ViewPoint

JANUARY 15, 2013

Given that I run one of the many lead generation companies it will not surprise you to learn that I believe a 3rd party focused on response management, lead generation and qualification and lead nurturing is capable of doing a much better job of those services than you are likely to find inside most companies.

Paid Search Agency 120

Paid Search Agency Lead Generation Work Management Sales Qualified Leads 120

ViewPoint

AUGUST 20, 2018

Most sales and marketing teams are looking for ways to generate more leads. It's likely a daily discussion for most of us, but have you ever considered that your sales reps need fewer leads—or more accurately, fewer raw, unfiltered, unqualified leads. Marketing is paid, in fact rewarded for, lead quantity and not quality.

Sales Qualified Leads 149

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Leads Lead 149

ViewPoint

MAY 11, 2017

I asked my contact how he thought a company could provide the same level of service for half the cost. The point is, not all sales lead generation firms are created equal, just as not all houses are the same. Instead of highly qualified sales leads, our would-be client will end up with the equivalent of 8’ popcorn ceilings.

Lead Generation 168

Lead Generation Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads PointClear 168

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 5, 2018

The CMO of a Fortune 500 company offered the CRO the following options regarding spending $100,000 on a marketing campaign. 100,000 companies with up to three executive contacts in the right companies (no email addresses). 117 appointments with people in the right companies but may or may not have any need or authority to buy.

Sales Qualified Leads 136

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 136

ViewPoint

AUGUST 16, 2018

Your sales team likes nothing better than getting leads with a high probability of closing soon. So much so that many reps often ignore every lead they don’t consider hot. Long-term leads often prove to be more valuable than those slated for a short-term decision. Here’s an example: Marketing spends $60,000 to generate 80 leads.

Lead Scoring 136

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Leads 136

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

A broken lead generation strategy could mean trouble for your sales and marketing team, but not just because of the fundamental misalignment between the two departments. Have marketing and sales decided on a shared definition for a qualified sales lead? Have marketing and sales decided on a shared definition for a qualified sales lead?

Marketing Qualified Leads 168

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation 168

ViewPoint

JUNE 15, 2017

Some companies have several inside departments to take in, qualify, nurture, and filter sales leads to such a finite extent that few leads go to anyone. If the raw lead count is high but there is a mere trickle going to the salespeople, you have a substantial problem. This cost the company $1.2 A 100% True Story.

Sales Qualified Leads 168

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Telemarketing 168

ViewPoint

AUGUST 27, 2018

Economist Milton Friedman said the main purpose of a business is to maximize profits for its owners (for a publicly-traded company, it’s for the stockholders). We see that with formerly rock-solid companies that fail to innovate fast enough to compete. If you work for a company that doesn’t believe in marketing, resign.”.

Paid Search Agency 149

Paid Search Agency Companies Opinions Sales Qualified Leads 149

ViewPoint

MAY 24, 2016

Understand the price you are paying for your leads and then optimize. Document the cost per lead is the fourth of 7 Truths about Sales and Marketing that CEOs need to know. Today we will discuss how to document and then optimize the cost per lead, including the Sales Accepted Lead, the Sales Qualified Lead and Closed/Won business.

Sales Qualified Leads 174

Sales Qualified Leads Cost Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads 174

ViewPoint

MAY 17, 2018

A senior marketing executive once got so frustrated with his sales counterpart that he offered the following choices for spending $100,000 on a lead generation campaign: Option. Companies (Three Contacts). Content Aggregator “Leads”. Sales Qualified Leads. A viscous cycle: Marketing generates leads, sales ignores them.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Buy Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

JANUARY 22, 2018

Can companies reach the holy grail of marketing—the perfect lead? Well, what is a perfect lead? What is wrong with these formulaic approaches to lead qualification? I don’t think there is such a thing as a perfect lead. All leads have warts. What is your definition of the perfect lead—and why?

Sales Qualified Leads 127

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking PointClear 127

ViewPoint

MAY 23, 2018

Lead nurture can triple the return on most marketing campaigns. By nurturing leads until they’re ready to turn over to sales, an organization can eliminate wasted marketing spend and increase sales results. Successful lead generation—inbound and outbound—requires nurturing. The numbers speak for themselves.

