B2B Lead Generation Blog

Should lead generation ignore current customers?

”We know more about our prospects (leads) than we know about our current customers” was a shocking statement I heard from a client and it stuck with me. In fact, it's the impetus for this post.

When you have a complex sale, it can be easy to think of lead generation as only a process for acquiring new customers rather than a process that can also be applied to generating new or more business from current customers.

A while back I was in a meeting with a marketing leader of a Global 100 software firm.  He shared a story about their new CEO at the time. The CEO asked 10 members of the executive team to write a list of their top-10 customers. Amazingly just 4 of the 10 executives got 5 of more of the customers correct!  Their VP of Sales faired best, with correctly listing 8. 

In the same meeting it was pointed out that the top-10 customers accounted for over 50% of their $300 million in revenue. The CEO immediately declared that, “we're focusing on our customers first!” From that meeting they dubbed their new initiative as, “The Customer First Plan.” 

As a result of reaching out and talking to their customers, they saw a net revenue increase of 15% from current customers and their customer referrals increased by over 100%.

Still, I’m amazed at how many marketers seem to only emphasize new account acquisition when they could also be going further with their existing customers.

According to research by the CMO Council, “Marketers Are Flying Blind When It Comes to Leveraging Customer Data.” The study showed, “just 6 percent of marketers say they have excellent knowledge of the customers when it comes to demographic, behavioral, psychographic and transactional data, while over 50 percent report they have fair, little, or no knowledge of the customer.”

Conducted in late 2007 and early 2008, the CMO Council's “Business Gain From How You Retain” study undertook a wide-ranging evaluation of where and how marketers are "operationalizing" customer intelligence and insight to reduce customer churn, increase lifetime value, improve the customer experience, and increase the effectiveness and targeting of marketing spend.

The CMO Council concluded, “Only 50 percent of global marketers report having a strategy for further penetrating or monetizing key account relationships. In addition, a surprising 45 percent rate the effectiveness of customer relationship management (CRM) systems as deficient or needing more work, with only 15 percent of companies rating themselves extremely good or effective at integrating disparate customer data sources and repositories.”

The solution to solving poor customer management is to leverage a processes that you already have (or should have!). A lead generation program that includes teleprospecting, lead nurturing and lead management.

Adding a customer program to the lead generation mix can be fairly straightforward. The messaging is a bit different, but ultimately we still need to be a relevant resource to people. 

Often the first task in a customer program is to update the database. How long has it been since the database was verified? Are your contacts still there and are they in the same role? If you don’t already know the condition of your data, you can pull a random sample of data to test. Make sure you pull enough data to insure the test is statically valid.

Once the database is in working order, then question becomes, “How can we educate our current customers and affirm their decision to be working with us?” Nurture those all important relationships. Just like when reaching out to prospects, positioning you and your organization as trusted advisors is essential to building trust that starts AND maintains AND expands relationships.

From this point forward you should look to your current customers with the same energy and optimism as you do with your prospect and you’ll be amazed with the results.

So, do you have a Customer First Plan?

Web Analytics for B2B Lead Generation

In the complex sale, the length of the buying cycle makes the connection between on-the-web activity and the off-line decision to purchase much more difficult to trace. So the challenge is connecting our website data (analytics), with marketing data (inquiries and leads) with the sales process and revenue (closing the loop). 

I came across Manoj Jasra post, "B2B Web Analytics: Deeper Dive - Web Analytics World" and thought it was relevant to share.   

Jasra writes, "in order to be successful in a B2B world, marketers require a strong understanding in regards to their potential customers. Things such as lead qualification, targeting in the sales cycle, and testing content/collateral are all areas where analysts can push the envelope in order to provide more insight for their marketing team."

Jasra's post outlines four key analytic areas which include: quality of leads, sales cycle, optimizing your content (for SEO and conversion) and conversion rates and funnels.

Here are some posts that give more suggestions on analytics.

Related posts:

Tracking ROI From Web Generated Leads
Improve your online lead generation measurement

I still think there is a lot of improvement that needs to be made in this area. Are you satisfied with your ability to track your online lead generation ROI? If so, what's been working for you?

ITSMA: Elevating Demand in a Crowded World

Generating demand has become a top priority for most companies in today’s slower environment. The most successful programs are much more targeted than in past years and favor quality over quantity.

You're invited to join me at ITSMA's (IT Services Marketing Association) upcoming Marketing Leadership Forum May 6-7, 2008 in La Jolla, CA. I’ll be giving a keynote on “The Playbook for Effective Lead Management” and I'm looking forward to meeting the other speakers.

Please note is there is a fee for this event. ITSMA has extended a their member rate discount to B2B Lead Generation Blog readers. To register this way, select “My Company is an ITSMA Member,” and in the Comments field enter “Brian Carroll Offer.” Register here

They have a great line up of speakers including:

• John Aiello, CEO, SAVO
• Brian Bakstran, SVP, Field Marketing, North America, CA
• Paul Dunay, Global Director, Integrated Marketing, BearingPoint
• Janis Fratamico, Director, Marketing, Global Business Services – Americas, IBM
• Ajit Maira, Senior Vice President, ITSMA
• Julie Meyers, Vice President, Global Marketing, Xerox Global Services
• Jean Ostvoll, Global Marketing Director, Products, Accenture

Podcast: How to Optimize Teleprospecting Vendors

More companies than ever are using third party providers for teleprospecting and lead management operations, however there is little information on how to select, engage, and measure these vendors who will add that essential human touch.

I just interviewed Sridhar Ramanathan, President of Pacifica Group, on how to evaluate and optimize outsourced teleprospecting partnerships (aka inside sales, telesales, telemarketing). 

Sridhar is an industry thought leader in marketing and former HP executive that grew HP's Managed Services unit to $1B in revenue. He has spent that last seven years advising his clients at Pacifica group on how to implement successful marketing strategies that increase revenue. 

If you are involved in lead generation for a complex sale, this podcast offers practical information you won't want to miss.

During the interview you will hear Sridhar discuss:

• Why his client's decide to outsource
• What to have ready before engaging a firm
• The criteria companies should use when hiring a firm
• Success metrics used to evaluate effectiveness
• Pitfalls to avoid in a partnership
• Co-sourcing or Outsourcing?
• Best practices that make teleprospecting partnerships very effective

Listen to podcast now (27 minutes MP3 9.58 MB)

Podcast: How to Select and Optimize Teleprospecting Partnerships

Lead management software becoming a hot topic

What do you do with leads or inquires once you generate them?

