Get Better Leads - Sales Lead Management Association S… · recognize that generatng more leads...

A Publication of Exceed Sales

Get BetterLeads

7 Tools to Optimize Lead Quality

Solve the Sales & Marketing Debate

http://exceedsales.com/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION

2. MAKE EXPECTATIONS REALISTIC

3. HAVE A CLEAR REPORTING STRUCTURE

4. PLAN TO SUCCEED

5. USE LEAD DEFINITIONS

6. COMPENSATE TO MOTIVATE

7. BALANCE YOUR PROCESSES

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7 Tools to Optimize Lead Quality

© 2016 Exceed Sales, Inc. All rights reserved

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elisa Ciarametaro is the Principal of

Exceed Sales, a sales and inside sales

consultancy. Elisa helps sales and

marketng executves increase

productvity and efectveness. Her

strategic insight and hands on

implementaton approach has helped

companies avoid pitalls, incorporate best

practces and quickly realize sales results.

3

For more informaton contact Elisa at:

[email protected] | Phone: 212.799.0777

Exceed Sales, Inc.

320 West 83rd Street, Suite 1H

New York, NY 10024

Elisa has been recognized by the SLMA as one of the 50 Most Infuental

People in Sales Lead Management, was a Board Observer with the MIT

Enterprise Forum and resides in NYC with her husband and son. Learn more

at www.ExceedSales.com or at Elisa’s blog, www.ExceedSales.com/blog.


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The DEBATEThe LEAD QUALITY BLAME GAME

Lead quality, quantty and conversion are stll top of mind for sales and marketngexecutves. But the work of getng beter leads ofen sparks a deep confict aboutwhere problems lie. The debate goes something like this:

Marketng believes sales is not following up on their leads. Sales believes the leadsthey receive from marketng are unqualifed. Management imposes solutons tonarrow the gap, but stll problems persist.

Everyone loses when sales and marketng play the "blame game." And it doesn'thave to be this way. It is possible to get collaboraton between sales andmarketng and move toward fnding solutons together. The purpose of this bestpractce guide is to give management new tools for solving the lead qualityconfict, so everyone benefts.

INTRODUCTION

4© 2016 Exceed Sales, Inc. All rights reserved




The Importance Of Lead Quality and

Quantity

The fndings revealed in Lead Generaton Poses Biggest Challenge for B2Bs, (eMarketer, 2013) states that “the primary objectve of lead generaton amongB2Bs was improving the quality of leads, cited by 58% of respondents, followed byconvertng more leads to customers, at 55%. A lesser 42% cared most aboutgetng more leads, showing that for B2Bs, targetng the right people andcompanies is more important than getng as many prospect names as possible.


https://themarketingautomationreport.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/lead-generation-poses-biggest-challenge-for-b2bs-emarketer/




Media Horizons points out in Lead Generaton Trends For 2014, that as “B2Bcompanies look to increase their marketng ROI in the year ahead, B2B marketersrecognize that generatng more leads (78%) and generatng quality leads (60%)are the biggest challenges they’re facing in 2014, according to a study fromMarketngProf.”

Quantty and quality both drive lead generaton success. Sales and marketngdepend on each other to get more and beter leads. How can management makeboth more successful?

Management needs steps to align sales and marketng teams when it comes tofnding, nurturing and closing good leads. The solutons below are designed tohelp you:

• Generate more leads• Improve the quality of leads• Convert more leads to customers• Fill sales pipelines with qualifed opportunites• Foster collaboraton and beter communicaton• Improve the morale of your sales/marketng teams • Exceed sales and marketng quotas


http://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2013/12161/b2b-lead-generation-trends-for-2014-whats-hot-and-whats-not




Next you'll fnd seven solutons designed to help you make this happen:

1. Assign Who is Responsible for Resoluton. The buck stops where?Management’s role is to lead consensus between Sales and Marketng.

2. Make Realistc Expectatons. Goals and expectatons are necessary. Basethem on real data.

3. Have a Clear Reportng Structure. Depending on the organizaton, SalesDevelopment may report to Sales, Marketng or both.

4. Plan to Succeed. Do you have a plan?

5. Use Lead Defnitons. Why is a universal lead defniton so hard to developand follow?

6. Compensate to Motvate. Verify that compensaton rewards performancethat meets desired goals.

7. Balance Your Processes. Defne operatons and reportng processes and ask:Are they helping or hurtng?

If you are concerned with aligning Sales and Marketng to build a predictablerevenue stream to meet your annual revenue number, these insights can guideyour steps to generate beter leads.





The buck stops where? Management’s role is to lead consensus between Salesand Marketng.