Sales Qualified Leads 149

Sales Qualified Leads ROI Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 149

ViewPoint

APRIL 14, 2017

Last week I published a blog that provided five ways to avoid getting burned by outsourced B2B sales lead generation, qualification and nurturing. So, they settle for a cheap solution—which is how mediocre sales lead generation firms survive. The need for sales pressures the CMO to deliver leads fast. You can read the blog here.

Lead Generation 176

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Generation 176

ViewPoint

APRIL 6, 2017

Based on my experience over the past almost 30-years it seems that everyone has been burned by outsourced lead generation. The main reason for these failures is that there is a LOT of mediocrity in the lead generation industry, which is why some say outbound is supposedly “dead.” Most companies in our industry don’t.

Lead Generation 192

Lead Generation B2B Sales Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads 192

ViewPoint

JUNE 9, 2017

While some sales people stop after placing one or two calls (if they don’t get the prospect on the phone or don’t get a call back, they deem the lead no good) our sales support associates keep trying. We persevered—and then turned over a Sales Qualified Lead which closed for $1,000,000,000 five months later. We didn’t stop.

Lead Qualification 220

Lead Qualification Touchpoints Sales Qualified Leads PointClear 220

ViewPoint

NOVEMBER 7, 2018

If you intend to spend the investor’s money (AKA company money) based on notions and intuition, without a plan to report the results, you are misleading management. Naturally, not every lead gen program will be a success. Nothing else made sense to me then or now.

Lead Gen 221

Lead Gen ROI Spending Barriers 221

ViewPoint

JUNE 21, 2018

Accurate lead/revenue projections are a powerful tool that all B2B organizations need to manage sales and marketing. Problem is, most lead to revenue calculators out there are overly simplistic. And an excellent tool provides you with insight into the value of inbound vs. outbound leads. Guess what. This is a key benchmark.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads PointClear Lead Scoring 120

ViewPoint

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

James Obermayer, founder of the Sales Lead Management Association , recently spoke with SLMA Radio program host Paul Roberts on how lack of a sales lead management process hampers company growth. JO: So, the first thing [you've] got to [do is] define what a sales lead is. Following are highlights of the interview.

Lead Management 149

Lead Management Sales Leads Marketing Management Sales Qualified Leads 149

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 18, 2015

Few companies get by on their good looks—although the engineering department would like to think that the pure genius and word of mouth about your product is enough to sell it. Well, I hate to break it to them, but without marketing the majority of companies will either fail or fail to reach their full potential.

Lead Management 120

Lead Management Sales Leads Efficiency Word of Mouth 120

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 2, 2017

Walk out of your office and ask the first three marketers and the first three sales executives you encounter one question: What constitutes a lead? With technology it is now possible to get more poor quality leads to sales faster than ever before. Watch this brief video to learn how to establish a lead definition.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 120

ViewPoint

AUGUST 9, 2016

Your sales team likes nothing better than getting leads with a high probability of closing soon. So much so that many reps often ignore every lead they don’t consider hot. In reality, long-term leads often prove to be more valuable than those slated for a short-term decision. In many cases hot opportunities are already baked.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Demand 120

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Now you have the number of units that will be sold in the coming months without lead generation. This is the basis for projecting the number of leads needed to make the forecast from sales leads for the new year. Now you need 6,000 total raw leads. Now you need 6,000 total raw leads. Here’s How it Works.

Forecasting 166

Forecasting Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 166

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 3, 2017

Standard B2B lead-generation programs produce an average 5% lead rate while advanced lead-generation programs (which include lead nurturing) produce an average 15% lead rate—three times higher. That is why you frequently hear sales say: “the leads suck.”. In it I state: “How much should a lead cost?

Top of Funnel 168

Top of Funnel B2B Sales Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads 168

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 20, 2017

This is the second of a 2-part series that borrows Miller Lite’s super successful Tastes Great, Less Filling campaign theme to make a point about sales lead generation. Usually that objection has to do with the belief that only their own employees can represent their company.

Sales Qualified Leads 149

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Sales Leads Lead Scoring 149

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 1, 2016

I once worked with the then SVP, Marketing of a large public company who was frustrated with sales. At one point he got so angry that he offered sales management the following choices for spending a $100,000 budget to generate leads. 100,000 companies with up to three executive contacts in the right company (no email addresses).

