B2B Lead Generation Blog

Five steps to help create your universal lead definition

I’m amazed that 90% of the companies I’ve talked with over the last six months lack a clear definition of a sales lead really is – that is their sales and marketing departments don’t agree on a universal lead definition. By not asking and answering a few critical questions, these teams are working inefficiently, wasting time and money, and in effect, crippling the bottom line. Teamwork is the only way organizations can achieve maximum ROI.

To get your lead generation program on track, I recommend that your organization start by creating a universal lead definition. By following these five steps, you’ll create a definition that not only works but that gets better over time.

Steps for defining a universal lead definition:

1. Meet - Get those who are marketing and those who are selling together in a room or on a conference call. You need a leader/facilitator with "street credibility." The premise of the meeting is that we're all in this together.

2. Ask this question to sales team: “For us to be 100% certain that when we send you a lead that you will act on it and provide feedback on 100% of the time, what do you need to know? At what point do you consider a lead qualified?  Now shut up and listen. Dig. Dig. Dig. Everybody must play.

3. Don't stop with just one meeting. Summarize the notes from your meeting and have another meeting to clarify and make sure everyone is satisfied with the definition. You need to have a strong consensus.

4. Publish the Universal Lead Definition everywhere so people who are involved in new customer acquisition are reminded often about their target and objective.

5. Close-the-loop via huddles before leveraging software. Sales/Marketing should meet bi-weekly to review if the lead definition is still accurate. Ask questions like: Was X a lead? Did they enter the sales process? Why or why not? What else would you like to have known about this lead? How can we improve? What should we stop doing? What should we start doing?

It won’t take long to reap the benefits.  And, I guarantee you that improved ROI won’t be the only one.

Related Posts:

Closed Loop Feedback: The Missing Lead Generation Huddle

On Lead Qualification: Steps to Convert Inquiries into Viable Sales Leads

A common lead generation practice using B2B inbound marketing includes offering white papers, demos, trial software, or other content assets in exchange for registration information. The problem is that many marketers immediately turn these form registrations (aka web inquiries) over to the sales team as "leads."

If your sales team perceives the majority of "leads" passed to them are no good, they're unlikely to spend time tracking prospects down.

I’ve already written about why lead quality should be emphasized over quantity. But, how do you weed through all those web inquiries to get to those that are truly ready for the sales team to engage so you can nurture the rest?

Here's a lead qualification process that may help you turn your web inquiries into viable sales leads: 

Step 1 - Create a marketing funnel.

The purpose of the marketing funnel is to bring inquiries (aka leads) into one spot and qualify them. The marketing funnel creates sales-ready leads and nurtures the leads that aren’t sales ready. Lead qualification must first classify leads according to their "sales readiness" and business fit; and second, to manage all the incoming leads effectively.

On Lead generation: Insist on lead quality over quantity

Under increased pressure to help drive revenue in this challenging market, many of us are tempted throw as many leads as we can to our sales team.

We can tell ourselves that more leads is better because it lowers the cost-per-lead and gives the sales team more activity. But don’t be one of those lulled by this false sense of security. If you really want to make a difference in your company’s sales, dig deeper. Focus on metrics that go beyond cost-per-lead, and more importantly, focus on quality first then quantity.

Do you know how many of your leads are actually impacting the sales pipeline? I've done numerous lead qualification programs have shown that as little as 5 to 15 percent of all inquiries turn out to be truly sales-ready opportunities. And while there are other influences such as sales training and refining the lead handoff process, lead quality stands out as the single largest factor driving the real ROI of our lead generation programs.  

7 Tips on how B2B marketers can leverage social media

In B2B sometimes we need to remind ourselves that people don’t buy from companies, they buy from people. That’s why why I think social media has a lot of potential for B2B marketers and sellers. Why? Social media tactics are wonderful for building and supporting business relationships and making yourself more available to connect with your current and future customers. 

If you are still on the fence or if you are still struggling with how to fully utilize social media, I encourage you to check our Ambal Balakrishnan’s article, “Tips on how B2B marketers should leverage social media.”

In the article Ambal asked me and 6 others to share our thoughts on using social media, and we steer you towards some our favorite reading resources, too.

ClickInsights: Tips on how B2B marketers should leverage social media

Moving Marketing Leads to Sales Pipeline best practices data

A key challenge B2B lead generation is driving leads from the marketing funnel to the sales pipeline. MarketingSherpa just published a chart that shows which best practices are marketers NOT using to effectively manage their marketing-to-sales pipeline process. Check it out.

The one that stands to me is the last one, "have a process for handing leads back to marketing" when they are not sales ready. We call that lead reengagement and it's a form of lead nurturing.

Lead reengagement is one of the most powerful ROI tools marketers have available to them. Why? You're getting more out of the money you've already spent by going deeper within the opportunities you already have. It seems like common sense, but the reality is, I know of very few companies that think about it, because they assume it's the salespeople's job.

Related post: Lead reengagement gives you more out of your lead generation investment

What best pratices and processes do you think marketers should be doing to move more marketing generated leads to the sales pipeline?

Inbound lead nurturing presentation slides available

I had a great time with being a professor at the inbound marketing university. Here's my presentation deck on inbound lead nurturing (CV201) via #IMU for those who missed it.
#8 IMU: Inbound Lead Nurturing (CV201)

View more OpenOffice presentations from Hubspot Marketing.

