Start with a Lead Eight Critical Success Factors for Lead Generation
From the book by Brian Carroll
Conversation, Not Campaign
Not about instant gratification
Consistency
Time
Companies don't buy; people do
position the lead generation effort as conversation to, identify, initiate, nurture
Executives favor the sales person who
has been a resource
has developed an ongoing relationship with them
Sales force needs to
understand customer's business
and feel their needs
while being sensitive to the pressure that they may or may not be under
Those who meet the criteria
become trusted advisors, and trusted advisors get the sale
Relationship building
sustaining the relevancy of an ingoing dialogue
When customers have a problem, you want them to come to YOU first for a soultion, people turn to their trusted advisor
The customer is thinking
How you sell me
is
How you will serve me
Sales and Marketing as a Team
The best
mindset
strategy
tactics
are useless unless everyone is involved
If Sales and Marketing are not in alighnment
will not empower a successful complex sale
or a sales lead strategy
Without bidirectional communication
lead generation suffers
lack of closed loop feedback process
repetition of poor results
WIth a feedback loop in place
each department has a better sense of what the other needs
Incorporating different viewpoints and inputs is critical
Sales and Marketing harmony begins with
proper direction and management from C level executives
A CEO who believes in, complex sales, lead generation, ...and all the complexities that go with it
Sales and marketing should have a unified understanding and consensus on what the definition of a sales lead is.
An Ideal Customer Profile
Using the unique attributes of prime customers
prescreen potential opportunities
helps to identify, decision makers, key influencers, the basis of a sales ready lead
Allows sales to focus on prospective companies with the highest probability of becoming profitable customers
provides a framework with which to pursue a potential customer
...and when to pass, should it become clear that the opportunity isn't as good as first inferred
Important! What is a Sales Ready lead?
create the ideal customer profile, the main focus and template by which all prospects will be measured, energy, time, budget, surveying
Learn the size and scope of the market and find the location of the sweet spot.
Target, Best potential, companies, contacts
Compare the results with your best and worst customers, Commonality?, Rank by, most profitable, best revenue, easiest to do business with, Add, current revenue, profitability data, Those at the top will help you create your Ideal Customer Profile
A more detailed profile will include:
Annual revenue
Standard Industrial Code (SIC) and North American Industry Classification (NAICS)
Number of employees
Level of contact and functional area
Local, regional or national scope
Business situation
Psychographics aspects
Psychographics may include
Corporate values
Culture
Philosophy
leadership
internal/external factors
If data is not available
competitors
trade associations
A Universal Lead Definition
Designed to fit the Ideal Customer to a T
Prioritizes and defines the degree of sales readiness, Responsibilities, Accountabilities
Sales fails to act on nearly 80% of leads
largely because leads aren't, qualified, appropriate buyers haven't been, identified, targeted
Begins with seeking out what
Sales
Marketing
consider an ideal sales opportunity, What makes a good lead?, What initiative or need makes this a good fit?, what info is needed to determine if a follow through is needed?, Who are the decision makers and influencers, What does the company value?, What is it's culture?, Are there common business issues?
Lead qualification begins with
Rating and Scoring of all inquiries
Lead qualification process ensures, Sales receives only truly sales ready leads
More ROI is reaped from the patient tending of potential customers over time.
Must be able to differentiate
near term
mid term
long term
leads by establishing a timeframe from, Evaluate, to, Implement
Functions or buy points need to be targeted for key information
How is interest created and driven?, drives the solution and narrows down which event occurred that drove the enquiry
Who is involved as the buying process evolves?
Who or what drives the initiative?
What is the best entry point?
