Truth #4—The Truth About Sales Leads

Posted by Dan McDade

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on Jun 19, 2009 10:30:00 AM

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For years the top priority for companies has been to improve management of sales leads. I recently posted a question on LinkedIn asking about the state of sales lead management and received responses from many who felt there had been a problem but it was now solved.    

Reading the following will convince you that the problem is still with us (from CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization 2009 Survey Results and Analysis):

Over 41% of sales reps are under quota

On average, sales reps must generate leads for over 52% of the business they close

Only 39% of firms reported that more than 50% of leads generated were sales accepted

Just 8.7% of firms rated their company's nurturing capabilities as exceeding expectations

To make matters worse, one-third of the average sales force turns over each year and it now takes ten months to ramp up a new sales rep. Regardless, most senior managers look at lead generation with suspicion—often stating that it is an "inefficient process".    

The truth is that senior executives must embrace true database marketing, measure movement in the pipeline and forecast, support a lifetime value approach to marketing return and back up state-of-the-art processes with rewards and consequences; or the problem will persist. Right now, most companies continue to add water to a leaky bucket rather than patching that bucket. The worst of the drought might be over in the Southeast, but it won't abandon the business world until senior managers get involved (at a strategic level) in the following:

  1. Defining the target market
  2. Defining the qualification criteria for prospects
  3. Setting engagement rules so that sales reps know when to hold and fold them
  4. Establishing rules for the handling of leads not "sales ready" (or stalled)
  5. Approving game plans for qualified companies that require nurturing
  6. Supporting opportunity re-heat programs
  7. Creating a system of rewards and consequences for following (or not following) simple but important rules (such as accurately populating SFA and CRM data warehouses). 

Surprisingly, many companies' approach to managing sales leads has changed little in the past decade. Billions have been spent on SFA or CRM solutions, yet many times "the Rolodex" still walks out when a sales rep moves on. Today's "Holy Grail", marketing automation, puts its focus on measurement, inbound marketing and electronic nurturing. However, not every human hits just the right bumpers and scores high enough to warrant the supplier's attention. Will that mean sales reps must find even more of their own business—and that even more reps will miss quota? 

Read the following for more information about fixing this problem:

Qualified Prospects | Increase Revenue


By Dan McDade


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Topics: Lead Generation


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