SLMA CEO James W. Obermayer announced the winners of the “20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management” leadership program for 2016.   Obermayer said, “These leaders in the sales lead management industry have given their time and their expertise to advance the science and discipline of sales lead management. They are authors and speakers, trainers and marketers, entrepreneurs and sales managers. 

A video of the winners for the 20 Women Watch is available for viewing here. 

Why it Matters:

"Sales lead management is a core discipline for predictable growth of sales and profitably.  Do it well and a company has a competitive advantage.  Do it poorly and 75-90% of marketing spending on lead generation is a waste; sales productivity suffers as do corporate growth and profitability.  The 20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management are found to have the knowledge, skills, and leadership to generate wealth by managing this vital discipline."

Sales Lead Management Association 

 The 20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management – 2016 in alphabetical order are:

• Andrea Lechner-Becker, LeadMD
• Tracy Eiler, InsideView, Inc.
• Anna Fisher, Zoominfo.com
• Cyndi W. Greenglass, Diamond Marketing Solutions
• Jennifer Harmel, ANNUITAS
• Jeanne Hopkins , Continuum Managed IT Services
• Janelle Johnson, Act-On Software
• Jocelyn King, Intel
• Katie Martell, Cintell
• Rhoan Morgan, DemandLab LLC
• Nancy Nardin, Smart Selling Tools
• Genie Parker, VanillaSoft.com
• Debbie Qaqish, The Pedowitz Group
• Lori Richardson, Score More Sales
• Liz Sophia, Hodges-Mace, LLC
• Erica Stritch, RAIN Group
• Marylou Tyler, Strategic Pipeline
• Mari Anne Vanella , The Vanella Group
• Adrienne Weissman, G2Crowd
• Traci Whetzel, Concept Services Ltd.

The Judges

Judges this year were Christel Hall of Prowrite PR, Peter Gracey of QuotaFactory, and Jill Konrath.  The SLMA thanks them for their time and expertise in reviewing the nominees for the 20 Women to Watch program.

The Process

SLMA members nominated women leaders in the field of sales lead management.  From those nominated, 20 were selected.  Nominees were judged on their contributions to a combination of sales lead management, marketing and sales activities.  Additional qualifications, such as board positions, authorships, and relevant presentations, were taken into account. 

The Sponsors

Continuum Managed IT Services and OMI – Outward Media are generous sponsors for the 20 Women to Watch Recognition Program for 2016.  We thank them for their support in recognizing women leaders in the Sales Lead Management Field.

Please join us in thanking them for their efforts because they know that sales lead management is revenue management. 

Nominee's Achievements:

While Erica has been a member of the RAIN Group team for 11 years and has done some great things for our organization, she’s really become a force to be reckoned with over the last 5 years. She oversaw a website redesign that yielded a 1371% increase in website visits. The optimization of our website and Erica’s vision for transitioning to inbound marketing have lead to increases in other areas as well. RAIN Group’s corporate marketing list has seen an increase of 54% in the last few years, and our inbound leads have increased by 186%. We’ve also seen an increase of 23% of links ranking on the first page of search engine results. 

Nominee's Achievements in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

In addition to the achievements described above, Erica oversaw all content development and marketing and led numerous product and service launches for RainToday, resulting in revenue growth of over 500% in 3 years while significantly increasing margins. RainToday was closed in December 2015 due to shifting company priorities and strategies, not due to lack of performance.

She has received the following awards:
- 2011 Top 20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management
- Top Sales Resource Site for RainToday (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
- Best B2B Email Opt-in Campaign - Gold Winner

Professional Boards:

Erica is on the management team at RAIN Group and was the General Manager of RainToday for 11 years until its closure in December 2015.

Charitable Boards:

Erica serves on the Marketing and Housing committees for the Ethan M. Lindberg Foundation (http://www.ethanlindberg.com/).

Authorship:

1. http://blog.hubspot.com/sales/tips-to-crush-your-sales-goals
   2. Contributed to Chapter 7, Cold Calling Scripts That Work: Three Proven Introductions that Break Into and Close New Clients, of Speaking Your Way to Success by Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts
   3. http://www.rainsalestraining.com/blog/how-to-get-cold-prospects-to-talk-to-you/
   4. http://www.eyesonsales.com/content/article/why_i_dont_buy_from_you/
   5. http://www.cpsa.com/knowledgecentre/SRCArticlePrint.aspx?articleID=455

Eric has been in the industry for 11 years and is nominated by Beth McCluskey

Nominee's Achievements:

Traci has been instrumental in the growth of our new business development company since 2002 throughout her various roles served within the company. We have grown from 5 employees to over 100 in 2015.

In 2015, Traci formalized a new division within our organization dedicated to CRM. As the Director of CRM, she is responsible for selling, managing and growing our CRM design an implementation services. She manages her own department, vendor relationships, staff, marketing and overall strategy and direction. Traci also received her Salesforce.com Admin Certification last year.

The CRM Division within Concept Services is central to our internal operation, along with critical to offering solutions to our client base.

Traci is recognized in the industry as a valuable CRM resource and has been asked to participate/interview as a guest on an industry radio broadcast, along with present at vendor events.

She is also the leading contributor to the #CRMSmackTalk Blog providing industry tips and advice on best practices, trends and recommendations for CRM.

Authorship:

http://www.conceptservicesltd.com/1719-2/ - Blog Contributing Author

Traci has been in the industry fo 14 years and is nominated by Katherine Schaefer.

Nominee's Achievements:

Adrienne Weissman is the chief revenue and marketing officer for G2 Crowd, a peer-to-peer review site focused on the B2B software market. She joined G2 Crowd after a successful career leading sales and marketing efforts at tech industry giants like Google, Digg and LinkedIn.

But the exciting vision for G2 Crowd pulled her into the the tech start-up world.

“G2 Crowd is focused on demystifying and changing the purchasing paradigm in the B2B software marketplace,” said Weissman. “Companies that are engaged and listening to their customers across the social web realize improved satisfaction and brand loyalty, which are recognized by our service. This work creates enormous value for consumers and businesses around the world.”

