The First Friday ReportTM

Welcome to the January 2013 issue of the First Friday Report.

With folks taking time off during the holiday season to enjoy family and  friends I decided to send this month's First Friday Report today—the Second Friday.

The First Friday Report started in the summer of 2010 as a curated list of resources and ideas to help you fill your sales pipeline. Since then, our issues have featured dozens of great resources—ranging from books to podcasts to infographics—about converting your prospects into substantial opportunities.

Through contests, surveys, and simple responses to each month's email, you've helped me refine the First Friday Report. In fact, your feedback has inspired me to start the new year with a dramatic change to our monthly newsletter, one that I think you'll really value. Instead of merely guiding you to resources across the web, the First Friday Report will soon contain original articles designed to help you improve your lead generation process from start to finish.

You might have noticed my experiment with this refreshed approach in last month's issue. Instead of publishing news and year-end predictions from around the web, I shared three of my strongest recommendations for 2013. One of those recommendations was to boost your outbound marketing by helping to shape the perception of your target audience's needs. So, you could say, I'm walking my own walk with what comes next.

Starting with next month's issue, subscribers like you will gain insight into trends and topics that can help boost your organization's revenue. The agenda for the next few months includes answering questions you've probably asked yourself lately, such as:

• How can you schedule your outbound marketing campaigns more effectively? You might be surprised to discover that the most powerful cadence for customer outreach doesn't match the plan you've set for your team.
• How can you find the right balance of message types in your touch cycle? With voicemail, email, text message, and postal mail all in the mix, setting up the right sequence requires both nuance and deep customer knowledge.
• How can you evaluate whether you're really making progress during your sales calls? Your calls feel good, and your prospects love to hear from you, but a few critical elements can turn your conversations into commitments.

Of course, I'd still love to hear your ideas about potential topics for future issues. Technology may change the methods we use to connect with our customers, but the best strategies still involve nurturing your leads, engaging your contacts, and developing your prospects until they're ready to close. These are the principles that have guided PointClear since our launch in 1997, and they're the key messages you'll see reflected in every issue of the First Friday Report.

Thank you for subscribing. I can't wait to share our next issue with you on the next First Friday, February 1!