How do I get started in SEM with no actual experience in it? I want to do some Lead Gen for other businesses.

We have an overlapping but non-competing interest in this area. What I'd recommend is ... skip the books or guides on Google AdWords or the Bing equivalent. You've already read enough, and your question is framed with enough specific detail that you're obviously no slouch and probably past the beginner stage, I'd say. Reading guides would provide steadily diminishing returns. DIY time! Brainstorm keyword ideas. Research the search stats. Once you feel you've covered all the relevant search queries and prioritized them, then it's time to run experiments. That's why I say skip the books. At a certain stage, you have to leave biology textbooks behind and go dissect some frogs or observe the live frogs (your customers?) in nature. Nothing is more empirical than running an efficient SEM campaign. You know this. Rules are starting points to b left behind in this space. Books and guides might provide some preliminary tips (at best) or be authoritarian (at worst). Just arrange your spending alternatives as hypotheses. Measure which strategy performs better using some carefully planned A/B testing over a statistically significant period of time / impressions / clicks. Set aside the generalizations. No author will give you what you need because you're already thinking of your problem at a granular level of detail. Brainstorm. Plan tests. Measure. Rinse & repeat. If you want to put 2 heads together, I might be able to throw out some extra ideas. But you don't necessarily need another person.

I can discuss having done indepth research before we select Marin software

Probably the training from Google for the Google Partners Exam heres a link to more information: https://support.google.com/partners/answer/3153810?hl=en

Technically you can bid on competitors. Take for example Autotrader who bids for keywords such as Honda, Ford, etc. But the best advice is actually here http://searchengineland.com/the-complete-guide-to-bidding-on-competitor-brand-names-trademarked-terms-118576

First of all, finding keywords that are relevant to your products or services is the first step in an SEO effort. If the words are not under high demand for advertisements, the keywords can be more cost effective as long as there is still sufficient search volume. In other words, you want to make sure they keywords are something people use. The next step is a solid content strategy to employ the keywords in a natural way. I find the SEO Table at search engine land to be the best guide. You can find it at http://searchengineland.com/seotable. The key is to use the good practices, such as incorporating words in your articles and posts as well as URLs, and capitalizing on external sources, such as Social Media. At the same time, you artificially loading up on keyboards.