Sales complain that the leads passed to them by Marketing are rubbish. Marketing wonder how Sales can possibly know this because Sales never phone the leads they DO hand over. But where's the truth? Are the leads created by Marketing of such poor quality that it's not worth Sales following them up? We wanted to find out. The Marketing team from one of our clients - Modernis - attended a trade show 12 months ago. The leads were all contacted by Sales immediately following the event. But no opportunities were generated. Which led to a fair bit of internal strife. So 12 months later GSP called the leads up. And here's what we found: - 2 had purchased products from a competitor of Modernis. - 2 were actively engaged in a purchasing process to select a supplier (sadly Modernis wasn't one of the candidate suppliers). - 1 hadn't started a formal purchasing process but believed it was very likely to happen in the next 12 months. - 4 leads had taken no action following the trade show. They didn't anticipate starting a purchasing process any time soon. - 1 wasn't in Modernis' market place. They were unlikely to ever buy a product. In other words 5 of the 10 leads were serious potential customers. Indeed two had already bought from a competitor. And yet these leads were all described as rubbish by Sales. But why didn't the 5 potential customers engage with Sales at the time? Here's what they told us: "We weren't ready." "We didn't have stakeholder support." "I didn't have a budget at the time." "We weren't sure what the right solution was. The last thing I needed was a sales pitch." "We hadn't decided which vendor we wanted to talk to." In other words these leads were legitimate buyers but they simply weren't sales ready. They were at an earlier stage in the buying process. They didn't want to speak to a sales person. Yet. Which is why Sales thought the leads were rubbish. And what's worse, after the trade show the activities of these warm prospects were invisible to Modernis. Which meant that no-one knew when they WERE sales ready. So what can we learn from this research? We think there's six key lessons. 1. The invisible revenue pipeline must be managed using a proactive lead nurturing program. 2. It pays to be patient. The customer purchasing lifecycle is much longer than the 2 - 3 months it typically takes a lead work its way through Modernis' CRM system. 3. Lead nurturing is essential. Traditionally prospects get their information from sales people. Not any more. Other content-heavy channels are dominant. 4. Useful is the new cool. High quality content is critical to lead nurturing. 5. Prospects don't mind talking to a sales person. But only when they're ready. Identifying this point is critical to effective opportunity creation. 6. Marketing is becoming increasingly process driven. A programme of advanced lead nurturing doesn't happen by accident. It requires thought and planning.

1. 6 steps to stop Sales complaining about the quality of Marketing leads

2. “Most of the leads we get from Marketing are rubbish.”
Dave Apthorp
Sales Executive, Modernis

3. “How can Sales possibly know this?
They never phone any of the leads we do give them!”
Maria Smith
Head of Marketing, Modernis

4. But where’s the truth?

5. Are the leads produced by Marketing really so poor it’s not worth Sales following them up?

6. We wanted to find out

7. Wait!
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8. 12 months ago Marketing attended a major Trade Show
Sales immediately followed up the leads

9. No new opportunities were added to the sales funnel
Negotiation
Proposal
Investigation
Prospect
Before the Trade Show
Negotiation
Proposal
Investigation
Prospect
After the Trade Show

10. Which led to a lot of….

11. A year later GSP called up 10 leads to find out what had happened
12 months later

12. And here’s what we discovered…

13. Two leads had subsequently made a purchase
(but not from Modernis unfortunately)
More on this in a moment…..

14. Two more were in the middle of a purchasing process (unfortunately Modernis wasn’t one of the candidates)

15. And one fully expected to make a purchase in the
next 12 months

16. Four didn’t expect to make a purchase any time soon

17. And one wasn’t in Modernis’ market place and is never likely to make a purchase

18. In other words 5 of the 10 were great leads.
Two had already bought from a competitor!

19. So why didn’t these prospects engage with Sales at the time?
Here’s what they told us…

20. “We weren’t ready”
“I didn’t have stakeholder support”
“No budget at the time”
“We hadn’t decided which vendors to engage”
“We didn’t understand our options”

21. In other words these people were legitimate buyers. They simply weren’t sales ready.
They didn’t want to speak to a sales person. Yet.
Which is why Sales thought the leads were rubbish.

22. And after the initial trade show the activities of these warm prospects were invisible to Modernis.

23. Which meant no-one knew when they were ready to engage with Sales
Time
Actual revenue
£
Revenue
Missed revenue
Trade show
And resulted in lost sales

24. So what can we learn from this research?
We think there are six key lessons.

25. Negotiation
Potential Solutions
Proposal
Investigation
Prospect
Preferred Suppliers
Candidate Solutions
Problem Awareness /
Opportunity Recognition
Negotiation
1. Manage the invisible pipeline
Customers start their buying process long before long before sales get involved.
These early stage activities form an invisible revenue pipeline. The invisible revenue pipeline can be managed to drive sales ready leads.
Visible pipeline
Invisible pipeline

26. 2. It pays to be patient
2 – 3 months
6 – 24 months
Modernis perception of the buying lifecycle – as measured in the CRM system.
Prospect perception of the buying lifecycle – as measured by buyer behavior.

27. 3. Lead nurturing is essential
Traditionally prospects got their information from sales people. Not any more.
Ad hoc marketing campaigns have only short term value. Effective content marketing means pre- planned communications are delivered throughout the buying process.

28. 4. Useful is the new cool
Good quality prospects are hungry for information.
Highly useful content satisfies this hunger and is critical to lead nurturing.
High quality, useful content helps prospects narrow potential solutions.

29. 5. Engage Sales when prospects are sales ready
Prospects are happy to talk to sales people…but only when they are ready to do so. Getting sales people involved too early leaves everyone frustrated.
Marketing teams must track human behavior to gauge when to involve Sales.
Time
sales ready
Lead score

30. 6. Marketing is becoming increasingly process driven
All this cannot be done in an ad hoc fashion (at least not effectively).
Well defined processes nurture leads through pre-planned stages and steps
Marketing automation tools make the whole thing efficient and scalable.

31. Need to innovate your Sales and Marketing process to boost revenue?
Get in touch

32. SUMMARY
1
2
3
4
5
Lead nurturing is essential
It pays to be patient
Useful is the new cool
Engage Sales when prospects are sales ready
Effective marketing requires well defined processes
6
Manage the invisible revenue pipeline

33. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Smith is the Chief Executive Officer of The Gary Smith Partnership. He has over 20 years experience in helping clients improve the effectiveness of their sales and marketing activities.
Gary is a certified Salesforce.com Sales and Service Cloud Consultant and a Marketo Certified Consultant.
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