This basic question is overlooked by so many and yet it’s the leading cause of failure in what would otherwise be effective lead generation programs.

The common-sense answer to this challenge is easier said than done: Have your best people respond to them quickly and consistently in order to qualify them into sales ready leads. The ones that aren’t qualified yet (but are a fit) you put into a lead nurturing process.

The need to better manage leads and inquires has given rise to a slew of new software companies offering a variety of lead management or marketing automation solutions. 

An interesting conversation was started recently by Laura Ramos on the Forrester Marketing blog about lead management software. I’m really glad to see an analyst giving their opinion and I look forward to more insights. Ramos’ post, “B2B Lead Management Market Heats Up,” is definitely worth checking out.

According to Ramos, there are four primary buckets of technology solutions aimed at solving the “how do I make lead generation activities more effective?” They are:

1. Web analytics
2. Database services
3. Marketing automation
4. “Pure play” lead management

With that said, I think it is important to realize that lead management software and marketing automation tools are only one part of an effective process. Here's what I've learned...

Software will not spontaneously generate collaboration between sales and marketing, nor will it create solutions that match your processes and it certainly will not generate sales-ready leads on it’s own. However, for many the allure of easy execution and fast results are difficult to resist. It’s easy to overlook that these systems require a great deal of hands on input and maintenance to be fully appreciated.

My company has spent well over a million dollars and almost ten years to develop our lead management software system that we use as part of our services and we’re learning what works (and what doesn’t) everyday through testing and trial and error. That said, I can say that developing a good process takes more time than you think and developing people to execute the process consistently is even more difficult.

I regularly encounter organizations that invest in expensive software before they fully understand the fundamental operational processes that it will be supporting. This was and still is true of CRM and SFA systems. Lead management software has turned out to be no different. If you want to fully leverage your lead management software, you’ll first need to develop operational discipline and focus on good execution.

Start by understanding your lead generation requirements and design a suitable process to support it and insert the software into the process where it will be most effective and actually used. Most importantly, don’t under estimate the need for a dedicated team of people that will drive the process and make the inputs into the system.

Begin by mapping out a clear process. At InTouch we use process flow and data diagrams to collaborate with clients when designing lead management programs.  Make sure you involve and collaborate with everyone who will be part of the process. Their buy-in will be key to the programs success. Then identify if there are still any gaps in staffing. Finally, once people and process are mapped out, select the tools or systems that will help your people efficiently manage the process.

Lead management is the bridge between sales and marketing that connects the beginning and middle of the customer acquisition process. It requires engaged people to execute the right process, which is then supported by the right software.

Podcast: A new role for sales as expert content filters

I just had a great interview with Robin Carey, co-founder of the Customer Collective.

Salespeople have become the second choice for information among buyers who'd rather just go to the Internet. This trend actually creates an opportunity for those who think and act like trusted advisors.

You can listen here

In the interview, I share how I got my start and how the Internet has shifted control away from marketers and salespeople. I also describe how today's sales people can add value to the buying process by becoming expert content filters for prospects. This is the key to lead nurturing with a human touch.

What's The Customer Collective? It's a new business outreach community for sales and marketing executives. It was built in collaboration with established media companies like Business Week, ZDNet and BNET. I see it as a social media site (that doesn't focus on social media) but rather looks at real meat and potatoes sales and marketing. We need more sites like this.

Fear not! Think like a savvy investor with lead generation

This morning I was talking to a marketing leader about his 2008 strategy and he brought up some concerns he had about the economy and its potential impact on him and others. Can you blame him?

In years past, marketing has been favorite target for cuts by CFOs and CEOs as they look to conserve cash and reinforce their balance sheets for tough times.

I’m less concerned about budget cuts and more interested in opportunities for him and other B2B marketers who choose to bring focus to their marketing efforts. We have to remember that regardless of the economy, sales people are still expected to perform. I seldom find sales quotas are lowered to fit the news headlines.

If you want to flourish regardless of the economic conditions, you need to look for ways to help your sales team execute and improve performance.

I’m convinced that one of the best ways to do that is to focus on lead generation. Yesterday, I read a Kate Maddox's article in BtoB Magazine, "IDC: Tougher times for tech marketing," which supports that other B2B marketers are doing just that.

Much like a savvy investor who buys when the market is down, smart marketers can capitalize on this opportunity (and beat competitors), by bringing focus and attention to their lead generation efforts.

Maddox’s article highlights IDC's recent tech marketing barometer research. IDC showed that fewer tech marketers are increasing their budgets this year compared to last year. But I think the bigger story is how those dollars are being allocated. Maddox writes, “According to the [IDC] report. Lead generation is the top marketing priority for tech marketers this year…”

According to studies, the single biggest issue for contemporary business-to-business marketers is effective lead generation.  Conversely, it has been pointed out that 80% of marketing expenditures on lead generation and collateral are wasted because the leads are ignored by sales people.

For this reason, marketers should direct their budgets away from traditional awareness building campaigns that quickly eat up budget and instead expand and optimize lead generation programs that bring measurable results. Finding better tools and processes for managing the leads or inquires that they already have is also a good investment in a turbulent economy.

You will optimize lead generation immediately if you can honestly answer “yes” to all of the following questions:

• Do sales and marketing agree on what the word “lead” means? 
• Are you tracking the conversion rates of leads to sales opportunities?
• Can you/Do you close-the-loop on all leads that are being passed to sales?
• Does your sales team pass back early stage or "cold" leads back for lead nurturing?

You may also want to check out my complementary webinar archive based on the ebook "The One Piece Of Advice You Can't Generate Leads Without" by RainToday titled, “More Is Not Better If You Don't Know How To Nurture”

Why cost-per-lead budgets fail and fewer leads are better

A reader asked me to explain why fewer leads are better and why “cost-per-lead” budgets fail. These are two great questions that have the same fundamental answer: quality first then quantity.

The truth is that sales people care very little about the cost of the leads we generate. What they really care about is how many of those leads will actually become viable sales opportunities.

For this reason, I think cost-per-lead measurements are irrelevant unless we can answer another fundamental question first, “What is our rate of lead acceptance (a.k.a. sales pursuit) into the sales pipeline” and then “What is the cost per opportunity?”

