ViewPoint

MAY 3, 2012

The introductory post in this series addressed the problems and costs of applying the cost-per-lead metric to measure the success of B2B lead generation investments. In the second post, we looked at elements of a complex sale that impact B2B lead generation costs. Tie B2B lead generation activity to overall revenue and profits.

Cost per Lead 120

Cost per Lead Sales Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Lead Generation 120

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-Opportunity Conversions (SALs to SQLs).

Cost per Lead 189

Cost per Lead Sales Qualified Leads Cost Lead Scoring 189

ViewPoint

MAY 14, 2018

Salespeople only know that forecasted deals have been delayed, customers aren’t returning calls, and new prospects are slow in coming, or at least it appears that way. New quotas are immediately factored into forecasts, but the numbers may take 3-6 months to materialize, if at all. But, the changes need to be realistic.

Forecasting 149

Forecasting Organic Leads Work Management Trigger Marketing 149

ViewPoint

MAY 21, 2013

How can marketing communications managers know how much interest to generate if they don’t know their salespeople’s quotas? How can these people create demand, create a marketing plan, and create demand generation programs in a vacuum? But what about the sales forecast? What world are they living in? Of course they do.

Work Management 120

Work Management Marketing Management Planning Forecasting 120

ViewPoint

MAY 26, 2016

No matter how desperate you are for leads, before investing in lead generation ask yourself these questions: How have the leads generated during the past quarter or year performed? How many were generated? How many made it to the forecast? How many were accepted by sales? How many were proactively rejected by sales (vs.

Sales Qualified Leads 189

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 189

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 22, 2016

Is "appointment setting" an effective tactic for lead generation and nurturing? Putting a good salesperson in front of the wrong prospect is unlikely to generate revenue. Most companies have experienced lead “traction” issues in their history.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads B2B Sales Cold Calling Lead Scoring 120

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Include goals, objectives, strategies, tactics, a lead generation spreadsheet, and a forecast for the number of inquiries and leads you need to make the revenue forecast. Forecast the number of sales inquiries and leads Sales needs to make quota. Want to increase sales 30% or more? Marketing Management: Walk the talk.

Forecasting 120

Forecasting Lock-In Leads Lead 120

ViewPoint

JUNE 5, 2017

In both camps there's a transparency that hasn't always been present, characterized by a realistic measure of revenue impact of leads--and realistic forecasts. You need full visibility into how many touches it takes to generate a lead, your lead rate, and your cost per lead at every stage in the funnel. Analyze, analyze, analyze.

Top of Funnel 149

Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads PointClear Cost per Lead 149

ViewPoint

MAY 23, 2017

So, they don’t provide visibility into the pipeline until late in the game which causes inaccurate forecasts and other pain. How much money could you save and how much more revenue could you generate if you understood the optimal close rate and provided sales with sales qualified leads?

Sales Qualified Leads 192

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Top of Funnel Work Management 192

ViewPoint

AUGUST 25, 2016

Sales is not as productive as they need to be to meet quota, marketing is wasting its budget generating leads that don’t get followed up, and the company as a whole is not likely to meet revenue goals. In return, sales team members must follow-up on leads they receive promptly, and update forecasts in a timely and realistic manner.

Top of Funnel 120

Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads Budget Programs B2B Sales 120

ViewPoint

AUGUST 20, 2015

These include: Lead and demand generation: How are we attracting and engaging the target audience in building a consistent flow of prospective buyers? This would include a contact to MQL; MQL to sales accepted lead; sales accepted lead to a qualified sales opportunity; qualified sales opportunity to forecasted wins; forecasted to actual win.

Marketing Qualified Leads 120

Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads MQL 120

ViewPoint

APRIL 24, 2013

Lead Generation — Don''t Just Turn Up the Volume. Jim recently wrote, "Enhancing lead generation means, not just turning up the volume, but also maintaining and increasing the quality of leads." We should definitely start analyzing the metrics so we can be more effective in closing sales and generating better leads.

Marketing Management 120

Marketing Management Forecasting Transparency Case Studies 120

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 18, 2011

They must create yearly lead generation and branding plans based on a sales forecast, tune their programs to serve sales quotas (the forecast) and prove the ROI beyond a reasonable doubt. They must create demand which is broken into: Branding: Long term, less immediately measureable, but required.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Forecasting Work Management Cold Calling 120

ViewPoint

MARCH 18, 2014

CRM is good at forecasting, he said. Click to start video at this point — Template emails have, of course, been around for a while, and they’re rarely more successful than direct mailers in generating sales leads (just a two to three percent difference). These generate sales leads at a 20-25 percent rate, Chris said.

