The Point

JANUARY 24, 2013

Key to designing an effective lead nurturing program is taking stock of your current lead management process. Giving sales a voice in the process will help ensure that, as an organization, they feel they have a stake in the new lead management program and won’t feel it’s being foisted upon them by marketing.

Lead Management 100

Lead Management Process Work Management Sales Qualified Leads 100

The Point

DECEMBER 15, 2020

A client asks: How long should a lead be chronically non-responsive before they’re marked as “marketing suspended”? Over time, an accumulation of stale, non-responsive leads can bump you to a higher pricing tier for your CRM or marketing automation license. . How Quickly Should I Suspend or Delete Non-Responsive Leads?

Lead Scoring 162

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads Lead 162

The Point

MARCH 22, 2019

Lead scoring – as a fundamental part of a company’s lead management strategy – has officially fallen out of fashion. Two reasons I can think of: One is that lead scoring is routinely set up as part of an initial implementation of a marketing automation platform. So, is lead scoring a dying art?

Lead Ranking 113

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads Account Based Marketing 113

The Point

JANUARY 14, 2014

In my experience, most of the mental energy and strategic thinking around the practice of lead nurturing and lead management is usually applied to the goal of accelerating prospects through the sales process – from MQL to SQL, from SQL to Opportunity, and so on. And that lack of focus can be a big mistake. Probably not.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Marketing Automation Services Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Leads 100

The Point

OCTOBER 15, 2019

If your organization is generating plenty of leads but those initial inquiries aren’t converting to sales qualified leads, meetings, or pipeline, a myriad of things could be at fault: 1) sales follow-up may be sub-standard in either cadence, frequency, or message. 2) lead nurturing. 2) lead nurturing.

Sales Qualified Leads 138

Sales Qualified Leads Work Management Marketing Management Account Based Marketing 138

The Point

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I only recently came across the results of research published late last year by Leads360 , a leading provider of hosted (SaaS) solutions for managing sales leads. Leads360 base their conclusions on studying more than 20 million leads. However, here’s where I think the argument falls apart.

Leads360 100

Leads360 Sales Leads Telemarketing Leads 100

The Point

OCTOBER 25, 2018

The analysts at Demand Gen Report just published their “ 2018 Lead Nurturing & Acceleration Survey Report ” and one conclusion is no surprise: many B2B companies are still really bad at lead nurturing. It’s not just that 44% of respondents said that their lead nurturing “needs improvement.” Think about that.

Lead Nurturing 178

Lead Nurturing Marketing Report Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 178

The Point

JANUARY 17, 2019

Some years ago, our firm conducted a lead management audit for a technology client who was struggling to convert raw, inbound inquiries into sales qualified leads. During the audit, it became quickly apparent that one of the major issues was at the very front end of the lead qualification process. Click To Tweet.

Sales Qualified Leads 168

Sales Qualified Leads Tips Lead Nurturing Multi-Channel 168

The Point

JUNE 29, 2009

Here’s an interesting post by Mike Damphousse of Green Leads that I found through Funnelholic (thanks Craig) on how lead nurturing impacts the effectiveness of calling campaigns designed to secure qualified sales appointments.

Lead Gen 100

Lead Gen Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 100

The Point

JUNE 25, 2019

The reasons for this are varied, but many of them center on the quality of the underlying data, and the degree to which information about a particular lead, or opportunity, or closed deal is captured and tracked accurately. A good starting point is a mini data audit, focused on the following questions: * Are you capturing lead sources?

Marketing Attribution 242

Marketing Attribution Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 242

The Point

JANUARY 27, 2016

Demand Gen Report just published “ Top B2B Marketers Measure Lead Nurturing Effectiveness to Boost Performance ,” a special report in which they address the whys, whats, and how tos of measuring lead nurturing’s true impact. That, ultimately, is what lead nurturing is designed to do – move leads towards opportunity and close.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads 100

The Point

JULY 1, 2019

For the last decade or more, it’s been an accepted principle – almost a key tenet – of B2B demand generation that business buyers don’t want to talk to a sales rep until the last possible moment. It’s why, for example, we marketers have assumed control for more and more of the lead funnel. For example: * Lead Scoring.

