CEOs: Plan NOW to do these Three Things in 2022
Segmentation – Nurturing – Playbook
Segmentation
I am going to date myself. I can remember playing marbles as a kid. If you ever played marbles, you know that there’s a difference between Swirls and Agates. A Swirl costs 25¢. Agates are more like $5. If you pay $5 for a marble, you are going to want to make sure you bought an Agate and not a Swirl.
Pretend for a moment that each marble represents a unique prospect. Some are valuable ($5 Agates) and some are not as valuable (25¢ Swirls). Unfortunately, many marketing programs are run as though there is no difference between Agates and Swirls.
It is as though prospect names come in at random, get shaken up in a jar and then campaigns are run without regard to the value of each prospect. It would be the same thing as selling a jar of marbles without regard to the mix between Swirls and Agates.
Option 1 below is what happens when you treat swirls (prospects) like agates. Option 2 clusters like value marbles (prospects) into logical groupings so that testing can occur to identify and market to the highest potential prospects rather than treating all prospects equally.
Option 1 - Contact Everyone in the Database
| Entire Database | Lead Rate | # of Leads | % of spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 | 5% | 50 | 100% |
Option 2 - Focus on Best Performing Segments
| Segment Size | Lead Rate | # of Leads | % of Spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 9% | 18 | 20% |
| 200 | 7% | 24 | 20% |
| 200 | 5% | 10 | 20% |
| 200 | 3% | 6 | 20% |
| 200 | 1% | 2 | 20% |
By focusing on the best performing segments — rather than your database as a whole — you optimize your prospecting efforts.
To understand more about segmentation click here.
Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing triples the return on marketing programs.
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, voice mail 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.
Standard B2B Lead Generation
One lead generation cycle against list of 1,000
No activity directed towards Pipeline, True Nurture, and No Response Prospects
| Initial Lead Rate | ||
|---|---|---|
| 5% | Highly qualified sales lead (generateds via inbound and outbound) | 50 Leads |
| Total | No additional qualified generated by excluding nurture programs | 50 Leads |
Advanced Lead Generation
Multiple lead generation cycles against a list of 1,000
Includes nurturing activity directed towards Pipeline, True Nurture, and No Response prospects
| Initial Disposition Rate | ||
|---|---|---|
| 5% | Highly qualified sales lead (generateds via inbound and outbound) | 50 Leads |
| 5% | Pipeline dispositions - 20% will become highly qualified sales leads within 4-6 weeks if properly nurtured | 10 Leads |
| 25% | True Nurture dispositions - 27% will become highly qualified sales leads within the next 2 sales cycles if properly nurtured | 68 Leads |
| 35% | No response prospects - 7.5% will become highly qualified sales leads within the next 2 sales cycles if nurtured properly | 28 Leads |
| Total | 3x more qualified leads generated by adding nurture programs | 154 Leads |
To understand more about nurturing click here.
Playbook
SDR’s armed with the right story and executing the right process generate more revenue. The playbook provides SDRs’ with the messaging and tactics to perform as a top player. Playbooks replace Chaos with Kick Ass.
Without the insights, messaging, and the right processes, SDRs either hesitate to make calls or have continuous questions for guidance and confirmation that they are doing a good job.
A well written playbook makes the SDR team more effective and allows other team members to stay focused on the highest value activities.
The viewpoint that playbooks allow you to hire relatively young, inexperienced SDRs who “paint by the numbers” (using the playbook) doesn’t really work. The SDR needs to be able to carry on a high-level conversation with the targeted decision-maker(s) – most young, inexperienced SDRs can’t do that. Hire experience, provide the right information (in a great playbook) and measure everything. That is what works.
Playbooks turn Chaos into Kick Ass! To understand more about the Playbooks, click here.