News FeedImplementing Stronger Inquiries That Impact Higher Quality Leads
By: Brian Carroll | August 14th, 2009
Ask most executives and marketers what sales people need to sell in this economy and they will say, “more leads.” So their lead generation focuses on getting MORE leads to their sales team but I’ve found that sales people really don’t want more leads.
Actually, what they want is more effective selling time with BETTER “sales ready” leads that will convert into pipeline opportunities.
According to MarketingSherpa’s data, generating “high-quality leads” is the B2B marketer’s number one challenge. Developing high-quality leads requires work but it’s worth it.
Do you know how many of your leads are actually impacting the sales pipeline? I’ve done numerous lead qualification programs that have shown as little as 5 to 15 percent of all inquiries turn out to be truly sales-ready opportunities.
Here’s 8 steps you can implement that impact higher quality leads now:
- Develop a Universal Lead Definition (ULD) with sales and marketing together
- Co-develop lead generation programs with your sales team’s input
- Get input from sales on target companies and contacts
- Rigorously qualify ALL leads against your ULD and pass only qualified leads to your sales team
- Leverage effective lead management practices
- Close the loop with sales on leads via feedback huddles
- Connect sales and marketing data in CRM especially to measure conversion
- Start lead nurturing now!
About the Author: Brian Carroll is the CEO of InTouch Inc. InTouch is a 50-person company focused on delivering effective lead generation solutions for "the complex sale." Brian authors the very interesting B2B Lead Generation Blog which focuses on B2B lead generation, sales leads, and marketing for the complex sale.