While with G2 Crowd, Weissman has successfully lead the creation and expansion of the company’s sales, marketing and communications teams. Those efforts have resulted in exponential growth for the company.

Since Weissman took on a leadership role with G2 Crowd monthly site traffic has tripled. The quarterly, verified user-reviews have increased by two-and-a-half times and the site contains more than double as many verified reviews as their next closest competitor. More importantly the company has more than three times as many product-customers as the previous year.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

• Adrienne Weissman has lead G2 Crowd through a period of exponential growth
• More than 500,000 monthly visitors researching software
• More than 61,000 verified, user-reviews
• Built G2 Crowd’s sales, marketing and communications team from five to 28 members
• Opened new offices in Chicago and San Francisco
• 321 percent customer volume growth
• 429 percent growth in total company revenueienne has been in the industry for 17 years and is nominated by Adam Beeson.

Professional Boards:

CMA Chicago

Authorship (articles or books):

• “Why B2C Brands Should Be On LinkedIn: Agency Leaders Weigh In”, August 4, 2014, LinkedIn
• “New Research Reveals LinkedIn Members’ Receptiveness to Consumer Marketing Messages”, July 10, 2014, LinkedIn

Interviews or Appearances:

• Adrienne Weissman Joins G2 Crowd, The Drum, February 25, 2015 
• Women in Tech Tuesday, Women 2.0, May 26, 2015 
• Adrienne Weissman Talks Marketing Automation for Small Businesses , Small Business Trends, July 17, 2015 
• 5 CMOs Who are Turning to LinkedIn for Increased Brand Engagement , Marketing Land, December 29, 2015 
• Big 2015 Tech Hires That Will Shape 2016 , ChicagoInno, January 6, 2016 
• 4 Chicago Tech Companies Making Philanthropy a Cornerstone of Culture, Built In Chicago, November 12, 2015
• Jumping Into the Mobile Marketing Waters, Ad Age, July 9, 2015 
• A CMO to Know: Adrienne Weissman, G2 Crowd, itbusiness.ca, January 7, 2016 
• Shopify Leads the Ecommerce Pack, Small Business Computing.com June 15, 2015 

Appearances:

• Gainsight Panel, May 13, 2915
• FlipMyFlannel Roadshow Chicago, December 8, 2015
• FlipMyFlannel Roadshow San Francisco, February 25, 2016

Nominee's Achievements:

Mari Anne Vanella has been CEO of The Vanella Group, Inc for 16 years. During that time, she has developed the firm to become one of the leading experts the B2B sales development space.

In addition, she has written 42 Rules of Cold Calling Executives which is used in sales organizations in many industries. She has been a featured speaker at Dreamforce 3 years, has a widely syndicated blog, and regularly speaks at industry events such as Dreamforce.

In 2016 Mari Anne is expanding the consulting arm of the company for more specialized programs for front line reps to better manage relationships that lead to revenue.

Nominee's Achievements in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

• CEO of The Vanella Group, Inc. for 16 years.
• Best Selling Author of 42 Rules of Cold Calling Executives
• Regularly mentors young professionals and early-stage entrepreneurs
• Forged direct partnerships with companies such as Marketo, Salesforce, InsideView
• Top 3 of "40 Most Inspirational C-Level Leaders in Sales Lead Management in 2015" awards.
• Speaker at Dreamforce 2013, 2012 & 2011 in "Recommended Sessions"
• Listed in "20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management" in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 sponsored by PointClear,VanillaSoft, Performark,OppSource.com,Hubspot Marketo,and Event Technologies
• Presented with 2015 and 2013 California Excellence Award by US Trade & Commerce Institute (USTCRI)
• 2014 and 2013 "50 Most Influential in Sales Lead Management Award" and 2015 "40 Most Inspiring Leaders in Sales Lead Management" award
• Designed Telesales 2.0(TM) to engage with active sales cycles for enterprise tech performing 5x above industry standards (DMA Study)
• Leading Industry Expert in Lead Generation/TeleEngagement for Tech Companies with a client list that includes SAP,HP,CA,Sun,Hitachi, Borland,and many others.
• The Aberdeen Group lists The Vanella Group, Inc. in their last two B2B Outsourced TeleServices Studies to the Market Intelligence-to-Opportunity category.

Professional Boards

Founding Member in WITI (Women in Technology International) Global Executive Network
Squirro Executive Advisor
CloudFirst Advisor

Interviews and appearances

Dreamforce, LinkedIn Live, Selling Power, Brighttalk, DemendGenReport

Mari Anne has been in the industry for 25+ years and is nominated by Dorben Gentles

Nominee's Achievements:

Katie Martell is working to change the game in terms of "Women to Watch" in the industry. As a marketing powerhouse, Katie is the CMO and Co-Founder of Cintell and was previously with Aberdeen Group and  NetProspex, (acquired by Dun & Bradstreet) where she accelerated the company 2X each year from startup to award-winning organization serving members of the Fortune 500.

If you are interested in how the buying process, marketing and sales work in today's B2B world, you are probably reading something written by Katie Martell. She focuses her content on buyer personas and helping to educate marketing and sales on why developing and understanding your buyers and their personas are no longer an option today.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

• One of the top 10 marketing writers on LinkedIn
• #3 Most influential B2B marketer on Twitter
• Top 100 influencer in content marketing
• Named a “marketing expert to follow” by CIO Magazine
• B2B Marketing: Top US and UK Influencers and Brands  by Onalytica

Professional Boards:

American Marketing Association Boston Chapter
VP Content, Board Member

Authorship (articles or books):

A few selections to share some of Katie's writing:

4 Ways to Sell More Effectively With Buyer Personas: http://cintell.net/4-ways-to-sell-more-effectively-with-buyer-personas/

You Don't Know S**t About Marketing: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-dont-know-sht-your-buyers-katie-martell?trk=prof-post

Interviews or appearances:

TEDx: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/marketing-never-supposed-way-my-tedx-talk-katie-martell?trk=prof-post

Interview via Pressly on Standing Out from the Content Jungle:https://vimeo.com/124353999

Nominee's Achievements:

Jennifer has been working in marketing and Demand Generation for over 20 years and her experience in transforming Demand Generation for clients is second to none. As the Executive Vice President, Demand Process Strategy Practice and Principal at ANNUITAS, Jennifer drives a team of strategy professions to help clients achieve unprecedented results and revenue.

