The Annuitas Group Blog

Which Way Do They Go?

In spite of all the evidence that B2B marketing is changing, and that marketers need to engage buyers by building relationships, many organizations are still stuck in the past.  Evidence of this is in the fact that they continue to maintain a one-directional Lead Routing process:  leads only go from marketing to sales.  The result of this one-way, linear model is far reaching and results in …

• The inability to build a relationship with the buyer via lead nurturing
• Sales being inundated with names instead of leads, resulting in lack of follow-up
• The continuing of the ever widening gap between marketing and sales
• Lost ROI on marketing programs (See Counting the Losses)

At the end of 2009, we began a blog series where we defined Lead Management, debunked the myth that Lead Management is only Lead Nurturing and Lead Scoring, and began  describing each component in the holistic Lead Management process (See Much More To It! ).  This next installment of that series is on Lead Routing, another of the very important areas of focus in the development of a Lead Management process.

Lead Routing can be defined as “the mapped or documented process that determines how qualified leads will be routed to sales, and how sales will send not-ready-to-buy leads back to marketing.”

According to several recent research studies, up to 80% of buyers are not ready to purchase at the time they respond to a marketing program.  Since this is the case, the linear model whereby ALL leads go to sales doesn’t work (Why should a “not-yet-ready-to-buy” lead be sent to sales?)   To achieve a best practice Lead Management process, companies must move from one-way Lead Routing to a three-way approach:

1. From marketing (via campaign or marketing activity) to sales
2. From marketing (via campaign or marketing activity) to a lead nurturing campaign
3. From sales back to marketing for further nurturing and development

In addition to the three-pronged approach, marketing and sales need to establish Lead Routing rules to effectively govern the Lead Routing process. This is done through the use of defined Business Rules and Service Level Agreements (SLA’s). 

Business Rules are agreements between sales and marketing that define how Lead Routing will operate.  A Service Level Agreement is a time period affixed to the Business Rule that governs how long the recipient of the lead has to respond or process that lead.  Business Rules and SLA’s should be put in place for each of the three routes listed above – marketing to sales, marketing to nurturing and sales to marketing. 

To get started, here are some questions that will help you develop your Business Rules and SLA’s:

• How much time does marketing have to route Marketing Qualified Leads (or MQL’s) to sales?
• How much time does sales have to confirm receipt of a lead, making it a Sales Accepted Lead (or  SAL)?
• How much time does sales have to initiate contact with a lead?
• How much time does sales have to assign a qualification status to an SAL, making it a Sales Qualified Lead (or SQL)
• How much time does sales have to work an SAL or SQL through the pipeline before it gets sent into a lead nurturing program (This will depend on your organizations sales cycle and buying process

These are just a few questions to consider when developing your Lead Routing Business Rules and SLA’s.  And remember, proper Lead Routing cannot be accomplished without a defined Lead Qualification and Lead Scoring model. (See What Do You Mean When You Say That?).

Organizations that are serious about implementing an effective Lead Management process will not forgo this important piece of the puzzle. It’s too important to overlook and is often one of the key areas that allows the other disciplines to function fully. Conversely, proper Lead Routing will yield tremendous benefit including: 

• A better buying experience for your customer leading to longer term business relationship
• Better qualified leads delivered to the sales force, allowing sales to sell rather than qualif
• Better alignment between sales and marketing
• Improved ROI on marketing programs, and ultimately increased revenue

What Do You Mean When You Say That?

Several months ago I was meeting with a Director of Marketing Operations and we were reviewing their corporate lead qualification process.  As he explained how they qualify leads, I asked him if sales and marketing agreed on the definition of a lead.  He was quick with a “yes” and even showed me a document that listed all of the various definitions.  I was pretty impressed and pleased to see they had progressed to this level. 

My next meeting was with the company’s Director of Inside Sales.  During the course of that conversation, I made mention of the shared lead definitions that they had developed together with marketing.  He responded with “What definitions?” 

This is a scene that plays out all too often with companies:

• Marketing qualifies leads based on their view of the world
• Marketing sends what they define as “qualified leads” to sales
• Sales rejects them, saying they are not qualified

This scenario serves to underscore the importance of Lead Qualification as part of Lead Management. Lead Qualification will be the focus of this 4th post on Defining Lead Management.

Most B2B marketers qualify leads at some level.  However, few have taken the important step of developing and documenting a formal Lead Qualification Model.  Even fewer have developed a Lead Qualification Model jointly with sales. Yet research continues to indicate that companies that do indeed have a documented Lead Qualification Model achieve…

• Marketing and sales alignment
• A higher quality of lead being sent to sales
• Increased close rates
• Overall improvement on lead generation efforts

You don’t have to read too many B2B marketing blogs and websites to determine that “lead scoring” is a hot topic.  More and more companies are looking to implement Lead Scoring models, and the increased adoption of marketing automation systems provides an easy way to develop one.  However, rushing too quickly into developing a Lead Scoring model is putting the cart before the horse.  Lead Scoring is simply a numerical representation of your Lead Qualification Model.

Building and automating Lead Scoring without first building a Lead Qualification Model is like framing a house without blueprints.  If you want to improve your Lead Generation results, then you must first create a Lead Qualification Model. 

