to see how very distinct these two direct marketing applications are – especially from the standpoint of strategy.  

In order generation (also known as mail-order), the mail package itself is the sales person – standing all alone in front of the prospect trying to close the sale.  For a copywriter, this is the ultimate direct response challenge.

By contrast, although the goal of lead generation is still to generate response, the nature of that response stops short of a purchase.  A lead response is just one step (usually the first step) in the overall sales process. 

To be successful in lead generation, you must coordinate the role of the DM package with the other steps and with the other participants in the entire sales and marketing process.

In other words, lead generation is a collaborative process.  And that, as many of you know first-hand, can be a real challenge within every organization.

That’s why I was so pleased to hear that Mac McIntosh will be a keynote presenter at the NEDMA Conference on June 15 at Bentley College in Waltham, MA. 

Mac McIntosh is an acknowledged expert at business-to-business lead generation.  He knows what it takes to produce leads, to nurture and qualify leads, to convert leads into new business and to track and measure marketing results and ROI.

Most importantly, he knows what it takes to get everyone on the same page.

Over the course of 20 years, Mac has helped to plan and implement marketing programs for dozens of industry leaders like ADC, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, Sigma-Aldrich as well as many small and medium-size companies. 

“Imagine what would happen if your CEO, CFO, your boss, the folks in sales, your agency or your client all bought into your marketing program,” he said. 

“Would you get a bigger budget?  More staff?  Maybe even a promotion and a raise?”

Attend his session and Mac promises to share with you his proven, real-world techniques for getting all your various stakeholders to buy into your marketing plans and programs.  

As one of America’s leading business-to-business marketing consultants, Mac frequently conducts marketing workshops and seminars, writes regularly for leading marketing and business publications, and is the publisher of “Sales Lead Report,” a free monthly newsletter with more than 14,000 B2B marketing professionals as subscribers. 

You can learn more about Mac McIntosh by visiting his Web site at www.sales-lead-experts.com, where you can sign up to receive his newsletter, “Sales Lead Report,” and read his blog, “Sales Lead Insights.”  Mac can also be reached at 1-800-944-5553 or at .

Thanks, Bob, for the insightful report.  We look forward to hearing from you again soon!

Add comment February 23rd, 2006