Sadly, I find that a lot of marketers tend focus on cost-per-lead because they really don’t know what happens to their leads after they hand them off to their sales team. This is why closed loop feedback and lead management are so important.

B2B Marketers must start measuring cost-per-opportunity now! Why? It’s the one metric that can help you understand how well your sales team accepts and pursues leads.  Ultimately, it shows if your leads are actually helping our sales team sell and if we’re positively contributing to their pipeline.

Lead acceptance into pipeline is primarily a function of lead quality.  There are other influences such as sales training and refining the lead handoff process, but lead quality stands out as the single largest factor driving the real ROI of our lead generation programs. 

In a cost-per-lead model there is a tendency to drive down the cost of each lead by generating more leads, which is good if the quality does not suffer.  However, this is rarely the case since there are a finite number of high quality sales ready leads in your target market at any given time.

The real question is, “Are these leads helping our sales team sell more and will these leads become profitable customers?” 

In most cases in order to get more leads to sales (as they demand more leads now!), marketing is forced to send early stage leads, often at the inquiry stage in order to meet quota or cost per lead requirements. Of course, the need for more leads does not come with a commensurate budget increase!

Simply sending more leads over the fence to sales will only result in more early stage leads being lost, ignored or discarded.  And if your early stage leads are not being cultivated with lead nurturing and given the attention they need, they will go to waste. Unfortunately in a cost-per-lead scenario this waste will not be measured, rather only your lead production costs.

There is no doubt that a cost focused mindset is a lot different than a value driven mindset.  The cost focused mindset often drives decisions that are arbitrary to the objectives of a lead generation program. The most valuable leads are those that your sales team can convert to viable sales opportunities, not just leads that drive more activity.

Pushing more leads and creating more activity can give marketers a false sense of security in the short term, but in the long term the cycle of failed campaigns will continue as past failures are dismissed, overlooked or as fingers are pointed.  To break the cycle, we must close the loop with sales and start measuring opportunities.

The following are real-world metrics that every marketer should track in their lead generation program:

• # of inquiries? 
• # of leads? (qualified as "sales-ready")
• # of opportunities (leads in moved into sales pipeline)? 
• # of closed deals from marketing leads?

If you know those metrics you can start to track the following key performance indicators:

• Inquiry to lead ratio
• Lead to opportunity
• Lead to proposal ratio
• Lead to sale (win) ratio

A value driven mindset requires leaders and marketers to plan and budget for the long term and to take a more holistic view that goes beyond cost-per-lead budgets. Cost-per-lead budgets are irrelevant unless you can first measure cost-per-opportunity or cost-per-lead-pursued and lead quality is a key driver in insuring that those leads are pursued.

What do you think about cost-per-lead budgets or sending fewer high quality leads to sales people? 

Lead Nurturing is about Relationships, not e-mails

Carrying on the theme of my recent post on lead nurturing as trusted advisors with the  human touch, I came across Mike Volpe's post over the HubSpot Marketing Blog. I thought he did a nice job of showing the human touch in action as part of the lead nurturing process.

The goal of lead nurturing is to maintain a relevant and consistent dialog with viable future customers - regardless of their timing to buy. It’s about relationships. As you read Mike’s story, you'll notice how he helped “Kristen” move through her buying process not by selling but by seeking first to be a relevant resource to her.

Lead nurturing requires a shift away from the traditional marketing mind-set to a new way of thinking centered on the following tenets:

• Companies don't buy - people do. Don't ever forget the human touch. 
• Build relationships with the right people and companies regardless of their timing to buy.  Engage these people early in their buying process (preferably before) and you can co-create and influence their vision.
• Trusted advisers win more sales than slick brands.
• More ROI is reaped from the patient tending of future customers (relationships) over time. Think: customers for life.
• Lead nurturing is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns. 
• A multi-tactic and multi-touch lead generation portfolio will always outperform marketing tactics that stand alone.
• Generate relevant content that engages the right decision makers/influencers.
• The first impression matters.  So does the second.  So does every single touch after that.  Consistency and relevancy is key.

If you keep these ideas top of mind, the way you nurture leads will naturally go beyond just e-mail. You’ll start thinking about how you and your sales people can be a relevant resource. When you do that, you don’t have to sell to people. They will come to you first when they are ready. Again, it’s about relationships.

Lead nurturing thoughts

It’s surprising how many marketers now say they do “lead nurturing” but in reality they are just sending monthly email campaigns or monthly newsletters with some call to action.

If all you do is send generic email marketing messages to your early stage leads over and over and over again, you’re missing the point. Consistency is good but being relevant and then consistent is even better.

To be truly effective, marketers must get over the “automated only” approach to lead nurturing (meaning there's no actual human interaction just a blind system that can't think). The point of nurturing is to build relationships and to do that we need to have a dialog between people that’s relevant and consistent. We need the human touch.

I was interviewed on the subject of lead nurturing by Jon Miller, VP of Marketing at Marketo and he writes the Modern B2B Marketing Blog.

Link: "Lead nurturing with Brian Carroll"

In the interview we discuss the importance of the human touch in lead nurturing, the best ways to encourage early stage leads to start an active buying cycle, and the ROI of thought leadership.

InTouch Acquired by MECLABS Group, Parent Company of MarketingSherpa and MarketingExperiments

When I started the B2B Lead Generation blog back in 2003, my purpose was to have this blog be a launch pad for practical ideas, not commercials. So that’s why many of you probably don’t know what I do in my day job as CEO of InTouch. But today I’m making an exception. 

After a long partnership with MarketingSherpa as a featured speaker and presenter at their B2B marketing summits, we made the decision to be acquired by MECLABS Group, the parent company of MarketingSherpa and MarketingExperiments. Read the press release.

With this acquisition, nothing will change for InTouch clients, future clients, partners and employees. We'll keep our name, our staff, and office in Arden Hills, MN. I along with our executive team will stay intact and we will continue to focus on building the company.

I often talk about the need for a “human touch” in marketing to overcome this age of automation and depersonalization. I fervently believe the only way to drive sales is to feed this need for relationships.

What exactly does InTouch do? We’re a professional B2B contact center that provides clients with the essential human touch required to develop and convert more leads into sales.

