This is my talk from Inbound 2014 on lead qualfication. From the session description: You’ve worked hard to develop compelling content. You've built the most engaging nurture streams possible to escort your prospects through the buyer’s journey. Your leads are growing and people want to talk to you. Everything’s awesome and money is ready to start flowing in, right? Well, no. Not really. Unless you are prioritizing and (dis)qualifying your leads correctly, you could be wasting the time, energy, hopes and dreams of your prospects and your sales team. This session will highlight the do’s, don’ts and maybe’s of lead qualification and help you build better alignment with Sales to make your pipeline more predictable and improve your company's win rate.

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YOU HAD ME AT HELLO!
Best Practices in Lead Qualification
for Inbound Marketers
Michael Freeman
Head of Demand Generation, ShoreTel

2. Michael
Freeman
@spanishgringo
Fan of hallway commutes and
beautiful views
110% YoY increase in qualified
inbound leads last year
Continued strong growth this year

3. AGENDA
1 Who’s on first?
2 The call
3 Measuring performance

4. “Lead qualification is the bridge
between marketing and sales”
– Anonymous
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First, the fine print

6. These are my recommendations….
Your mileage may vary depending on many factors
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7. These are my recommendations….
Your mileage may vary depending on many factors
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Take what you can and adapt it as needed
(What would MacGyver do?)

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As good marketers, we like to tinker
with things and make them better

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1 Who’s on first?

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Who’s on first?
1 Whose line is it anyway?
2 Who you gonna call?
3 To qualify or disqualify, that is the question

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Who’s line is it anyway?
It’s not settled where lead
qualification should reside

12. For many companies, lead qualifications sits in Sales
(e.g. BDRs at HubSpot)
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For others, lead qualification sits in Marketing
(e.g. MDRs at ShoreTel)

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Most qualifiers reside in sales
Where does the group report?
Sales is 3x more likely than
Marketing to own qualification
Source: The Bridge Group (they’re good at what they do)

15. “Inbound-focused” qualifiers are more equally split by dept
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% Reporting to Sales by Focus
We’re at Inbound after all, right?
Source: The Bridge Group

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Whose line is it anyway?
Demand
Generation Lead Qualification
• Role Is clearly defined
• Has agreed upon metrics
• Pipeline quota, not a sales quota
• NOT responsible for closing deals
Pipeline
Management
& Closing
leads qualified
leads

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converting

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Why have a dedicated qualification rep?
• Focus on building pipeline
– Better MQL à SQO conversion rates
– Less leakage
• More economical than sales reps
• Proving grounds for future sales reps (in most cases it’s up or out)
• Easier to align with marketing processes and data management

19. OK, but which of these awesome leads do you call?
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20. Who you gonna call?
• Lead scoring is the best route to prioritizing qualification
• Even if you can get to everyone, scoring prioritizes who is called 1st, 2nd, etc…
• I recommend you look at these resources
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– Jessica Meher’s presentation from Inbound 2013
– HubSpot User Guide - How to use Custom Lead Scoring
– Infer’s Guide on Predicative Lead Scoring

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Start with your ICP
Insane Clown Posse
Ideal Customer Profile
The characteristics (demographic,
firmographic, psychographic, and
situational) that identify the “best fit” for
potential customers
If you have clear personas mapped to
performance data you’re ready
More articles on developing ICPs

22. Who you gonna call?
– You can always use something to score or prioritize leads
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• Take advantage of HubSpot’s lead scoring tools
(Bonus Tip: Make sure HubSpot Score is mapped to SFDC Lead Object)
• Consider Big Data sources to enhance your scoring

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Who you gonna call?
Example of lead view using lead score

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Who you gonna call?
Example of lead view using lead score, source & dates

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Disqualifying not
Qualifying
It’s kind of like, uh, science

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To qualify or disqualify, that is the question
– Lead flow and pipeline management is all about efficiency
• Don’t waste anyone’s time
• Focus where there’s value (i.e. potential sales)
– So, you really are trying to disqualify leads
– Only those that you can’t disqualify continue on the journey
– Your threshold will depend on lead flow and available resources

27. Just because you pass judgment on the quality of the
lead, you don’t have the right to act like this guy
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2 The call

29. Prepping the call
– How did they find you?
– What content have they consumed?
– What pushed them over the edge to become a lead (worth
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calling)?
– What does the prospect’s company do and what is their
business model?
– Are their any signals around their likely pain points?

