The phrase, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” originates in St. Jerome’s commentary (400 AD) on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In Latin, the proverb is “Noli equi dentes inspicere donati” (never inspect the teeth of a given horse). As horses grow old, they grow more teeth, and their existing teeth begin to change shape and project further forward. The phrase “long in the tooth” comes from the same origins. In essence, the proverb warns that you should not inspect the mouth of the horse that has just been given to you because it is thought to be rude and unnecessary (at least at the time the gift is given). To a greater rather than lesser extent, this is exactly what sales does when they receive a “lead” from marketing.

Over the last four years I have written about:

How too much time and attention are focused on inbound marketing at the expense of outbound marketing and how that focus leads to smaller deals with lower-level decision-makers.
Why it is important to nurture qualified companies that are not immediate opportunity-a step missed by many if not most companies leading to wasted marketing spend.
How multi-touch, multi-media, multi-cycle processes (cadences or sequences) multiply results.

Some things never change.

This time we are going to talk about how sales reps look a gift horse in the mouth, why and what to do about it.

According to a well-known industry analyst, average companies close just 2.89 deals per thousand inquiries while best in class companies close over 14 deals per thousand inquiries. Best in class companies close more deals because their teams spend more time trying to qualify opportunities into the pipeline rather than trying to qualify as many as they can out. That is looking a gift horse in the mouth. Here are some common mistakes:

Following up on a lead by placing one telephone call or sending one email and assuming that the lead must not have been qualified if you don’t hear back from the prospect (even highly qualified leads require UP TO twelve follow-ups over a period).
Allowing leads to die in lead purgatory rather than sending them back to marketing for other qualification and/or nurturing.
Making assumptions that lead to starting the sales process at what I call “Step 5” rather than at the right step. Here are the steps with comments:

Step 1: Find a pain or need (usually either generated by marketing or proactive inbound).

Step 2: Get agreement that there is pain or need (if this is not done by marketing, and it usually isn’t, it needs to be done by sales).

Step 3: Getting agreement to do something about the pain or need (even if marketing does Step 2, sales usually need to get involved in Step 3).

Step 4: Agreeing on a generic solution (a critical step mostly skipped by sales reps).

Step 5: Agreeing on a customized, specific solution (yours, and this is where sales reps generally start when following up on leads).

These five, simple, steps are the reason most companies are wasting marketing and sales investments. You have personally heard the call.

Senior management: We need more leads (and, oh by the way, you get less budget).

Sales: The leads suck.

Marketing: We never get any specific feedback on the leads we turn over to sales (just that they suck).

Senior management: we need better leads (that cost less).

Inbound marketing specialist: I have just the stack. Recognize that SEO and other digital marketing takes time…

Sales: Where are the leads?

Marketing: According to our vendor, they should be popping out of the XYZ Tool soon.

Senior management: That is what you said last quarter… and last year.

Digital marketing, including marketing automation and Account-based Marketing has made it easier to get more poor-quality leads to sales faster than ever before. If marketing continues to pass “leads” to sales at Step 1, and sales continues to sell into all leads as though they are at Step 5, things will not improve.

If you don’t make some changes, you might find yourself behind the south end of a north bound horse.

Why not call me to discuss how you can fix it? And, If you want to read more about proverbs and their origins, click here.The phrase, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” originates in St. Jerome’s commentary (400 AD) on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In Latin, the proverb is “Noli equi dentes inspicere donati” (never inspect the teeth of a given horse). As horses grow old, they grow more teeth, and their existing teeth begin to change shape and project further forward. The phrase “long in the tooth” comes from the same origins. In essence, the proverb warns that you should not inspect the mouth of the horse that has just been given to you because it is thought to be rude and unnecessary (at least at the time the gift is given). To a greater rather than lesser extent, which is exactly what sales does when they receive a “lead” from marketing.