ViewPoint

JANUARY 22, 2013

James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint. Salespeople often complain about receiving enough new leads, but are short on answers about the leads you gave them, now aging and becoming potentially less valuable.

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Leads Leads 120

ViewPoint

APRIL 24, 2018

Save the bulk of your marketing automation efforts for lower-level executives: Senior executives are not as responsive to marketing automation as their junior counterparts: Senior execs don’t want to be treated like the human equivalent of a pinball—capturing your attention only after hitting the right bumpers and scoring enough points.

Validation 168

Validation Marketing Automation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 168

ViewPoint

OCTOBER 5, 2018

No matter what he did, no matter how he spent the company’s money, the CRO would complain about lead quality (and quantity). Marketing was convinced that sales never effectively followed-up on any leads. What is a Lead? This blog about lead cost summarizes a lot of research I have done on the subject.

Sales Qualified Leads 136

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 136

ViewPoint

JANUARY 4, 2018

I review a lot of content on this topic and am amazed at what I find written about lead cost. For example: “The average cost per lead across all the companies surveyed is almost $200 ($198.44).Admittedly, Others stated that the range is between $35 – $100 for a B2B lead. per gross lead).

Cost per Lead 204

Cost per Lead Cost PointClear Sales Qualified Leads 204

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. Content Aggregator “Leads”. Sales Qualified Leads. To be fair, marketing’s mandate was to generate more leads every year with shrinking budgets.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Buy Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

NOVEMBER 16, 2017

Those of us who use the phone to successfully generate sales leads have picked up an essential trade secret. So I respond to their tone with an apologetic one and to, hopefully, quell their negativity. Sometimes, this leads to a future appointment, often it neutralizes their attitude and allows me to continue.

Lead Generation 120

Lead Generation PointClear Sales Leads Lead Scoring 120

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

MARCH 22, 2011

And I was treated accordingly, no doubt thanks to some nifty lead scoring algorithms that have become de rigueur for B2B marketers. Not faulting them for that, but they probably didn't factor into their scoring that I also post on CustomerThink, an online community with 80K+ visitors per month. Lead Scoring is Seller-Centric.

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Work Management Marketing Management 120

ViewPoint

MAY 16, 2017

When it comes time to exploring how you can increase lead generation ROI, that is, produce better leads more cost effectively, move "technology" to the bottom your to-do list. So start by engineering your processes to focus on lead quality not quantity. That is, by not using a cost-per-lead metric.) More about this.

Sales Leads 202

Sales Leads Process Top of Funnel Lead Scoring 202

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. What types of prospects need to be nurtured?

Sales Qualified Leads 149

Sales Qualified Leads ROI Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 149

ViewPoint

APRIL 7, 2015

“Cost of sales is determined by a lot of things,” Jake said, “But lead management isn’t one of them.” First, I got Jake to agree that sales lead follow-up was low in his direct sales force, and that if follow-up increased, so would the closing ratio. Jake finally admitted: Sales lead follow-up will yield greater sales.

Lead Management 120

Lead Management Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads Lead Scoring 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? In fact, buyers perceive value in interacting with sales at every stage of the buying process—even the early stages.” All leads have warts.

Sales Qualified Leads 127

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking PointClear 127

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

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. Lead flow jumped by 300% to 400% in four weeks.

Sales Qualified Leads 168

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Telemarketing 168

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

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

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.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads PointClear Lead Scoring 120

ViewPoint

APRIL 28, 2015

During that game the Fighting Irish players said Hail Mary prayers together before scoring each of the touchdowns, winning the game 13 to 3. Following the prayer, the quarterback threw a quick pass over the middle to score. The ways sales executives follow up on leads is a little like trying to win games with the Hail Mary.

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads 120

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. We’ve done the analysis that shows that PointClear’s outsourced lead generation approach generates 92.35% more revenue.

