This prospect gets it. Sales ignores marketing’s leads for good reason. What to do about it.
I’ve been working with a prospect for about six months and we had the most remarkable conversation last week. For what are probably obvious reasons I can’t name the company or the decision-maker. He’s a mid-level manager in a huge organization, and his insight and candor are worth your time:
“I just got off a call with the field marketing people about automating the inbound leads (hand-raisers). The marketing people (not sales) have been pushing to get these to the local markets without being qualified. (Getting) major push back from field marketing and I’m sure that sales will just ignore the unqualified, so-called, leads.
“I’ll be honest, I was kind of happy to hear the response from sales because it shows the benefit of qualifying the leads before passing them to sales. I find that the shortsightedness of marketing trying to simplify the process without considering what sales needs/wants is what’s likely to waste time and money.
“My biggest frustration here has always been the disconnect between marketing and sales. I created and managed a group that worked closely with sales – even one on one with the salespeople prospecting and qualifying opportunities in their markets. (It) worked very well and was very profitable. The challenge is how to make the cost more manageable. I truly believe you get what you pay for.”
We went back and forth for most of the morning last Friday and he added the following at the end of our conversation:
“Every prospect needs to be “resolved” even if it’s a quick email turning them down – too often they are just ignored and get no response, and this leaves a bad impression of your organization.
“While this may not seem like a big deal, people do remember. Give them a positive experience even if you can’t help them and they will remember that, whether its future business or even referrals. Magnet marketing – you want them to think of you when they or someone they know has a need.”
Three takeaways from this conversation:
1. Dumping raw, unfiltered, unqualified leads on sales is a huge waste of money.
The good news is that this cycle can be broken by implementing programs that identify and nurture the most likely sales candidates. By sending your sales force not ambiguous but prioritized, highly qualified leads, they are empowered to use their time more effectively and close more business. At the same time, by targeting and identifying only the highest-return segments, it is possible to decrease your marketing costs. You can read more about this in an article I wrote for Atlanta CEO Council.
2. Scoring leads is usually not the answer.
Senior execs don’t want to be treated like the human equivalent of a pinball—capturing your attention only after hitting the right bumpers and scoring enough points. More importantly, these high-ranking executives are about 2.5 times more likely to respond to a quality multi-touch campaign (calls, voicemails, emails, and in some cases direct mail) than are their direct reports. Read more here.
3. Taking responsibility for following up on a lead is table stakes.
Yet, a large percent of leads that go to sales are either not followed up or lightly followed up. In a blog entitled “Five Ways to Avoid Getting Burned by Outsourced B2B Sales Lead Generation” I wrote about the non-intuitive reasons sales does not effectively follow-up on leads. They might say “I called twice, and they did not call me back, so they must not have been a real lead”. One of the #1 complaints I hear from high-level executives (prospects) is that they get calls and emails from salespeople that are of interest, but they expect the salesperson to call or email a second or third time and when they don’t, they are forgotten. Executives appreciate persistence with professionalism.