B2B Lead Generation Blog

Steps for creating a true lead nurturing program

Sometimes in an attempt to vamp up lead nurturing efforts, misguided and well-meaning organizations simply start sending out more emails. When email is misused in this manner, companies are really just training prospects to ignore or delete their messages. 

See What IS and ISN'T Lead Nurturing

If your organization lacks a well-defined process for nurturing early-stage leads and building relationships before the buying process, you are missing out on opportunities. True lead nurturing involves creating and maintaining relevant and consistent dialog with viable potential customers - regardless of their timing to buy. Your content should help you become a resource to prospects.

A true lead nurturing program will always include:

• A relationship building mindset
• A multi-modal approach
• The human touch continue a relevant dialog and make appropriate offers based on behavior and engagement.
• Lead nurturing automation tools that will support, personalization, lower volume and ad hoc delivery while tracking all touch points such as phone, email, online efforts and personal contact.

The measurement of nurturing results such as:

• Depths of contacts in sphere of influence
• Contacts that “opt-in” for nurturing
• Contacts that become “sales ready” leads

This can seem like a complicated ordeal. It’s easy to see why organizations get overwhelmed by the time and planning required for developing an effective program, so I’ve broken down the process into eight steps.

1. Define the Ideal Customer Profile: Make sure you are nurturing relationships with the right people and organizations.
2. Define the Universal Lead Definition: Higher standards on qualifying inquiries to actual leads positively impacts conversion with lead to pipeline and lead to sale.
3. Lead qualification: Marketers have a tendency to require too much information from their inquiries at the first touch in an effort to qualify someone right away. The process can be broken down into steps that balance out the process.
4. Understand and Capture Audience: You need to understand who’s involved in the buying process so you can build a database based on your prospect’s role. The goal isn’t to build the biggest database, but to build one that is going to be most relevant.
5. Message Development: Message mapping is a great way for organizations to tie in what they are selling with what the buyer’s key issues are.
6. Build Lead Nurturing Library: Gather content that you can use to set yourself and your company up as thought leaders.
7. Develop Lead Nurturing Tracks: Map out tactics for sharing your content. Remember to start out slow and build your program slowly.
8. Executing Multi-Modal Lead Nurturing: Track all touch points (email, web, phone, social media etc.)

If you want to learn about these steps, check out my upcoming webinar “8 Steps to Optimizing Your Lead Nurturing Program,” on Tuesday, November 10. I’ll outline some simple “how-tos” for applying them and present two partner case studies that show how effective lead nurturing programs can grow your opportunities in sales pipeline.

Register for this complimentary webinar

A multi-modal approach to lead nurturing

To be successful at lead nurturing marketers can't rely on one specific channel but rather they need to leverage a multi-modal portfolio of channels especially when you have a complex sale. 

Why? The goal of lead nurturing is to maintain a relevant and consistent dialog with viable future customers - regardless of their timing to buy. In short, it’s about relationships.

To help illustrate, I created a mind map of what multi-modal lead nurturing looks like (click image to enlarge).

Are there any lead nurturing channels/modalities that I'm missing?

Download Multi-Modal_Lead_Nurturing

If you keep the idea about that nurturing is about building relationships top of mind, the way you nurture leads will naturally go beyond a single channel like e-mail. You’ll start thinking about how you and your sales people can be a relevant resource. When you do that, you don’t have to sell to people. They will come to you first when they are ready.

Related posts:
What IS and ISN’T Lead Nurturing
How lead nurturing improves lead generation ROI
5 Lead nurturing tips to create relevant and engaging emails

Seven prospecting rules that produce leads

The phone is still a powerful and effective lead generation tool. It is inarguably the human touch of a lead nurturing program.  

That’s why every opportunity - including cold calling -  should be treated with great respect. Each time you pick up the phone, whether it’s the first or third call, it's important you create value in that touch. Your goal with each call should be to give your prospects something useful in a digestible, bite-size chunk.

That being said, the phone must be used as a part of a holistic lead generation strategy. Whether you create a specialized sales development team within the Sales or Marketing groups or hire a firm that specializes in teleprospecting, your cold calling plan must be aligned with all your other ongoing marketing and reputation-building activities.

A while back, I was asked to write a guest blog post for the ZoomInfo Sales and Marketing Blog that I titled "7 prospecting rules that produce leads." That little post was so popular that the ZoomInfo folks asked if I would consider teaching a webinar about it...

Sorry if you didn't make the webinar. It's done. But I'll post the webinar recording link here soon.

Effective Lead Management

We had a great turn out for our recent B2B Lead Generation Rountable Webinar “Effective Lead Management: Learn How to Convert Marketing Leads into Sales Pipeline.” In case you missed the live presentation, there are still two ways you can review it:

• Watch the Presentation recording (no registration)
• Read the Effective Lead Management Executive Summary

I discussed steps for overcoming one of the biggest challenges organizations face today: converting leads to sales pipeline revenue. For most organizations, these problems stem from perception and communication issues between Marketing and Sales and a lack of process. 

While I emphasize sales and marketing being on the same page is key to a well-optimized lead generation process, the solution involves more than just generating more high quality leads. Marketing and Sales need to use a robust qualification and nurturing process to optimize the leads already in the pipeline.

I taught a ‘playbook’ for effective lead management that helps optimize the lead generation process to produce major ROI gains. The ‘playbook’ included five steps:

1. refine the universal lead definition of “sales ready”
2. qualify leads based on the universal lead definition
3. nurture early leads until they were “sales ready”
4. define a clear process from Marketing to Sales
5. close the loop via Sales and Marketing “huddles”

View recorded webinar and read executive summary

Lead generation metrics should emphasize opportunities not just leads

I was asked to write a response to this question, "In what ways have metrics evolved with the increase in digital B2B marketing? Suggest one ROI metric that you have found to be very effective."

Read ClickInsights: What ROI metric should B2B marketers use in this digital marketing era?

Here's my response....

The use of the Internet, mobile and other interactive channels has certainly increased the number of leads marketers receive today. Many organizations spend thousands of dollars each month on search marketing to take advantage of this increase.  

This increase, however, causes many marketers to focus on the wrong metrics. In order to generate leads marketers have to know how to use the analytics. Many marketers focus on conversion rates of specific phrases or banners and are ignoring other valuable information. While conversion rate is one way to measure the effectiveness of a search phrase, for instance, it can be extremely misleading. 

