Benchmark Report Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015-2016

© NWComm. A Benchmark Report on Lead Generation Strategies and Tactics for 2015‐16

A Global Benchmark Reportconducted by

LEAD Generation2015-16

March 2016


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Table of content

Research methodology 4Part 1. Results of Lead Generation in 2015 5 Part 2. Lead Generation Workflow 13Part 3. Plans for Lead Generation in 2016 21Part 4. Case Studies 26Part 5. Survey Demographics 36Contacts 44


Research Methodology

The research is based on interviewswith 259 marketing, lead generationand sales professionals from aroundthe world (USA and Canada, Europe,Russia, India), both B2B and B2C.

Interviews were conducted by Internet,telephone, or e‐mail. The research wasconducted on January 11, 2016 toFebruary 29, 2016. The respondentswere asked 10 to 26 questions thatdepended on their lead generationstrategy.

92% of the respondents stated thatthey need new customers now and thattheir sales cycle includes personal(including online) interaction withprospective customers.

Upon our request, 6 experts playingvarious roles in lead generation sharedtheir expertise and providedinformation about their lead generationcampaigns.

We are grateful to every respondent forsharing their valuable insight with us.


Part 1

Results of Lead Generation in 2015


Did your lead generation campaigns in 2015 bring you new leads and sales?

Yes, we have new leads and sales.

85%

Partially, we have new leads, but no sales from them.

14%

No, we do not have any leads.

1%


Which was the average quality of the leads found and attracted in 2015?

The leads were constantly of an excellent quality,

ready to start sales.7%

3/4 of the leads were of a good quality, which for the most part is taken into sales or lead nurturing.

28%

Half of the leads was of good quality and are taken into sales or lead nurturing.

48%

3/4 of the leads were of poor quality and were disqualified.

11%

All of the leads were of poor quality.

1%

Don't know.5%


Which activities were the most effective for lead generation in 2015?

3%

5%

6%

16%

23%

24%

24%

33%

33%

33%

35%

38%

41%

46%

57%

Fax and snail mailsOffline ads (TV, radio, banners)

OtherOnline ads

Social media advertisingAds in search engines (pay‐per‐click)

Social media marketingContent marketing

Marketing researches for lead generationBusiness meetings arrangements

Search engine optimizationTelemarketing

Web‐siteEvents and webinars

Marketing e‐mails


Which challenges and obstacles did you face when doing lead generation in 2015?

5%

7%

8%

9%

9%

12%

16%

16%

19%

23%

24%

26%

31%

35%

Other

Economic crisis stopped our activities

No challenges and obstacles

Problems with testing

Problems with approving within the company

Need for special software

No resources for lead nurturing

Problems with targeting

Lack of time

Lack of budget

Lack of human resources

Lead generation and sales coordination

Low‐quality contacts databases

Necessity for new content


What was the main reason for sales not closed or customers' delayed decisions in 2015?

4%

11%

15%

17%

18%

20%

24%

24%

29%

32%

Other

Don't know

Economic crisis

Leads were of poor quality

Leads had no real need or interest in the product

Leads should be nurtured, too early to start sales

Customers have chosen competing products

The sales department did not work out the leads

Long purchase life‐cycle, the sales go on

Leads had no budget


During the last few years at our company, we usemore and more European market places, whichare web services that specialize in generatingleads for businesses. On one hand, they provideenterprises with highly competitive quotes fromnationwide suppliers of office equipment andbusiness services. On the other hand, these webservices allow product and service suppliers toget new leads that are interested in certaincategories of goods.

Benoit BossuetLead Generation Manager

Neopost

Experts’ Opinions


Over the past 1‐2 years, many marketers haveshifted from a lead volume focus to a revenuefocus (quality over quantity). With attributiontechnology available, marketers can be heldaccountable for revenue and also can provetheir successes by measuring ROI. There hasbeen a shift toward focusing on the fullmarketing funnel rather than a top of thefunnel lead generation approach.

Eva SharfMedia Manager,

Bizible

I think that content marketing is the best wayto approach new leads. People don’t want tobe pressured or bullied. Providing valuableinformation that assists prospects in makingtheir own choice appears to be most effective.Companies need a good balance of outboundcalling and emailing to be most effective whennurturing leads.

David PieteLead Generation Manager

Certify, Inc.

Experts’ Opinions


Part 2

Lead Generation Workflow


How does a lead reveal itself for your company?

