Recently in lead management Category

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, BuyerZone's President Mie-Yun Lee has been nominated as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management for 2012. All of us here are very excited and are looking forward to the results next Wednesday!

To vote for Mie-Yun and other worthy candidates you must be an SLMA member. The good news is that you can join for free and access all of SLMA's useful content in the process - a no-brainer for those of us in the online lead gen space.

The voting period ends on Friday, November 30th so sign up this week and let your voice be heard!

Earlier this week, Anne Kelly, our VP of Sales (who you'll be hearing more from on this blog in the coming months) and I attended Demandcon in Boston. It was our first time at this conference and we attended because the subject matter is right in our sweet spot: accelerating and aligning marketing and sales resources to succeed with lead generation.

I thought I'd share some key takeaways:

State of B2B Demand Generation

Jay Gaines from SiriusDecisions keynoted the conference with some interesting thoughts about the state of demand generation. Over the past few years, demand generation techniques have improved vastly - it's now a well-oiled machine, but the training wheels are still on.

• Tools and technology are on the rise, and marketers are doubling their investment in business intelligence and marketing automation/CRM software. But less than 25% of businesses are leveraging these tools to their fullest (especially marketing automation).
  

• And though marketers have many more tools at their disposal -- allowing for targeting, segmenting, lead scoring, nurturing and the like, many are still resorting to the tried and true tactics of "spray and pray" -- sending generic email blasts hoping to drive leads.

• The balance of inbound lead channels versus outbound lead channels is still skewing towards inbound. Inbound leads are always a good thing (especially when factoring in cost), but you still need a balance of the two, which we talk about at length in our recent whitepaper.
  

• As we all know, not all leads will close. According to Jay, 80% of Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) don't close. Thus, there is an immense amount of "lead waste" if you aren't prepared to turn those "wasted" leads into future opportunities with lead nurturing. The key is to manage the waste with smart but not overly complex lead nurturing campaigns. Campaigns that address the reason for non-closure, for instance, and not just a one-size-fits-all maze of emails that are unlikely to turn a prospect back into your pipeline. 

You probably know by now that lead nurturing is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to closing leads. Savvy marketers and sales professionals have really begun to grasp the concept that not all buyers are ready to speak to a salesperson, but may very well be interested in purchasing a product or service at a later date.

By staying top-of-mind throughout the buyer's research process (without being the a-word: annoying), your business stands a much better chance of closing the lead in the end as long as the nurturing content is consistent, compelling, and delivered properly.

So how do you get started with lead nurturing and what should some of your goals be? Below are 3 important elements that should form the basis for any lead nurturing campaign:

A quick Monday morning nugget for you: the good folks over at the Sales Lead Management Association have a blog post up about our recent State of B2B Lead Generation report with some commentary of their own. Some great thoughts based on their extensive knowledge of the space.

Check it out.

We cover a lot of topics on this blog - and hopefully you're finding the information helpful. But we know that sometimes you want more. More topics, more depth. And that's why we built our Resource Center.

We've compiled whitepapers, an infographic and quick guides that cover important topics in the world of online lead generation. And we're not done yet -- more content and tools will continue to be added.

So head over to our Resource Center and check out topics like:

• The State of B2B Lead Generation: our 2012 report
• Marketing and Sales alignment
• SEO for Lead Generation
• And more...

The BuyerZone Resource Center: when the blog just isn't enough.

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.