© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
A Global Benchmark Report
conducted by
LEAD
Generation
2015-16
March 2016

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
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© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Table of content
Research methodology 4
Part 1. Results of Lead Generation in 2015 5
Part 2. Lead Generation Workflow 13
Part 3. Plans for Lead Generation in 2016 21
Part 4. Case Studies 26
Part 5. Survey Demographics 36
Contacts 44

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Research Methodology
The research is based on interviews
with 259 marketing, lead generation
and sales professionals from around
the world (USA and Canada, Europe,
Russia, India), both B2B and B2C.
Interviews were conducted by Internet,
telephone, or e‐mail. The research was
conducted on January 11, 2016 to
February 29, 2016. The respondents
were asked 10 to 26 questions that
depended on their lead generation
strategy.
92% of the respondents stated that
they need new customers now and that
their sales cycle includes personal
(including online) interaction with
prospective customers.
Upon our request, 6 experts playing
various roles in lead generation shared
their expertise and provided
information about their lead generation
campaigns.
We are grateful to every respondent for
sharing their valuable insight with us.

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Part 1
Results of Lead Generation in 2015

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Did your lead generation campaigns in
2015 bring you new leads and sales?
Yes, we have new
leads and sales.
85%
Partially, we have
new leads, but no
sales from them.
14%
No, we do not have
any leads.
1%

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Which was the average quality of the leads
found and attracted in 2015?
The leads were
constantly of an
excellent quality,
ready to start sales.
7%
3/4 of the leads were
of a good quality,
which for the most
part is taken into
sales or lead
nurturing.
28%
Half of the leads was
of good quality and
are taken into sales
or lead nurturing.
48%
3/4 of the leads were
of poor quality and
were disqualified.
11%
All of the leads were
of poor quality.
1%
Don't know.
5%

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Which activities were the most effective for
lead generation in 2015?
3%
5%
6%
16%
23%
24%
24%
33%
33%
33%
35%
38%
41%
46%
57%
Fax and snail mails
Offline ads (TV, radio, banners)
Other
Online ads
Social media advertising
Ads in search engines (pay‐per‐click)
Social media marketing
Content marketing
Marketing researches for lead generation
Business meetings arrangements
Search engine optimization
Telemarketing
Web‐site
Events and webinars
Marketing e‐mails

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Which challenges and obstacles did you
face when doing lead generation in 2015?
5%
7%
8%
9%
9%
12%
16%
16%
19%
23%
24%
26%
31%
35%
Other
Economic crisis stopped our activities
No challenges and obstacles
Problems with testing
Problems with approving within the company
Need for special software
No resources for lead nurturing
Problems with targeting
Lack of time
Lack of budget
Lack of human resources
Lead generation and sales coordination
Low‐quality contacts databases
Necessity for new content

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
What was the main reason for sales not closed
or customers' delayed decisions in 2015?
4%
11%
15%
17%
18%
20%
24%
24%
29%
32%
Other
Don't know
Economic crisis
Leads were of poor quality
Leads had no real need or interest in the product
Leads should be nurtured, too early to start sales
Customers have chosen competing products
The sales department did not work out the leads
Long purchase life‐cycle, the sales go on
Leads had no budget

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
During the last few years at our company, we use
more and more European market places, which
are web services that specialize in generating
leads for businesses. On one hand, they provide
enterprises with highly competitive quotes from
nationwide suppliers of office equipment and
business services. On the other hand, these web
services allow product and service suppliers to
get new leads that are interested in certain
categories of goods.
Benoit Bossuet
Lead Generation Manager
Neopost
Experts’ Opinions

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Over the past 1‐2 years, many marketers have
shifted from a lead volume focus to a revenue
focus (quality over quantity). With attribution
technology available, marketers can be held
accountable for revenue and also can prove
their successes by measuring ROI. There has
been a shift toward focusing on the full
marketing funnel rather than a top of the
funnel lead generation approach.
Eva Sharf
Media Manager,
Bizible
I think that content marketing is the best way
to approach new leads. People don’t want to
be pressured or bullied. Providing valuable
information that assists prospects in making
their own choice appears to be most effective.
Companies need a good balance of outbound
calling and emailing to be most effective when
nurturing leads.
David Piete
Lead Generation Manager
Certify, Inc.
Experts’ Opinions