Understanding the lead management process and how to develop buyer-centric processes helps Jennifer build sustainable revenue for her clients.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

Leads the ANNUITAS Strategy team and our global clients to transformation throughout the entire client engagement.

Jennifer presented 3 Strategy Rules for Driving Effective Lead Generation webinar for BrightTALK. and used ANNUITAS research and insights to help marketers learn new methods for lead generation.

Charitable Boards:

Cutting Horse Committee, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

Authorship (articles or books):

3 Demand Generation Lessons Learned in 2015

What Being Agile Means for Today's Marketers

Interviews or appearances:

3 Strategy Rules for Driving Effective Lead Generation 

Jennifer Harmel has been in the industry for 20 years and is nominated by Erika Goldwater.

Nominee's Achievements:

Liz Sophia is Senior VP of Marketing of Hodges-Mace where she leads the Company’s marketing strategy. In November 2015, because of her stellar reputation as a successful Revenue Marketer, Hodges-Mace, an employee benefits firm, recruited Liz from North Plains Systems (NPS) to build a marketing department from the ground up. In four months, Liz has assembled a thriving revenue marketing organization, accountable for generating revenue.

Since coming onboard, Liz has aligned sales and marketing to move the needle in revenue generation for the firm. With the help of Leigh Chelsey who came from from NPS, Liz has introduced and proven the value of servant leadership and marketing metrics to generate topline revenue. She has led the adoption of SFDC and created a brand new role of sales and marketing technologist.

At the same time, Liz is transforming the communications department at Hodges-Mace from a cost center to a revenue center.

Liz understands marketing’s role to enable the sales function and drive revenue and is masterful at leading with metrics. Her diverse background includes corporate and agency experience in both the technology and healthcare industry. She has worked with companies of all sizes from startups to global corporations. Areas of expertise include: agency selection and management, marketing automation, revenue performance management, online strategy, employee development and brand transformation. She is a marketing change agent and thought leader, deeply committed to transforming marketing from a cost center to a profit center.

Prior to Hodges-Mace, Liz held senior leadership roles with North Plains Systems, Sage and PGi

Recent Highlights:

• Voted one of The Top 20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management in 2014 and 2015
• Spoke at REVtalks, 2014: Building a Rockstar Team
• Encore Speaker at Hubspot 2013 annual conference
• Profiled in award-winning book, Rise of the Revenue Marketer.
• Columnist for PR News on topics related to the PR role in Revenue Marketing
• Featured in various marketing publications such as: D&B Connectors, 60SecondMarketer, DemandGenReport, DMNews and PR News and The Dana Barrett Show

Liz is a single mother of two young who balances her professional and personal commitments with finesse. In her spare time she enjoys competing in body building competitions. Liz holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Communication from Hollins University.

Your Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

• Voted one of the Top 20 Women to Watch by the Sales Lead Management Association, 2014 and 2015
• Panelist at the Merit Direct 2014 Conference, Marketing’s Changing Role in the B2B Customer Journey
• Featured speaker at REVtalks, Building a Rockstar Team
• Featured thought leader in book, “Rise of the Revenue Marketer”
• Featured speaker and encore presenter at Hubspot INBOUND - Building a Rockstar Team and Optimal Alignment with Sales
• Guest speaker for Revenue Marketing University, Skills, Roles and Competencies for Revenue Performance Management; Building the Revenue Continuum – Marketing & Sales Alignment

Professional Boards:

Liz sits on the Customer Advisory Board for The Pedowitz Group. 

Authorship (articles or books):

Liz is an articulate communicator and has written articles on lead generation, sales enablement, revenue marketing and digital asset management. She is a popular interview source and author for top marketing publications including:

60SecondMarketer - “How to Use Digital Asset Management (DAM) to Protect Your Brand ID” - 

D&B Connectors – “Quarterbacking Your Marketing Automation” - 

FierceCMO – “6 Ways to Deliver Marketing Numbers to Wow Leadership” - 

DM News – “Blending Direct and Brand Marketing” 

DemandBrew – “Rethinking How You Manage Your Marketing Assets” 

PR News - “How to Tailor to Points in the Buying Process” - 

Interviews or appearances:

Liz is has been a guest on The Dana Barrett Show http://danabarrett.com/women-on-wednesday-golf-tech-mentorship-negotiating/ -

Next month, Liz and Ron Shah, CFO of Hodges-Mace are guests on WRMR Power TalkRadio for Revenue Marketing Leaders http://www.blogtalkradio.com/revenue-marketer-radio, discussing “The Real Key to Marketing Agility: Financial Alignment”.

Liz has been in the industry for 20+ years and is nominated by Elizabeth Fairleigh

Nominee's Achievements:

Jeanne has been the CMO at Marketing Sherpa, the V.P. of Marketing at HubSpot, the Executive V.P. and CMO at SmartBear, and the Senior V.P. and CMO of Continuum. She is the co-author of Go Mobile, the #1 best selling mobile book on Amazon when it was first release. And she is an internationally-recognized sales and lead management thought leader. 

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

• Co-chair MassTLC Sales & Marketing Group
• Co-author, "Go Mobile", #1 best-selling mobile marketing book.
• Named to Sales Lead Management Association "Top 50" 3 years in a row and "20 Women to Watch" in 2015/14/13 & 2011;
• Named to VAR Guy Top Channel Leaders in 2015;
• MSPmentor People to Watch in 2014;
• BizJournal marketing experts;
• Speaker @ MarketingProfs B2B Forums, HubSpot Inbound 2011/12/13/14 Conferences, MIT Entrepreneurs Forum, AMA, Social Media Today, BrightTalk, MassTLC, Social Fresh.