If marketers are spending a lot on search marketing and not capturing visiting organizations (both those that convert and the many more that don't), they are making decisions based only on half-truths. And they are probably routing dollars toward phrases and ad creative that appear to perform better but in reality are really just clogging the marketing database and sales pipeline.

The metrics of digital marketing is starting to slowly evolve. Marketers are starting to realize that sales people care very little about the cost of the leads we generate. What they really care about is how many of those leads will actually become viable sales opportunities in their sales pipeline.

Podcast: Why sellers don’t have the right tools to help buyers buy

A recent lead generation poll showed that converting leads to pipeline revenue (accelerating sales) was the biggest challenge for marketers.

What are we doing as sellers that keeps us from closing sales?

It’s a tough question, and it’s one that gets a lot of feathers ruffled. However, this is one question that Sharon Drew Morgen isn’t afraid to tackle. I spoke with Morgen recently to ask her about her take on the question and her new book Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it.

I wanted to speak with Morgen because I was intrigued with the advice she lends to help with B2B’s major dilemma: How can we successfully work with people from the time they express interest until they decide to buy? Basically: How do we convert leads to sales? Morgen has some great suggestions.

If you want to hear what Morgen had to say, listen to my interview “Why sellers don’t have the right tools to help buyers buy." During this interview, Morgen discusses how she sold a “dead account” by simply applying her Buying Facilitation model to the situation. I think you’ll find Morgen’s insight helpful and her book more than a little tempting.

Listen to podcast now (21 minutes)

Webinar on Effective Lead Management: How to Convert Marketing Leads into Sales Pipeline

Research shows that about 80% of leads marketers generate end up getting lost, ignored or discarded. So, instead of continually struggling to find new leads for Sales, marketers should begin focusing on developing effective lead management processes for converting more leads into sales pipeline.

In fact, in a recent lead generation poll I conducted through my LinkedIn group, I found that converting leads to pipeline revenue was the biggest challenge for marketers. The key is to look back at your past marketing activities to find the gold that’s been lost in the Sales and Marketing pipelines.

Although I don’t usually highlight what my company does in my blog; however, I’d like to share a great example of how an organization can improve their lead gen process by tweaking the process.

Our client was a mid-sized technology company with about $80 million in annual revenue, and their organization’s number of leads was growing fast; however, their conversions to sales were not keeping up at a similar pace. When we spoke with Marketing we discovered that they felt as though the leads they passed on to Sales were disappearing into a “black hole.” Sales provided little or no feedback on all the leads. Ultimately, we found that the lead-to-sale pipeline conversation rate was less than two percent.

To help this organization, we focused on a “playbook” which basically consisted of five steps. As a result, they increased sales ready leads by 375% by re-engaging leads that were ignored or discarded with their sales team while adding $6 million to their sales pipeline within 12 months with no additional budget.

View recorded webinar and read executive summary

Lead Generation Check list – Part 5: Treat your marketing database as a valued asset

This is the fifth installment in an eight-part series, the ‘Lead Generation Checklist.’ The goal of this series is to provide a checklist that will help organizations optimize their lead generation process. In my first post a few weeks back, I discussed correcting our mindsets so that we are engaging and helpful; in the second installment, I offered tips for repairing the rift between sales and marketing; thirdly, I outlined steps for creating an ideal customer profile in addition to an Un-Ideal customer profile - helpful for deciding when not to pursue a lead; and finally, I discussed how to create a universal lead definition that fits your company’s goals and culture. Now for part 5...

There’s no doubt that maintaining a clean, updated database is tedious work, making it a struggle for many organizations.The never-ending vigilance required for identifying and removing duplications and redundancies can be daunting. And, unfortunately, that means a lot of databases don’t get the attention they deserve. 

Treat your marketing marketing database as a valued asset. I cannot overstate the importance of your marketing database. The quality the marketing database can influence your lead generation or nurturing program’s success by a factor of 50 percent.

Improve your Lead Generation: Takeaways from MarketingSherpa's B2B Marketing Summit

I was a speaker at MarketingSherpa's B2B Summit in San Francisco and Boston. I had a great time learning and connecting with fellow attendees. For me, the most valuable part of attending was hearing what other marketers are doing to drive results in their companies. 

If you didn't get a chance to attend here's a summary by the Sherpa team on 8 things you can focus on to improve your lead generation results. 

You can also read the Twitter conversations at #sherpaB2B09

Read: 8 Takeaways from the B2B Marketing Summit 

Read: Sherpa B2B Summit Kickoff: 5 Ways to Increase Lead Gen Performance

Lead Generation Check list – Part 4: Clear and Universal Lead Definition

This is the fourth installment in an eight-part series I’m calling the ‘Lead Generation Checklist.’ With each post, I’m addressing a step that in my experience helps improve lead generation efforts. For the first post, I focused changing your mindset to focus on conversations not campaigns. In Step Two, I discussed how to align sales and marketing as one team. In Step Three, I discussed how to develop and intensify your Ideal Customer Profile - which is all too necessary when determining how to reach your target market. 

Step Four: Create your very own version of the universal lead definition, apply it to every lead, and leave room for the definition to go through rapid iterations as you close the loop with your sales team.

Inquiries are not leads. In fact, I’ve found that as little as 5 to 15 percent of all inquiries are truly sales-ready. It’s no wonder a lot of salespeople struggle with the issue of inconsistency. Some opportunities are given too much focus while others are simply ignored.

One of the best things I can do for my clients is to guide them through the creation of a universal lead definition. This definition acts as the standard for rating leads. Believe me, nothing fancy is required. A good definition is basic and intuitive. And, it should be something that goes beyond marketing so that everyone agrees on the same definition.

A truly useful definition will be applied to all leads regardless of source – whether it’s teleprospecting, inbound calls, direct mail, webinars, etc. Combine it with the ideal customer profile and you’ll get a consistency that always yields higher-qualified leads.

Cold calling and the Complex Sale: observations you can learn from (thanks to my daughter)

I was somewhat shocked to find out that my 14-year-old daughter had searched YouTube recently for any mention of her dear old dad. She stumbled across a video that included a recent mention of my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. (Isn’t it just amazing how easy it is in today’s world for our children to get the goods on their parents? It’s something that my generation will never quite adjust to.) But, excuse me, I’m digressing.