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Part 2
Lead Generation Workflow

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
How does a lead reveal itself for your
company?
4%
8%
8%
10%
10%
12%
17%
29%
32%
32%
38%
45%
60%
62%
Other
Subscription to your newsletter
Social network activity ("like", "share", etc.)
Website visitor
Click on your advertising in social media
Click on your advertising in search engines
Visitor to your event/booth/webinar
Interest identified as a result of telemarketing
Positive response to your direct mail
Download of a whitepaper, case study, etc.
Request via e‐mail, fax, feedback forms, etc.
Request for a call of your sales managers
Agreement on a business (online) meeting
Incoming call regarding your products

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Which criteria are important for you to
estimate the results of a lead generation
campaign?
3%
24%
33%
47%
53%
63%
74%
Other
Shortening of a sales cycle
Lead price
Sales volume
Return on marketing investments
Number of qualified leads
Conversion rate (deals closed/leads)

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Do you have some marketing budget
allocated especially for lead generation?
Yes
74%
No
26%

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Up to which price per lead
are you ready to pay?
1‐5 USD
6%
50‐150 USD
9% 0‐1 USD
10%
150 and more
USD
13%15‐50 USD
17%
5‐15 USD
19%
I don't know
26%

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Who does lead generation
in your company?
Other
2%
In house call
center
6%
Top‐management
8%
Sales department
9%
Outsourcing call‐
center / lead
generation agency
12%
Lead generation
department
24%
Marketing
department
39%

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
One challenge that companies face is that the
primary metric used to measure marketing
success is different for various job levels.
Typically, CMOs and senior marketers use
revenue as the primary success metric, but
intermediate and entry‐level marketers are
opting for a mixed set of metrics, including top of
the funnel metrics. Additional challenges are a
lack of accurate marketing attribution and an
inability to measure the true ROI of lead
generation strategies.
Eva Sharf
Media Manager
Bizible
Experts’ Opinions

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Our target audience is mostly medium and
large enterprises (above $200M revenue). We
actively participate in various industry events
and shows, including ONS, Innotrans,
Agretechnica, Baumag, Bauma,Power‐Gen,
Hannover Messe, etc. These events provide
great results and around 50% of qualified
leads were converted into sales. However,
participating in such events is always a
challenge as event timeframes are very
limited, a huge influx of visitors may occur,
language barriers may arise, and geo‐specifics
are often an issue.
Rahul Shrivastava
Lead Generation Manager
Cyient Limited
Experts’ Opinions

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Part 3
Plans for Lead Generation in 2016

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
What does your company plan to do for
lead generation in 2016?
3%
7%
33%
35%
36%
38%
38%
46%
47%
56%
60%
Other
No activities planned
Team building: improvements of interaction between marketing
and sales, motivation
Business contacts databases: updating and leveraging
Analytics: estimating ROI, results analysis, lead qualification
Content: new collaterals, white papers, newsletters, etc.
Automation of sales and marketing (implementation of CRM, e‐
mail system, etc.)
Website: update, optimization, adding lead generation functions
Lead nurturing (working on cold leads and nurture them until
ready for sales)
Targeting: segmenting, qualification, new groups
Lead generation strategy: development and implementation

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Which type of marketing campaigns do you
plan to do for lead generation in 2016?
4%
7%
10%
23%
27%
33%
35%
36%
37%
45%
47%
49%
51%
51%
52%
Other
Fax and postal mailings
Offline ads (TV, radio, banners)
Online ads (e.g., on target news portals)
Social media advertising
Business meetings arrangements
Marketing researches for lead generation
Ads in search engines (pay‐per‐click)
Telemarketing
Social media marketing
Marketing mailings
Search engines optimization
Your website (downloads, subscriptions, etc.)
Events and webinars
Content marketing

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
The primary upcoming trend is the adoption of
account based marketing (ABM) strategies by
marketing teams. New technologies are allowing
marketers to implement ABM through digital
marketing efforts, and I believe that new
marketing technology will continue to make ABM
more accessible. Shifting to ABM also requires
close alignment with sales, so I expect marketing
and sales teams will start implementing the same
lead and revenue objectives as well.
Eva Sharf
Media Manager
Bizible
Experts’ Opinions

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Experts’ Opinions
I see that the main trend of lead generation for
the future will lean heavily toward capturing
information from social media. However, I doubt
we will receive the same quality of the
information via social media compared to the
information we gather by talking to the prospect
directly over the phone.
Vincent John Espiritu
Program and Sales Director
JR Global Marketing
I think that in the future lead generation will start
to shift away from high‐volume, outbound
calling. Prospects will be more receptive to
interactive, informative email marketing. Also,
ranking web sites like Capterra and G2crowd will
continue to be a proven source of leads.
David Piete
Lead Generation Manager
Certify, Inc.