Professional Boards:

Advisory Boards include Bedrock Data, BrightInfo, Mintigo, Sales Lead Mgt Assoc.

Authorship (articles or books):

http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Location-Based-Marketing-Optimized-Strategies/dp/1118167783

Nominee's Achievements:

As Act-On’s Senior Director of Demand Generation, Janelle has played a pivotal part in supporting the company’s rapid growth – rising to meet ever-increasing lead and revenue goals, and ultimately driving millions in pipeline contributions quarterly. She is an A player who has consistently executed successful, multi-channel campaigns that generate thousands of newly leads monthly, and she continues to set new standards of excellence in the dynamic, highly actionable, and results-oriented marketing programs she implements.

Most recently, Janelle has helped expand post-sales marketing efforts as a presenter and participant at Act-On's IHeartMarketing roadshow series – a customer initiative launched in 2015 consisting of one-day, high-touch workshops, in cities with high concentrations of users. At these events, Janelle teaches and mentors customers and prospects in demand gen practices, and works to ensure the company’s marketing, sales, and customer success groups remain tightly aligned.

Janelle today is the epitome of the modern marketer, marshaling the latest marketing technologies to build sophisticated programs, qualify and nurture more leads, and prove marketing’s value to the bottom line. She is equal parts scientist and marketer, knowing how and when to leverage data to test, optimize, and further refine ongoing marketing campaigns.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

Over the past year, Janelle has:

• Increased overall marketing efficiency and ROI.
• Generated up to 80% of the company’s overall revenue through marketing-qualified leads.
• Built sophisticated lead Flannel programs and content to model buyer personas at each stage of the buyers journey – architecting top of Flannel, middle of Flannel and bottom of Flannel programs that effectively move leads down the Flannel more effectively, resulting in a shorter lead to sale time.
• Expanded her high-impact demand gen team, with new resources for training and mentorship among the next generation of marketers.
• Shared industry trends, best practices, and growth initiatives with customers and prospects via Act-On’s IHeartMarketing roadshow series.
• Janelle is also a coach and mentor to countless professionals new to marketing automation and demand generation. She has spoken at conferences, led coaching sessions, and presided over numerous webinars, imparting in the process key knowledge and best practices to hundreds of marketers worldwide.
• In her previous role, Janelle was consistently ranked in the “Highest 25%” of top performing Cisco employees"

Professional Boards:

Women Unlimited, TEAM Program (April 2011 Graduate)

Authorship (articles or books)

• Hiring a Marketer: What Skill Set Should You Look For? 
• Five Ways to Master Your Holiday Email Marketing
• Is There a Right Time for Email Marketing?
• The 3 & 5 of Winning Drip Marketing Campaigns
• 8 Tips for Improving Open Rates for B2B Sales and Marketing Emails
• 7 Steps to Defining a Marketing-Qualified Lead (MQL)
• 3 Best Practices for Creating a Lead-Scoring Matrix
• 6 Tips For Better Email
• Sales & Marketing Alignment: 3 Ways to Close the Gap
• 7 Call to Action Strategies: Tips and Advice
• Drip Marketing 101: Benefits and Best Practices

Interviews or appearances:

• Podcast: How to turn website visitors into leads!
• Podcast: Skip Miller and Janelle Johnson Discuss the New Normal of Lead Qualification
• Webinar: Converting Website Visitors to Sales Opportunities

Janelle has been in the industry for 18 years, and is nominated by Amanda Lennon.

Nominee's Achievements: 

Tracy Eiler is Chief Marketing Officer at InsideView, where she leads overall marketing strategy and a team of 15.
Tracy held executive marketing roles at Replicon, Cloud9, MarkLogic, Postini, and Business Objects, helping to define and execute the marketing strategy of those technology innovators. She also founded and ran a successful communications agency which served technology clients.

Tracy’s marketing expertise has helped grow some of the most important business technology companies, including leaders in sales and marketing technology:

• Currently CMO at market intelligence leader InsideView, where she has built out demand generation for small business, enterprise, platform, and OEM sales teams. Pipeline coverage results range from 3x to 5x depending on the segment.
• Acted as interim CMO for Get Satisfaction, leader in online community platforms. Tracy rebuilt the marketing function and established demand gen.
• Tracy led marketing for Cloud9, leader in sales analytics for pipeline management. Repositioned Cloud9 in sales performance management category, rebuilt the marketing team and created the company’s demand gen process.
• Ran demand generation at Postini, taking them up-market from a successful small business engine to adding a rapidly growing enterprise segment. Early adopter of marketing automation, and introduced account-based marketing techniques.
• Ran marketing for MarkLogic through significant growth from $15M to $80M revenue. Created first market development team and generated 12M in outbound pipeline in the first 9 months.
• Grew the annual MarkLogic user conference to more than 600 attendees.
• At Business Objects, Tracy helped grow company from $65M and to $1.2B in revenue. She managed a $30M budget and 40 staff worldwide

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management

Tracy Eiler has a broad range of experience in sales lead management, operating under the mantra “marketing exists to make sales easier”. She has build lead engines for both direct and indirect sales models, small business and enterprise sales teams, and using inbound and outbound techniques.

She was an early adopter of marketing automation, bringing in Eloqua in 2006 at Postini to support the small business engine, and support an up-market strategy for an enterprise sales team. Postini doubled in size to 100M in the first year Eiler was there, and sold to Google for 625M.

She build an outbound sales development team at big data company MarkLogic, increasing sales productivity and ASP from 50K to 250K in one year, along with 12M in outbound pipeline in the first 6 months.

At market intelligence firm InsideView, Eiler’s accomplishments include creating an account-based marketing approach for the new enterprise sales team and lowering cost-of-sale and increasing ASP for small business deals.

She is an evangelist for sales and marketing alignment, and is a frequent speaker on the topic. She’s currently writing a book on the topic, to be published by John Wiley & Sons in Sept 2016.