B2B Sales 124

B2B Sales Demand Generation Agencies Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 124

The Point

JUNE 5, 2018

for lead management to 3.35 However, when you consider that, in our model, a 5 represents the most advanced state of practice from a business theory perspective, and a 1 represents basic control and management of a process, you recognize how difficult the transition from 1 to 5 really is. for organization.

Lead Ranking 194

Lead Ranking Forrester Lead Scoring Paid Search Agency 194

The Point

AUGUST 25, 2015

It’s important to recognize that content syndication leads are not like most sales leads. If you hand off content syndication leads to your sales force without setting these expectations, your program may be doomed to fail. The post A Follow-Up Strategy for Content Syndication Leads appeared first on The Point.

Autoresponders 100

Autoresponders Leads Lead Marketing Qualified Leads 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Sungard AS runs a highly successful demand generation program, an integrated mix of both online and offline campaigns, to generate a consistent flow of leads to the company’s sales force. Design, build and launch a “Welcome” email program designed to improve follow-up and response to new leads.

Conversion Rate 100

Conversion Rate Marketing Qualified Leads Demand Generation Agencies Lead Ranking 100

The Point

OCTOBER 30, 2013

A client asks: “I notice that you’re recommending we gate our offer content behind landing pages as part of the lead nurturing campaign. It’s why click-to-lead conversion rates are never 100%, no matter how good your landing page. Why is that necessary when we already know who these people are? Here’s why: 1. A click is not a response.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Landing Pages 100

The Point

JULY 14, 2015

In an era when “demand generation” and “content marketing” are virtually synonymous, most B2B sales leads are the result of a prospect downloading or requesting content. That latter group becomes fodder for ongoing nurturing, in the hope that further education and brand awareness will ultimately result in conversion to qualified leads.

Sales Qualified Leads 100

Sales Qualified Leads Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Top of Funnel 100

The Point

AUGUST 8, 2013

When a client says “We set up lead scoring but sales doesn’t pay any attention,” it’s a sure sign that something is amiss – and more likely the problem doesn’t rest with sales. Here’s Part 2 of our discussion of the most common B2B lead scoring mistakes.

Lead Scoring 100

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Marketo 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Do I need it in order to do lead nurturing?”. My answer: “It depends how you define “ lead nurturing ,” but technically: no, you don’t need marketing automation in order to nurture leads. It enables you to deploy lead nurturing programs that are more timely, relevant, and, ultimately, effective.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Demand Generation Agencies Marketing Automation Services Sales Qualified Leads 100

The Point

AUGUST 1, 2013

Lead scoring has quickly become an integral part of a demand generation marketer’s arsenal. A well-planned, well-designed, and optimized lead scoring schema can be a key contributor to sales productivity, sales engagement, and the rate at which inbound leads convert to Sales Qualified Leads, opportunities, and deals.

Lead Scoring 100

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Leads 100

The Point

JUNE 8, 2016

Email may still be the workhorse in how B2B companies build relationships, maintain awareness, qualify leads and nudge prospects along the sales cycle, but these days, it pays to think about “lead nurturing” as more just an email campaign. The post 5 Ways to Expand Lead Nurturing Beyond the Inbox appeared first on The Point.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Sales Qualified Leads Account Based Marketing Leads 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

When marketers embark on a formal lead nurturing strategy, opportunities for process improvement can arise in unexpected ways. That was the experience for iDirect , a leading provider of satellite IP communications based in Herndon, Virginia. All this presents real challenges for both demand generation and lead management.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Leads Lead Ranking 100

The Point

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

The conclusion: most B2B companies were failing to follow even the most basic lead management best practices, even in areas that one would assume were a primary business case for purchasing marketing automation in the first place. Reduced sales cycle? Lead to sale conversion rates? Pipeline acceleration?

Marketing Automation Services 147

Marketing Automation Services Marketing Management Marketing Automation Automation 147

The Point

AUGUST 25, 2020

Which of the following do you have in place: CRM, Marketing Automation, Programmatic, ABM (Demandbase, Engagio, 6Sense, Terminus), Sales Enablement (SalesLoft, Outreach), Data Enrichment/CDP (ZoomInfo, DiscoverOrg, Leadspace), Conversational Marketing (Drift), Content Experience (Uberflip), Website Personalization, Attribution.