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Part 4
Case Studies

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
An IBM Partner’s Lead Generation Project (1/3)
IBM Marketing Support
When acting as a partner of a large IT‐giant such
as IBM, the partner‐company must be involved in
many activities that support the vendor. IBM
looks for effective marketing actions like
orchestrating customer events or conducting calls
to generate leads. While coordinating joint
activities with IBM, the partner initiated a lead
generation campaign, which was comprised of
cold calls aimed at arranging business meetings
with qualified leads. JR Global Marketing
executed this campaign.
Target Group
CIOs, IT Directors, and IT Managers of large and
medium cross‐industry enterprises, including
retail, banking, manufacturing, and insurance of
the Asia‐Pacific region comprised the target
audience.
Goals
This lead generation campaign’s primary
objectives were to identify leads, which would
require additional hardware and applications,
and to estimate system integration support
requirements. A secondary objective was to
identify future plans in a company’s IT
department, which created potential
opportunities for the IBM partner to work on in
the future.
Project Preparation
The first step was to create a list of qualified
leads. This list had to be checked carefully to
filter out possible ongoing opportunities or
existing clients. The second step centered on
creating necessary materials for the lead
generation project, including a call script, letters
samples, and a lead report form that outlined

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
An IBM Partner’s Lead Generation Project (2/3)
scoring for lead qualification. A team was then
trained on project‐specific requirements. Once
documentation had been finalized and the team
was ready to start, the active calling phase began.
Lead Criteria
The key criterion for the target group was
whether the contacts had any plans related to an
IT upgrade such as a large business project that
required new hardware; for example, ERP system
implementation.
The phone conversation identified specific
information relating to the Budget, Authority,
Need, Timeframe and Environment (BANT+E)
criteria. Each criterion was ranked using a score
card.
Collaboration
Each week, the IBM partner launched a call with
the outsourcing team to check on the progress of
the leads and to ensure that no stone was left
unturned. “Having a hands‐on approach is crucial
to make sure that each lead is being worked on
and moving onto the next step,” said Vincent
John Espiritu, Program and Sales Director for JR
Global Marketing.
Results
Here are the quantitative results:
Parameter Result
Budget $10 000
Conversion 2.5‐4%
Number of suspects 500
Number of leads 17
Price per lead $588

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Lead Nurturing
While some leads were qualified, there were
other leads that did not pass BANT+E criteria and
did not qualify. These leads were considered
“Suitable” or “Needs Additional Information” and
were enrolled in a lead‐nurturing program that
would convert them to qualified status. Towards
the end of the campaign period, these leads were
revisited via phone to see if they were ready to
be evaluated by the client’s IT solutions. The
lead‐nurturing program led to even more
qualified leads.
JR Global Marketing provided this case study.
www.jrglobalmarketing.net
As technologies continue to evolve and more
people who use the internet display more
information, it has now become crucial to be
more creative, but also careful in generating
highly qualified leads. Cold calling is still
something that I think is very efficient in
qualifying and disqualifying leads, as long as an
effective methodology is used.
Vincent John Espiritu
Program and Sales Director
JR Global Marketing
An IBM Partner’s Lead Generation Project (3/3)

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
BrandMaker’s Lead Generation Process (1/3)
About
BrandMaker is a provider of Marketing Resource
Management (MRM) systems. The company
develops and markets sophisticated software
solutions for the marketing communication of
medium and large‐scale organizations.
Experienced with the best know‐hows of MRM
systems, the company has established a steady
and strong lead generation process.
Target Group
The company focuses on large and medium
enterprises of B2B sector, particularly those in
the financial and manufacturing industries. The
titles of these decision makers are C‐level
marketing, sales, business development, and
commercial executives.
Generation…
The first step in the process of bringing leads to
revenue is to receive contacts of those who are
interested in the company’s solutions and MRM
in general. These contacts are called marketing
generated leads. These leads are received via
various marketing methods: ads in search
engines and relevant websites, LinkedIn, SEO,
SEM, blogs, etc. While running these campaigns,
the company uses a set of landing pages and
constantly practices A/B testings.

