Most B2B companies (and companies in general) are laser-focused on generating more leads. It’s always about the leads.
However as with most things, it’s not just about volume, but rather, the quality of the thing. In this case, leads. They should be looking to generate higher quality leads. After all, a single lead that turns into a customer is better than 50 leads that don’t turn into anything, right?
Money coming in says I’ve made the right marketing decisions. — Adam Osborne
Since 95% of marketers say that lead quality is important to them, here are three ways you can improve your lead quality and convert more of them to sales.
1. Understand what is a sales-qualified lead
This simple concept can cause a lot of friction between Marketing and Sales. In fact, it’s a pretty common issue in many enterprise companies, compounded by the fact that many marketers don’t even know what a sales- or marketing- qualified lead is. Establishing the guidelines and characteristics for each type will ensure that each group is working with the highest quality lead possible, and can have more opportunities to convert them to sales.
2. Start lead scoring
Lead scoring is a “methodology shared by Sales and Marketing that ranks leads to determine their sales-readiness.” B2B companies can do this in a variety of ways, like:
- Assigning points to each lead
- Using terms like “hot”, “warm”, or “cold”
- Ranking each lead according to a pre-defined set of characteristics
Have both Sales and Marketing give input into what is a qualified lead, and then share that information between each group. Depending on the fit and interest of the lead, the appropriate group can take action.
Not sure you’re ready for lead scoring? Well, you should be. Aberdeen Research found that companies that do lead scoring have a 192% higher average lead qualification rate.
3. Nurture your leads
Lead nurturing is a critical aspect of any B2B marketing program. The B2B buying pipeline is so long in today’s market, you must “establish buyer preference for your products“, while you secretly learn the art of buyer timing. Gaining insight into the buyer’s decision making process is difficult, and timing your content with their decision is even harder. That’s why you should be continually producing content for them to consume. You must deliver sufficient value and interest to them.
Bonus tip: In today’s era of permission-based marketing and new contact laws coming into effect, it’s important to get your lead’s permission to remain in contact with them. Otherwise you may run afoul of anti-spam legislation and other more complex legal issues.
Since you’re already focused on generating more leads, why not use these three tips to get better leads?