4%

8%

8%

10%

10%

12%

17%

29%

32%

32%

38%

45%

60%

62%

Other

Subscription to your newsletter

Social network activity ("like", "share", etc.)

Website visitor

Click on your advertising in social media

Click on your advertising in search engines

Visitor to your event/booth/webinar

Interest identified as a result of telemarketing

Positive response to your direct mail

Download of a whitepaper, case study, etc.

Request via e‐mail, fax, feedback forms, etc.

Request for a call of your sales managers

Agreement on a business (online) meeting

Incoming call regarding your products


Which criteria are important for you to estimate the results of a lead generation

campaign?

3%

24%

33%

47%

53%

63%

74%

Other

Shortening of a sales cycle

Lead price

Sales volume

Return on marketing investments

Number of qualified leads

Conversion rate (deals closed/leads)


Do you have some marketing budget allocated especially for lead generation?

Yes74%

No26%


Up to which price per lead are you ready to pay?

1‐5 USD6%

50‐150 USD9% 0‐1 USD

10%

150 and more USD13%15‐50 USD

17%

5‐15 USD19%

I don't know26%


Who does lead generation in your company?

Other2%

In house call center6%

Top‐management8%

Sales department9%

Outsourcing call‐center / lead

generation agency12%

Lead generation department

24%

Marketing department

39%


One challenge that companies face is that theprimary metric used to measure marketingsuccess is different for various job levels.Typically, CMOs and senior marketers userevenue as the primary success metric, butintermediate and entry‐level marketers areopting for a mixed set of metrics, including top ofthe funnel metrics. Additional challenges are alack of accurate marketing attribution and aninability to measure the true ROI of leadgeneration strategies.

Eva SharfMedia Manager

Bizible

Experts’ Opinions


Our target audience is mostly medium andlarge enterprises (above $200M revenue). Weactively participate in various industry eventsand shows, including ONS, Innotrans,Agretechnica, Baumag, Bauma,Power‐Gen,Hannover Messe, etc. These events providegreat results and around 50% of qualifiedleads were converted into sales. However,participating in such events is always achallenge as event timeframes are verylimited, a huge influx of visitors may occur,language barriers may arise, and geo‐specificsare often an issue.

Rahul ShrivastavaLead Generation Manager

Cyient Limited

Experts’ Opinions


Part 3

Plans for Lead Generation in 2016


What does your company plan to do for lead generation in 2016?

3%

7%

33%

35%

36%

38%

38%

46%

47%

56%

60%

Other

No activities planned

Team building: improvements of interaction between marketingand sales, motivation

Business contacts databases: updating and leveraging

Analytics: estimating ROI, results analysis, lead qualification

Content: new collaterals, white papers, newsletters, etc.

Automation of sales and marketing (implementation of CRM, e‐mail system, etc.)

Website: update, optimization, adding lead generation functions

Lead nurturing (working on cold leads and nurture them untilready for sales)

Targeting: segmenting, qualification, new groups

Lead generation strategy: development and implementation


Which type of marketing campaigns do you plan to do for lead generation in 2016?

4%

7%

10%

23%

27%

33%

35%

36%

37%

45%

47%

49%

51%

51%

52%

OtherFax and postal mailings

Offline ads (TV, radio, banners)Online ads (e.g., on target news portals)

Social media advertisingBusiness meetings arrangements

Marketing researches for lead generationAds in search engines (pay‐per‐click)

TelemarketingSocial media marketing

Marketing mailingsSearch engines optimization

Your website (downloads, subscriptions, etc.)Events and webinarsContent marketing


The primary upcoming trend is the adoption ofaccount based marketing (ABM) strategies bymarketing teams. New technologies are allowingmarketers to implement ABM through digitalmarketing efforts, and I believe that newmarketing technology will continue to make ABMmore accessible. Shifting to ABM also requiresclose alignment with sales, so I expect marketingand sales teams will start implementing the samelead and revenue objectives as well.


Bizible

Experts’ Opinions


Experts’ Opinions

I see that the main trend of lead generation forthe future will lean heavily toward capturinginformation from social media. However, I doubtwe will receive the same quality of theinformation via social media compared to theinformation we gather by talking to the prospectdirectly over the phone.

Vincent John EspirituProgram and Sales Director

JR Global Marketing

I think that in the future lead generation will startto shift away from high‐volume, outboundcalling. Prospects will be more receptive tointeractive, informative email marketing. Also,ranking web sites like Capterra and G2crowd willcontinue to be a proven source of leads.