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
BrandMaker’s Lead Generation Process (2/3)
… and Qualification
Further, the leads need to be qualified from both
marketing and sales perspectives. The conversion
of marketing generated leads to marketing
qualified ones is approximately 33‐34%, and from
marketing qualified to sales qualified—35‐36%.
Having passed these qualifications, a lead
becomes an opportunity and active sales begin.
In an equation, the formula is as follows:
MGL => MQL => SQL => Opportunity =>
Opportunity Management => Closing
Results
Here are the quantitative results the company
has achieved within a year:
Parameter Result
Marketing Generated
Leads (MGL)
1700
Marketing Qualified
Leads (MQL)
550
Sales Qualified Leads
(SQL)
~200
Cost per Lead 26,50 to 325,00€
Conversion of Qualified
Leads to Sales
8‐10%

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
We definitely stand on keeping our lead
generation team in‐house. Thus, we develop and
enrich our talent pool and competence center.
Lead generation is one of the core processes
within our business so we dedicate many
resources into leveraging a maximum and
keeping it within our enterprise. One of my key
goals is to develop modern lead generation
strategies using social media, online promotion,
calls and cadence, touch points, and
development of lists segmented by sales channel,
customer type, and customer demographics.
BrandMaker provided this case study.
www.brandmaker.com
Timm Brocks
Director Sales Lead Generation
BrandMaker
BrandMaker’s Lead Generation Process (3/3)

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Certify’s Lead Generation Process (1/3)
About
Certify is a cloud‐based travel and expense
management software provider. With
prescheduled, auto‐generated expense report
creation and mobile capabilities, Certify
eliminates the need for paper receipts and
spreadsheets and provides insight into travel and
expense spending with a full suite of on‐demand
reporting and analytics.
Target Group
The key priority industries for 2015‐2016 are
manufacturing, recruiting, and retail. The product
suits companies of all sizes; however, the most
effective conversion from leads into sales arises
from companies that have between 50 and 500
employees.
Tactics
Certify’s lead generation has been focusing on
industry‐driven campaigns. These campaigns
include webinars, email campaigns, and
outbound calling. An integral part of these
activities has been a creation of relevant
marketing content that serves to attract the
target group’s attention.
Internal Process
Recently, the company has focused on generating
more leads by pushing prospects to its website.
Once there, prospects are encouraged to leave
contacts and then the contacts provided are
processed by the lead generation team. The lead
generation managers’ main goal is to build and
cultivate prospective relationships by initiating
discussion and conducting follow‐up
communication in order to move opportunities

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Certify’s Lead Generation Process (2/3)
through the sales funnel. Further, these contacts
are turned over to an appropriate member of the
sales team to hold web and onsite
demonstrations.
Lead Criteria
A new contact is considered a qualified lead if it
has specific questions about the company’s
services or has shown interest in pricing and
web‐demonstration. To qualify a lead, it is
essential to know the company’s size and its
headquarters.
In‐House Team
Forming a team of 4, lead generation managers
conduct inbound and outbound calling to qualify
and distribute leads to a sales team of over 30
sales executives. The lead flow and further sales
activities are controlled in a CRM system.
The lead generation team is actively collaborating
with sales managers to develop and augment the
sales pipeline. Various new tools are tested to
raise the effectiveness of lead generation. “For
example, a new email tracking tool was
introduced at the beginning of my campaigning. I
am currently conducting a trial of the software to
see if it would be beneficial to the rest of the
team,” says David Piete, Lead Generation
Specialist at Certify, Inc.
“Although I cannot account for the rest of our
lead generation department, my quantitative
results break down as: 567 emails, 720 calls, 105
email clicks, 11 interactive clicks and 4 qualified
leads,” adds David.

