Recently in lead management Category

Generating leads and closing more business is a never-ending task. And within that practice, there are many campaigns, processes and events that occur. With so many moving parts, it's easy to have things stop working, get out of date, or need refinement.

Here is a quick checklist to ensure the general health of your lead generation practices:

• Test your forms, email addresses and phone numbers listed on your website and landing pages. You would hate to have inquiries get lost in the shuffle thanks to a broken form, a disconnected phone number or a dead email address.
  
• Leave your standard voice mail on your cell phone, and then listen to it. Are you compelled by message? If not, reevaluate your pitch.
  
• Check your email deliverability metrics. The lack of response might not be your approach, but rather, your messages are going to the spam folder.
• If you're using a CRM, ensure your leads, opportunities and accounts up to date. Nothing is worse than outdated information.
• Are you doing lead nurturing or drip marketing? Read the emails you're sending out for outdated information, broken links or for new areas to address. You should also do this for any sales collateral you use, like presentations, PDFs or white papers.
  

Making sure the backbone of your lead generation efforts is functioning properly is just smart. Try it for your business today.

And, if you have any health checks we didn't include, share them below!

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, we will shortly be releasing our first annual State of B2B Lead Generation report. In the meantime, we wanted to share interesting snippets to give you a sense of what we've uncovered.

Today, let's look at the use of CRM software. We've talked previously about some keys to ensuring a successful implementation, but firstly, are B2B companies even using CRM systems? Our data says yes, with more than half of the folks we surveyed indicating they do use the software. But that number still seems a bit low given all the talk about lead tracking and management, lead nurturing and more - don't you think? Seems like total CRM adoption still has a ways to go.

Brian Carroll over at the B2B Lead Roundtable Blog has a good post on the importance of a Universal Lead Definition, a topic we've hit on before. Carroll even goes so far as to alert his readers to NOT begin any lead generation campaign without this defintion in place, something we wholeheartedly agree with.

According to Carroll, a true Universal Lead Definition meets the following criteria:

• Fits the profile of your ideal customer
• Has been qualified as sales-ready
• Spells out the responsibilities and accountabilities of sales and marketing
• Makes marketing and sales more efficient

Read the full post.

Caroll also sites a recent MarketingSherpa study that found that 61% of B2B marketers are sending leads to sales without any qualification. In our forthcoming report on the State of B2B Lead Generation, we too found a similar lack of alignment amongst B2B marketing and sales teams. Our data indicates only 36% of respondents perceive alignment between marketing and sales within their organization as a 9 or 10 (with 10 being extremely aligned). 

These data points underscore that we as B2B marketers have a ways to go until total harmony is reached between marketing and sales.

Do you have a Universal Lead Definition? If so, let us know in the comments below.

As we mentioned previously, we recently conducted a study in conjunction with LeadsCouncil to uncover the true state of B2B Lead Generation. We asked marketers in this space (full disclosure: many of the respondents are clients of BuyerZone) about their use of technology, social media, budget, lead quality and quantity, and more. While our full report is coming soon, here's a sneak peak at some of the data:

This data, from 179 B2B marketers, shows that most companies understand the importance of speedy lead follow-up (thankfully!). But, even the 17% who follow-up within 24 hours might be losing their edge in terms of closing leads. 24 hour turnaround used to be acceptable, but with modern technology and increasing customer expectations, it's probably not getting the job done anymore.

How quickly are you following up on leads? Do you have a firm process in place to handle inbound inquiries?

Curious how quickly other businesses are following up on leads? Do you wonder how many companies are truly using drip marketing/marketing automation?

We're happy to announce the first annual State of B2B Lead Generation survey. This short survey, which we're sponsoring in conjunction with LeadsCouncil, digs into the thoughts and practices of companies in the B2B space. We'll shed light on how companies are managing leads, including use of technology, social media, follow-up practices and more.

Are you in B2B? Take the survey now and check back here in a month or two for our full report on the state of B2B lead generation!

Related: read the press release announcing the launch of the survey.

The Christmas lights are up, Hanukkah menorahs are lit, and hopefully you've finished your shopping and are ready to relax and do some light reading.  As we near the end of 2011, we took a look back at the most popular posts from this year.  Not only does it make for interesting reading, but it helps our BuyerZone blog team understand what topics are top of mind for our readers so we can plan our 2012 content accordingly.

