Chart of the Week: 60% of marketers say personalization is a key strategy for improving the quality of leads being generated
Lead generation is an important part of marketing, especially now that many companies are getting rid of the internal silos and sales and marketing are working more closely together. However, it isn’t just the number of leads you need to consider when measuring success; you also need to take lead generation quality into account.
The quality of your leads essentially tells you how likely they are to become customers, with high-quality leads being the most sought after. But exactly how do you attract leads that are more likely to convert?
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While there are a huge number…
"Diamonds are forever but converted customers are even better" (unknown digital marketing guru). We couldn’t agree more, and marketing automation is the perfect tool for optimizing your conversion funnel. We invite you to read on to learn how to streamline your funnel with an automation tune-up.
As diamonds make their way from mine to shop, an assortment of professionals carefully tends to them, transforming "rocks" into luxurious jewels. Much in the same way, businesses strive to convert leads into valuable assets, i.e. customers, by nurturing them along their journey from awareness to conversion. Marketers call this a "conversion funnel", and marketing automation, such as that offered by leading email marketing platforms, is all about making the best funnels possible.
Yet, the automation of your conversion funnel has another far-reaching benefit. The process of building and configuring automated activities for your funnel forces you to frame your efforts in a strategic perspective, considering…
Chart of the day: Website lead response management research
If you're involved in a business where you collect leads from your website you will know the importance of timing - 'timing is everything'. For example, for a financial services or travel company who offer brochures for download, phone follow-up is still often an effective technique if the profile of the lead fits. Of course, within B2B marketing, this approach is even more common when offering whitepapers to help prospects learn about a product or solution.
Today's chart-of-the-day isn't as recent as most we feature, instead it's a classic study designed to identify what day of week, time of day and time from creation to call back a web-generated lead for optimal contact and qualification rates.
The full report summary gives details on contact times (similar to best mail contact days Wednesday and Thursday are far more effective than other days and surprisingly, 4…
An example of separating the Wheat from the Chaff and Why BANT isn't dead
Lead qualification criteria are characteristics that help to classify a lead by the degree of its willingness and readiness to buy. As a result of this qualification, one can distinguish, in terms of making a purchase, the leads with the most and least potential: hot, warm, and cold.
In lead generation there are usually two stages of qualification: marketing and sales qualification. The first one is done by a team responsible for a marketing activity. The sales qualification is done to confirm the information from a sales perspective.
Ideally, a number of marketing and sales qualified leads must coincide. If a sales department rejects lots of leads, you most likely need to correct your marketing qualification criteria or to add a new criterion. Of course, sometimes it happens that the criteria are correct, but a sales department determines, through reasons…
Overcoming Marketing-Sales Tension
Tension between the sales and marketing departments plagues companies of all shapes and sizes. One of the biggest sore spots is the feeling among sales personnel that the “leads” delivered by marketing are worthless.
Typically, this is not entirely true, but an impression that develops as sales reps grow tired of chasing inquiries that turn out to be dead ends. Nevertheless, even the impression is bad; when reps sour on marketing leads, they may overlook or go through the motions on terrific leads, thinking they are more “junk.”
If marketing adds lead validation to the process, this tension not only can be eliminated, but also can result in tremendous gains in lead follow-up efficiency and new business production.
What Is Lead Validation?
If you are not familiar with lead validation, do not be worried — few marketers implement it. For the…