At age 24, I started InTouch (then Carroll Communications) back in 1995 out of my apartment living room with a second hand computer and $350 (I’m not kidding). At the time, I hoped to make a living while making a difference with how companies acquire and grow customer relationships through B2B telemarketing.

In 1999, we acquired one of our clients with which we had developed awfully good synergies, iNETech, an IT consulting Services Company specializing in software application development and I gained two great business partners, Pat Lorch and Brandon Stamschror. The new name of the firm, of course, was InTouch.

Since then, our company has been executing lead generation programs designed to profile sales prospects, uncover viable opportunities and create demand. Core services include: teleprospecting, lead qualification, lead nurturing, lead management, and marketing automation tools. Peg Davis over at MarketingExperiments blog wrote a great post that explains more.

That’s why all of us at InTouch are excited about tapping into MarketingSherpa’s practical case studies and know how, and MarketingExperiments’ online laboratory to discover what really works. Together, we can profoundly change the way people think about lead generation for the complex sale.

Plus, now our research for you will be supplemented by the team at MEC Labs Group. They run an actual laboratory facility in Jacksonville Beach, FL, where they conduct live campaign experiments in partnership with folks such as The New York Times and Reuters.

I want to sincerely thank you all of you for reading this blog. I have learned so much from your comments and our conversations. This blog will continue. And I look forward to us learning, doing and sharing together what really works for lead generation for the complex sale. 

Where's the passion in B2B marketing?

I spoke yesterday at MarketingSherpa's Demand Generation Summit and I felt led to go off topic for a bit to address why I do, what I do. Personally, I've been pondering the idea of passion and what role it plays in our careers as marketers or leaders.

Read Mike Volpe's summary of my presentation at the the Small Business Hub Blog.

In my short aside, I ended up talking about things we marketers often don't talk about. Our heart. What drives us? What role does the heart play in our job as marketers?

How do we create relevance for ourselves, our colleagues, and those future customers we hope to reach and influence?

Can you market something without passion and still be successful? If so, why would you want to?

I've wondered how we can be passionate advocates to others outside our companies if we don't have close relationships and trust inside our companies?

To me, disharmony is the enemy of execution. I liked something Seth wrote a while back, "...just about every successful venture is based on an unoriginal idea, beautifully executed." I agree.

In this age of automation, depersonalization, scoring and measurement, I'm not seeing the "human touch" in B2B marketing. So how can we humanize the process and actually build relationships?

I'm sincere in my vision to profoundly change the way people think about marketing and lead generation for the complex sale.

I believe the complex sale presents a set of unique sales and marketing problems that benefit by a shift away from the traditional lead generation mind-set to a new way of thinking centered on the following tenets:

• More ROI is reaped from the patient tending of potential customers (relationships) over time. Customers for life.
• Lead generation is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns. 
• Build relationships with the right people and companies regardless of their timing to buy.   
• Engage people early (preferably before) in their buying process as possible so you can create and influence their vision. 
• The first impression matters.  So does the second.  So does every single touch after that.  Consistency and relevancy is key.
• Sales and marketing must work together as one team.  Seeing each other as internal customers. 
• A multi-modal and multi-touch lead generation portfolio will always outperform marketing tactics that stand alone.
• Sales and marketing should have a unified understanding and consensus in their language on things like ideal customers and universal lead definition.
• If used properly, the phone is the single best way to reach decision makers and to begin a dialog when you have a complex sale.   
• Buy-in from sales and marketing as well as executive leadership is critical to the success of any lead generation program.
• Be willing and prepared to close the loop with every opportunity that is identified.
• The purpose of marketing is to help the sales team sell.
• Trusted advisers win more sales than slick brands.
• Companies don't buy - people do. Don't ever forget the human touch.

Again, I think the complex sale requires the human touch as a central element. It starts with our individual heart and our passion (Do I believe in what I'm doing?). Then we orient ourselves to our companies collective heart and passion (Do I believe in my company and what my company does?). Finally, we carry heart and passion outside our companies (Do we believe in what we're doing?).

Lead reengagement gives you more out of your investment

The year-end push is on and I know you may be wondering what else can I do to drive more revenue with little or no remaining budget?  I've found the best way is to focus on the leads you already have.

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.

That's why I thought you'd find these two articles published this week in BtoB Magazine relevant. They each explain a little known aspect of lead nurturing called lead reengagement.

In the following article, I'm interviewed by BtoB writer Christopher Hosford and share some trends in what he calls lead recycling (I prefer to call it lead reengagement) and I explain what we do at InTouch.

Read Effective Re-Engagement Gives You More Out Of Your Investment

In this article, Hosford interviews my friend and client Mikel Chertudi, senior director, online marketing and demand generation at Omniture. Mikel shares what Omniture is doing to optimize their lead reengagement process and drive more revenue.

Read Omniture Practices What It Preaches

B2B Lead management is far from an easy task

Companies that adopt effective lead management processes generate more revenue from their lead generation investment and have overall higher close rates on marketing generated leads than those that do not. But I've encountered very few companies that really do lead management.

What is lead management? Lead management is a multistage process that manages the conversion of sales leads to customers. Some people say it's the process of going from "first contact to close."

In Christopher Hosford’s BtoB Magazine article, he highlights some of the reasons why "Lead management far from easy task."

The article mainly highlight’s "lead scoring and automation," but that’s only part of the solution. Lead scoring and automation support a process of lead qualification, but I would argue that there are more fundamental aspects of lead management that often get overlooked.

Take a moment and think about your lead management efforts... do you see it as process? 

Imagine that your lead management process is a manufacturing operation and your leads are your product. Now imagine that 80% of your product coming off the manufacturing line were defective. In the manufacturing world, where concepts like six sigma are accepted, that kind of defect rate would a blinding sign of a problem (or multiple ones) in the process. Yet, for some reason, in sales and marketing that kind of defect rate is often accepted as normal or acceptable. 

There are numerous business process improvement methodologies that have seeped into companies large and small, but for some reason they are not yet as prevalent in the field of sales and marketing.

This may be because much of selling and buying occurs outside a controlled environment making tracking difficult, however a process can be implemented to track milestones and touch points. Lead management provides a framework for controlling and driving that process.   