The video turned out to be pretty interesting. It was produced by ASG Group, an European company that helps their clients improve their sales processes. The video features the company’s principal, John Gorman, making some really nice points about teleprospecting. Of course, I’m thrilled that he mentioned my book, but I was also happy to see that he really understands the philosophy we built InTouch around. 

I was impressed by Gorman's first observation: He says that while sales activity seems to be up for a lot of folks, he has to wonder if it’s just because they are cold calling more people. His concern is that this old fashioned cold calling isn’t a part of a systematic, sophisticated approach to sales.

His point is that we need to start thinking like our buyers.

Lead Generation Poll shows converting leads-to-sales pipeline is biggest frustration

I recently hosted a poll to ask fellow marketers which aspect of the B2B lead generation frustrated them the most.

Overall, 34% of the 94 participants replied that converting leads to pipeline revenue is the biggest issue for them. According to the comments, most folks weren’t surprised.  View poll data here 

When poll responses are broken down by company size, we found that converting leads falls slightly below closing the loop for enterprises. And, for 50% of the large companies closing the loop was the biggest frustration. If you look at the results by Job function, you’ll see that converting leads is the biggest issue for consultants, PR professionals, marketers and business developers alike.

Podcast: Unconventional strategies to reach more clients

So, you've put a lot of effort into your lead generation process, and you have a great lead in your hand. Now, what can you do to improve your probability of making a profitable sale from it?

Michael McLaughlin, addresses this issue in his new book, "Winning the Professional Services Sale." And, it’s the subtitle that got my attention: "Unconventional Strategies to Reach More Clients, Land Profitable Work, and Maintain Your Sanity."

What I really like about Michael is that he gets the marketing perspective as well as the sales process. And I had the opportunity to interview Michael recently to discuss his new book. Michael's new book focuses on ways to make the most of those meetings and appointments in order to improve your chances of making a profitable sale.

During this interview, Michael and I discuss:

• Why we need to do a better job of preparing for that first meeting with prospects. We’re spending too much time prepping the wrong kind of presentations and focusing too much on the company and its background.
• How we can conduct a masterful client interview that will help build enduring client relationships. We're not prepping right for the analytical part of the interview.
• When to walk away from a lead. We’re not always using our time and resources wisely.

Listen to podcast now (14 minutes)

Lead Generation Check list – Part 3: Develop and intensify your Ideal Customer Profile

I’ve started an eight-part series I’m calling the ‘Lead Generation Checklist.’ Each post in the series addresses a step that in my experience helps improve lead generation efforts. The first installment discussed changing your mindset to focus on conversations not campaigns. In Step Two, I discussed how to align sales and marketing as one team. I’ve received a lot of great comments from these posts, and I hope you will refer back to them so you can benefit from the nuggets of wisdom by your fellow readers.

Now, for step three... Develop and intensify your ideal customer profile now.

When it comes to customers, it's essential to understand that there may be a wide range of people you could potentially appeal to. But the customer group your business will profit and benefit the most from is the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). And, by prescreening potential customers based on the unique attributes of your prime customers you can determine the set of criteria that will serve as the basis of your conversations.

Here’s the best ways to develop and intensify your ideal customer profile: 

1. Get to know your Current Customers.
Your ideal customers are right in front your nose: your current customers.

Separate your good customers from your bad. Make a list of your top ten - the ones in your sweet spot. What are their attributes and demographics? Make notes about the characteristics they have in common.

Get on the phone to find out what these top customers viewed as the trigger points for choosing you. Ask how you have helped them. Use this information to refine your message to gain more leads just like them.
Review the trigger events or attributes that led them to working with you.
Once you understand your clients and why they have picked you, you can tailor your message around that.

7 prospecting rules that produce leads

Need to improve your teleprospecting efforts? Check out my guest post for ZoomInfo, a blog that offers advice on all aspects of sales and marketing.  The site features industry news, analysis, and surveys. And, from time to time they let folks like me put in my two cents worth. I was happy to contribute with “7 prospecting rules that produce leads.”

I agreed to contribute to ZoomInfo with this topic because I believe very strongly in the power of the phone. The phone is the human touch of a lead nurturing program. Here are a few pointers to think about as you read the article:

• Every opportunity – including cold calling or lead follow-up – should be treated with great respect. Whether it’s the first or third call, it’s important to create value by giving your prospects useful info in bite-size chunks.
• It’s imperative that cold calling become part of a holistic multi-channel lead generation strategy. Create a specialized sales development team within the sales or marketing group or hire a firm that specializes in teleprospecting. Your cold calling plan must be aligned with other outbound and inbound marketing and reputation-building activities.
• Your teleprospectors must be smart, articulate, engaging and organized. Their training should focus on making them productive and sustainable extension of the selling effort.

Here’s the link to “7 prospecting rules that produce leads.” I look forward to reading your comments.

Lead Generation Checklist - Part 2: Sales and Marketing – One Team

I’ve started an eight-part series I’m calling the ‘Lead Generation Checklist.’ Each post in the series addresses a step that will help to make your lead generation campaigns work like a well-oiled machine.

In the first installment, I discussed tackling your organization’s lead generation mindset. Your touches should be conversations not just campaigns. Your “marketing” approach should be more consultative. The post received a lot of great comments. Ardath Ablee was fascinated by one and wrote about it in her blog. I think you’ll find “How to Use Existing Content in B2B Demand Generation Programs” helpful. Thanks Ardath.

Now for Step Two. I want to focus on dissolving the discord that inevitably exists between your sales and marketing teams. 

How long has it been since your marketing and sales teams got together for a really productive meeting? In reality, the best mindset, strategy and tactics – and the most astute sales and marketing individuals – are for naught without the collaboration of everyone involved. It can be tough to meld inherently diverse viewpoints, but it is a critical and often overlooked step in the lead generation process.

There is a direct correlation between lead generation ROI and the frequency that sales and marketing productively meet to collaborate.

