Regardless of which acronym(s) you bought into (CRM, SEO, ABM… there are over 8,000 of them) marketing is still more difficult, takes much longer and is more expensive than it should be. 

CRM is the black hole leads fall into never to be heard from again. SEO is a game invented by search engine companies—it reminds me of Clark Griswold playing guess the number in the movie “Vegas Vacation,” where you just can’t win. And, ABM, supposedly the antidote to the SPAM cannon that is marketing automation, is mostly IP based, not very accurate and makes it possible to get more bad quality leads to sales faster than ever before. 

Earlier this week I was with a friend who recently retired from a consulting job where he did very well.  He made a point that stuck with me. Any problem that takes more than 24 hours to identify and solve may not be worth solving. In his view, consultants engage clients in long-term market analysis, voice of the customer research, storytelling workshops and more. These engagements take a long time and are extremely expensive. You pay $553 per hour to train MBAs right out of college – they learn on your dime and then charge you more on the next project. 

I can think of two total addressable market (TAM) projects “suggested” by private equity companies and delivered by well-known consultancies that cost north of $150,000 and were a total disaster. For a small fraction of that cost, these companies could have learned what they needed to know and been executing revenue producing projects in days rather than studying the market for months.

If, as an example, you have a database of any size and you are concerned about data hygiene, select the top 10% of most likely targets and work them first. Work your way down the list and at some point, you will reach the point of diminishing return. Probably halfway through your list or less. Doing it this way allows you to pay as you go. You are driving revenue while you intelligently clean up your database.  

There is no such thing as a good list

At some point you will have to go outside your database to acquire new prospects. I get asked all the time: What is the best list. My answer is always none of them. A great list does not exist. The following is excerpted from a blog called “Building your Total Addressable Market”:

List testing is cheap and just makes sense. The easiest way to explain is with this story:

I was visiting a client to talk about program results. The client let me know they were going to ask us to follow-up on a direct-mail piece going to 685 senior executives in the New York City metropolitan area. It was an expensive mailer—about $12.35 each. The offer was an upscale dinner in NYC followed by an NBA game.

My first question was “have you tested the list?” The client said no. They said that it was an expensive list and the vendor guaranteed 100% deliverability. I suggested that they take a few extra days and call into 100 of the targets. I told them we would do it at no charge.

The results:

Half of the list was outside of the New York City metropolitan area (the target market due to proximity to the restaurant and the game).

Of the remaining half, 20% had no contact name associated with the company (the mail house would have mailed them anyway—and the mail would have gotten dumped or would have otherwise been wasted).

More than 10% of the remaining addresses were bad. Many of the companies reported that the contact was no longer employed by the organization.

The bottom line is that we trashed the entire list, built them a new, accurate list (for a fee) and they enjoyed excellent campaign results.

Remember: List testing is cheap and a no brainer. And, it can be done quickly. And it does not require expensive consultants. 

You are throwing money away every day you don’t effectively nurture prospects

Lead nurturing can triple the return on most marketing programs. Effective nurturing is something you can do today.  The payoff is dramatic. Imagine, tripling your return on marketing programs with close to zero extra cost.  

Nurturing is essential for successful lead generation—both inbound and outbound. In fact, I propose that nurturing is the most underutilized marketing activity at a marketer’s disposal. Additional contact using a defined cadence—including phone, voicemail and email—across multiple cycles is well worth the time and expense. Nurturing programs increase the lead rate significantly, tripling your return on marketing investments. 

Standard B2B lead-generation programs produce an average 4-5% lead rate.

Advanced lead-generation programs (which include nurturing) produce an average 12-15% lead rate—three times higher.

Note that there are three groups of prospects that require nurturing:

1. Marketing Pipeline. These are prospects with a specific planned next step to be taken within a reasonable timeframe.

2. True Nurture Opportunities. These are fully qualified prospects who are not immediately interested.

3. No Response. These are contacts past the point of diminishing return on a given touch cycle.

You can read more about nurturing and view an infographic on the return on nurturing here. 

Tech is not the answer—you probably already have all you need

Before you invest another penny in new technology, make sure you are optimizing the return on your existing investments. Maximizing the return on your database (without overspending on database clean-up projects), testing new targets before rolling them out and then nurture prospects to triple return on marketing investments are three points out of The 12-Point Prospect-Experience Transformation Process and summarized below:

1. AGREED UPON LEAD DEFINITION

Get agreement on what constitutes a lead—and enhance the prospect experience.

2. TOTAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET

Rather than prospect in what seems like a bottomless pit, focus your efforts and save money.

3. MARKET SEGMENTATION

Prioritize high-return segments increases results by up to 50% and reduces cost of sales by as much as 30%.

4. ACTIONABLE MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Do not waste a single touch. Capture the insights that help you sell more.

5. VALUE STATEMENTS

Uncover the value that prospects in your market niche expect and clearly articulate it.

6. DEFENDABLE DIFFERENTIATORS

Create messaging that will generate great results; then get the coaching you need to put it in action.

7. PLAYBOOK

Document everything needed—techniques, tools and messaging—to help everyone succeed.

8. MARKETING RESOURCE ASSESSMENT & PLAN

Most companies produce far more content than needed. Identify exactly what’s required to get the job done.

9. BENCHMARKING, METRICS AND REPORTING

Make sure you understand what needs to be measured and reported to maximize results.

10. CADENCE MANAGEMENT

How many dials, voicemails and emails per touch cycle? How do you test and optimize? Make sure you know how.

11. MULTI-CYCLE NURTURE PROCESSES

Nurturing is powerful but frequently not executed with persistence and professionalism. Learn what works.

12. TECHNOLOGY STACK

Identify the tools that truly add value vs. those that distract your team and waste your budget.     

In a 20-minute call we can help you determine the best place for you to start. Reach out!