Here are the 6 major stages of an effective lead management:

1. Lead Generation (generating inquiries)
2. Lead Qualification (are they a fit? Are they sales ready?)
3. Lead Nurturing (cultivating early stage leads)
4. Lead Distribution (hand off from marketing to sales)
5. Lead Pursuit (sales process and pipeline)
6. Lead Tracking and reporting (closed the loop between sales and marketing)

Do you have your process for each of these steps documented and understood by key stakeholders? If not, start now. You won't regret it.

To give you a hand, I've updated a figure from Lead Generation for the Complex Sale on lead management. (Click above Image to enlarge or Download PDF)

I believe there are two funnels - a marketing funnel and a sales funnel. The marketing pipeline is managing the customer interactions from first contact through to a viable sales opportunity (aka sales ready lead). The success of your marketing funnel directly impacts that of the sales funnel. The bigger and better your marketing funnel, the bigger and better your sales funnel.

Within the marketing funnel, I find that most marketers need to put more attention on the processes of lead qualification and nurturing.

Here are the top three issues:

1. Inquiries are improperly handed off to sales without being qualified.
2. A lead nurturing program has not been implemented.
3. Sales has not been given the means to hand unsuccessful leads back to marketing for further work or nurturing on their behalf.

Like other business process improvement initiatives, lead management must start with the proper mindset. Lead management is a process that can be documented, measured and refined. 

It’s certainly is not easy, so start with the mindset that lead management is a process and make that process as simple a possible. Don’t forget that software does NOT create collaboration. Make sure everyone on in the process has “bought in” and understands their role. Only then will you have the foundation that will support a more complex lead management practices.

Related information:

Here's an in-depth article on lead qualification I wrote for Target Marketing: What’s a Lead?

My recent webinar on multi-touch lead nurturing 

MarketingSherpa Demand Generation Summit 2007

Click here now to buy a ticket to the Demand Gen Summit and get a copy of my new book: "Lead Generation for the Complex Sale" Register by 9/28 For a $100 Discount

You're invited to join me at MarketingSherpa’s Demand Generation Summit at your choice of Boston (Oct 15-16) or San Francisco (Oct 29-30.) I’ll be speaking on “Blogging, Podcasting, Speaking Gigs, & Book Authorship: How to Generate Leads and Measure ROI as an Authority.”

Some of the other topics include: New B-to-B Search Marketing; Maximizing White Papers, Ezines Webinars & Podcasts; Marketing to Fortune 500; Video, Viral & Web 2.0 B-to-B Marketing; How to Measure & Manage Leads and more.

I hope you can make it. Register here

Closed Loop Marketing Isn't Software

I recently spoke with a reader who was struggling with his closed loop marketing process. I'm sharing part of our conversation so that other readers may benefit.

He explained that his company had invested "big dollars" to install a new marketing automation software system. It promised to deliver better ROI measurement for their marketing campaigns. I could hear his frustration when he said, "But we are still unable to close-the-loop and measure ROI on most of the sales leads we pass to sales." 

I asked him where he thought the breakdown was happening and he said, "my sales team... They don't update the CRM so I can't get the reports I need." I told him this is a challenge that a lot of marketers face.

I then sent him a link to a post titled why don't sales people update the CRM and what can be done about it. It has some great ideas and comments from other readers.

Overall, I agree with the idea of software and systems for better ROI measurement and accountability. And I do believe the CRM Database should be the hub of all communication between sales and marketing. But closed-loop marketing isn't software.

Personally, I've never seen closed-loop feedback suddenly erupt as a result of software. It just doesn't happen. Good collaboration and a well documented process (that works manually) must exist first.

We need to realize that marketers and sales people often have very different ideas on what data is valuable. Unless this is understood, our attempts to measure results after the fact simply won't work. And that's where I've found "lead generation huddles" help get that ironed out.

I also passed along this recent article "Closed Loop Marketing" by Greg Anderson. I think Anderson does a nice job explaining some of different ways that closed loop marketing adds value and contributes to sales and marketing teamwork. 

Content ideas for lead nurturing and tactics to use

When it comes to lead nurturing, I find that many marketers get stuck because they lack enough good content to do it consistently. My advice (if you plan to do it) is to start accumulating content and building your lead nurturing library ASAP.

How do you build your library of relevant lead nurturing content?

A lead nurturing program can leverage existing investments that you have made in other marketing tactics such as events, white papers, contributed articles, or any other thought leading content. Third-party resources and content can also be effectively utilized to bring you an aspect of credibility through the the halo effect.

Begin by developing a catalog (think library) of all of your lead nurturing content. Unfortunately, if you have a lot of content this can be tedious process. But trust me it's worth it. To help you get started, I’ve put together a simple spreadsheet (with example data).  Download Lead-Nurturing-Content-Catalog-Sample.xls

Next, start digging around for good content in places such as your website, shared network folders and other content management systems that you have access too and collect that data in your spreadsheet. I advise starting with the most recent content first and then working your way back in time. And once you're done, be sure to keep your lead nurturing library catalog updated.

Here are some tactics you can use to leverage your lead nurturing content:

What can you send via direct mail?
The workhorse of business-to-business direct mail is still the one-page, personalized letter sent in a #10 envelope. Here are some direct mail content ideas: personal letters, dimensional mailers, books, newsletters, press releases, white papers, event invitations, research reports, case studies, success stories, article reprints and third-party articles.

What can you send via email?
Send personalized one-to-one emails with links to: by-lined articles, blog posts, relevant third party articles, case studies, press releases, white papers, e-newsletters, event invitations, archived events, research reports, blogs, success stories, case studies, videos, podcasts, and website content.

How can you leverage events?
Invite people to attend events such as: trade shows, live seminars, webinars, webcasts, executive briefings, workshops, conferences, road shows, speaking engagements and on demand events. Leverage past archived and recorded (archived) events with email links.

What can you do online?
Be sure to give your audience a way to subscribe to get updates either via RSS or via email. Here are some online examples such as: blog posts, podcasts, vidcasts, webinars, e-books, personalized microsites, wikis, and other multimedia.

What can you do via the phone?
Share new ideas, develop relationships, confirm correct contacts, get internal referrals, be sure to always get opt-in email addresses, personal invitations to events, reengage aged opportunities and identify sales ready leads.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of ideas but it should get you started. You might also find value in my recent webinar on lead nurturing relevant.

Do you have any other lead nurturing content ideas that you'd like to share?