Here are a few guidelines that in my experience really help to ensure that marketing and sales connect together as one team: 

1. The departments should document the sales process as a team from first contact to close. Your organization’s way of selling and marketing must confirm to the customer’s buying process, driven by a clear understanding of both the needs and the impact of those needs on both the company and your customers. Keep in mind that each customer will have a slightly different buying process.
2. The activities of both groups should be measured and coordinated with shared goals. Be sure to create value for the customer throughout the process. Ensure that marketing is giving sales something to work with. Sales should be privy to invaluable information that will help them in their selling process. Map tools, skills, and performance metrics along with the process.
3. If you haven’t already, get marketing and sales together to create a formal, concise summation of the value proposition via message map. If you already have a statement, make sure both teams are working off the same version. Wish-washy and unfounded statements about the benefits customers get from working with your organization can be the cause of lead generation problems. For prospective customers, a value proposition essentially answers the questions of how you can help their business, what difference you can make and why your solution is the one they should count on. Your value proposition should be specific, right down to numbers or percentages.
4. Marketing and sales should have regular huddles. Marketing should solicit, study, and act upon feedback from sales. Sales should never ignore a lead and must send it back if it is not sales-ready. Communicate what works and what doesn’t. On-going close-loop huddles will keep you on the same page and offer ways for continuous improvement in your new process. If you do communicate are you doing if often enough? I would suggest meeting once a week. Are your meetings as efficient as possible? Are you really communicating or just pointing fingers?

If you’ve found success in getting your marketing and sales team on the same page drop me a note. I’d love to pass along your advice. Next in the series, I’ll discuss how to clearly define your target market.

Related articles and posts:

Huddles and 35 other way to improve sales and marketing teamwork
Why CEOs Must Be Actively Involved in Lead Generation
Ebook: What sales really needs from marketing
Sales and marketing alignment: tips to getting it right with lead generation

101 actionable tips from 50 business bloggers

I was recently asked for some of my best tips on lead generation to include in “101 Tips from 50 Small Business Bloggers.” The blog appeared in Open Forum’s Idea Hub, a virtual ‘trading post’ of ideas and insights from industry experts and business owners. The response was so overwhelming I wanted to share it with you. 

Let me just mention a few names that you’ll get tips from: Seth Godin from Seth’s Blog, Chuck Frey of Innovation Tools, Mark Cuban of Blog Maverick and Rosalind Resnick of Entrepreneur.com.  They covered the gamut with some actionable tips on everything from the small business advantage to marketing and social media to financial planning and – believe me – everything in between.

It was a pleasure to be able to share, and I appreciate the opportunity. Check it out and then share the wealth:  “101 Tips from 50 Small Business Bloggers”.

What IS and ISN’T Lead Nurturing

While chatting with a client recently, she told me that she had just met with her third new boss this year to explain the company’s new lead nurturing process. The problem was that her boss felt their current integrated marketing campaigns qualified as lead nurturing. We discussed the challenges of communicating what IS and ISN’T lead nurturing.

A lot of marketers say they are “nurturing” their prospects when in reality all they are doing is sending out nice brochures or marketing copy focused on product releases or company announcements.

Look up the definition of “nurture.” Here’s what a quick search of the web will tell you: foster, help develop, or help grow; the act of nourishing or nursing; tender care; education; training; that which nourishes; food; diet; sustenance; the environmental influences that contribute to the development of an individual.

Starting to get my point? Pretty, well-designed fluff is not going to “feed” your prospects. Creating a nice lay-out and clarifying your value statement isn’t going to contribute to the development of your client or your relationship with them.

Don’t just take my word for it. Recently ClickInsights asked six B2B Marketing experts – including myself - what the biggest mistakes in B2B content marketing were. All of our answers differed, but each of us agreed that content focusing more on the consumer and less on the company is far more effective.

Let me break it down even further by giving a few examples of What IS and What ISN’T Leading Nurturing:

Is NOT Lead Nurturing: Sending the same tired company case study over and over again to your list.
What IS Lead Nurturing: Sending a very targeted email that includes content based on the recipient’s role in the company. Sending content based on timing or interest or industry. Sending content based on a previous conversation. Answering a question or offering more information. Sending information that is relevant to their problem.

Is NOT Lead Nurturing: Calling leads that are in the early stages of the buying process every month just to “touch base.”  Calling to basically ask if they are ready to buy yet.
What IS Lead Nurturing: Making calls based on touch point data that adds value to the interaction. Having a valid business reason and goal in mind for each call.

Is NOT Lead Nurturing: Offering brochures and white papers that in essence just pitch your product or service.
What IS Lead Nurturing: Sharing content that's relevant and valuable even if they never buy from you. Giving them information that sticks with them. Giving them information that helps them grow as an individual or company.

Your audience is more savvy than ever. They are also more hungry than ever for some real sustenance. Take advantage of that. Content that IS lead nurturing, will render more qualified leads and more sales opportunities. Content that IS lead nurturing will create a sales pipeline that is more viable and predictable and, ultimately, more profitable.

Think about: when’s the last time you received a marketing email that you actually benefited from? Feel free to share it with me. I think most of us are “hungry” for some real lead nurturing.

Lead Generation Checklist - Part 1: The Mindset: Conversations, not campaigns

Building an effective lead generation program is kind of like baking a cake. There are certain ingredients that are absolutely necessary. You can tweak the recipe a little here and there adding your own special touches as long as you include the main components.

Over the next few months, I want to offer you a ‘recipe’ for building an effective lead gen program. It’s an eight-step checklist. Any one of the eight steps is as important as the others. Fold all eight ingredients into your plan, and you’ll be on your way to getting the kind of results you really want.

First item on the checklist is tackling your mindset. Instead of trying to sell someone, try helping someone buy. Take a more consultative approach. It is an approach to selling in which customer needs are used as the basis for the sales dialogue.

Lead generation should be a series of conversations, not campaigns. Make sure that relevance drives the on-going dialogue which could take place over a rather long period of time.

You have one chance to make a first impression. Your prospects are thinking how you’re selling me, is how you’re going to serve me. And, believe me, your prospects will read you pretty fast.  If your focus is on winning the sale and not on how you can help, you are going to get tuned out. Do your homework and show your prospects that you understand their industry as well as their challenges, and that you aren’t treating them as one and done. Provide detailed instructions or advice on which solution best meets their needs. Make sure the prospect receives value from the interaction.