Certify, Inc.


Part 4

Case Studies


An IBM Partner’s Lead Generation Project (1/3)

IBMMarketing SupportWhen acting as a partner of a large IT‐giant suchas IBM, the partner‐company must be involved inmany activities that support the vendor. IBMlooks for effective marketing actions likeorchestrating customer events or conducting callsto generate leads. While coordinating jointactivities with IBM, the partner initiated a leadgeneration campaign, which was comprised ofcold calls aimed at arranging business meetingswith qualified leads. JR Global Marketingexecuted this campaign.

Target GroupCIOs, IT Directors, and IT Managers of large andmedium cross‐industry enterprises, includingretail, banking, manufacturing, and insurance ofthe Asia‐Pacific region comprised the targetaudience.

GoalsThis lead generation campaign’s primaryobjectives were to identify leads, which wouldrequire additional hardware and applications,and to estimate system integration supportrequirements. A secondary objective was toidentify future plans in a company’s ITdepartment, which created potentialopportunities for the IBM partner to work on inthe future.

Project PreparationThe first step was to create a list of qualifiedleads. This list had to be checked carefully tofilter out possible ongoing opportunities orexisting clients. The second step centered oncreating necessary materials for the leadgeneration project, including a call script, letterssamples, and a lead report form that outlined



scoring for lead qualification. A team was thentrained on project‐specific requirements. Oncedocumentation had been finalized and the teamwas ready to start, the active calling phase began.

Lead CriteriaThe key criterion for the target group waswhether the contacts had any plans related to anIT upgrade such as a large business project thatrequired new hardware; for example, ERP systemimplementation.The phone conversation identified specificinformation relating to the Budget, Authority,Need, Timeframe and Environment (BANT+E)criteria. Each criterion was ranked using a scorecard.

CollaborationEach week, the IBM partner launched a call withthe outsourcing team to check on the progress ofthe leads and to ensure that no stone was leftunturned. “Having a hands‐on approach is crucialto make sure that each lead is being worked onand moving onto the next step,” said VincentJohn Espiritu, Program and Sales Director for JRGlobal Marketing.

ResultsHere are the quantitative results:

Parameter ResultBudget $10 000Conversion 2.5‐4% Number of suspects 500Number of leads 17Price per lead $588


Lead NurturingWhile some leads were qualified, there wereother leads that did not pass BANT+E criteria anddid not qualify. These leads were considered“Suitable” or “Needs Additional Information” andwere enrolled in a lead‐nurturing program thatwould convert them to qualified status. Towardsthe end of the campaign period, these leads wererevisited via phone to see if they were ready tobe evaluated by the client’s IT solutions. Thelead‐nurturing program led to even morequalified leads.

JR Global Marketing provided this case study.www.jrglobalmarketing.net

As technologies continue to evolve and morepeople who use the internet display moreinformation, it has now become crucial to bemore creative, but also careful in generatinghighly qualified leads. Cold calling is stillsomething that I think is very efficient inqualifying and disqualifying leads, as long as aneffective methodology is used.


JR Global Marketing



BrandMaker’s Lead Generation Process (1/3)

AboutBrandMaker is a provider of Marketing ResourceManagement (MRM) systems. The companydevelops and markets sophisticated softwaresolutions for the marketing communication ofmedium and large‐scale organizations.Experienced with the best know‐hows of MRMsystems, the company has established a steadyand strong lead generation process.

Target GroupThe company focuses on large and mediumenterprises of B2B sector, particularly those inthe financial and manufacturing industries. Thetitles of these decision makers are C‐levelmarketing, sales, business development, andcommercial executives.

Generation…The first step in the process of bringing leads torevenue is to receive contacts of those who areinterested in the company’s solutions and MRMin general. These contacts are called marketinggenerated leads. These leads are received viavarious marketing methods: ads in searchengines and relevant websites, LinkedIn, SEO,SEM, blogs, etc. While running these campaigns,the company uses a set of landing pages andconstantly practices A/B testings.