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Next Steps
In 2016, Certify’s lead generation team will be
working on campaigns to help promote webinars
and trade shows. These campaigns will be done
to help push traffic to the website and achieve
the maximum amount of qualified leads.
Certify Travel & Expense Software provided this
case study.
www.certify.com
I was the first lead generation specialist at my
company — Certify, Inc. — a cloud‐based
software provider. I have seen the way our
process has evolved over the last year. We
started with strict cold calling campaigns. Now
we use online placements, webinars, info graphs,
emails, campaigns, and paid vendor leads.
David Piete
Lead Generation Manager
Certify, Inc.
Certify’s Lead Generation Process (3/3)

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Part 5
Survey Demographics

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Survey demographics
Australia
4% Other
9%
Russia, CIS
& Ukraine
12%
India
18%
Europe, UK
21%
USA,
Canada
36%
Geography
The majority of respondents
(36%) work for companies
conducting business in the USA
and Canada.
21% of the respondents represent
Western European businesses
(Germany, Italy, and Spain).
India was another popular
destination for lead generation
professionals, totaling 18% of
respondents.

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Survey demographics
Business sector
The majority of respondents (78%)
belonged to the B2B sector.
Number of employers
45% of the respondents' companies
employed a staff of 100.
B2B
(business
to
business)
78%
B2C
(business
to
customer)
20%
B2G
(business to
government)
2%
<10
14%
10‐99
31%
100‐499
29%
500‐5000
16%
5000+
10%

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Survey demographics
Industries
“Software and Internet” and
“Business and Financial Services”
were the most wide‐spread
industries.
Revenue
28% of the respondents’ companies
had revenues of 10‐250M USD.
2,6%
3,5%
3,9%
4,3%
5,2%
5,2%
5,6%
6,5%
7,4%
9,5%
12,1%
13,9%
20,8%
Transportation & Storage
Education
Telecommunications
Healthcare&Pharma
Consumer Services
Energy & Utilities
Computers & Electronics
Media & Entertainment
Other
Financial Services
Manufacturing
Business Services
Software & Internet
500K‐1M
USD
12%
250M+
USD
18%
Less than
500K
21%
1‐10M USD
21%
10‐250M
USD
28%

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Survey demographics
Role in lead generation process
31% of the respondents were
responsible for overall lead
generation team management.
Job title category
The respondents’ most popular job
title category was lead generation
director (29%).
1%
2%
2%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
22%
31%
Copywriter/content creation
Other (please indicate)
Consulting on lead generation
Approval and budgeting
No role
Databases
Telemarketer
Online ads and promotion
All the lead generation fuctions
Realization of lead generation campaign
Closing sales
Strategy and planning
Lead generation team management
2%
2%
5%
6%
6%
6%
8%
11%
12%
14%
29%
CCO/Business Development Director
Chief Executive Officer/General manager
Business Development/Commercial Manager
Other
Sales and Channels Director
Founder/Owner
Sales and Channels Manager
Lead generation director
CMO/Director of marketing
Marketer/analyst
Lead generation manager

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
I would recommend for companies whose lead
generation is not the expertise of their business
to outsource it to marketing firms that specialize
in this function. Outsourcing enables these
enterprises to focus their energies on closing
sales, leaving the tedious work of lead generation
to those who are highly experienced. An
outsourcing agency has to show that it has
generated results and ROI for its clients and
demonstrate that the agency is comprised of
highly professional employees that will represent
their client’s business.
Vincent John Espiritu
Program and Sales Director
JR Global Marketing
Experts’ Opinions

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Experts’ Opinions
Be more social and try to get to know more
about customers rather than telling more
about you. Timely follow‐up and engagement
on LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media
platforms with the prospects are also very
important for success.
Rahul Shrivastava
Lead Generation Manager
Cyient Limited
Adopt pipeline marketing! Pipeline marketing
is a marketing approach that focuses on
connecting marketing and sales data, which
enables decision making based on revenue.
Move away from using lead volume as a
primary success metric, and start learning
which of your marketing efforts are driving
business.
Eva Sharf
Media Manager
Bizible

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
About NWComm
NWComm marketing and lead generation agency was established in 2009. We
provide high‐level business communications which drive sales. We have
successfully completed over 170 lead generation and marketing projects. The
company specializes in lead generation for information technologies,
telecommunication, corporate education and consulting companies.

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16
Contacts
NWComm
info@nwcomm‐marketing.com
www.nwcomm‐marketing.com