You’ll become a trusted advisor rather than just the salesperson from the next trendy company. Prospects are going to turn to someone they trust when they need a solution. Having a past based on relevant, informative conversations will build trust and put you in a position to help them buy.

Once you’ve got your mindset right, you’ll need to get your sales and marketing departments on the same team. I’ll discuss tips to get them on track in the next installment.

In the meantime, tell me what challenges you have faced  (or will face) when trying to change the mindset of your company. I look forward to hearing from you.

Poll on lead generation process challenges

Which aspect of your lead generation process is the most challenging?

• Getting a volume of names
• Figuring out which names are valuable
• Passing leads to sales
• Converting leads to pipeline revenue
• Closing the loop on every lead

Take the poll here
Results published next week.

When leads lie, what should you measure?

Thanks to Jim Berkowitz and his CRM Mastery E-Journal for pointing me to CIO article by David Tabor, "When Leads Lie." Check both resources out they are well worth a read.

Here's a few excerpts from Tabor's article: 

Why do leads lie? Leads lie because we think they’re saying something that they aren’t. A lead is not ready to buy. They’re typically not even ready to talk with one of your sales reps. A lead is merely somebody who indicated “tell me a little more,” by clicking on a link, responding to an email, or registering on a site.

Until the leads are cultivated, nurtured, qualified, and converted to contacts, there is no sales cycle.

So when you look at your revenue pipeline, most of the deals won't refer back to leads. It'll make your lead gen look less important than it really is. This goes double if you use the Named Account model of selling.

The bottom line: by focusing on sales-cycle starts (opportunity-creates) rather than leads (visibility events), you’ll be able to measure something that’s meaningful to the business and provide a solid basis for collaboration among marketing, pre-sales, and sales teams. And that’s the whole point of CRM.

Great tips: I agree with much of what Tabor has to say. He emphasizes the most important measurement to for marketers to measure is "sales cycles started" which is what I call lead-to-opportunity conversion rate. The point is your lead generation must connect with your revenue pipeline. If you're not doing that, you're missing a huge opportunity to improve.

Related posts:
Going beyond the sales lead - to help sales sell
Why cost-per-lead budgets fail and fewer leads are better
Moving Marketing Leads to Sales Pipeline best practices data

8 Tips for generating high quality leads that sales people love

Ask most executives and marketers what sales people need to sell in this economy and they will say, "more leads." So their marketing and lead generation focuses on getting MORE leads to their sales team.

But do you know how many of your leads are actually impacting the sales pipeline? We've done numerous lead qualification programs that have shown as little as 5 to 15 percent of all marketing inquiries turn out to be truly sales-ready opportunities.

This is why sales people don't want MORE leads. Sales people want is MORE effective selling time with BETTER leads that have high odds of converting into pipeline opportunities and customers.

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.

Here's 8 tips I use at InTouch that you can implement to drive higher quality leads now:

1. Develop a Universal Lead Definition (ULD) with sales and marketing together
2. Co-develop lead generation programs with your sales team's input
3. Get input from sales on target companies and contacts
4. Rigorously qualify ALL leads against your ULD and pass only qualified leads to your sales team
5. Leverage effective lead management practices
6. Close the loop with sales on leads via feedback huddles
7. Connect sales and marketing data in CRM especially to measure conversion
8. Start lead nurturing now!

Things a B2B company can do to be more social now

I think the hardest part in participating in social media is defining a clear strategy on WHY you're doing it. Then the execution (actually doing it) becomes much easier.

That said, if you're looking for some simple ideas for incorporating social media I came across this great list of ideas by Amanda O'Brien over at the Social Media B2B site. The post has some great tips that I think most B2B marketers can incorporate quickly.

Check out: 10 Things a B2B Company Can Do to be Social Now

Good advice for growing your company from industry experts

I wanted to pass along a great new resource for any company looking to grow revenue or expand. The book is Professional Services Marketing, and you know it’s good stuff because it’s written by Mike Schultz and John Doerr, the co-founders of Wellesley Hills Group and publishers of RainToday.com. I really like that this book is based on the science of how clients buy. You get field-tested expertise, research, case studies and advice from service marketing professionals that work with successful firms.

Professional Services Marketing covers five areas critical to the growth process: creating a marketing and growth strategy, establishing brand and reputation, implementing a marketing communications program, creating lead gen strategies, and developing business by winning new clients.

There’s a special offer associated with the release of this book. If you purchase Professional Services Marketing on August 3 or 4, you’ll get some great additional resource materials from Wellesley Hills Group, RainToday.com and industry experts including:

• RainToday webinar, How to Turn Your Firm into a Marketing and Business Development Powerhouse, with Mike Schultz
• Ardath Albee, Tune Up Your Client Focus Ebook
• Larry Bodine, Thinking Like a Rainmaker - Crafting Your Personal Marketing Plan
• Brian Carroll, Chapter 8: The Phone from Lead Generation for the Complex Sales
• Jill Konrath, Strong Value Propositions Ebook
• Michael W. McLaughlin, Consult This! 67 Tips for Consulting Success
• Michael Stelzner, Writer Industry Report White Paper
• Vickie Sullivan, Speaking of 2009: Top Ten Changes that Shape the New High-Fee Speech Circuit
• Jeanne Urich, Killer Services Marketing White Paper

Buy Professional Services Marketing via Amazon

After purchasing, visit www.professionalservicesmarketingbook.com/bonus-materials and enter your confirmation number to download these resources. Happy reading.

Lessons on Using LinkedIn for Lead Generation

I've heard more B2B marketers citing LinkedIn as a key social network they want to add into their lead generation and marketing strategy. I often get asked questions like "how do you generate leads via LinkedIn (without alienating your network)? How are you doing it? What works, and what doesn't etc." 

In this post, "5 steps for using LinkedIn as lead generation tool," I share what I've learned so far. I'm still experimenting and I'd love to get your input on this.

My colleagues over at MarketingSherpa just posted a terrific case study on Using LinkedIn for Lead Generation. In the case study, they profile a marketing team and their lessons on "joining LinkedIn groups, sharing relevant marketing collateral, and qualifying the leads that come through the channel."