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Prepping the call
– HubSpot Lead Intelligence is your friend

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Take call prep to 11
Look at the record in HS
Read the HubSpot guide to lead intelligence

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You’ve prepared and are ready to engage,
but don’t go in with guns a blazing

33. – Sets the proper expectations
– Changes the context from a pitch to a consultation
– The goal is moving further down the funnel, not closing
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Instead, start with the upfront contract

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The upfront contract
1. Welcome and thank
2. Reassure them
3. Limit the scope
4. Set next-steps
5. Get consent

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Listen very carefully to your prospect

36. – HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT US?
– WHY ARE YOU CONSIDERING [XYZ] NOW (IMPENDING EVENT)?
– HOW WOULD [XYZ] CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR ORG’S SUCCESS?
– How will you decide which [XYZ] is right for you?
– When do you need a new [xyz] solution?
– TOTAL # OF USERS/EMPLOYEES IN THE COMPANY?
– Who started the search for [xyz]?
– What is your role in the evaluation process?
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Ask, listen and inspect

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Ask, listen and inspect
– Do their answers fit your ICP?
– Can you find any red flags?
(have 1-3 questions to identify red flags)
– Use their answers to frame
future conversations
– TAKE NOTES!!! (use a template)
Looks can
be deceiving
That’s not a lake!

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OK, time to clean up
Tie up loose ends, and move on to the next prospect

39. The cleanup
– Do you have any follow-up to do’s or requests for info?
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• Are you setting up the prospect and sales rep for success?
• Will you provide that information or will the sales rep?
– Does the prospect know what to expect next & When?
– Are the notes complete and available for the Sales Rep?
– Was the record updated correctly in the CRM?
– OK, on to the next call…

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Clean up the bad leads too…
– If the lead is not a fit, document it with a picklist
– Have a reasonable list of reason codes
• Enough detail to provide meaning
• Small enough that it is manageable and not splitting hairs
• We have ~ 10 (e.g. missing feature, no budget, pricing, unresponsive, etc..)
– Is it not now (f/u or nurture) or not ever (purge)?

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The call
1 Prepping the call
2 The upfront contract
3 Ask, listen and inspect
4 The cleanup

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3 Measuring performance

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Measuring performance
1 Know your waterfall
2 The workday profile
3 Find and share successful behaviors

44. Know your waterfall Inquiries MQLs SALs SQLs Closed
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• Understand your baseline for each transition
• Compare with benchmarks
Won
21% 50% 38% 21%
Source: Sirius Decisions & Infer

45. Focus on the right metric(s) Inquiries MQLs SALs SQLs Closed
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• For us, lead qualifiers live by these 2 metrics
• 1st: MQL ! SAL conversion rate
• 2nd: Inquiry ! MQL conversion rate
Won
21% 50% 38% 21%
Source: Sirius Decisions & Infer

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The workday profile
– Find the optimal # of activities per day
– Estimate staffing requirements
– X hours per day / time per activity = # of activities per day
e.g. 10 min per call ~ 40-45 calls & emails per day
– Benchmark reps to compare:
• Activities per day
• Conversion rates
Read these articles: Marketing math & Team sizing

47. • How does call length
improve quality?
• Listen to calls to identify
good & bad technique
• Improve Harry’s
throughput?
• Improve Ron’s quality
filter
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Find and share successful behaviors
Rep Harry Ron
Calls 260 300
Leads Touched 240 290
MQLs 68 100
SALs 59 65
Lead à MQL 28% 34%
MQL à SAL 87% 65%
Cost per SAL $203 $223

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Find & share
successful behaviors
– Share with your reps
– Discuss opp quality with Sales
– Discuss lead quality with
Demand Generation
– Study why leads don’t convert

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“We build too many walls
and not enough bridges.”
– Isaac Newton

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THANK YOU

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QUESTIONS ?

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Photo credits
1 The Shining – Warner Bros.
2 Back to the Future – Universal Pictures
3 Wineglass Marketing
4 Glengarry Glen Ross – New Line Cinema
5 Despicable Me 2 – Universal Pictures
6 Game of Thrones, Fire and Blood (S1E10 for those checking…) - HBO
7 Swingers – Miramax Films
8 This is Spinal Tap - MGM
9 Commando – Fox
10 Radio Array – Wikipedia
11 Mirage – Wikipedia
12 Pulp Fiction – Miramax
13 Yahoo! Sports
14 Drum Circle – Wikipedia
15 Rickety – Wikepedia
16 The Millau Viaduct Bridge, France - stylishandtrendy.com