You can check out all the other classes or register at: http://www.inboundmarketing.com/university

5 Lead nurturing tips to create relevant and engaging emails

A recent MarketingSherpa survey of email recipients found that 58% of those who stop reading, disengage, or unsubscribe after cite "lack of relevance" as a key factor. This is hugely important because most marketers rely on email as their main lead nurturing tactic.

As B2B marketers, we should have it drilled into our brains that relevance must be an essential part of our lead nurturing touches. But be honest: How well are you really connecting with your audience?

I encourage you to look beyond your unsubscribes and find a true measure. Start by considering all those prospects that are simply ignoring your emails. I read a blog post on by Steve Woods on "Emotional Unsubscribes" that's definitely worth checking on this topic. 

It’s a common phenomenon. I receive emails often from companies that “know” me, but their emails certainly don’t show it. Their creative and graphics-laden emails don’t speak to my concerns at all. And each irrelevant message I receive is basically programming me to ignore or delete future messages from them. I don’t even bother to unsubscribe. I'm sure that's not their intent but they are missing the key idea of relevance.

So, how do we align better align our email and nurturing messages with what is relevant to our audience? 

Consider the following 5 ways to build more relevance into your emails: 

Tip 1. Stage in the buying process: Be sure to provide different kinds of information to your prospect based on what point they are in the buying process. If you have a complex sale, the best way to I know how to do this is to combine a human touch to build relationships with your lead nurturing message. If they are an early stage lead and they are just starting to get familiar with the business issues you solve, don’t send them the same copy that you would send someone who is on the verge of making a decision.

Tip 2. Industry vertical: Industry information will more than likely tell you what pains your prospects are experiencing, while company size will give you a hint as to the resources they have available to tackle these challenges. Be sure to add this information to your marketing data often so that you can easily define your target segments based on these indicators.

Lead Nurturing is Walking the Buying Path with Your Customers

A recent study of B-to-B buyers shows that sales people who become trusted advisors and understand the needs of economic buyers are 69% more likely to come away with a sale! That’s why forming a plan for lead nurturing is such an integral part of your lead generation process.

I wrote an full article that outlines the basic steps to help you get started down the path of lead nurturing success, but here’s a quick synopsis:

1. Walk IN your potential customers’ shoes.This means thinking like your customer and considering the questions they will have for you and your company.Consider the questions that customers have in mind before they make a buying decision:

    * How will this product/service help my company?
    * We’re doing okay, why do we need it?
    * Is there another company out there that is better?
    * Will their solution really work? Can they prove it?
    * Is the company credible?
    * Can we afford it? 

Help prospects find the answers to these questions, and you’ll remind them of the benefits of working with you. You’re creating value by giving them useful information in digestible, bite sized chunks.

2. Plan your path. Figure out which methods of answering these questions work best for your company. They’ll have to be timely and relevant.

3. Now, walk the path WITH your customer. Think of yourself as a tour guide. You’ll need to keep your prospect company along the way, all the while building trust through an honest relationship. Most economic buyers subscribe to the notion that how you sell me indicates how you will serve me.

4. Keep marching. Make sure you put on some comfy shoes, because complex sales require a long-term commitment and lots of walking. Companies that make plans with this fact in mind are tremendously more successful than companies who are set on taking shortcuts.

Read the full article "Lead Nurturing is Walking the Buying Path with Your Customers"

B2B Lead Generation Roundtable Group on LinkedIn

A few weeks ago I wrote a post called 5 steps for using LinkedIn as a lead generation tool and step number five was ‘create your own LinkedIn group and share relevant content.’

Well, last Thursday I launched the B2B Lead Gen Roundtable Group on LinkedIn. I wanted to create a group to discuss and share ideas that focus on the many aspects of B2B lead generation such as lead nurturing, lead management, teleprospecting and more.
 
I’m jazzed at how fast the group is growing and even more excited about the discussions that are already taking place.

My first question to the group was if lead distribution should be fair or optimized? What do you do? Do you invest your hard won leads on your top performers or do you try to help your weaker sales people? In this economy should we take a Darwinian view of lead generation and focus on helping the strong sales people get stronger?

What’s your take on lead distribution? I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Join the B2B Lead Gen Roundtable group and let me know your thoughts.

Using Kaizen to improve your lead generation results in 90 days or less

B2B companies need a systematic approach to lead generation, yet, I’m constantly surprised to find that most do not have one. Michael Webb, President of Sales Performance Consultants, and I met a few years back when I began writing my book and he was working on his.

Over time, we came to realize that our approaches to designing and implementing lead generation process were complimentary. Michael uses the Kaizen approach, which is a method of driving improvements based on evidence and data, and for establishing a system that continuously improves results.

I was recently interviewed by Michael for an article: “Using Kaizen to Improve Your Lead Generation Results in 90 Days or Less.” In the article, Michael and I look at the problems with lead generation and share research conducted that addresses these challenges along with the following topics:

• Collaboration: lead generation and sales Kaizen
• Creating information offers to generate leads
• Developing content for lead generation campaigns
• How to organize a fast attack on lead generation problems
• Five steps to lead generation success

Read Using Kaizen to Improve Your Lead Generation Results in 90 Days or Less