The Lead Qualification Model starts with creating Lead Qualification Definitions. In this phase, seek to include all phases of the buying cycle:  Inquiry, Response, Lead, Prospect, Marketing Qualified Lead, Sales Accepted Lead, Sales Qualified Lead Closed Deal, etc.  Conduct joint sessions with marketing and sales to develop and agree to definitions for each of these terms.

Next, develop a profile of your ideal customer.  This is also a joint effort between marketing and sales.  Determine what quantifiable traits make up the ideal customer.  Criteria such as size, location, industry, audience, etc. should be identified and documented.  Once you have the customer profile developed, use the same criteria to develop an ideal prospect profile.  These profiles are the basis of your overall qualification model.
 
Once the definitions and profiles are confirmed, proceed to working to define the criteria that should be used for Lead Qualification. This too is a joint exercise between marketing and sales. The objective is to create standards that will allow everyone in the organization to identify when a lead should be qualified for routing to sales, which leads should be nurtured and which leads should be discarded.

It’s only after these steps are complete that you should begin to develop the Lead Scoring Model (assigning numerical values).  This is where you apply numeric point values to BANT criteria (Budget allocation, Authority or role in the decision making process, Need for product or solution, Timeline), criteria used from your customer and prospect profiles, and behavior or interactions of the buyer. Behavioral components include items such as the number of campaigns prospects respond to, what events they are attending, what assets they download, etc.

So you see, Lead Qualification is more than Lead Scoring. It’s a systematic, defined process developed jointly by marketing and sales.  Companies that develop this kind of Lead Qualification Process as part of their overall Lead Management strategy significantly increase their ROI on marketing and sales activities.

Leads for Sale!!!

Last night I was driving out to the store to grab a few grocery items and as is my custom, I began flipping through the radio stations.  I was mindlessly turning from station to station when I stopped at a commercial that caught my attention. The announcer asked, "Are you in sales or do you own a business?"  Because I could answer "yes" to both, I continued to listen.  The commercial went on to state that not getting good qualified leads for a business can be the main factor that stands in the way of a business making money.  The commercial then offered their solution to the problem:  leads delivered right to your sales people's inbox every day. The results?  Your business will grow, revenue will increase, quotas will be met and everyone will retire to Millionaire Estates just like in the game of LIFE!!!  OK, the last one I added. It wasn't really part of the commercial.

While it certainly is true that good qualified leads can make the difference in a sales career or for a business, I've yet to see where this "silver bullet" approach works.  After all, if it was as easy as subscribing to an email service, wouldn't every one in sales be succeeding? 

As I continued my "radio scanning" exercises, I thought about the issues that the "leads" commercial brings to light, many of which are not being effectively addressed at the majority of companies.  These are issues such as...

• Lack of clarification on the definition of a lead. What does sales say a lead is? What about marketing? What about customer service? Most companies cannot definitively describe what a lead looks like for their business.
• Lack of qualification criteria. At a significant number of companies, different groups are using differing weights and measures to determine a lead's viability.
• Lack of centralization for lead qualification. Many companies allow leads to be qualified at the point of entry instead of through one central repository and process.
• Lack of "on going" lead qualification, or lead nurturing. Most companies don't have a plan for ongoing lead nurturing for those leads that are not "sales-ready".

Making sure you have the answers to these and other questions is the start of defining and developing a sales and marketing process that will enable you to improve the return on the sales leads you receive, no matter where they come from. 

The Baby and The Bathwater

This past week I have been in the middle of several discussions surrounding the validity of telemarketing or cold calling.  In each of the discussions, the premise was that telemarketing is dead and that it should be eliminated from the marketing mix. 

 

I could not disagree more!

 

Throughout the course of these discussions what came to light very quickly is why telemarketing did not work for these companies.  The reasons varied from time to time but by and large it was usually a combination of the following:

 

- It was the only medium that was relied on by the company to generate leads:  This would be the same as if a

company only used direct mail, e-mail or their website for lead generation.  It would not come close to yielding the results that a fully integrated program would, yet it is always expected to be the "magic pill" that solves all of a companies lead woes

 

- There was a lack of training involved:  This one always gets me! As the person on the telephone is often the first voice from the company that a prospect will hear and can truly make or break the deal, initial and ongoing training are a must for success

 

-The teleservices agents were non-professional low cost resources: While companies would never dream of farming out their creative to a son's friend who is a pretty good artist, they seem more and more willing to skimp when it comes to phone work.  It all has to have the same investment and be recognized as a discipline within the rest of the marketing mix

 

- There was no process to handle the leads that were generated by the telephone:  This extends beyond telemarketing and into marketing as a whole.  Companies do not have an established automated process whereby they handle leads and ensure only the qualified leads get passed to sales while the others are nurtured.  This only leads to the assumption within the company that marketing as a whole (beyond just telemarketing) is not doing their job

 

I am sure that telemarketing and cold calling will continue to get the bad rap as being ineffective and if the changes are not made why not? However, used correctly and with the right process it can yield some incredible results.  Go ahead, give it a try and see for yourself.