Webcast: Closed-Loop Lead Generation & Management

Join me for a complimentary webinar on how to "Achieve a Closed-Loop System for Lead Generation and Management."

In this webcast, you'll learn how to:

• Identify and overcome the 5 barriers to closing the loop
• Get feedback on all leads to “close the loop” 100% of the time
• Qualify leads and hand them off with out "dropping the baton"
• Identify your lead generation tactics that drive the most leads
• Make sure that all qualified leads are fully pursued by sales 
• Develop a measurable marketing pipeline that drives the sales 
• Connect your tactics together for better ROI measurement

Update: the event went really well. And I've got a lot of great feedback and questions.

You can now watch the recorded archive

Thank you to ON24 for sponsoring and to the AMA for hosting the event.

7 Tips to Improve Sales Follow-up & Close More Leads

If you are like most B2B marketers, lead generation is at top of your priority list. But as you may already know, generating tons of “leads” doesn’t guarantee sales will follow.

Does the sales team either ignore your hard-won leads or complain about their quality? Do you ever wonder was the lead even contacted? If so, what’s the status?  Could you have helped move it along by going deeper in the sales cycle?

This chronic lack of visibility has a snowball effect of making it challenging for marketers to measure their effectiveness and understand their return on marketing investment (ROMI). So what can be done about it? 

Here's 7 Tips to Improve Sales Follow-up

1. Get buy in from sales team on your "sales ready" lead definition
2. Provide qualification information for each sales lead
3. Qualify and Distribute sales ready leads immediately
4. Communicate hand off to sales person
5. Measure sales pursuit - If lead not followed up it will be pulled / reassigned
6. Regularly close the loop -what gets measured gets done
7. Sales management must also audit and track rep follow-up

How often do you close the loop? I’ve found the most powerful way to improve sales follow-up on marketing generated leads is doing more frequent sales and marketing huddles.

Read Collaboration Huddles and 35 Other Ways to Improve Sales and Marketing Teamwork

Finally, if you’re using these tips already and still feel that your marketing and sales teams are working against each other instead of being on the same team, you could have some challenges with office politics read on.

MarketingSherpa just published an interview with Marketo CEO Phil Fernandez from a marketing view point and Barry Trailer, Co-Founder, CSO Insights who brings a sales perspective. Together Phil and Barry share seven other strategies to get both sides talking including how to:

• Model the sales/marketing funnel
• Develop a common vocabulary
• Create a closed-loop reporting process

MarketingSherpa: Overcoming Office Politics - 7 Strategies to Generate & Close More Leads.

Related posts:

Closed Loop Feedback: The Missing Lead Generation Huddle
Closed-Loop Marketers More Likely to Reach ROMI Goals
Podcast: Using Closed Loop Feedback to Boost Lead Generation ROI

Inquiry management and search marketing strategy

BtoB Magazine's Carol Krol interviewed Kevin Lee, executive chairman of Did-it Search Marketing on "Effective Search Strategies." I first met Kevin as a fellow speaker at MarketingSherpa's first Lead Generation Summit.

I liked what Kevin had to say when Krol asked him this question, "What are the top three things a marketer should be wary of when evaluating a search marketing strategy?" I think Kevin's points serve as a good reminder for web inquiry management.

I've summarized Kevin's three points:

1. Don’t be too Web myopic. Don’t focus exclusively on Web-based leads because typically in a b-to-b environment, a prospect may choose to communicate with your company by telephone or some other channel.
2. All leads are not created equal. This is true offline and online. Don't oversimplify. Qualify the leads first.
3. The velocity of inquiry follow-up matters. Your response time say's more about you then you realize. If your competition takes 24 hours to respond and it takes you days to respond, you’re in big trouble. And don't just send a canned response either.

BtoB Magazine: Effective search strategies

Early Stage Leads are too important for Sales People Alone

The management of sales leads is critical to generating Return on Marketing Investment.  Sadly, sales leads often land on the scrap heap because marketers throw leads over the wall and then expect sales people to catch them.

Last year, I linked to a David Meerman Scott's post, Sales Leads Are Too Valuable For Sales People Alone. He just wrote (round two) and I think it's worth checking out.

David writes, "...Salespeople may argue with me, but I think it is better at the early stages of the buying process NOT to pass names to sales unless the buyer is absolutely ready to move forward..."

I agree. The key is to match readiness of the buyer with expectations of your sales team. Otherwise you'll have a serious disconnect. You need to examine each lead ask if they are "sales ready" meaning they are ready to speak to a sales person.

Often when prospects have an identified need, they can spend months researching and seeking information on solutions that may satisfy that need. They are seeking education and information but would rather not talk to a sales person yet. This is why I think marketers should hold back and nurture early stage leads (with a human touch) on behalf of their sales team.

The goal of lead nurturing is to maintain a relevant and consistent dialog with viable leads - regardless of their timing to purchase - until they are sales ready. A key aspect of lead nurturing is the ability to provide valuable education and information to prospects up front, so that you become more than an expert; you become a trusted advisor.

Lead nurturing is a multi-touch process. Without lead nurturing program in place, I've found that early stage leads receive just 1 or maybe 2 touches before they are handed off to sales people. And that's not enough, especially if you have a complex sale. At InTouch, we’ve found early stage leads may require 8 to 12 (or more) meaningful nurturing touches before they are truly sales ready.

In cases where your experience tells you that a lead is sales-ready, or would best be in the hands of a salesperson, you should create an exception code or status. I recommend asking the following question, “Can marketing continue to nurture this opportunity until they are more sales-ready or is this a situation best handled by a salesperson?” This is why communication and cooperation between sales and marketing is so important.

Podcast: Interview with MarketingSherpa's Anne Holland

Would you like some inspiration or some fresh ideas for your marketing and lead generation strategy?

If so, MarketingSherpa just released their “Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007-08” and I had the privilege to interview Anne Holland about this year's findings. Very useful stuff. Download the Executive Summary

During our in-depth interview, Anne shares some terrific insights and helpful data on numerous marketing and lead generation tactics.

Three data points that I found particularity interesting:

1. Teleprospecting works. As we all know, tech buyers are a notoriously tough crowd to cold call. Sherpa's findings contradict the "calling doesn't work" line we've heard for years. Their data shows that over 50% of tech buyers admitted to short listing a vendor after receiving a well timed and relevant phone call.