Sales Qualified Leads 149

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Sales Leads Lead Scoring 149

ViewPoint

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

In the first article on marketing analytics , I discussed the best-practice processes involved in the review, assessment and continuous enhancement of sales lead generation programs to achieve improved results. Example 1: A shift in scoring criteria drives higher results. 22% of more than 20,000 raw leads converted to qualified leads.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Lead Generation Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 120

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.” Often multiple times. It isn’t dead.

Lead Generation 192

Lead Generation B2B Sales Sales Qualified Leads Sales Leads 192

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

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

JANUARY 9, 2014

Last August I wrote a blog for Top Sales World titled “Lead Generation Hogwash: The Top 7 Lies.”. I detailed 7 lies to be aware of to avoid a lead generation disaster (read the blog for the specifics): Any list will do. Automated systems accurately score (prioritize) leads. More leads are better than fewer leads.

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads Lead Generation Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 15, 2017

Our own Kimmy Netterville made the Sales Lead Management Association’s “Most Inspiring” list of 40 outstanding individuals in our industry, announced today. Kimmy was recognized in the category People in Lead Generation Companies for her many contributions in the last decade-plus helping PointClear clients as Program Director.

PointClear 0

PointClear Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Sales Qualified Leads 0

ViewPoint

JUNE 2, 2016

Nurture leads until they’re ready to turn over to sales is the sixth of 7 Truths about Sales and Marketing that CEOs need to know. In the last blog in this series we discussed how to keep leads from being ignored and going into a black hole by using something I call the judicial branch.

Lead Nurturing 120

Lead Nurturing Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 120

ViewPoint

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Data can make the difference between these mistakes and well-executed campaigns with clear visions of target personas, which can lead to successful first calls or meetings. How do you turn this noise into value? Back to Big Data. So what can you do?

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Top of Funnel Cable 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

AUGUST 12, 2014

Is it necessary to pre-qualify inbound leads? Should CMOs feel confident that these leads from marketing automation are ready for sales to close? Without additional qualification measures (such as tele-qualifying), will these leads inevitably clog and choke the sales pipeline? Lead Qualification'

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

AUGUST 19, 2014

Is it necessary to pre-qualify inbound leads? Should CMOs feel confident that these leads from marketing automation are ready for sales to close? Without additional qualification measures (such as tele-qualifying), will these leads inevitably clog and choke the sales pipeline?

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

AUGUST 26, 2014

Is it necessary to pre-qualify inbound leads? Should CMOs feel confident that these leads from marketing automation are ready for sales to close. Without additional qualification measures (such as tele-qualifying), will these leads inevitably clog and choke the sales pipeline?

Sales Qualified Leads 120

Sales Qualified Leads High Quality Lead Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 120

ViewPoint

JUNE 16, 2015

What’s a good lead rate? How much should a lead cost? The lead rate for high quality, enterprise opportunity leads has been roughly flat.) That said, for several years the elephant in the room has been inbound marketing and inbound marketing lead rates. I have seen inbound lead rates reported as high as 11 – 14%.

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Cost per Lead PointClear 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

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. What will make or break its value is how completely sales and marketing teams, together, buy into developing and following it through. Download it here.

Lead Ranking 120

Lead Ranking Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Lead Scoring 120

ViewPoint

MARCH 31, 2011

A new eBook reports on sales rep perceptions of marketing-generated leads, and the findings run from surprising to shocking to downright scary. The survey sample is nicely balanced with responding reps engaged in field sales, inside sales, and inbound and outbound lead generation and lead qualification.

Marketing Qualified Leads 120

Marketing Qualified Leads Ideal Customer Profiles Lead Ranking 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

ViewPoint

AUGUST 18, 2015

Proper alignment is the result of a documented, effective, efficient and measurable process for capturing, engaging, nurturing, managing and converting leads into customers. Increased spending on lead generation. Purchased technology to score and nurture leads. Hired a social media marketer. Hired a social media marketer.

Lead Scoring 120

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Top of Funnel Leads 120