From leads to new customers:

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1 From leads to new customers: Three phases of successful lead follow-up Content Overview Only a structured lead follow-up process is successful Starting point Concrete interest is more valuable than address lists Lead generation process: Lead campaigns deliver potential customers Checklists for the follow-up process Phase I: Establishment of initial personal contact and appraisal of needs Phase II: Grouping of contacts simplifies further processing Phase III: Marketing or sales teams work with the contacts according to interest level Acquiring new customers is not an easy task. The path from generating a contact to closing a deal is long and oftentimes difficult. It should be planned step by step because a lead does not automatically become a new customer. With indiscriminate telephone calls and undirected s, it s hard to turn a lead into a customer. Lead campaigns by Deutsche Messe Interactive (DMI), however, are an effective means for lead generation. They deliver qualified leads that respond to your interest in selected topic areas. A more efficient and well-structured follow-up process increases the prospects of success when it comes to securing a new customer. In order to achieve this goal, the marketing and sales teams must follow an effective strategy, divide tasks clearly and develop an active relationship with the potential customer. The following will provide a description of how an ideal lead campaign and structured follow-up process look. Starting point: Lead generation Acquiring new customers is both one of the most important and the most difficult thing that a company does. There are many methods for generating new contacts from cold calling to marketing campaigns or trade shows. The important thing is: contacts who have already shown an initial interest in the company s products or services do not need to be convinced of the benefits anymore, which makes them worth more! In this regard, there is a marked difference between e.g. purchased addresses, which do not reflect the contacts potential interest, and lead campaigns by a specialised provider like DMI. Lead campaigns make it possible to develop the recipients interest level through targeted content and deliberately applied presentation formats. 1

2 Structure of a lead campaign Campaign mailing In the first step of a lead campaign, a target-group-specific mailing is sent out. Indeed, this kind of provider has no direct influence on increasing sales; however, they can provide important customer potential. The efficient exploitation of this potential is in the hands of the marketing and sales teams. The steps that need to be taken in order to follow up with a contact vary according to how far each potential customer is along the decision-making process. In practice, this means: while some newly acquired contacts must be slowly drawn toward the products and services with comprehensive information materials, riper leads already want to look at offers and, in the best-case scenario, can already be put in direct contact with the sales team. The sales and marketing teams should work side-by-side in order to turn a contact into a customer. The marketing team provides the essential groundwork: using targeted measures, they activate the target group s interest. When appropriate, the marketing team hands over the contact to the sales team, who then sets the sales process in motion. However, before things get to that stage, it s worthwhile to have a look at a professional provider s contact generation process described in the following through the example of a lead campaign. Landing page On the landing page, the potential customer signs up for the offered content. Content Professional contact generation: Building a lead campaign In order to ensure that a company gets a list of leads that fit its needs, a target group for the lead campaign should be defined in cooperation with the marketing provider. This first step should include the definition of lead criteria in terms of industry, company size, function and position of the contacts as well as the number of leads and content format that will be used to arouse the recipients interest. Based on the defined criteria, professional marketing providers like DMI match their clients with a selected target group from their contact database. As a subsidiary of Deutsche Messe, DMI has access to the visitor and exhibitor databases of CeBIT, HANNOVER MESSE, DOMOTEX and other leading trade shows with more than three million current decision-maker contacts. In order to activate potential interest, DMI also advises its clients about effective content formats, implements webinars or works closely with clients to develop a well-founded whitepaper DMI s custom-made DIRECTOR S BRIEF. DMI delivers leads to its clients at regular, close intervals in order to ensure that the leads do not lose interest in the interim. For this very same reason it s important that clients begin the lead followup process as quickly as possible. The content of lead campaigns can vary, from the DIRECTOR S BRIEF that DMI produces to tailored whitepapers and webinars. 2

