The Top 10 Tricks for Sales Lead Generation. April 4, 2013 Ruth P. Stevens

Transcription

1 The Top 10 Tricks for Sales Lead Generation April 4, 2013 Ruth P. Stevens

2 Everyone hates cold calling The sales function is your single most constrained resource. You can triple sales productivity by reducing the number of cold calls sales people need to do. Just heading out for a round of cold calls, Boss! 2

3 Lead generation is job 1 Source: Omniture B2B Online Marketing Guide

4 TRICK #1: Decide what is a lead Lead generation Identifying prospective customers and assessing their likelihood to buy, in advance of making a sales call. A sales lead The name, contact information and background information on a prospective buyer. A qualified lead A prospect who is ready to see a sales person. 4

5 Badges zapped at a trade show are not qualified leads

6 Trick #2: Do the math. How many leads do you need? Revenue quota per rep $3,000,000 Percent of quota self-generated 40% Quota requiring lead support $1,800,000 ($3M*1-.40) Revenue per order $60,000 Converting leads required ($1.8M/$60K) 30 Conversion rate 20% Qualified leads required per rep (30/.20) 150

7 Trick #3: Use the most productive inquiry-generation media Solicit leads at your website. Ask your customers for referrals. Search engine marketing. SEO SEM Outbound telemarketing. Direct mail, including dimensional mail. Trade shows, if the audience is highly qualified.

8 Turn your website into a lead generating machine

9 Lead generation media that are less productive Cold to rented lists. Broadcast advertising. Print advertising. Trade shows, all other. And what about social media?

10 58% of marketers are using social media for lead generation, up from 7% in 2011 Source: 2012 Social Media Marketing, SocialMediaExaminer.com

11 Applying social media to lead generation objectives Objective Medium Application Inquiry generation Lead qualification Lead nurturing Add an offer. Drive to landing page. Collect data. Supplement outbound communications with research on networks. Keep in touch with unqualified prospects via every possible medium.

12 TRICK #4: Use direct-response communications Direct response is targeted, measurable communications that ask for a response. To be successful, you must: 1. Ask for the response. 2. Track the responses using a unique key code. 3. Manage/analyse the inbound and outbound communications via a database. 4. Give an incentive to respond (the offer ). Keep in mind: Lead generation is fundamentally different from branding or awareness communications. 12

13 TRICK #5: Include an offer You need an offer to drive the response. The natural inclination of a prospect is to do nothing An incentive mimics the power of the sales person. Don t delude yourself into thinking the product will sell itself. 13

14 Checklist of proven B-to-B offers More information Premium (gift, book) Trial period Sample Free shipping/handling Drawing/contest Free installation Continuity/replenishment Self-assessment tool Seminar or webinar Demonstration Discount Sales call Free lunch Consultation or audit Estimate ROI calculator 14

15 The #1 offer in B-to-B today: Information-based products, aka content White paper Research report Case study Infographic Brochure Webinar, podcast Article reprint Book, ebook Video Demo 10 Tips document

16 TRICK #6: Plan for campaign responses Be ready to deliver on the offer you made. Send out the white paper Deliver the demo Offer multiple response media. phone, web, PURL, BRC, fax,

17 TRICK #7: Qualify the leads Not all leads are created equal. You must find out if the prospect is ready to see a sales person, according to predetermined qualification criteria. Method 1: Ask the qualification questions on your response form. Method 2: Use follow-up communications to qualify. is ideal Phone is traditional 17

18 Setting qualification criteria Establish your qualification criteria in cooperation with your sales force. Never, ever, pass an unqualified lead to sales. 1. Demographics Company size, industry, geography Individual and corporate Potential sales volume 2. Activity/behavior: Buying signals Recency, frequency, significance (download, demo) Lead source (search term, offer, ad medium) 3. BANT Budget, authority, need, timeframe

19 RightNow goes for quality. 19

20 King Industries created its own custom qualification criteria Specialty chemical manufacturer. Uses trade shows to generate leads. 5-year sales cycle. Key criterion is sample requests.

21 TRICK #8: Use a lead scoring system A: the prospect is ready to see a sales rep. B: the prospect still needs nurturing, but the contact is to be done by the sales team. C: the inquiry still needs nurturing, to be done by marketing. D: an inquiry that is not worth nurturing. Put it into the marketing database for ongoing communications, or throw it away. 21

22 Lead scoring: The weighting method Criterion Score Score Score Score Score Budget $0-50k 2 $50-100k 3 $ k 4 $250k+ 5 Authority recommend 4 specify 3 use 2 approve 5 purchase 1 Time frame 1-3 months mo mo. 1 Rep call? yes 10 no 0 Budgeted? yes 5 no 0 Example Sales wants any lead with a 15+ score to be sent to them immediately. They would receive a lead representing an inquirer with: a budget of $80,000 (3 points), approved (5) who is planning to buy this quarter (5) who is the end-user of the solution (2) They would also receive a lead representing an inquiry: from a purchasing agent (1 point) for a prospect with an urgent need (5) who wants to see a sales person (10), but has no budget approved yet 22

23 TRICK #9: Nurture inquiries that are unqualified 45% of all business inquiries result in a sale eventually. Don t let your competitor get the business. Institute a nurturing process. A series of communications to build awareness and trust, and maintain contact till the prospect is ready to see a salesperson Some nurturing tactics: newsletters Outbound telephone Event invitations New product announcement 23

24 Why does nurturing pay off? Campaign Responses Responses generated 100 Qualified Leads Immediately qualified 5 5 Unqualified 95 Post-campaign Lead pool 95 Contacts reached (60%) 57 Qualified via outbound communication (20%) Nurturing pool 84 Qualified via nurturing (30%) Cumulative campaign lead total: 41 24

25 TRICK #10: Measure campaign results Activity-based metrics: Cost per thousand Response rate Cost per inquiry Campaign turn-around time Qualification rate Cost per qualified lead Results-based metrics: Conversion-to-sales rate Sales revenue per lead Campaign ROI Campaign expense-torevenue ratio 25

26 Thank Visit MaximizingLeadGeneration.com for a free sample chapter.