Ideal Customer Profiles 147

Ideal Customer Profiles Account Based Marketing ABM Lead Ranking 147

The Point

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

The lead nurturing program they implemented included 40+ (yes, forty) separate and distinct tracks of emails, tailored to different audience segments, product interests, and stages in the lead lifecycle. Yes, you can tailor emails to fit every possible unique combination of demographic and behavioral criteria. Not really.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Rules Leads Lead 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

If (as is likely) the concept catches on and extends in one form or another to other email clients, notably Microsoft Outlook , Priority Inbox could sound the beginning of the end for email as a lead generation tool. One, because the effectiveness of email as a tool for acquiring net new sales leads is already as bad as it’s ever been.

Lead Generation 100

Lead Generation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Generation 100

The Point

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

When sales teams need marketing to help them make their numbers, the natural response is to go fishing for hot leads. This requires a constant re-loading of the sales funnel with new, expensive leads. In contrast, for Marketo, the proportion of sales derived from slow leads is an astounding 50 percent.

Sales Qualified Leads 100

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Leads 100

The Point

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

In the early stages of a recent client engagement, it became apparent that the schema already in place to determine and assign lead scores was, well: broken. The basic lead scoring recipe is typically a variation on the following: * assign positive scores for desired behavior or demographics (e.g. download trial version).

Lead Scoring 100

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Leads 100

The Point

JULY 23, 2012

In an ideal world, all B2B sales leads would be pre-qualified and ready to buy. One result of that pressure can be a demand for tactical, sales-driven campaigns designed specifically to seek out hot leads, campaigns that lead with so-called “late stage” offers like demos, free trials, or even price discounts.

Demand Generation Agencies 100

Demand Generation Agencies Sales Qualified Leads Leads Lead 100

The Point

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Relevancy is one of the key factors in generating a consistent response from your lead nurturing emails: the more relevant your message to the reader’s job function, industry, interests, and stage in the selling cycle, the more likely he/she will be to respond. Lead source. Don’t dump all inbound leads into the same bucket.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Segmentation Sales Qualified Leads Campaigns 100

The Point

AUGUST 4, 2009

Do a quick Web search on “lead nurturing” these days, and you’ll find plenty of high-level, strategic content on the “whys” – how nurturing can improve demand generation ROI, increase conversion rates, accelerate sales cycles, recycle long-discarded prospects, etc.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Leads Lead Marketing Qualified Leads 100

The Point

AUGUST 8, 2011

A recent industry study on Lead Management Optimization, conducted by CSO Insights and conducted in partnership with SMEI and Marketo , sheds insight on the relative budget marketing organizations are investing in areas such as lead nurturing, social media, and lead generation.

Lead Generation 100

Lead Generation Social Media Allocation Marketing Qualified Leads 100

The Point

DECEMBER 11, 2018

In the giddy, early days when solutions like Marketo first arrived on the scene, the reigning view was that the technology was all a company needed to solve their lead management and email marketing woes. Not only is ABM success not measured by clicks, conversions, and leads, but the KPIs may vary according to campaign stage.

Account Based Marketing 157

Account Based Marketing ABM Ideal Customer Profiles Enterprise Management 157

The Point

JULY 13, 2012

Which leads to another question: do certain types of campaigns even need an offer in the first place? Take lead nurturing : is it strictly essential that every lead nurturing touch include a specific, gated, call to action? I have my concerns, however, about extending it to lead nurturing and the email medium.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Campaigns 100

The Point

DECEMBER 14, 2012

One of the most frequent questions we’re hearing from clients during this planning season pertains to the balance between pure lead generation on the one hand, and lead nurturing on the other. Even the most sophisticated lead nurturing program, however, depends on a stream of new leads entering the top of the sales funnel.

Lead Nurturing 100

Lead Nurturing Demand Generation Budget Programs Demand 100

The Point

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

A client writes: “I notice you recommend both email AND phone follow-up to inbound leads from programs like content syndication. Our inside sales reps are fairly prompt about following up with all leads by phone. Why do I need to set up automated email response as well?”. Here are the key reasons: 1.

Lead Scoring 100

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Telemarketing Process 100

The Point

AUGUST 22, 2014

That might suggest that the adoption rate for marketing automation is lagging, but revenues for the leading companies are climbing at a torrid 50-60 percent per year. Even at mid-size companies ($20 Million – $500 Million), the figure is only 10 percent. Even then, however, the vast majority of B2B marketers have yet to take the plunge.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Paid Search Agency Marketing Automation Advertising Agencies 100