2. Sherpa's data shows that more decision makers (not just influencers) are attending webinars and watching archived events. This indicates the importance of relevant educational events and online content for lead generation.

3. Companies who provided fewer but higher quality "sales ready" leads to their sale people have better sales conversion rates than those that send lots of early stage leads and that creating a "cost per lead" culture just does not work.

Listen to podcast now (31 min MP3)

Show Agenda  

• Benchmark data that B2B all marketers must know
• Fresh ideas and best practices for lead qualification
• Why you should capture and track all web inquiries in your CRM
• How many buyers/influencers in the typical F500 buying process (hint: it's big!)
• Sherpa's unexpected data on B2B telemarketing (teleprospecting)
• Useful data on lead management and lead nurturing
• How webinars are reaching more decision makers than you would expect
• Common email mistakes (and why mobile devices matter more than you think)
• How and why high quality content is important and influential to buyers
• Why fewer leads is better (the CEOs role) and why "cost per lead" budgets fail
• Distinguishing characteristics of top performing marketers
• Unconventional research that will improve your corporate website homepage

The Business Technology Benchmark Marketing Guide features data on numerous marketing and lead generation tactics especially valuable. They also have practical data on search, email, PR, direct mail, lead generation, trade shows, podcasting, telemarketing, budgeting and more. They interviewed over 1000 marketers, plus this year they gathered in-depth research from 4,658 actual business technology buyers.

If you are a marketer for a company that sells technology, I encourage you to get a copy of this report. It will definitely help you better budget, forecast, and benchmark your marketing results.

MarketingSherpa: Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007-08

Collaboration Huddles and 35 Other Ways to Improve Sales and Marketing Teamwork

I just got back from speaking at the New Marketing Summit and it was great. But it seems that I can’t attend a marketing conference with out hearing marketers swap complaints about their sales teams.

I don’t know about you but I’m fed up with the same old story.  Companies continue to waste millions of dollars because of poor teamwork and collaboration between marketing and sales.

Even the very best lead generation program cannot compensate for poor teamwork and collaboration, but unfortunately we continue hear about it time and again.

Sales and marketing often believe they are working together but collaboration takes more than annual or even quarterly planning meetings. Teamwork is something that must exist in a very real way each day.

I’ve found the most powerful way to foster teamwork and collaboration is to do more frequent and effective meetings. At InTouch we call them “huddles." We have short huddles daily and weekly between the marketing and sales team. 

In our huddles we do three things: Talk. Understand. Execute. (Repeat again) Talk. Understand. Execute. (Repeat again) Talk. Understand. Execute. Okay got it? (Repeat again).

In addition to huddles, there are other ways that sales and marketing can and should collaborate together.  This is just one list of 35 possibilities that we’ve tackled in our huddles and I hope you’ll add your own too.

During huddles, you can brainstorm, go over marketing and sales programs, and accomplish or think about any or all of the things on the list below:

1. Get feedback from the sales team – look at the conversion process and have regular face-to-face meetings or conference calls. Where is your sales team getting stuck?
2. Seek to understand if the sales team is at capacity.  Don’t generate more leads if they are focused on closing deals. Support them with nurturing.
3. Encourage sales people to follow-up on leads and hold them accountable, while still treating them like customers…ask them what they need. 
4. Develop a strategic lead generation and growth plan between sales and marketing.
5. Marketing and sales can work together on standardizing and documenting their lead generation and sales process so that what is happening can be easily tracked and measured.
6. Develop a marketing program that helps the sales team sell at a personal level.
7. Train your sales people on how to optimize your lead generation investment and give your feedback. 
8. Centralize the lead qualification process.
9. Use your huddles to introduce new sales people to the marketing team. 
10. Share lead generation best practices amongst the sales team.
11. Assign revenue goals to your joint sales and marketing plan.
12. Be flexible in your planning, so that you can adapt to changing requirements.
13. Lead generation must be promoted from the top down and bottom up.
14. Develop a culture that values leads by creating a universal lead definition.
15. Get the marketing team out in the field with the sales team regularly.
16. Arrange your compensation so there’s a shared accountability around lead generation.
17. Remember what Steven Covey say’s, “seek first to understand.  Then be understood.”
18. Close-the-loop on each sales lead being generated.
19. See that marketing takes over as many of the non-selling tasks as possible.
20. Integrate sales and marketing activity by using the same database or CRM system. 
21. Define and map out the responsibilities shared by both sales and marketing.
22. Share details about upcoming, events, articles, and press coverage.
23. Go over the upcoming lead generation program strategy and what the outcomes of that strategy are expected to be.
24. Mutually share new insights gained from customer feedback.
25. Share effectiveness measurements from recent lead generation activities.
26. Jointly develop message map and value proposition for you lead generation program.
27. Ask, what have you learned from the leads? Are there changes in hot topics for your target audience?
28. Discuss common concerns raised by potential customers and how the sales team is addressing them and develop solutions together.
29. Do your lead generation messaging align with your target audiences needs?
30. Analyze competitive information, and develop a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
31. Improve relevance of sales tools and marketing materials with sales input.
32. Map out your customer’s decision and buying process and then map out your value proposition for each role involved in the buying process.
33. Determine an answer to the question: What is the life cycle of a lead?
34. Strategic accounts: Can you develop content and lead generation events with your existing customers as references (ambassadors) to your audience? 
35. Define your expertise: how can you demonstrate your ability to solve business problems and share new ideas?

I’m wondering what you do in your company to foster better sales and marketing collaboration? Please share your thoughts and comments. Who knows? Your comments could be included in my next book.

The Difference Between ROI and Marketing Accountability

What's the difference difference between ROI and marketing accountability? My post a few weeks ago, "On B2B Demand Generation tools and Lead Generation Dashboards," started an email exchange between me and Jeffrey Eisenberg on the subject. Our exchange spawned an article by Bryan Eisenberg over at ClickZ.

Bryan writes, "Measuring the ROI of lead generation isn't the same thing as full accountability. If marketing is a profitable activity, it still doesn't mean that what it is communicating to the universe of buyers is building the business. I've seen lots of marketers sacrifice early and middle stage buyers because they had to show an immediate ROI on each campaign they ran. Who is accountable for all the potential business they lose by saying the wrong the thing to the right people at the wrong time?"

I agree with Jeffrey. I think our "instant gratification" culture is the main culprit. We're a Fast Food Nation, and this mindset has permeated into how we do business.