Here’s a quick look at the 6 lessons they learned:

Lesson #1. Target groups by activity level (relevance), not just by size
Lesson #2. Join groups under your own name, not a company
Lesson #3. Place collateral in the context of a conversation
Lesson #4. Response rate is highly variable
Lesson #5. Create social media-specific landing pages
Lesson #6. Quality can be an issue with leads from LinkedIn

Read MarketingSherpa: Using LinkedIn for Lead Generation: 6 Lessons

Resource: 2009 Social Media Marketing and PR: Benchmarks and Best Practices

Related posts:

Read 5 steps for using LinkedIn as lead generation tool
Savvy B2B Marketing: Using LinkedIn to Gather Industry Intelligence

You may also want to check the B2B Lead Generation Roundtable Group on LinkedIn. This group is all about sharing ideas that focus on the many aspects of B2B lead generation such as lead nurturing, lead management, teleprospecting and more. The group has grown to 2500 members in just 8 week but I'm even more excited about the quality discussions. I'm learning a ton from members. Check it out

Social media's impact on web forms and landing pages

More marketers are embracing social media and inbound marketing practices for lead generation. That's a good thing.

I’ve written about how you can leverage social media tools like blogs, twitter, LinkedIn, etc. to drive interested visitors to your website or landing pages to register for educational content and other assets. It works.

But remember most people coming to your website aren't coming to your website to buy. They are coming to your site for information. People start to question the value of giving up too much info on forms before you've earned their trust.

Have you thought about your web forms? Are you asking for far too much information before you've earned their trust?  I wrote about this in my post, Why Most B2B Sites Fail to Convert Sales Leads. I would add that you need to leverage a robust lead qualification process too.

Earlier this week, I came across a relevant post by Chis Koch (@Ckochster) on “how old-school data capture is poisoning marketing and what to do about it.”

In his post, Chris dares us to rethink how and if we should gather information from prospects. He writes, “As social media becomes more prevalent in marketing, we’re going to have to rethink how we gather information from prospects.” Check out his post. I agree.

You'll do better by thinking of lead generation as a process of micro-conversions that build an opportunity profile over time, such as requesting an email address, then asking for first and last name, later requesting a phone number, and so on.

I read of one company that trimmed down the registration to include an extremely simple, two-field form. Conversion rate more than tripled with this simplification. At the same time, the company expanded their email follow-up process and was able to increase the total amount of personal data collected over time.

Related posts:

7 Tips on how B2B marketers can leverage social media
How to use social media for lead generation

Tips on 6 biggest mistakes to avoid in B2B content marketing

Each month ClickDocuments asks industry experts a specific question on content marketing. This months question is, “What’s the biggest mistake to avoid in b2b content marketing."

I'm in good company again this month with Patsi Krakoff, Maria Pergolino, Ardath Albee, Rebel Brown and Mac McIntosh.

If you want to improve your inbound marketing, social media and lead generation results, I encourage you to check out this post.

Webinar on Putting the Human Touch into Lead Generation

There are numerous tactics for generating leads these days — everything from the traditional email or phone call to the explosively popular social media craze. However, the real challenge is not necessarily in generating leads, but more in truly connecting with them. It doesn’t matter how many leads you generate if they aren’t willing to listen to what you have to say next.

You need to develop and then engage in memorable and relevant conversations with prospects. To do that, you need that “human touch.”

Watch recorded webinar (event sponsored by emedia)
(requires Windows Media player)

Announcing a new family member

I seldom write personal posts but I'm making an exception to share my joy. Lydia Faith Carroll was born on 7/8/09. She is 7lbs 6oz and 19 inches long. Mindy and Lydia are doing great!

Lydia getting some rest : )

Our first family photo with Lydia as a happy family of five! I feel very grateful and blessed.

Five steps to help create your universal lead definition

I’m amazed that 90% of the companies I’ve talked with over the last six months lack a clear definition of a sales lead really is – that is their sales and marketing departments don’t agree on a universal lead definition. By not asking and answering a few critical questions, these teams are working inefficiently, wasting time and money, and in effect, crippling the bottom line. Teamwork is the only way organizations can achieve maximum ROI.

To get your lead generation program on track, I recommend that your organization start by creating a universal lead definition. By following these five steps, you’ll create a definition that not only works but that gets better over time.

Steps for defining a universal lead definition:

1. Meet - Get those who are marketing and those who are selling together in a room or on a conference call. You need a leader/facilitator with "street credibility." The premise of the meeting is that we're all in this together.

2. Ask this question to sales team: “For us to be 100% certain that when we send you a lead that you will act on it and provide feedback on 100% of the time, what do you need to know? At what point do you consider a lead qualified?  Now shut up and listen. Dig. Dig. Dig. Everybody must play.

3. Don't stop with just one meeting. Summarize the notes from your meeting and have another meeting to clarify and make sure everyone is satisfied with the definition. You need to have a strong consensus.

4. Publish the Universal Lead Definition everywhere so people who are involved in new customer acquisition are reminded often about their target and objective.

5. Close-the-loop via huddles before leveraging software. Sales/Marketing should meet bi-weekly to review if the lead definition is still accurate. Ask questions like: Was X a lead? Did they enter the sales process? Why or why not? What else would you like to have known about this lead? How can we improve? What should we stop doing? What should we start doing?

It won’t take long to reap the benefits.  And, I guarantee you that improved ROI won’t be the only one.

Related Posts:

Closed Loop Feedback: The Missing Lead Generation Huddle

On Lead Qualification: Steps to Convert Inquiries into Viable Sales Leads

A common lead generation practice using B2B inbound marketing includes offering white papers, demos, trial software, or other content assets in exchange for registration information. The problem is that many marketers immediately turn these form registrations (aka web inquiries) over to the sales team as "leads."

If your sales team perceives the majority of "leads" passed to them are no good, they're unlikely to spend time tracking prospects down.

I’ve already written about why lead quality should be emphasized over quantity. But, how do you weed through all those web inquiries to get to those that are truly ready for the sales team to engage so you can nurture the rest?

Here's a lead qualification process that may help you turn your web inquiries into viable sales leads: 

Step 1 - Create a marketing funnel
The purpose of the marketing funnel is to bring inquiries (aka leads) into one spot (your marketing database) and qualify them. The marketing funnel creates sales-ready leads and nurtures the leads that aren’t sales ready. Lead qualification must first classify leads according to their "sales readiness" and business fit; and second, to manage all the incoming leads effectively.

Step 2 - Create the universal lead definition, and apply it to the remaining inquiries.