An Effective Lead Management Process
Watching and directing the conversion of sales leads into customers
Funnels
Marketing and Sales functions
The success of the marketing funnel directly impacts, the sales funnel
Implements and enforces
Standard, universal lead scoring definitions
establishes a clear process for handling and distributing inquires and leads
Is geared towards
identifying the best opportunities, based on a consistent sales strategy
Assigns clear responsibility for
lead tracking
closed loop feedback
Meaures
Sales performance
Sales lead acceptance
degree of follow up by the sales team
revenue contribution to ultimately drive better return on marketing investment
Facilitates
Mechanisms and incentives for sales team feedback
Failures occur when:
lead generation is viewed as a series of campaigns, lack of substantive integration, indiscriminately seeking more leads, regardless of quality, Without managing existing leads
Lack of, Multimodal tactics, Sales closed leep feedback incentives, A effectively or well maintained database, Conformance with lead generation program
80% of sales leads are never seen again
Tracking leads must be ready to go when the program starts
A company is a collection of processes
Process mapping, create common vision and shared language
A basic sales process
FYI, Review requires special attention
Appointment, Lead qualified by marketing and sent to sales to be qualified
Qualifying, Sales person is determining if lead is actually a viable prospect
Prospect, Sales person actively pursuing
Profiled, Completed written proposal profile and opportunity assessment
Preproposal, Confirming initial plan prior to formal proposal
Proposed, Final proposal delivered
Committed, Agreement delivered and verbal yes to proposal
Active Contract, Agreement approved and signed
Nurturing, Was prospect and dropped out of the sales pipeline
Follow-up, Sent back to marketing for requalification, rescheduling, or lead nurturing
Rejected, This clearly wasn't a lead - returned to marketing
Not a fit, Lead advanced beyond step 3 in sales process - sales person decided not a fit
A Foundational Database
Your most valuable asset
clean
updated
a meeting point for Sales, Marketing, and IT
As many are involved in a complex sale
the database is a central location for all prospect information, collection, consoludation, uniform format
Ideal Customer Profile and Universal Lead Definition should drive the database
Control of the lead passes from one person to the next with all of the applicable information fixed in one place
The value of the database is only as good as the buy in of everyone on the lead generation team.
Key data points to capture:
Ideal Customer Profile
Universal Lead definition
industry identification and description
annual revenue
employment size
geographic information
budget
decision timeframe
Tracking fields to capture:
status codes
assignments
activity dates
lead source
forecasting tools
Integrated Multimodal Tactics
leveraging a variety of marketing tactics
An informed strategy is required to reach decision makers
mulitmodal lead generation
raises response rate potential
enhances audience awareness as well
The most effective tactics?
"all of them"
What tactics are you using to good advantage?
What tactics are your competitors using?
multimodal approach calls for a thorough evaluation and systematic plan- ning of the various lead generation methods
A multi-modal and multi-touch lead generation portfolio will always outperform marketing tactics that stand alone.
Success
Analyze
Measure
Optimize
A close correlation between
Tactics
Budget spending
when the two converge = optimal ROI
Consistent Lead Nurturing
The secret of success
converts inquiries into qualified leads
starts the qualified leads on a trajectory to capture sales
follows up and turns qualified leads into future sales opportunities by
consistent and meaningful dialogue, regardless of timing to buy
is not a single marketing campaign
a series of steps and communication
is a relationship development process
Lead generation is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns
Lead generation initiates and perpetuates the dialogue
Lead nurturing keeps the conversation going and
building solid relationships
creates interes in products and/or services
A sales ready stat of leads is the result of good lead nurturing
ultimately brings in, better qualified leads, higher close ratios, strong sales pipelines, shorter sales cycles
A sustainable lead nurturing process is
proactive
intentional
actionable
Is designed to move prospects from
Awareness, to, interest, to, trial, to, action
Lead Nurturing questions to be answered:
Whom do I want to nurture?
What problems does the prospect face?
What is the prospect’s top priority?
What does the prospect worry about?
What is my messaging?
What is the best way to deliver my messaging?
What action should the prospect take?
Should my product or service be demonstrated?
What are the incentives or inducements?
How often should I stay in contact?
Which tools require direct sales involvement?
A crucial aspect of lead nurturing
ability to provide, valuable education and information to prospects
Educating prospects about how your business can fulfill their needs, you earn the position of expert and trusted advisor
Relevancy is key
The end goal:
“You and I have been talking for quite awhile. You understand me, my company and my industry. You have given me useful and pertinent ideas on this issue. You have helped me sell the idea to my colleagues and they understand and accept it. I realize this is going to be a challenging project, but I think you can do it. Let’s get it going.”