Professional Boards

• Board of Advisors, Bluebird Communications
• Board of Advisors, Eiler Communications

Charitable Boards

• Former board member, San Mateo Family Service Agency

Authorship (articles or books)

Business book co-authored by Tracy and Andrea Austin, vp sales at InsideView. To be published in Sept 2016 with John Wiley & Sons. Topic is “Sales & Marketing Alignment”. 

Tracy has been in the industry for 25 years, and is nominated by Nancy Nardin.

Nominee's Achievements:

Andrea Lechner-Becker is the Chief Strategy Officer at LeadMD, a marketing automation and CRM services consultancy.

She is a Marketo Certified Consultant and Marketo Certified Trainer who spent numerous years prior honing her sales and marketing skills with a variety of companies including the Phoenix Suns, Cox Communications, and Burns Studio Publishing.

Lechner-Becker takes the service she gives to clients beyond mere implementation to execution and ongoing advisement. She relies upon powerful tools like lead scoring and lead nurturing to help clients bridge the gap between marketing and sales, and further the potency of sales leads. She also teaches clients how to track and prove ROI through advanced marketing automation functions and methodologies, such as Marketo’s Revenue Cycle Analytics.

Lechner-Becker has rich expertise in a wide variety of sales lead management platforms, and is presently a strong advocate of Marketo in particular. She expertly encourages her clients to build their marketing automation programs upon Marketo’s strong foundation. She's led dozens of clients in mapping out and simplifying their sales and marketing processes for ultimate efficiency.

Her vibrancy and passion for helping companies grow is evident to customers and coworkers alike, and she has quickly become an exceptionally skilled leader in the field.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

Here is a sampling of a few success metrics that have been experienced by LeadMD clients and can be attributed to Lechner-Becker’s powerful leadership in sales lead management:

• Increased incremental sales by 150 percent in nine months
• Managed 2x increase in sales leads, with no increase in headcount
• Enabled campaigns to come to market 25 percent faster than previously
• 90 percent opportunity/win ratio
• Lowered cost per lead by 70 percent based on nurture

“If you want to have marketing automation success, need a strong partner and want to work with a world class team I strongly recommend Andrea and her team at LeadMD! They have truly been an asset to our marketing automation project and vision. We had a very aggressive vision, project, timelines and wish list.

We had a need for them to partner with our CRM implementation vendor and assist with Marketo related Salesforce integration as data migrations. This was a global implementation of a very complex nature that integrated Marketo, our CMS and CRM globally under a single global platform and replacing disparate marketing automation systems.

From the start of the sales process Andrea stood out because of their willingness to be honest about success factors, share their experience with other projects and partnership approach. She wants to do great work and are committed to it. She became both a trusted adviser and extension of our team. Her partnered approach is something I both appreciate and respect and would not hesitate to recommend.” Jo-Ann Kevala, Global Head of Marketing - Digital Platform and Creative, Unit4

Authorship (articles or books):

• https://www.leadmd.com/blog/dark-side-of-the-moon-marketing-strategy/
• https://www.leadmd.com/blog/marketo-best-practices-can-someone-just-tell-me-what-i-dont-know/

Andrea has been in the industry for 7 years. She is nominated by Chad Koskie

Nominee's Achievements:

Building on a 16-year career in sales and marketing technology, Rhoan and the agency she founded in 2009 enjoyed record-breaking success in 2015. In seven years she grew DemandLab from a one-person operation into a full-service agency while maintaining an average 50% YOY revenue increase. This year alone, she grew her team by 40 percent. To date, the agency has worked with nearly 70 recognized global brands and Fortune 500s.

To meet the evolving preferences of today’s buyers, Rhoan focused on expanding the agency’s content services and DemandLab’s content offerings were recognized with a Summit International Emerging Media Award in 2015 and a Killer Content Award in early 2016.

DemandLab’s work garnered additional accolades during the year: client, Qlik was selected as a Revvie Award finalist in the engagement category. The agency won Gold for Company of the Year in the Business Services -- 10 or Less Employees category at the 12th annual Stevie Awards and Rhoan won a Stevie Bronze for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in the same category.

Rhoan’s biggest achievement in 2015 was the launch of MAaaS™ (Marketing Automation as a Service), a new, turnkey service model that eliminates adoption barriers and enables more marketing and sales teams to integrate powerful automated campaigns into their practice.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

Rhoan has helped many clients align sales and marketing activities, transform their lead-generation strategy, and realize optimal value from their investment in marketing automation.

Areas of specialization include:

- Lead lifecycle management
- Analytics and optimization
- Sales and marketing alignment
- Sales Enablement

Success highlights include:

• Launching a new marketing/sales product category: MAaaS™ (Marketing Automation as a Service).
• Creating a Revvie-nominated re-engagement campaign for Qlik that streamlined global content distribution, generated 2,500 net new marketing responses in less than six months, and generated significant revenue from closed won primary opportunities.
• Creating an award-winning interactive infographic for Ipreo PCM that generated new opportunities valued at ~$800K and directly influenced 63 opportunities valued at ~$6.2M.

Here’s what her clients have to say: http://www.demandlab.com/about/testimonials/

Authorship (articles or books):

Rhoan is a regular contributor to the DemandLab blog (http://www.demandlab.com/blog/) and the SAP Customer Edge blog.

Interviews or appearances:

Association for Accounting Marketing Conference 2015: The Value of Marketing Automation. http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-value-of-marketing-automation-tickets-15543021596?aff=esli

Leader of the Marketo Regional User Group, Philadelphia area

Temple University: Marketing Automation: Engage Your Leads Through the Lead Lifecycle to Win More Deals

Rhoan is nominated by Alex Stanton

Rhoan has been in the industry for 16 years.

