When B2B marketing awards are announced, they get a lot of play in the press, and in the marketing interwebs. Award-winning marketing organizations can be intimidating to watch, and induce a lot of jealousy in everyone else. When you see their killer websites, chock-a-block resources libraries, and see their leaders speak on stage, you’re left stunned.
“There’s gotta be a HUGE gap between us and where they are!” you might think.
Look more closely at what they’re doing, and you’ll see that you’re not so far away from that award-winning state. In fact, you’ll probably figure out their secret pretty quickly: they focus on a small set of lead management activities, do them consistently, and do them well. That’s it.
By focusing on a smaller set of lead management activities, you’ll accelerate your performance as well, and increase your sales output to the same (or even better) level as those award-winners. Let’s take a look at three of these lead management best practices that you can focus on too.
1. Develop a complete lead management process
By focusing on a complete, lead management process that spans both Marketing AND Sales, you’ll improve your content consistency, and really focus in on what matters to your prospects. Your lead conversion rates will increase because you’re better at leading them down the sales cycle path with your content.
2. Dedicate resources to marketing content
That means hiring enough marketing directors, managers, and copywriters to keep up with your content plan. Most award-winning brands have already done this, and are constantly able to keep their marketing channels stocked with well- conceived and -written content that attracts and engages leads.
3. Understand the relationship between marketing and overall company profit
Employees who understand how their work affects the company’s bottom line tend to produce higher quality work. Marketing and Sales employees who understand how their lead management activities affect the company’s profit line produce at an even higher level. According to a study from Aberdeen, 81% of the best marketers can identify their most and least profitable marketing programs—almost twice the industry average.
Your Turn
Have you started using any lead management best practices from your industry-leading marketers? If so, which ones? Hit the comments and let me know, I’m curious to hear your stories.