There are must-have questions your sales team must know in order to feel that an inquiry is worthy of being called a lead. Ask yourself:

• What’s the company’s size, industry, and geography. At this point, you may want to remove inquiries based on specific marketing requirements or limitations. For example, you may remove foreign email address, student email addresses or contacts residing in locations or industries that you don’t serve. This step could reduce 5 – 10% of entries.

• Ask business situation questions such as number of users, current systems platform, etc.
• What is registrant’s role in the organization, or what is their authority in the buying process?
• Based on their business need, how can you help?
• What stage of investigation are they in the buying process? Many registrants are actually still early in the buying process and are conducting general market research. These contacts are very valuable and should be nurtured and managed over time—but these folks clearly aren’t people who are ready to buy. Be honest about what the search marketing effort is designed to achieve and is capable of accomplishing.

Purge those inquiries containing bogus information. It’s amazing how creative people can get. Remove duplicates and invalid names and email addresses. Keep in mind that simple forms tend to generate less invalid info rather than lengthy, time-consuming forms. People start to question the value of giving up too much info. Trim the form by about 20% to avoid this.

I read of one company that trimmed down the registration to include an extremely simple, two-field form. Conversion rate more than tripled with this simplification. At the same time, the company expanded their email follow-up process and was able to increase the total amount of personal data collected over time.

Step 3 - Create a behavior model to prioritize leads based on activity and data.

Apply lead scoring to prioritize your leads on order to follow-up in step 4. What lead scoring does is assign a point value to who prospects are, how they interact with your company and what their need is for your product. Most marketers give higher scores to those further along in the buying process based on their engagement. Lead scoring works best if you have 200+ inquiries per month. Otherwise it might be overkill.

Use your CRM or marketing automation suite to prioritize based on:

• Level or engagement through touch points such as repeat web visits, downloads, or clicks.
• Size of organization
• Fit

You can measure all these touch points, but in the end if you want to know something you’ll need to talk to someone and engage them in conversation.

Step 4 - Use the phone (or email) to qualify high priority leads based on the scoring.

The phone is the gold standard for qualifying most leads. There’s no better way to engage. We have also found email to be a great way to create a one-to-one dialogue by asking questions. (Test this first with your audiences.). You can also leverage lead qualification service providers to do this for you. 

Using these channels to nurture web registrants, learn more about each one, and then provide personalized and relevant information over time. You should be spoon-feeding prospects, provide truly valuable information, while moving them through the buying process.

Related Posts:

Why Most B2B Sites Fail to Convert Sales Leads
Lead Nurturing is about Relationships, not e-mails
Using Kaizen to improve your lead generation results in 90 days or less

B2B Marketing Zone launched

A new B2B marketing community that I am participating in was just launched. The B2B Marketing Zone is a marketing community site that was launched as collaborative effort between Tom Pick and Tony Karrer.

The community features content from other B2B marketing bloggers I enjoy such as Ardath Albee (Marketing Interactions), Paul Dunay (Buzz Marketing for Technology) and Jon Miller (Modern B2B Marketing) as well many others. If you’re looking for insights from other experts in B2B marketing I recommend you check it out.

On Lead generation: Insist on lead quality over quantity

Under increased pressure to help drive revenue in this challenging market, many of us are tempted to throw as many leads as we can to our sales team.

We can tell ourselves that more leads are better because it lowers the cost-per-lead and gives the sales team more activity. But don’t be one of those lulled by this false sense of security. If you really want to make a difference in your company’s sales, dig deeper. Focus on metrics that go beyond cost-per-lead, and more importantly, focus on quality first then quantity.

Do you know how many of your leads are actually impacting the sales pipeline? I've done numerous lead qualification programs that have shown that as little as 5 to 15 percent of all inquiries turn out to be truly sales-ready opportunities. And while there are other influences such as sales training and refining the lead handoff process, lead quality stands out as the single largest factor driving the real ROI of our lead generation programs.  

The only way to ensure quality is to make sure that all leads, regardless of their source, meet the standards set by the universal lead definition. At its most basic definition, a lead is a potential customer who wants to learn more about what you have to sell and that has acknowledged they have a business problem you can help solve. Couple this definition with elements from the ideal customer profile and you have the beginnings of a meaningful lead definition. However, for the lead definition to be useful, it must be applied to all leads whether they are received from a webinar, a website, or from teleprospecting.

Creating the universal lead definition is a collaborative effort.  When working with clients the first thing we do is facilitate meetings and bring marketing and sales leaders together. A universal lead definition (ULD) begins to take shape as we ask ourselves a few basic questions including: What makes a good sales lead? What are the job functions/titles of economic buyers/influencers?  What information is necessary in order to qualify a prospect etc.?  I'll write more about this in a future post.

Once we’ve agreed on the Universal Lead Definition, we can begin to efficiently weed through the inquiries in order to discover the fruitful leads. Then and only then, can we begin to measure the cost of our efforts. But don’t get caught up with the cost-per-lead. Dig deeper. Cost-per-lead budgets are irrelevant unless you can first measure cost-per-opportunity or cost-per-lead-pursued by sales. Programs may generate many low-cost responses, but they don’t turn to opportunities at the same rate, making opportunity a critical metric. 

Creating a lead qualification process that works is challenging, but don’t shortchange your sales team by focusing too much on cost at the front end of the demand generation cycle. You’ll fail to measure the impact on the generation of real opportunities. Closed loop approaches where marketers focus on optimal spending at each stage of the sales cycle minimize the frustration factor and save time, ultimately saving lots of valuable dollars. Focus on quality and make sure that all leads meet up to your sales’ departments standards and then… start nurturing!

Related posts:

B2B Lead Generation Blog: Why cost-per-lead budgets fail and fewer leads are better

7 Tips on how B2B marketers can leverage social media

In B2B sometimes we need to remind ourselves that people don’t buy from companies, they buy from people. That’s why why I think social media has a lot of potential for B2B marketers and sellers. Why? Social media tactics are wonderful for building and supporting business relationships and making yourself more available to connect with your current and future customers. 

If you are still on the fence or if you are still struggling with how to fully utilize social media, I encourage you to check our Ambal Balakrishnan’s article, “Tips on how B2B marketers should leverage social media.”