Nominee's Achievements

Today, Cyndi is responsible for marketing and strategic solutions for clients, as well as managing the agency services team of data, analytics and digital professionals. With a strong track record in B2B marketing, strategic planning, and database development, she helps clients develop, execute, and measure their lead Flannel programs with a close focus on demand generation and lead nurturing strategies. Cyndi is known for valued senior executive counsel, especially in international lead generation and B2B direct response communications, and she has extensive database and CRM experience, as well as campaign management experience, measurement and metrics, and integrated marketing strategies.

Cyndi has razor-sharp strategic skills matched by impeccable on-the-ground savvy and tactical abilities. These qualities have enabled her to build a successful company and reputation in B2B lead management and B2B marketing industry. Cyndi is frequently quoted in publications on B2B lead generation and nurturing strategies, and is a consistent contributor to books, white papers and articles by leading thought leaders in B2B lead generation.

Cyndi is a founder of Diamond Marketing Solutions (DMS), a $100 million data communications company with 7 locations and more than 500 employees serving F1000 and growing companies in Insurance, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Higher Education.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management

• Award-winning strategist with more than twenty years' experience in Integrated Marketing Communications, focused on B2B marketing communications.
• Passionate about data driven, research-based, measurable B2B lead generation strategies that work to support overall business objectives.
• 2015 INC5000 ranking of Fastest Growing Companies in America
• 2014 INC5000 ranking of Fastest Growing Companies in America
• 2012 CADM Direct Marketer of the Year,
• Twice named to the Crain's B@B Magazine Top 100 B2B Marketers
• 2015 Communicator Award of Distinction for Stanford University GSB for Marketing Effectiveness: Integrated Campaign
• 2014 Finalist for IM&T (Integrated Marketing & Technology Award for Stanford University GSB

Cyndi is also an educator:

• Adjunct Professor at WVU Reed School of Media in Data driven Communications
• Adjunct Instructor at Aurora University in Advanced Internet Marketing and Adjunct Professor at Aurora University in Integrated Marketing Communications

Professional Boards:

Midwest Marketing Education Foundation
Chicago Association of Direct Marketing
Past Chair, DMA B2B Council

Authorship:

IMC Handbook, 2nd Edition, Jones, S & Kelly, S. 2012

Contributor to:
Creative Strategy in Direct Marketing, Jones, S.1997

The B2B Loyalty Challenge.
http://cdn.chiefmarketer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/B2B-Loyalty-Special.pdf

Multi channel lead nurturing.

http://cdn.chiefmarketer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/B2B_MultichannelNurturing_2015.pdf

How Marketing Automation Creates Sales.
http://www.dmsolutions.com/blog/how-marketing-automation-creates-sales/

Outcome KPI's ensure that your Web Analytics are Meaningful.
http://www.dmsolutions.com/blog/use-outcome-kpis-ensure-that-your-web-analytics-are-meaningful/

Stanford Gets Schooled on Content Marketing.
http://www.dmsolutions.com/blog/437/

Interviews or Appearances:

• Over the past ten years, Cyndi has taught, trained and presented at over 50 conferences, companies and events throughout the world.
• She has presented to every regional direct marketing group in the US, as well as running private label training for the DMA, the European DMA, and China Post.
• She's a frequent lecturer at the university level, including DePaul University, Northern Illinois University, and University of Chicago.

Speaking engagements at:

• 2014, 2015 Marketing Profs Summit on Data decision making in B2B
• 2015 Presenter at B2B LeadsCon on B2B nurturing
• 2015 Panelist at B2B LeadsCon on B2B Flannel strategies
• 2015 Presenter at Omaha Advertising Expo on data driven lead generation
• 2014 Guest Interview with SLMA Radio
• 2013 – 2015 B2B Lead Generation seminars for the DMA (Direct Marketing Association)
• 2013 – 2015 Marketing Profs webinars on lead generation and big data
• 2012 – 2016 Basic Course Instructor at CADM of B2B Lead Generation and Database Marketing

Cyndi is nominated by Ruth P. Stevens

Cyndi has been in the industry for 15 years.

Nominee's Achievements:

Co-Author of Predictable Revenue. CEO at Strategic Pipeline,  A sales process improvement consultant, meaning that an approach behind turning cold conversations into qualified sales opportunities focuses on optimizing top-of-Flannel sales. Irrespective of methodology.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

Marylou's approach walks clients through a specific framework that is part behavioral, part predictive, and part creative (persuasive story-telling).

It’s a proprietary system she developed and used to help clients including Apple Computer, AMA, Talend, Prudential, UPS, Orkin, AAA and Mastercard achieve results like this:

☞ “We went from $0 to $2 million in revenue in just one year under Marylou’s expert guidance. Ignore her at your own peril!” –Paul Fifield, CEO, Ceros.com

☞ “With Marylou’s help we are consistently having 2X to 3X the number of conversions than we did in the past!” – Bobby Schmidt, Channel Leader, Green Cloud Technologies

Authorship (articles or books):

Co author Predictable Revenue,   https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sales-development-slump-may-why-marylou-tyler?trk=prof-post

Marylou has been in the industry for four years. She is nominated by Rod Sloane.

Nominee's Achievements:

Nancy Nardin is a nationally recognized thought leader on sales and marketing productivity tools. Her firm, Smart Selling Tools, of which she is the founder and President, is dedicated to helping marketers and sellers apply process and technology to drive revenue.

Backed by nearly 30 years of sales and marketing experience, Nancy is a pioneer in sales prospecting technology. Before launching Smart Selling Tools in 2006, Nancy served in sales leadership roles at leading analyst firms such as Gartner Group and IDC. She worked closely with many of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capital firms and the portfolio companies in their charge. She has, at one point or another, worked with more than 30 of the largest high-tech, and telecom firms in the country.

