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.  

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?

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.

Losing Leads and Sales With Bad Search Marketing Decisions

There are so many tools that help marketers with their search marketing but marketers have to know how to use the analytics in order to focus on the right things to generate leads and sales.

So often I find that marketers are only looking at conversion rates of how specific phrases or banners perform and are ignoring other valuable information. While conversion rate is one way to measure the effectiveness a search phrase, it can be extremely misleading.

I came across an interesting article by B2B Internet marketing consultant Todd Miechiels, and I liked what he had to say about those B2B marketers that make bad decisions based on “solid analytics data.”

Marketers need to look at more than the quantity of conversions. Quality is just as important. If you look solely at what phrases convert a higher percentage of whitepaper downloads, for example, you could be missing the fact that another phrase brought in 2 or 3 of your top prospects, which in the long run, could be better for your company.

Todd goes on to say: “If you are spending thousands of dollars per month on search marketing and not capturing visiting organizations (both those that convert and the many more that don't), you are shutting down phrases and scaling back campaigns by using only half the truth. Equally as dangerous, you are likely routing dollars toward phrases and ad creative that appear to perform better but in reality are merely clogging the marketing database and sales pipeline.”

According to Todd, there are three things you should remember:

• Make sure you're capturing and reporting on visiting organizations referred by specific search phrases.
• Factor in the number of legitimate organizations you've captured when assessing the effectiveness of your search terms and campaigns.
• Don't fall into the trap of optimizing campaigns based solely on quantitative conversion data.

 Don’t clog the pipeline. Take Todd's advice and take the broader view.

Here's some related posts:

Web analytics for b2b lead gen
Tracking ROI for web generated leads

Sales and marketing alignment: tips for getting it right with lead generation

According to the 2008 Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study, only 37% of respondents agreed that their sales and marketing organizations are aligned in what their customers want and need. I discussed this disconnect with Bill Golder in the February issue of Sales & Marketing Management. You can check out the interview online: Chronicles of a Sales Leader: The Lack of Sales and Marketing Alignment in Organizations Today.

I firmly believe that organizations that perform match readiness of the buyer with expectations of their sales team. The unrealized potential can be likened to the batteries in a flashlight. If the batteries aren't inserted in the right direction, or are otherwise out of proper contact, their power is unusable. My experience confirms that this communication breakdown affects nine out of ten companies. Bill asked me what advice I would give these organizations that are struggling with alignment. Here are the five tips I shared with him:

1. Sales and Marketing must collaborate on defining leads and marketing objectives. You can make a huge impact by focusing first, on creating an Ideal Customer Profile (company-wide, for each product, service or solution). Then, create the Universal Lead Definition of a "sales-ready lead." Finally, connect the marketing/sales process to customer's buying process.
2. What gets measured gets done. Connect sales and marketing metrics together.
3. Create relevant content for each stage of the customer buying cycle.
4. Focus on the data points you REALLY need to measure in your CRM.
5. Clarify your value proposition now! Does your sales team have sales-ready messaging?

In developing a lead generation program, it is incumbent on marketers to view the sales team as the customer. It's no different than directing a consulting firm project where the client is involved in each stage of the project. The sales team should become so integrated that it has program ownership just like everyone else.

There’s a lot more good info discussed in this interview so be sure to read the full article here. Thanks to Bill and SMM for giving the opportunity to share.

Webinar on Putting the Human Touch into Lead Generation

There are numerous tactics for generating leads these days — everything from the traditional email or phone call to the explosively popular social media craze. However, the real challenge is not necessarily in generating leads, but more in truly connecting with them. It doesn’t matter how many leads you generate if they aren’t willing to listen to what you have to say next.

You need to develop and then engage in memorable and relevant conversations with prospects. You need to position your company as a thought leader and solution provider that understands your prospect’s needs. You need that “human touch.”