3 PROCESS OF A LEAD CAMPAIGN Checklist for successful lead follow-up Definition of the target group DMI &? Target group Format Number of leads Lead criteria Lead generation DMI Creation of content Needs-based lead generation Delivery of leads Phase I: Initial contact The lead follow-up process begins immediately after contact generation. This process makes or breaks marketing measures and determines how many new customers can ultimately be acquired from the generated contacts. Based on the content formats used for lead generation, companies can see how interested the contacts really are in their products or services, as well as what concrete needs a recipient has. For instance, a contact that downloads a whitepaper signals a general interest and requires a targeted follow-up. If the background materials highlight a special issue, that particular aspect can be applied as the starting point for further contact. For leads who take part in webinars, companies can suppose an even higher interest level, because webinars require an online presence at a particular time as well as a long attention span. PHASES OF SUCCESSFUL LEAD FOLLOW-UP I Initial contact II Grouping Group Lead A+ Lead A Lead B III Processing Group Lead A+ Lead A Lead B Pre-grouping based on lead generation format Initial contact Level of interest Very high High Medium Department Sales Marketing Marketing To Do Offer Infos Newsletter Such newly acquired knowledge should certainly be applied in the initial contact, which should take place as quickly as possible after the information is delivered by the service provider. There is a danger that recipients will lose interest or take care of their needs elsewhere. In the best-case scenario, the initial contact takes place over the telephone. In a personal conversation, the lead s individual needs and possible disposition to buy can be precisely gauged. Marketing personnel should end the initial contact with a request for a further conversation, then follow up with an that provides additional information or find the contact in social media. In short: the provider must develop an active relationship with the lead. In the long term, the challenge is to connect the company s solutions with the customer s needs. Phase II: Grouping phase In this phase of lead-processing, potential customers can be put into three groups according to their interest level: contacts with a very high interest level are put into the first group (lead A+), contacts with a high interest level go in a second group (lead A) and the third group consists of leads with a medium interest level (lead B). The grouping determines where contacts are to enter into the nurturing cycle, i.e. how further personalised customer care should look and which team should carry it out. 3

4 DIFFERENT FORMATS GENERATE DIFFERENT INTEREST LEVELS: Setting appointments A+ Leads Webinar A+ Leads Need for information from a specific provider Clear buying interest High-level information requirement High-level interest in communication about products and services Whitepaper A Leads Survey B Leads Technical information requirement Interest in an offered solution General information requirement in the topic area Initial interest Phase III: Processing Contacts in the first group with very a high interest level should be processed directly by the sales team. After a personal conversation, companies can promptly provide an offer, enter into negotiations and, if appropriate, give the potential customer case studies to consolidate the decision-making process. Leads in group two should first be handled by the marketing team. It s the marketing team s task to prepare the contacts as effectively as possible and hand them over to the sales team if the interest level is high enough. In this second group, the marketing team must provide the lead with further information according to specific needs. This can be a matter of whitepapers or webinars that meet the lead s specific needs. Any information that can be collected in advance in terms of company size, industry or particular focus points should be applied when personalising the marketing content. Using this information, companies should be in the position to anticipate future needs in order to carry out more targeted measures and achieve higher conversion rates. Contacts in the third group also require further handling by the marketing team. Companies can use newsletters to ensure that they keep the contact s attention in order to move them as quickly as possible in the direction of group two and from there into group one. It s important that the marketing team is informed of how leads are developed. Each contact at each point in the sales process must be automatically and traceably registered via CRM system to be used in the subsequent contact process. Just because there is currently no concrete need for a product, doesn t mean that there won t be one in the future. Effective contact maintenance is the alpha and the omega. In practice, this means: the sales team sends non-ripe contacts back to the marketing team. The marketing team develops a relationship with the leads. When the contacts are ready, they are given back to the sales team. The goal is to convince the leads by means of high-quality materials that the company offers the best solution for their individual needs. Result A lead is not automatically a new customer. Turning a lead into a customer requires effective and structured lead follow-ups in three phases. Various contact interest levels require various forms of processing, which should be carried out either directly through the sales team or through the marketing team. The sales and marketing teams should work hand-in-hand to turn the lead into a customer. The marketing team provides the essential groundwork and turns over the lead to the sales team as soon as the lead is sales ready. 4

5 About Deutsche Messe Interactive (DMI) Deutsche Messe Interactive GmbH (DMI) was founded in 2009 as a subsidiary of Deutsche Messe. DMI has exclusive access to databases of trade fair visitors of CeBIT, HANNOVER MESSE, CeMAT, LIGNA, BIOTECHNICA and DOMOTEX, including more than 3 million current B2B decision-makers. DMI uses trendsetting online dialogue marketing services to generate relevant new B2B contacts for its customers based on this data, particularly for the areas of ICT, industry and logistics. Furthermore, DMI realises trade-fair-related services, including extensive exhibitor presence on the event websites of Deutsche Messe as well as external customers. Would you like more information? Please address your query to: contact@messe-interactive.de Deutsche Messe Interactive 2014 Publisher: Deutsche Messe Interactive GmbH Lister Straße Hannover Germany CEO: Eric Berger Phone +49 (0) Fax +49 (0) contact@messe-interactive.de 5