Paid Search Agency 120

Paid Search Agency Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Qualified Leads Marketing Automation Services 120

ViewPoint

MARCH 18, 2014

CRM is good at forecasting, he said. Click to start video at this point — Template emails have, of course, been around for a while, and they’re rarely more successful than direct mailers in generating sales leads (just a two to three percent difference). These generate sales leads at a 20-25 percent rate, Chris said.

Paid Search Agency 120

Paid Search Agency Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Qualified Leads Marketing Automation Services 120

ViewPoint

JUNE 12, 2018

Increase the Lead Generation Budget for Qualified Leads. Qualified leads, i.e. people with a declared need and an intention to buy, will save the forecast. What's it take to generate leads that fuel your forecast? There is just one option left. Discounts are for weak people who don’t know how to sell.

Forecasting 136

Forecasting Sales Qualified Leads Budget Programs High Quality Lead 136

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 16, 2012

She said, in no particular order: “Just once I’d like salespeople to admit they made a sale from a marketing-generated lead.”. “I I wish that salespeople would use the CRM system instead of spreadsheets for a sales forecast.”. I could not write fast enough. That they would follow up all sales leads until the prospect buys or dies.”.

Trade Show 120

Trade Show Sales Qualified Leads Forecasting CRM 120

ViewPoint

APRIL 19, 2017

Over the past six years, I have developed a fierce social media presence rooted in generating sales, and have created an online instructional course on the topic of social selling. How could we fix it?

Conference 149

Conference PointClear Cold Calling Work Management 149

ViewPoint

AUGUST 21, 2012

The structural catastrophe is Sales not following up THE SUPERMAJORITY OF SALES LEADS (60% or more) and salespeople failing to make their forecasts as a result. No business rule which mandates measuring the ROI for lead generation. All marketing lead generation programs will be measured for ROI. No lead management system.

Work Management 120

Work Management Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management Wikipedia 120

ViewPoint

MAY 1, 2013

Although your marketing automation software provides marketing analytics that allow you to manage the outbound marketing efforts that generate leads to feed your pipeline, embedded analytics can help you focus your marketing efforts to deliver the most viable leads that become profitable opportunities.

Efficiency 120

Efficiency Analytics Work Management Marketing Management 120

ViewPoint

MARCH 6, 2012

According to Aberdeen , 40% of the sales-forecasted pipeline among Best-in-Class companies is generated by marketing, compared with 22% among Industry Average firms and 13% within Laggard companies. Moreover, Best-in-Class companies report a 31.6% average year-over-year growth in corporate revenue, versus 18.7%

Buyer Personas 120

Buyer Personas Forrester Lead Ranking Peer-to-peer 120

ViewPoint

JULY 7, 2016

About this time of the year we start to receive calls from prospects wishing to start new lead generation projects ASAP. I guarantee any company promising a “rush delivery” will not be the kind of company you want generating your leads. How many were generated? How many made it to the forecast? It happens every year.

Lead Generation 159

Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 159

ViewPoint

AUGUST 15, 2017

When the revenue isn’t hitting forecast, there is more to it than training the reps (few need it), competitive offers (there are always competitors), or product failures (seldom valid). Your sales forecast (AKA sales pipeline) is the first indicator of failing sales and therefore quota failures; it is a very reliable indicator of the future.

Forecasting 136

Forecasting Consulting Work Management Paid Search Agency 136

ViewPoint

JUNE 15, 2018

Accountability from pipeline through forecast. Here are the tell-tale signs your hunters are actually farmers (which means you’re not optimizing revenue generation): You observe they do little new business prospecting and secure just enough business from current accounts or a few referrals from current accounts to keep their job.

Cost 136

Cost Forecasting Work Management Marketing Automation Services 136

ViewPoint

AUGUST 6, 2013

It has been a pleasure to interview each of them and share perspectives on topics ranging from B2B lead generation and inside sales to social media trends and personal branding. We should definitely start analyzing the metrics so we can be more effective in closing sales and generating better leads. Accurate Closing Forecasts.

Peer-to-peer 120

Peer-to-peer Multi-Channel Forecasting Best Practices 120