Nancy has consulted executives at leading marketing automation, pipeline management, lead management, and forecast analytics firms. She also designed a one of its kind Sales Tools Advisor to guide end-user sales and marketing organizations determine the right tools for them.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

• Named: Top 30 Social Sales Influencer in the World for 2014 by Forbes
• Top 50 ReTweeted Vendors by B2B Marketers
• Named: Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers for 2012, 2013, and 2014 by Top Sales World Magazine
• Named: 20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management for 2012, 2013, and 2014 by the SLMA
• Named: Top 25 Sales influencers for 2013 and 2014 by Openview Partners
• Named: Top 25 Sales influencers for 2013 and 2014 by InsideView.com
• Named: Top 25 Sales Bloggers in the World by Hubspot for their Award winning Blog
• Top 10 LinkedIn SSI Score for 2015 by CEB

Interviews or appearances:

• 2014 and 2015 CallidusCloud C3 Media Sponsor
• 2015 Dream Lounge hosted by Smart Selling Tools in conjunction with Dreamforce
• Sales Stack 2015 panel moderator
• Multiple Dreamforce panels (RingDNA in 2014, Accelerate Your Sales Strategy with Mobile in 2013)
• InsideView Openlounge 2014 panel speaker
• Guest Speaker at a 2014 VP of Sales Forum Silicon Valley Meeting
• ELEVATE 2016 Virtual Sales Kickoff by Velocify (In the Top 10 Sessions)

Upcoming

• 2016 CallidusCloud C3
• 2016 Apttus Accelerate

Nancy has been in the industry for 25 years and started Smart Selling Tools 9 years ago.

Nancy is nominated by Lori Richardson

Nominee's Achievements:

Lori has been in the sales development space since her first sales rep position in 1984 where she had to find her own leads and made no salary, only commissions. Fortunately it was the booming computer technology sector – she continues to help those wanting to learn how to attract buyers and move conversations forward.

In recent years Lori has received many accolades for her blog (Score More Sales) that offers sales development tips and strategies for sales growth. She has focused the last couple of years additionally on how to get more women into sales and sales leadership roles. Lori was #12 on a list of the top 50 sales influencers as mentioned on Forbes, is Co-President of the AA-ISP Boston Chapter for the Inside Sales profession, and regularly volunteers with incubators and associations that help teach newer companies how to grow leads and turn them into revenues.

Nominee’s Achievement in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

• Frequent contributor to podcasts, in person, and virtual events on creating sales – from leads to leadership.
• Thought of and mentioned when Top Sales Experts are discussed.
• Shining a light on women in SDR roles, sales positions, sales leadership, and expertise.
• Frequent speaker at industry conferences on social selling and other lead gen strategies.
• Sponsor & Mentor for Alphaloft.

Professional Boards:

• WOMEN Sales Pros, President and Board Member, 2014-2016
• Inside Sales Bootcamp, Advisor

Awards:

• Top Sales World, OpenView Partners, InsideView, and more.
• Judge for the WISA (Women in Sales Awards) North America

Authorship (articles or books):

• 50 Days to Build Your Sales – book and workbook (B2B and B2C versions) (2013)
• Sales Hack: With contributions from 25 of the world's greatest sales professionals of our time (2015)

Interviews or appearances:

• AA-ISP San Francisco 2016 Frontline Event, Panel Moderator
• Rainmaker 2016, Atlanta, Video Interviewer
• Rev it Up – Sales Leader Summit 2016, Boston, Host
• Sales Acceleration Summit 2016, Speaker
• Sales Kickoff Summit, 2016, Speaker
• Dreamforce 2015 Sales Cloud Panel Moderator
• AA-ISP Boston 2015 Frontline Event, Speaker
• Accelerate Seattle, 2015, Speaker
• Port Cities Inbound, 2015 Speaker
• WOMEN Sales Pros, Chicago, Host & Speaker
• Sales 2.0 Philly 2015, Panelist

Years in business: 14

Company name:  Score More Sales & WOMEN Sales Pros

Lori is nominated by Nancy Nardin

NOMINEE'S ACHIEVEMENTS:

The Queen of Revenue Marketing™, Debbie Qaqish inspires marketers to join the Revenue Marketing Revolution and evolve their departments from traditional cost centers to revenue generating centers. As Principal Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of The Pedowitz Group, Debbie develops and manages global client relationships, and leads the firm’s thought leadership initiatives.  Debbie coined the term “Revenue Marketer” in 2011. She has over 30 years experience applying strategy, technology and process to help B2B companies drive revenue growth.

Debbie has been a mentor to several professional women over the years - Many of these women she interviewed in her award-winning book and nominated for previous Top 20 Women to Watch awards.  Her two daughters have followed their mother’s footsteps and are currently rocking their careers as successful Revenue Marketers.

With 5000 LinkedIn connections, Debbie is a master networker and always seeking ways to support others  - She is dedicated to helping other women achieve their career aspirations and is a former member of Women in Technology (WIT) as well as A Mentoring Program for Young Professional Women.

NOMINEE'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN SALES LEAD MANAGEMENT:

• A voracious, life-long learner, Debbie is constantly challenging herself to explore new challenges both professionally and personally – In addition to handling her demanding client commitments, Debbie is working on her PhD, focusing on how the CMO adopts financial accountability in an e-marketing environment. She also teaches an MBA-level course at the College of William & Mary on Revenue Marketing.
• Debbie is author of the award winning book – “Rise of the Revenue Marketer,” Chancellor of Revenue Marketing University, and host of WRMR Power TalkRadio for Revenue Marketing Leaders. Debbie’s radio program is the only show of its kind that showcases real marketing executives sharing strategic and tactical advice on transforming the marketing function to drive revenue. Some of her guests have included top marketing executives at GE, Microsoft, McKesson and Lenovo.
• Most recently SLMA named Debbie one of the Top 40 Most Inspiring in sales lead management in the category of lead generation. For the last four years, Debbie has been named One of the Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management. She has also won SLMA’s Top 20 Women to Watch distinction. In 2014 FierceCMO Magazine named Debbie one of the Top 10 Women CMOs to Watch.