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking PointClear 120

ViewPoint

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

PointClear’s Kimmy Netterville has been nominated as one of the 40 Most Inspired Leaders in Sales Lead Management. The Sales Lead Management Association announced today that nominations are now closed, and voting is open until Dec. Look for Kimmy’s name in the “People in Lead Generation Companies” category.

Sales Qualified Leads 159

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Management Sales Leads Lead Qualification 159

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

Even the most ambitious and efficient companies with highly competitive offerings, like GE or Boeing, don’t close 100% of their deals. These companies have a very high demand for their products and services, but they still need strong lead generation and qualification processes. Qualify Your Lead. Find the Pain.

Sales Leads 159

Sales Leads Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 159

ViewPoint

JUNE 28, 2016

First, here is the question as posted: "What is the minimum acceptable close rate for leads provided to sales in a complex selling situation (long sales cycle and multiple decision-makers)?". Here is a distillation of the scores of responses I received: "To what extent are the leads qualified to begin with?".

Sales Qualified Leads 159

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 159

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

In the search for the holy grail of marketing KPIs, we want ones that correctly emphasize ROI over lead cost, tie lead generation to overall revenue and profits, identify the most successful marketing initiatives and deliver insights that can be leveraged to run future high-return activity. Lead-to-Pipeline Conversions (MQLs-to-SALs).

Cost per Lead 189

Cost per Lead Sales Qualified Leads Cost Lead Scoring 189

ViewPoint

AUGUST 11, 2016

While cost-per-lead measurement has been the de facto favorite for evaluating marketing programs, we are seeing radical and positive shifts in how marketing is evaluating qualified leads. Marketing must align its B2B lead generation activities and resources with deeper-in-the-funnel outcomes. Cost-Per-Lead.

Cost per Lead 120

Cost per Lead Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Cost 120

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 23, 2018

What is a lead? While all of these scenarios have potential, none could be called a lead. Because the chances are pretty low—probably 3% to 4% at best—that any of these names are bonafide opportunities if you are a B2B company with a complex sales process. Leads aren’t leads unless: They’re qualified.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Forecasting PointClear Enterprise Management 120

ViewPoint

MAY 26, 2016

Keep leads from being ignored is the fifth of 7 Truths about Sales and Marketing that CEOs need to know. In the last blog we discussed the importance of cost per: Lead, Sales Accepted Lead, Sales Qualified Lead and Closed Deal. How much did you spend for the leads? How many were generated? How many are progressing?

Sales Qualified Leads 189

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 189

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 10, 2016

The biggest disconnect between marketing and sales is the hand-off of marketing qualified leads (MQL’s) to sales and the acceptance of those leads (SAL’s) by sales. That’s more than 100 percent higher performance for companies that have the rigor of sales acceptance in their lead management process.

Marketing Qualified Leads 120

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Top of Funnel 120

ViewPoint

AUGUST 30, 2016

As a business-to-business marketing or sales leader you have numerous options for lead generation tactics and tools. Because a phone conversation efficiently replicates face-to-face sales activities, these one-on-one flowing and probing interactions are the most effective method to validate the quality of a lead. Sales is sales.

Lead Gen 136

Lead Gen Telemarketing Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 136

ViewPoint

APRIL 11, 2018

One of PointClear’s business development representatives, working on behalf of a global software company, made 11 touches (calls, voicemails and emails) and his persistence paid off. He landed a huge lead for our client (with a $1 billion company). Completed dispositions per day Estimated lead rate Leads per month.

PointClear 136

PointClear Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 136

ViewPoint

JANUARY 27, 2017

During the last week of December I asked a panel of experts for feedback on our Leads to Revenue Calculator. The above graphic is a sample from our Lead to Revenue Calculator. Most people see nurtured leads as converting to a MQL/SQL--which you are already counting. I was surprised at the level of detailed feedback I received.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 120

ViewPoint

MARCH 3, 2015

There is valuable data in non-lead outcomes that, if properly nurtured, can increase marketing returns substantially. Most recently, in part 2 of this series , we discussed pipeline dispositions*—prospects that are just one or two touches away from being converted to sales-ready leads. Lead Nurturing' What a waste!

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 120