Post by guest blogger Karen Hayward, Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, CenterBeam.

Lead generation is a significantly more complicated and complex process given the technologies, automation and rising expectations of sales people.

This leads to the need for real best practice expertise—not only in one single aspect i.e. telesales or teleprospecting ... but in all of the aspects of the integrated lead generation process that must come into play to drive a successful outcome. So database management, process management, recruiting & staffing, training, program management, and data analysis and content are all key to the success of a program. To drive revenue in today's tough environment, it's more important than ever to find a partner that can offer you expertise in every one of these areas.

As an experienced buyer of these services, I offer the following considerations:

Beware ... make sure you get what you pay for and pay for what you get! Watch out for pay-for-lead approaches. It may seem like a good deal, but remember, the firm will be incented to provide a quantity of leads—quality will take the back seat. Recognize the value of a longer-term, nurturing approach. Ask your potential partner's clients what percent of closed deals in the last period were based on outsourced leads. Number of leads is not meaningful—closed deals are, and worth a premium.

Many service providers claim that they can call the CXO level ... be careful! Check them out ... they may call them but are they able to engage in a successful dialogue ... do they use a script or are they truly able to have a 20-30 minute business level conversation that results in an understanding of business priorities, a meaningful next step ... or in other words a qualified lead. CXOs engage in conversations when they perceive parity in business stature and quickly exit scripted conversations.

Don't forget to check out training infrastructure. Due to turnover, it is important to assess the training process for speed and completeness and the coaching capacity to ensure as a client you have uninterrupted coverage or at least minimize the effects of unexpected staff changes or performance management.

Follow the lead. A disciplined quality assurance process is probably among the most important attributes of a successful program. Evaluate the process to make sure that when a lead is sent from Marketing to Sales—it is treated with professionalism and a tremendous sense of urgency and appreciation.

Be prepared to be involved. Your success relies as much on your contribution to the program as it does on the partner. Expect to dedicate time weekly to drive continuous improvement and to tweak the focus as your prospecting needs change.

Why look outside for help? Using a partner has freed up our time to focus on the more strategic aspects of our marketing efforts and has placed the accountability for day-to-day program management in the hands of a team with the necessary specialized expertise, processes and technology to make it work. As a CMO, I always ask myself, what value I would really bring to managing this process in-house versus having on demand access to expertise, operational excellence and data analysis that comes as part of a partner's complete solution.