Book excerpt: The Hands-On, Up-to-the-Minute Guide to Generating Better-Qualified, Quicker-to-Close B2B Leads! Lead generation is "Job One": B2B marketers' single most important objective. Maximizing Lead Generation brings together everything you need to know to do it right. Fast-paced and 100% practical, it will help you achieve outstanding results in any B2B marketplace from enterprise technology to industrial equipment to professional services. World-renowned expert Ruth P. Stevens helps you bring science and systematization to all facets of lead generation, building on process, best practices, continuous testing, and ongoing improvement. You'll learn how to maximize the value of tried-and-true B2B tools and the newest social, web, and search technologies. Stevens offers indispensable insights for the entire lead lifecycle, including qualification, nurturing, measurement, and tracking. Organized for clarity, usability, and speed, this book will help you supercharge salesforce productivity and company profits. You'll Learn How To: · Develop and refine rules that consistently lead to higher-quality leads · Gain deeper insights into your customers and their buying processes · Build sophisticated, accurate marketing databases · Identify the media most likely to work for you · Execute highly effective campaigns · Drive huge ROI improvements · Use BANT and other qualification criteria · Apply new "nurturing" techniques to convert "duds" into "diamonds" · Track results and quantify the business value of campaigns · Utilize best practices content marketing and marketing automation · Integrate continuous improvement into lead generation · Discover 10 trends that will transform the way you prospect