Whether you missed one or simply want to refresh your memory - read on for the top posts of 2011:

1. Building a better ROI calculator for lead generation - use BuyerZone's simple ROI calculator to compare the performance of all your internal and external lead generation programs, as well as do basic lead tracking.

2. Making something out of nothing: big deal value from little guy deals - find out why embracing small customers will help your business grow.

3. Um...did you get my message? - responsiveness is especially critical in the world of business, and not only for leads.

J. David Green recently wrote about marketing qualified leads and followed up with a post about sales accepted leads. He argued that marketers and sales reps need to form a specific definition for a lead and to determine if marketing-qualified includes telequalification. He cites language as the main source of conflict and confusion between sales and marketing teams. He also notes the need for a universal lead definition.

Even though I agree with many of Green's arguments, I think that he over analyzes the separation of "phone-ready leads" versus "sales-ready leads". Yes, you should be clear with your team about when during the funnel process you are going to use telequalification (whether it be sales or marketing or both), but is it really necessary to separate them into buckets and over complicate the process? A lead goes through the funnel and once it fits the 'marketing-accepted lead' definition (having been telequalified or meeting other specific criteria), it moves further down the funnel. Each company is going to approach leads differently - it's more about being consistent than choosing when in the funnel the team telequalifies the lead. Either the lead meets the criteria to pass to the next stage in the funnel or it doesn't.

As the holidays approach and you're busy buying gifts for family and friends, have you taken a moment (even a brief one) to put together a wish list for your lead generation activities for 2012? As you reflect back on 2011, I'm sure there are wishes you have for 2012 related to your marketing and sales activities. And while they won't come wrapped with a pretty bow, they just might dramatically change your business.

What's on your 2012 lead generation wish list?

• Do you wish for alignment between marketing and sales?
• Do you wish for a true definition of a lead?
• Do you want to improve conversion rate on contact forms on your site?
• Do you want to explore new marketing channels to keep the sales pipeline filled?
• Is this the year to roll out a marketing automation platform?
• Is it time to stop tracking ROI in Excel and invest in a CRM system?
• Do you want to cut down on the follow-up time for inbound inquiries?
• Is it time to truly figure out social media for your business?
• Do you want to get your brand noticed (and generate leads) by becoming a thought leader?
• Do you wish to figure out the whitepaper lead generation model -- as so many other companies have?
• Is it time to nurture your leads versus calling them immediately, regardless of BANT?
• Is it worth going back to direct mail as a lead generation source?
• Do you wish to master SEO as a cost-effective lead generation tool?
  
• Do you want to figure out the right volume of leads your sales team needs to meet their goals?

This is just a quick list off the top of my head - what are yours? Share your 2012 wish list items in the comment section below!

A few weeks ago, we covered the basics of marketing automation - defined as the use of technology to manage and automate processes such as lead nurturing, lead generation, email marketing, and lead management, and improve the measurement and analysis of results.

While the benefits are clear, a recent BtoB Magazine survey shows that adoption of this new technology is still lagging:

"While awareness of marketing automation platforms is high among marketers and the proliferation of digital channels increasingly demands the assistance of technology, only 44% of b2b marketers have implemented some form of automated marketing, according to a new study by BtoB."

Interestingly, the 44% adoption rate indicated by the survey results seems high, as Forrester Research claims marketing automation is used by only 5% of marketers.

Whatever the actual adoption rate is, at this point, the marketing automation wave is just beginning and it will be exciting to see how this technology further improves lead generation methods.

Read the full article.

For my most recent post on defining the sales-ready lead, I reached out to BuyerZone's social network to find out about how other marketers and sales reps define a sales-ready lead. Surprisingly, I got a mixed bag of responses. Some people argued that a lead needs as much context as possible from the marketers (the more information about the lead, the better), and others believed in passing the lead to sales as soon as possible. But is there a right or wrong answer to this question? While the exact process depends on your business, here are a few best practices.

Before we can determine if a lead is sales-ready, we need to look at where the lead came from to gauge the prospect's level of interest. Then it becomes easier to determine next steps - whether it be mailing a brochure, emailing, or passing the lead to sales for a call. By looking at where leads have come from and how they interact with your website, you can determine if they will soon be ready to buy your product or service.

Inbound marketing is when you are found by your customer. An example of this might be if someone fills out a form on your website and implicitly says, "Yes, please give me information about your product or service". Another example is someone that comes to your booth at a tradeshow who adamantly wants you to follow up with them once they get back to the office. These are automatically sales-ready leads because they are asking for information.