It might be temptng to let Sales and Marketng work things out amongstthemselves. But this is not likely to succeed because each group is biased. Salesand Marketng both think they are right. Management needs to step up to facethe issues without taking sides. As the old adage goes, there are two sides toevery story and in the middle lies the truth.

The executve who is responsible for sales and marketng is uniquely positoned toprovide a neutral forum and sense of perspectve. When both report to the sameexecutve, that executve needs to show that each "side of the story" is importantto the company's success. Marketng needs to generate lead quality and quanttythat converts to revenue. Sales must follow up consistently and religiously on theleads sent by marketng. Each side can help the other keep "their side of thebargain" for career and company growth.

So who solves the sales and marketng dilemma in diferent size companies andcorporate cultures?

Summary: While it depends on company size and corporate culture, theexecutve with direct oversight over Sales and Marketng should ensure that salesand marketng goals and company targets are met.

ResponsibleFor Resolution

Who Is

Tool #1





Goals and expectatons are necessary. Base them on real data.

Executves usually place high expectatons on the teams they supervise. Theywant:

• A consistently full sales pipeline • High quality leads• High quantty of leads• A predictable revenue stream• High leads-to-close sales rato• Increased revenues • Increased botom line results

Make your expectatons realistc. Executves who determine the annual revenuegoal by seat-of-the-pants reckoning usually set up unrealistc expectatons.

It is true that a company needs to predict how much product or service they aregoing to sell annually. The queston becomes how the annual revenue number isderived. Is it realistc? Many tmes it is not and the annual lead number to reachrevenue goals become unrealistc as well.

ExpectationsRealistic

Make

Tool #2





The logical realistc approach would be to look at the following data to arrive at anachievable annual revenue goal:

• Historical third party revenue predictons • Compettve historical revenue goals and atainment if no prior sales data

exists for your company• Historical sales data for your company • New clients added per year• Old clients retained per year• Product/service sales price • Product/service sales cycle • New product/service introductons • Pricing model changes: Example SAAS-Sofware License• Market changes• Market segments: Increases/decreases• Target market concentraton: New/saturated/established/mature





Once an annual revenue number is determined, setng sales and marketng"lead" goals should te into the annual revenue number. Marketng is expected tofll the pipeline with a high quantty of qualifed leads and the sales team isexpected to follow up on these qualifed leads with the intent that many leadsresult in revenue. However, if the annual revenue number is unrealistc, it is highlylikely that the number of qualifed leads generated to form the pipeline isunrealistc.

In summary, ensuring the annual revenue goal is realistc helps to beter plan fora realistc "lead" goal.





Depending on the organizaton, Sales Development Representatves may reportto Sales, Marketng or both.

Sales Development is traditonally responsible for outbound prospectng andfollow-up with inbound marketng leads. The functon of Sales Development is toqualify potental buyers to fll the sales pipeline, and provide a predictablerevenue stream to aid sales in meetng their revenue goal.

Possible Reportng Structures for the Sales Development Team

There are three practcal ways to set the reportng structure for the salesdevelopment team:

REPORTINGStructure

Have A Clear

Tool #3





1. Sales Development reports to Sales and Marketng, when the later ismanaged under a sales-and-marketng umbrella.

2. Sales Development reports to Marketng.3. Sales Development reports to Sales.

Reasons vary from company to company in deciding whether Sales Developmentreports to Sales, Marketng, or both. It is imperatve that wherever it reports, thedollars and resources are allocated and commited for this functon to succeed.

You may want to have Sales Development report to Sales for the following reasons: Sales is responsible for the revenue number – therefore, the group thatcontributes to the annual revenue number reports to Sales.

1. Adjustments, changes, and improvements can be more quickly identfed andcorrected or accommodated.

2. Ownership, responsibility, and accountability is easier to manage.3. Tighter control over the sale pipeline can occur.

You may have Sales Development report to Marketng for the following reasons:

1. This is more traditonal and acceptable; status quo.2. Marketng is responsible for awareness, so why not let marketng take it as

far as possible in qualifying leads.3. Marketng is performing other functons like buyer persona and target

market. Sales development, a natural progression for marketng , shouldremain in marketng.

4. Marketng needs data derived from prospect and customer interactons tounderstand the target market, so why not have marketng control thefuncton.

Summary: The reportng structure for Sales Development should be clearlydefned, whether it is organized under Sales or Marketng.





Do You Have a Plan?

Your ability to align sales and marketng depends on a good understanding ofthree factors:

1. Knowing who determines and enforces sales and marketng accountability2. Knowing the realistc annual revenue numbers that you have determined and

agreed upon3. Using the approved reportng structure for sales and marketng personnel

With this knowledge, you are ready to plan for sales and marketng goals. Adeveloped plan is necessary to monitor success.

