My boyfriend is forever telling me I’m high maintenance. And every single time I present back all the reasons why I’m really not and he himself is actually the difficult one. Whilst on the surface my personal life may seem like it has nothing to do with lead generation, if I told you that he is a sales guy (and I am clearly in marketing) do you start to see what I am getting at?
Since the day dot there has been a constant battle between sales and marketing. Marketing don’t deliver enough good quality leads. Sales don’t follow up on the leads you give them. And so it goes on. More and more we as the agency are playing the role of marriage counsellor – bridging that gap between sales and marketing to ensure a long and prosperous relationship. There is no point running a lead generation campaign if sales aren’t bought in – so get them involved, pick their brains – after all they speak to the market on a daily basis. You will be surprised how much more likely they are to follow up on a lead if they have had an input in creating it in the first place!
In 2009, 60% of Marketing Directors said generating high quality leads was their priority. In 2010, it was 75%*. In 2011, the figure will go even higher.
Of course, it’s not just about identifying senior decision makers within target accounts. You also need to discover innovative ways to engage with them – and for that you need an agency partner that is up to the challenge.
You then need to understand and generate BANT qualified (that’s Budget, Authorised, Need, Timeline) opportunities, develop the future pipeline and deliver sales intelligence all at the same time. Again, we can help you. We can even show you some unexpected places where you’re likely to find some grade A leads and break down the barriers between your sales and marketing departments. There’s nothing quite like crunching numbers with the sales guys.
So, how can you turn lead generation from thankless task to opportunity?
You need targeted and innovative campaigns that engage your prospects and take them on a journey through the buying cycle. Be it by traditional means or via the latest digital platforms and gizmos, quality lead generation is going to be bigger than ever in 2011. For us it’s a big, big thing. What about you?
*Source: MarketingSherpa 2010 and 2011 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report
Darren and Lisa are our latest experts to express their point of view – and it just so happens they’re on opposing sides of the aisle. Darren believes that ideas are everything, Lisa believes it’s all in the data.
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love it. that is all.