The difference between surviving and thriving in today’s competitive marketplace is often determined by finding untapped revenue sources in lead management processes.
We often see significant revenue potential hidden away in sales and marketing processes that not only aren’t working—they’re actually impeding the ability to generate results. That’s when it’s productive to take a closer look at the larger sales lead management picture.
And how best to do this? One way is to put into play a methodology for assessing current practices and correcting gaps in marketing and sales processes.
While there are many paths to the top of the same higher-revenue mountain, we’ve had good success working with clients on opportunity audits designed to identify current lead generation challenges and grow revenue.
With this approach, we take a deep dive into five areas and extract the information needed to assess sales and marketing process effectiveness. Here are the five areas and samples of a few audit questions:
Discovery—What percentage of this year’s revenue target is expected to originate from marketing activity vs. from sales executives’ individual efforts?
Opportunity Capture—Where are opportunities captured and how are they distributed? What are processes for sales acceptance of marketing generated opportunities, and how are they tracked?
Response Management—When and how are inbound calls, web hits, emails from forms and tradeshow leads handled, and by whom? How is data captured, tracked and measured from both sales and marketing perspectives?
Lead Generation and Lead Qualification—How is the target market identified and segmented? How are multi-media / multi-touch / multi-cycle programs planned and implemented?
Lead Nurturing—How are qualified opportunities handled when they have no immediate interest or don’t respond after expressing initial interest?
Findings are reported both as scores in the five key areas and as benchmarks for comparison with similar companies. Recommendations itemize areas for process improvement.
The bottom line: a formal audit methodology uncovers opportunities that lead to more predictable forecasts and drive revenue to higher levels.
Two encouraging lead generation trends were reported in a July 16 blog by Barry Trailer, managing partner at CSO Insights, in which he announced the availability of CSO Insight’s 2010 Lead Generation Optimization Report based on surveys of over 600 companies (1/3 in technology, 1/3 in services and 1/3 in manufacturing / non-tech / other).
Two findings are particularly great news: nearly three-quarters of surveyed firms are increasing their marketing budgets, and the number of firms tracking marketing ROI has reached a new high watermark.
Regarding marketing budgets, Barry referenced survey findings to compare last year to this year:
2009
“Sixty-seven percent had frozen or reduced their marketing budgets.”
2010
“Seventy-two percent of firms are increasing their marketing budgets.”
It’s good to see this type of movement in best marketing strategies to increase sales: away from cutting costs and toward marketing investment.
Barry also commented on the increase in companies tracking marketing ROI:
“For the first time in the seven years of this report, a slim majority (51%) of firms responding now track the ROI of their marketing campaigns.”
He added that the top three metrics used for evaluating lead generation programs were number of leads per campaign, number of leads converting to sales opportunities and revenue closed from opportunities.
It’s also good to see movement in marketing measurement best practices: away from cost per lead and toward a focus on conversion rates and ultimate revenue generated.
I’d be interested to hear what’s happening at your company around this dynamic duo of lead generation, marketing investment on the front end and marketing measurement on the back end.
Companies don't fail because individuals in the company want to fail. Companies fail because employees don't know what the rules are. Companies that are guided by strong boundaries thrive by developing prospects and driving revenue. Companies loosely run, fail. Here are the ten things you need to do to ensure your company is successful:
1. Provide strong direction in sales lead management regarding market definition, offer dynamics and media mix, then reinforce that direction with strong sponsorship of appropriate activities and campaigns. As basic as it sounds, we work with companies every day that do not actually follow-through on this.
2. Get strategically involved in the marketing and sales planning process. You will be surprised at how much impact you can have.
3. Make sure that each and every prospect or customer "touch" meets strict standards that support the direction you have provided.
4. Stick to your guns. Once you've made a plan, don't change it based on a subtle market change or limited market research.
5. Hold marketing accountable for quality and value; make the sales force accountable for quality feedback and results.
6. Insist on regular, weekly reports. In most B2B companies the senior management team could and should review the status of every opportunity (their environment, what they're doing, their pain, who they're talking to). It would take just a couple of hours each week.
7. The sales force is driven by the "three C's": control, credit and compensation. Ironically, great prospect development programs are initially viewed as a threat by sales because of the "three C's". That is why you hear the following feedback on leads:
"No telemarketer can talk to the decision-makers I have to reach."
"I was already in that account and already talked to that decision-maker."
"The leads are really not worth what you are paying for them, just get me some names and I will engage the prospects."
These are not destructive, conscious objections. They are a natural reaction to the historical state of affairs and, as such, need to be addressed transparently and aggressively. Eventually, great sales people become great consumers of quality prospect development.
8. Insist on training. Start with the basics. Insist on self-education and participation in local and national events. This is a high payoff activity.
9. Set realistic expectations regarding timeframes and deliverables. Everything takes longer than you think. Quick solutions may make you happy for the moment, but you will eventually pay a price. Don't shoot the messenger who is trying to do the right thing and not the expedient thing.
10. Check your ego at the door. If something clearly isn't working, cut your losses, make the changes and move on.