SUCCEEDPlan to

Tool #4





Benjamin Franklin said it best: "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!"

Here are some of the questons to address in the plan. This is by no means anexhaustve list, but a representatve set of factors to manage:

• What is the annual revenue number?

• How many sales/business development representatves are needed toachieve the revenue goal?

• How many sales development representatves are needed to support thesales/business development representatves?

• What is the job descripton for sales and sales development?

• How will inbound marketng be done?

• Who will follow up on inbound leads?

• How will outbound prospectng be done?

• Who will perform outbound prospectng?

• How will marketng awareness be generated?

• What metrics will be established?

• How do we review progress actvity/results?

• How ofen do we review adjust?

Summary: To align sales and marketng to your goals, it is important to createand implement a plan to achieve and monitor success.





Why is a Universal Lead Defniton so hard to develop and follow?

One of the most important ways to unify sales and marketng is for both sides tocollaborate, create and agree upon a universal lead defniton and ideal customerprofle. A common understanding of the ideal prospect will do a lot to uncovermore sales-ready leads.

Lead quality largely depends on creatng a good universal lead defniton and idealcustomer profles. However, these defnitons are ofen hard for companies tocreate and implement.

DEFINITIONSUse Lead

Tool #5





A lead defniton is a scale and ratng system to identfy the least qualifed to mostqualifed leads. An ideal client profle is a set of atributes that describes thecharacteristcs, needs and wants that best describe your ideal buyer. Though thisalone won't resolve the sales and marketng debate, these defnitons:

1. Provide a viable, singular defniton for sales and marketng to qualify against2. Clarify what is and what is not a qualifed opportunity3. Determine how lead nurturing should occur4. Determine where lead passing should occur 5. Help representatves beter qualify a lead

In additon to developing the lead defniton and ideal customer profle, it isimportant to understand and defne your target market. Who is the ideal contact? How do they buy? One way to increase lead quality is to start at the verybeginning to ensure:

• Marketng materials and content speak to the needs of your ideal customerprofle

• Lists contain the names, job ttles, phone numbers and email addresses ofyour target audience

• Marketng eforts center on the locaton of your target market

Once you have your defnitons in hand, the next stage is to implement them inyour sales and marketng operatons.





Use these lead defnitons when outbound prospectng or following up oninbound inquiries. Outbound prospectng is reaching out to prospectve clients.Inbound marketng is having prospectve prospects reach out to you.

Inbound marketng contributes by bringing in a greater quantty of leads.Prospects may:

• Download a whitepaper• Sign up for a newsleter• Atend a webinar• Stop by the booth at a tradeshow

These leads are most likely “marketng qualifed leads.”

The inbound qualifcaton process needs to determine whether:

• You are speaking to an infuencer or decision maker• You have uncovered a pain point• You have uncovered a trigger event • You have uncovered a need/want • You have alleviated the pain uncovered





Potental leads require nurturing. Nurture these leads at the marketng level tofnd their potental.

The same qualifying process applies to outbound prospectng as it does forinbound marketng. You need to know whether:

● You are speaking to an infuencer or decision maker● You have uncovered a pain point● You have uncovered a trigger event ● You have uncovered a need/want● You have alleviated the pain uncovered

Unless you have qualifed the lead, it should not be passed to sales as a qualifed,sales-ready lead. Setng an appointment does not mean that the qualifyingcriteria have been met.

Unless you qualify leads before setng the appointment, sales will say -- rightullyso -- that the appointment is not qualifed because there isn't a compelling need.





There are tmes when sales will not require full qualifcaton before the lead ispassed.

1. The sales reps/business development reps are new to the territory and wantto build their pipeline by developing passed leads that have “interest only.” Itis then the sales representatve's responsibility to make progress with theleads.

2. A new product or service is being introduced and sales development is callingaccounts, prospects and customers to see if there is interest in the newofering.

3. A new market is being entered and sales development is calling accounts todetermine the viability of the market.

In these cases, the sales or business development team may be interested intalking to prospectve clients to gather frst-hand data to make decisions.

Good lead qualifcaton is the only way to get sales to follow up on sales-readyleads.

In summary, it is important that you focus on your target market. Whetherinbound marketng or outbound prospectng, focus on key qualifcaton criteriato ensure higher lead quality from an increase in quantty. Create an idealcustomer profle and lead defnitons and ensure all content and lists focus onpenetratng your target market.





Verify that compensaton is designed to reward performance that meets desiredgoals.

Compensaton should be designed to motvate performance that achieves thedesired results. But does it? Let's take a very simple example. We motvatesalespeople by paying them commission for selling. So they get paid for thedesired actvity, results and behavior we want them to accomplish. But do we do the same for the sales development representatves who supportsales and business development teams? We want sales developmentrepresentatves to generate many highly qualifed leads. Do they play a role inhelping sales/business development exceed their numbers?