CHARITABLE BOARDS:

Habitat for Humanity

AUTHORSHIP:

Rise of the Revenue Marketer - book

INTERVIEWS OR APPEARANCES:

Debbie writes a marketing column for Strictly Marketing Magazine and is a frequent contributor to publications including DMNews, CMO Essentials, Chief Marketer and CMO.com. Here’s a sampling:

• http://strictlymarketingmagazine.com/january-february-2016/ (pgs 10, 11)
• http://www.dmnews.com/marketing-automation/what-the-dickens-to-do-about-marketing-tech/article/461962/
• http://www.cmoessentials.com/what-makes-a-successful-cmo/
• http://www.chiefmarketer.com/rubber-band-theory-better-marketing-behavior/
• http://www.cmo.com/articles/2014/1/22/_marketing_automation_content_roi.html

YEARS IN BUSINESS: 35

Debbie is nominated by Elizabeth Fairleigh.

NOMINEE'S ACHIEVEMENTS:

Genie Parker has more than 30 years of experience in sales and marketing with an emphasis on doing business on the phone. Genie's broad experience reaches into hundreds of industries including technology, manufacturing, non‑profits, financial services, and business services. She co‑founded Parker, Murray and Associates ‑ a call center that supplied sales and sales leads to businesses in a large variety of industries from small business to Fortune 500. Genie drove the adoption of new lead management technologies at Parker Murray before launching VanillaSoft. Genie is also a visionary in the need for specific tools for the emerging inside sales market, which is currently outpacing the outside sales market. She is an advocate for the need to adapt queue‑ based routing technology to high‑end sales.

NOMINEE'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIELD OF SALES LEAD MANAGEMENT:

Genie Parker has played a major role in management of VanillaSoft's operations:

• Built internal accounting system and processes for HR, AR and AP
• Built internal sales process
• Built support knowledge base
• Oversaw new website development
• Found and built business development relationships
• Played an integral role in developing and building VanillaSoft's Cloud‑based, Lead Management Platform

In her current role, Genie has oversees marketing strategy, directs marketing communication efforts, and partners with sales to continue increasing VanillaSoft’s brand awareness and market penetration.

Prior to VanillaSoft, Genie co‑Founded Parker, Murray and Assoc a boutique call center that supplied sales and sales leads to businesses in a large variety of industries from small business to Fortune 500.

PROFESSIONAL BOARDS:

SLMA Board Member

YEARS IN BUSINESS: 36

Genie is nominated by Stacy Jackson

CHARITABLE BOARDS:

Genie is a volunteer for:

• Seven Loaves Food Pantry
• Second Chance Animal Shelter
• Project Hope for Women in Crisis

AUTHORSHIP:

• Voice mail and Email: The One-Two Punch  
• Five Tips for Better Appointment Setting Calls 
• 3 Tips for Using Inside Sales Scripts Effectively
• Have Your Salespeople Make Money - Like Bees Make Honey

Nominee's Achievements: 

Jocelyn heads MO-CCA, Marketing Operations Cross Company Alliance, in addition to her day job at Intel heading the PSG Global Marketing Group. At MO-CCA, she heads a cross functional board consisting of Adobe, Citrix, SAP, SiriusDecisions, and IDC on best practices for the Marketing Operations profession. Included in that is how Marketing Operations helps facilitate the tracking and trending of lead management systems and platforms.

Nominee's Achievements in the Field of Sales Lead Management:

Second year nomination (won last year)
MO-CCA President
Intel Marketing Leader
Finalist, Marketing Team of the Year, ACE Awards
Finalist, Marketing Innovation Award, Sirius Decisions
Winner, IABC Crystal Award, International Association of Business Communicators
Winner, STC Awards of Publication Excellence, Society for Technical Communications
Winner, APEX Award of Publication Excellence, Association of Publications Excellence
Winner, Multiple Awards in Excellence in Advertising, UBM/CMP Media
Winner, Multiple Awards for Advertising Excellence, Reed Publishers
Winner, Branding and Identity, Logo Lounge
Winner, Publication Excellence, Society for Technical Communications

Professional Boards:

MO-CCA President

Years in business: 19+

Jocelyn is nominated by John Russo at B2B Fusion Group.

Nominee's Achievements:

As Head of Lead Generation at ZoomInfo, Anna Fisher helps the marketing team achieve success in their campaigns. She is directly responsible for brand awareness, lead generation, and lead nurturing strategies. With years of experience in business and marketing, Anna has a strong understanding of how to use data to improve ZoomInfo’s bottom line. on the CFO Leadership Council, and she consistently gets recognized internally at NetSuite for her accomplishments.

Nominee's Achievements in the field of Sales Lead Management, specifically:

Anna Fisher has helped ZoomInfo’s marketing team generate a large number of leads through their targeted webinar and conference strategy. In fact, there has been a 200% increase in marketing-generated leads. Anna’s team also celebrated a strong end to 2015, with 85% growth in December.

Under Anna’s guidance, ZoomInfo changed their lead routing process, which has significantly increased the number of demos set up. Rather than giving webinar registrants to their inbound qualifying team (IQT), ZoomInfo started routing these leads to their business development representatives (BDRs). IQT primarily speaks with people who have already requested demos. In contrast, BDRs spend their time making cold calls. For this reason, the BDRS appreciated having warmer leads. To further drive results, Anna emphasized that they could use the ZoomInfo platform in their account based strategy. This was a huge time-saver, as they now had the direct dial phone numbers of other contacts at these companies.

In addition, Anna improved ZoomInfo’s tradeshow strategy. With her help, the marketing team began including details about upcoming conferences at the bottom of their email newsletters, while also sending a more targeted email about ZoomInfo’s booth to attendees. And after the conference, the team would follow up with an appropriate piece of content. This led to a 200% increase in marketing-generated leads.

Overall, ZoomInfo has experienced a 46% year-over-year growth, much of which is due to the recent increase in marketing-generated leads.

Professional Boards:

• Russian Jewish Community Foundation (RJCF)
• Gala Committee (RJCF)

Authorship:

ZoomInfo blog posts

Interviews or appearances:

• Multiple partnership webinars
• Round table discussions (MarketingSherpa, SiriusDecisions, etc.)
• Presented at Sales 2.0

Anna is nominated by Rachel Martinez, ZoomInfo
Nominee's years in Business: 11