In the article Ambal asked me and 6 others to share our thoughts on using social media, and we steer you towards some our favorite reading resources, too.

ClickInsights: Tips on how B2B marketers should leverage social media

Moving Marketing Leads to Sales Pipeline best practices data

A key challenge B2B lead generation is driving leads from the marketing funnel to the sales pipeline. MarketingSherpa just published a chart that shows which best practices are marketers NOT using to effectively manage their marketing-to-sales pipeline process. Check it out.

The one that stands to me is the last one, "have a process for handing leads back to marketing" when they are not sales ready. We call that lead reengagement and it's a form of lead nurturing.

Lead reengagement is one of the most powerful ROI tools marketers have available to them. Why? You're getting more out of the money you've already spent by going deeper within the opportunities you already have. It seems like common sense, but the reality is, I know of very few companies that think about it, because they assume it's the salespeople's job.

Related post: Lead reengagement gives you more out of your lead generation investment

What best pratices and processes do you think marketers should be doing to move more marketing generated leads to the sales pipeline?

On Inbound lead nurturing

I had a great time with being a professor at the inbound marketing university. Here's my presentation deck on inbound lead nurturing (CV201) via #IMU for those who missed it.
#8 IMU: Inbound Lead Nurturing (CV201)

View more OpenOffice presentations from Hubspot Marketing.

You can check out all the other classes or register at: http://www.inboundmarketing.com/university

Related notes written by others:

Jennifer J. Breazeal on Inbound Lead Nurturing (IMU)
Peg Mulligan's on IMU Converting Leads (CV101, CV201, CV301)

5 Lead nurturing tips to create relevant and engaging emails

A recent MarketingSherpa survey of email recipients found that 58% of those who stop reading, disengage, or unsubscribe after cite "lack of relevance" as a key factor. This is hugely important because most marketers rely on email as their main lead nurturing tactic.

As B2B marketers, we should have it drilled into our brains that relevance must be an essential part of our lead nurturing touches. But be honest: How well are you really connecting with your audience?

I encourage you to look beyond your unsubscribes and find a true measure. Start by considering all those prospects that are simply ignoring your emails. I read a blog post on by Steve Woods on "Emotional Unsubscribes" that's definitely worth checking on this topic. 

It’s a common phenomenon. I receive emails often from companies that “know” me, but their emails certainly don’t show it. Their creative and graphics-laden emails don’t speak to my concerns at all. And each irrelevant message I receive is basically programming me to ignore or delete future messages from them. I don’t even bother to unsubscribe. I'm sure that's not their intent but they are missing the key idea of relevance.

So, how do we align better align our email and nurturing messages with what is relevant to our audience? 

Consider the following 5 ways to build more relevance into your emails: 

Tip 1. Stage in the buying process: Be sure to provide different kinds of information to your prospect based on what point they are in the buying process. If you have a complex sale, the best way to I know how to do this is to combine a human touch to build relationships with your lead nurturing message. If they are an early stage lead and they are just starting to get familiar with the business issues you solve, don’t send them the same copy that you would send someone who is on the verge of making a decision.

Tip 2. Industry vertical: Industry information will more than likely tell you what pains your prospects are experiencing, while company size will give you a hint as to the resources they have available to tackle these challenges. Be sure to add this information to your marketing data often so that you can easily define your target segments based on these indicators.

B2B Lead Generation Blog on list of top 100 blogs

Looking for tips from expert sales people and marketers across the world? Take a look at this list of 100 Blogs to Boost your Sales Skills. The list, generated by The Fixer-Upper Blog, is comprised of sites that will offer you tips in the latest sales and marketing techniques. 

The list is divided into categories including: personal sales, build up to corporate and international clientele, marketing for more sales and lead generation. It’s a list worth checking out. And, who knows, maybe you’ll find a few new blogs to add to your reading list. 

Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales (and Marketing) Skills

Lead Nurturing is Walking the Buying Path with Your Customers

A recent study of B-to-B buyers shows that sales people who become trusted advisors and understand the needs of economic buyers are 69% more likely to come away with a sale! That’s why forming a plan for lead nurturing is such an integral part of your lead generation process.

I wrote an full article that outlines the basic steps to help you get started down the path of lead nurturing success, but here’s a quick synopsis:

1. Walk IN your potential customers’ shoes.This means thinking like your customer and considering the questions they will have for you and your company.Consider the questions that customers have in mind before they make a buying decision:

    * How will this product/service help my company?
    * We’re doing okay, why do we need it?
    * Is there another company out there that is better?
    * Will their solution really work? Can they prove it?
    * Is the company credible?
    * Can we afford it? 

Help prospects find the answers to these questions, and you’ll remind them of the benefits of working with you. You’re creating value by giving them useful information in digestible, bite sized chunks.

2. Plan your path. Figure out which methods of answering these questions work best for your company. They’ll have to be timely and relevant.

3. Now, walk the path WITH your customer. Think of yourself as a tour guide. You’ll need to keep your prospect company along the way, all the while building trust through an honest relationship. Most economic buyers subscribe to the notion that how you sell me indicates how you will serve me.

4. Keep marching. Make sure you put on some comfy shoes, because complex sales require a long-term commitment and lots of walking. Companies that make plans with this fact in mind are tremendously more successful than companies who are set on taking shortcuts.

Read the full article "Lead Nurturing is Walking the Buying Path with Your Customers"

Free inbound marketing training program to help you get ahead

If you are a marketing professional looking to gain new skills in this competitive workforce or a marketer between jobs check out the Inbound Marketing University’s marketing retraining program. All classes will be taught by industry experts with years of hands-on experience in the topics they will be discussing.

I will discuss Inbound Lead Nurturing. This class will be based on my 14 years of experience creating and executing lead nurturing programs for InTouch. Other classes focus on effective blogging, SEO tactics, uses for Facebook and LinkedIn, and landing page best practices.

You can check out all the classes at: http://www.inboundmarketing.com/university

Other professors leading courses include: Chris Brogan from New Marketing Labs, Mack Collier and Ann Handley both from MarketingProfs, Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz, Eric Groves  from Constant Contact, Jeanne Hopkins  from MarketingExperiments, Lee Odden  from Top Rank Online Marketing, David Meerman Scott, author of New Rules of Marketing & PR and Marshall Sponder from Monster.com.