The frst step in providing a compensaton plan is to fairly compensate salesdevelopment representatves in a way that motvates them to produce the resultsdesired. Just as sales or business development receive a salary and commission tomotvate them to close deals, so can compensaton plans motvate employees inother parts of the company for their role in producing the desired results.So how do you compensate sales development representatves?

MOTIVATECompensate to

Tool #6





Let's take the situaton in which sales development representatves are taskedwith generatng leads. Compensaton can reward the desired productvity:

● If lead quantty is important, compensate for the lead volume they cangenerate during a stated period.

● If lead quality is important, compensate for the quality of leads they cangenerate during a stated period.

● If lead quantty and quality is important, compensate for lead quality andquantty the sales development representatves generate during a statedperiod.

Additonally you can compensate for contributons they make to the sales teamtoward reaching their number as well as compensatng on MBO’s and providingspifs.

In summary, it is important that sales development representatves arecompensated to motvate them to achieve desired goals.





Defne operatons and reportng processes and ask: Are they helping or hurtng?

Processes are important--implementng them avoids chaos, ensuresstandardizaton, and improves efciency and efectveness.

Sales and marketng processes should support closed loop reportng. You need tobe able to see the results of marketng-generated leads that entered the salesprocess. This indicates which actvites are most worthwhile, and what you needto adjust. Your process documentaton and reportng systems should include thefollowing:

1. Utlizaton and customizaton of a central sales force automaton system2. Inbound lead and outbound prospectng processes3. Lead distributon processes4. Lead nurturing process5. Lead conversion processes6. Opportunity, forecastng and win/loss reportng7. Universal lead defniton8. Inbound and outreach guides 9. Territory alignment10. Sales/buying process

PROCESSESBalance Your

Tool #7



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These are just a few of the processes to ensure a closed loop sales and marketngsystem. But while processes ensure order, they can also impede the goals of the department, for example Sales and Marketng.

• Was it a good process if it extends the sales contract process?• Was it a good process if it provided slow customer service? • Was it a good process if it reduced the sales development outreach tme?• Was it a good process if it makes it difcult to gather sales intelligence?• Was it a good process if marketng cannot track leads to closed sales?

There is a fne balance between developing processes to streamline operatons, and managing the process of improving them. The huge data collecton and monitoring tasks stemming from these processes can prevent employees from doing their jobs as efciently and efectvely as possible, and can hurt revenue generaton. While processes are necessary, there is a risk it can be so demandingthat it impedes the departments from reaching their goals.

Summary: Develop processes that enable you to improve efectveness andefciency without hurtng revenue generaton.





Sales and marketng can work together to improve lead quantty, quality, andincrease revenue. Management does not have to become onerous or resort totrial-and-error to beter align them toward common goals. The purpose of thisbest practce guide is to give management new tools to solving the lead qualityconfict, so everyone benefts.

These seven solutons help quiet the debate, and ignite collaboraton:

1. Assign Who Is Responsible for Resoluton. The buck stops where?Management’s role is to lead consensus between Sales and Marketng.

2. Make Realistc Expectatons. Goals and expectatons are necessary. Basethem on real data.

3. Have a Clear Reportng Structure. Depending on the organizaton, SalesDevelopment may report to Sales, Marketng or both.

4. Plan to Succeed. Do you have a plan?

5. Use Lead Defnitons. Why is a universal lead defniton so hard to developand follow?

6. Compensate to Motvate. Verify that compensaton rewards performancethat meets desired goals.

7. Balance Your Processes. Defne operatons and reportng and ask: Are theyhelping or hurtng?

Even if sales and marketng are traditonally at odds with each other,management can improve the productve synergy between them for beterbotom line results.

CONCLUSION



http://twitter.com/elisaciarametark


Elisa Ciarametaro helps sales and marketng executves increaseproductvity, efciency, and exceed sales goals.

“I would highly recommend ElisaCiarametaro without hesitaton.Elisa was hired to create, developand implement the inital telesalesand telemarketng programs for astartup sofware company whichdeveloped employment andcorporate law sofware for the legalmarket – not an easy market to sellto. I found Elisa’s experience,guidance, analysis and insight intothe entre sales process invaluableto our company. I was impressed byher patence, professionalism andatenton to detail. I amconfdent Elisa will exceed yourexpectatons as she did ours.”

Barbara Bernardo

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Get Better Leads - Sales Lead Management Association S… · recognize that generatng more leads...

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Transcript of Get Better Leads - Sales Lead Management Association S… · recognize that generatng more leads...