During this one-hour, live webinar you will learn how to:

• Engage your prospects with memorable and relevant conversations
• Build and maintain quality relationships with potential clients
• Develop a lead-nurturing process that really works
• Recapture lost leads and opportunities

I’m teaming up with Citrix Online to bring this webinar to marketers of all levels. Whether you are a VP of Marketing, a VP or Director of Sales, or a Sales or Marketing Consultant, you’ll learn how to connect by sharing your expertise.

Watch the archived webinar on demand

When is a “free download” no longer free?

What do you wish companies would stop doing when you download a free white paper?

I bet I already know. I had a conversation recently with my business development executive who has become highly suspicious of "free" white paper downloads. There are some sites that he refuses to download from because not only was the prior information unhelpful, but he knows he will receive a call from a telemarketer - even after he's made it clear he's not interested. Why do we continue to force people into being "leads"?

People download content often to answer questions. Don't assume that because they downloaded something that they are ready to talk to a sales person. You need to first connect with your potential lead.

I've found that calling people is the best way to qualify leads, and if that phone call is conducted correctly it can be the start of a really good relationship. If there is an initiative invariably people will tell more about their project and what they are trying to do. The nuance matters and it helps you sound less like a pusher and more like a relevant resource.

A good example of a follow up comes from Endeca. When my colleague downloaded a white paper from their site, Endeca's follow-up was very professional. The call opened with questions about what led him to take a look at their paper. They asked what he found particularly interesting about the download.

When InTouch handles inquiry/lead qualification for our clients, we typically start off with something like, "A lot of people download our white papers to get their questions answered. I was wondering if you got a chance to read (insert title of the download), and if your question got answered. Or, is there some other way that I can help?" 

Also, rather than asking, "Are you the decision maker for the company?" ask something like, "Were you trying to answer this question for yourself or another member of your team so I can help you get the needed information."

There has to be a balance between collecting information and providing value. If you'll think of Lead Generation as a process of micro-conversions that build opportunity profiles over time, you'll be successful. With that in mind, here are some things to think about when offering 'free' information:

• Downloads that are thinly-veiled product brochures and technical documents of the offered product are not only unprofessional, they're ineffective.
• Be careful about requiring registration to receive anything worthwhile.  Request an email address first, then later on a first and last name. Requesting a phone number should be later on in the process.
• Sales teams should never receive Web inquiries directly and unqualified (truth be told - sales people only want to talk to people who actually WANT to talk to them)
• Contacts should be established with potential customers to prime them into the lead-nurturing program
• Web site forms should be to the point for maximum response
• All inquiries should be responded to with a prompt note of thanks (how good is your "thank you" auto reply?)
• A supplementary email thank you should be used to share value added relevant data

Related Posts:

On Lead Nurturing: Looking for a "hot" date?

Why Most B2B Sites Fail to Convert Sales Leads

So what do you wish companies/sales people would stop doing when you download a free white paper or other "free" content?

Taking my five-step lead management ‘playbook’ on the road

Why do so many companies struggle with the lead generation process?  Simple. Even the very best lead generation program cannot compensate for poor teamwork and collaboration. You can actually achieve major ROI gains by optimizing a just few key aspects of your lead management process.

I just finished up the MarketingSherpa Demand Generation Summit in Boston where I was given the opportunity to present my ‘Playbook for Effective Lead Management.’  And, we’re doing it all again in San Francisco October 26-28. Check out the full agenda. I hope you can make it.

If you attended MarketingExperiments’ recent Web Clinic on September 24th you've already got a glimpse of my five-step ‘playbook.’  By applying the ‘playbook’ as a tool to identify, evaluate, and address the underlying issues, we show how a company benefited from a 325% growth in sales ready leads and a 200% growth in lead-to-sale pipeline rate.

What you need to understand is that this client did not spend any more budget to achieve these results. Rather, a greater focus was put on developing and executing an optimized lead management process.

Watch the presentation on demand including slides and audio.

If you don't have time to watch here are summaries written by others:

Hunter Boyle: Lead generation playbook

June Li: Go Beyond Website Conversion: Nurturing Sales Ready Leads

Jeff Ogden: Demand Generation grows up -- finally