For example, most CEOs feel that they aren't getting enough activity at the top of the sales funnel. Marketers are constantly reminded that more leads are needed...now!

So here's the challenge that most marketers face...they want to think long term but keep getting sucked in by the more immediate and pressing issue of a not having enough high quality sales leads.

We all want our ROI, and we want it now! So who's to blame? The CEOs who cower to the will of their investors, boards, analysts and media? The investors who applaud short-term returns in their portfolio? The analysts who predict the future success of a company and then punish them for falling short? The media who criticize leaders for thinking long-term?

In addition, we can't ignore research showing the average tenure of a CEO is six years. But for a marketing leader, it's less than 24 months. So I think fear plays a role, too.

Bryan replies, "So many companies are still scraping the bottom end of their sales funnel while many potential prospects are left unsold. The soution?"

Continue reading at ClickZ:The Difference Between ROI and Marketing Accountability.

How Lead Nurturing Improves Lead Generation ROI

I know there's a lot of emphasis on lead generation (that's a good thing) but, getting a ton of leads doesn't guarantee that increased sales will follow. In a complex sale, my experience is, most of the selling actually happens when the sales person isn't there.

Startling as it may seem, recent research (and even studies from ten years ago) shows that longer-term leads (future opportunities), often ignored by salespeople, represent almost 80% of potential sales. You can increase your odds success by adding a lead nurturing program.

What’s lead nurturing? Lead nurturing is all about having consistent and meaningful communication with viable prospects (those that are “a fit” for your solution) regardless of their timing to buy. It’s not “following-up” every few months to find out if a prospect is “ready to buy yet?” Lead nurturing about building trusted relationships with the right people.

Continue Reading at the INSPIRE SmartMarketers.com Blog (a new blog I'm contributing to monthly) presented by Netline.

On June 6th, I’m doing a webcast on a multimodal approach to lead nurturing as part of ON24's Wednesday Webcast with Experts Series. I hope you can make it. Register here.

On B2B Demand Generation tools and Lead Generation Dashboards

CEOs continue to demand better ROI measurement and accountability from marketers.

As a result there’s been a surge of interest in software and tools to manage the process of lead management, lead nurturing and lead generation with a greater emphasis on measurability. 

In 2005, I wrote a post predicting that lead generation dashboards would become a hot topic and according to the CMO Council's 2007 Outlook Report the time for marketing performance dashboards is now.

The report states, "Seventy-five percent of respondents from companies with revenues of more than $500 million plan to deploy a marketing performance measurement dashboard this year, almost twice the number who will invest in the next highest category of system deployment, which is lead generation and qualification. Marketers from smaller companies said lead generation and qualification and email campaign management would be their two top areas of system or service deployment."

Additionally a MarketingProfs article from last week, “B2B Demand Generation in the Age of Accountability, Measurability, and Automation” by Mike Zavershnik of Eloqua emphasizes how, “new marketing automation systems delivered as a service enable marketers to quickly scale their most successful campaigns to drive a larger flow of qualified leads.”

With that said, I think it is important to remember that buying lead management software and dashboards tools is akin to buying a high performance stock car. Without a skilled and knowledgeable driver behind the wheel, you may never get out of first gear no matter how great the car is. 

All to often companies invest in expensive software before they fully understand the fundamental operational processes that it will be supporting. This is a common theme in sales and marketing automation, CRM implementation being another good example.
To develop a world class demand generation and lead management operation you’ll need three things:

• Enough of the right people to support the process
• A well thought out process to support the people
• And finally, the right tools and systems to help people manage the process

I think that most sales and marketing professionals recognize that software will not spontaneously generate results, but the allure of easy execution and fast results are difficult to resist. It’s also easy to forget that these systems require a great deal of hands on input and maintenance to be fully appreciated. 

Yes, lead management software and dashboard tools are hot now because pressure for more measurable ROI is greater that ever and these tools can help you, but make sure you take a more holistic approach. 

Start by understanding your lead generation requirements and design a suitable process to support it and insert the software into the process where it will be most effective and actually used. Most importantly, don’t under estimate the need for a dedicated team of people that will drive the process and make the inputs into the system.

If we continue to follow this line of thought it's logical then to ask yourself if the metrics you are getting back out of the system are telling you that you’re getting better?

This morning I talked with Jim Berkowitz, who writes the CRM Mastery E-Journal. When I told him about this post he replied, “With dashboards, nobody ever seems to talk about having the right metrics that help you measure if you’re improving…” I agree.

Most marketing metrics are like driving a car by looking in the rear view mirror (yes, another car analogy!). They tell you where you've been but they can't tell you where you’re going. Ouch! So are you using metrics that actually help you look forward?

I think companies will continue to buy the promise of these tools even though they lack the resources to actually leverage them. What do you think?

Closed-Loop Marketers More Likely to Reach ROMI Goals

As I've written before, I'm a big proponent of using closed loop feedback to improve marketing and lead generation ROI.  I came across a recent report by Aberdeen Group entitled, "Creating a Customer-Centric Marketing Organization," that reinforces the point with broader empirical data.

Aberdeen found, "Companies that adopt closed-loop marketing processes are more than three times as likely to report a greater than 50% return on marketing investment (ROMI) than those that do not.”

Closed loop feedback is often touted in CRM software and often relied on to be the single source of sales and marketing collaboration. However, collaboration does not spontaneously erupt from software. Aberdeen concludes: “Lagging and average companies are not ill-equipped with technology products, rather they lack the integration and sophistication to realize higher results.”

Simply put, it’s not about the tools it’s about the process and the people. To develop an effective closed-loop-process you need to start with your people first.

I can usually predict a marketing team’s ability to measure ROI based on one question...

I ask, “How frequently do you huddle up and close the loop with your sales team?”

If I hear answers such as, "occassionaly", "not very often" or "rarely", I know that they are in trouble. On the other hand if I hear answers like, "weekly" or "bi-weekly" I know they are probably doing okay.

For example, one InTouch client doubled their lead generation ROI by simply implementing regular and frequent closed loop feedback huddles. 

They began with the mindset that their sales team is their internal customer. By viewing the sales team as their customer it felt more natural to seek feedback just like they were already doing with their external customers.

The marketing team began conducting weekly conference calls (huddles) with their entire field sales force to close-the-loop, w