… and QualificationFurther, the leads need to be qualified from bothmarketing and sales perspectives. The conversionof marketing generated leads to marketingqualified ones is approximately 33‐34%, and frommarketing qualified to sales qualified—35‐36%.Having passed these qualifications, a leadbecomes an opportunity and active sales begin.In an equation, the formula is as follows:MGL => MQL => SQL => Opportunity =>Opportunity Management => Closing

ResultsHere are the quantitative results the company has achieved within a year:

Parameter ResultMarketing Generated Leads (MGL)

1700

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)

550

Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)

~200

Cost per Lead 26,50 to 325,00€Conversion of Qualified Leads to Sales

8‐10%


We definitely stand on keeping our leadgeneration team in‐house. Thus, we develop andenrich our talent pool and competence center.Lead generation is one of the core processeswithin our business so we dedicate manyresources into leveraging a maximum andkeeping it within our enterprise. One of my keygoals is to develop modern lead generationstrategies using social media, online promotion,calls and cadence, touch points, anddevelopment of lists segmented by sales channel,customer type, and customer demographics.

BrandMaker provided this case study.www.brandmaker.com

Timm Brocks Director Sales Lead Generation

BrandMaker



Certify’s Lead Generation Process (1/3)

AboutCertify is a cloud‐based travel and expensemanagement software provider. Withprescheduled, auto‐generated expense reportcreation and mobile capabilities, Certifyeliminates the need for paper receipts andspreadsheets and provides insight into travel andexpense spending with a full suite of on‐demandreporting and analytics.

Target GroupThe key priority industries for 2015‐2016 aremanufacturing, recruiting, and retail. The productsuits companies of all sizes; however, the mosteffective conversion from leads into sales arisesfrom companies that have between 50 and 500employees.

TacticsCertify’s lead generation has been focusing onindustry‐driven campaigns. These campaignsinclude webinars, email campaigns, andoutbound calling. An integral part of theseactivities has been a creation of relevantmarketing content that serves to attract thetarget group’s attention.

Internal ProcessRecently, the company has focused on generatingmore leads by pushing prospects to its website.Once there, prospects are encouraged to leavecontacts and then the contacts provided areprocessed by the lead generation team. The leadgeneration managers’ main goal is to build andcultivate prospective relationships by initiatingdiscussion and conducting follow‐upcommunication in order to move opportunities



through the sales funnel. Further, these contactsare turned over to an appropriate member of thesales team to hold web and onsitedemonstrations.

Lead CriteriaA new contact is considered a qualified lead if ithas specific questions about the company’sservices or has shown interest in pricing andweb‐demonstration. To qualify a lead, it isessential to know the company’s size and itsheadquarters.

In‐House TeamForming a team of 4, lead generation managersconduct inbound and outbound calling to qualifyand distribute leads to a sales team of over 30sales executives. The lead flow and further sales

activities are controlled in a CRM system.The lead generation team is actively collaboratingwith sales managers to develop and augment thesales pipeline. Various new tools are tested toraise the effectiveness of lead generation. “Forexample, a new email tracking tool wasintroduced at the beginning of my campaigning. Iam currently conducting a trial of the software tosee if it would be beneficial to the rest of theteam,” says David Piete, Lead GenerationSpecialist at Certify, Inc.“Although I cannot account for the rest of ourlead generation department, my quantitativeresults break down as: 567 emails, 720 calls, 105email clicks, 11 interactive clicks and 4 qualifiedleads,” adds David.


Next StepsIn 2016, Certify’s lead generation team will beworking on campaigns to help promote webinarsand trade shows. These campaigns will be doneto help push traffic to the website and achievethe maximum amount of qualified leads.

Certify Travel & Expense Software provided this case study. www.certify.com

I was the first lead generation specialist at mycompany — Certify, Inc. — a cloud‐basedsoftware provider. I have seen the way ourprocess has evolved over the last year. Westarted with strict cold calling campaigns. Nowwe use online placements, webinars, info graphs,emails, campaigns, and paid vendor leads.


Certify, Inc.



Part 5

Survey Demographics


Survey demographics

Australia4% Other

9%

Russia, CIS & Ukraine

12%

India18%

Europe, UK21%

USA, Canada36%

GeographyThe majority of respondents(36%) work for companiesconducting business in the USAand Canada.21% of the respondents representWestern European businesses(Germany, Italy, and Spain).India was another populardestination for lead generationprofessionals, totaling 18% ofrespondents.


Survey demographics

Business sectorThe majority of respondents (78%)belonged to the B2B sector.

Number of employers45% of the respondents' companiesemployed a staff of 100.

B2B (business

to business)

78%

B2C (business

to customer)

20%

B2G (business to government)

2%

<1014%

10‐9931%

100‐49929%

500‐500016%

5000+10%


Survey demographics

Industries“Software and Internet” and“Business and Financial Services”were the most wide‐spreadindustries.

Revenue28% of the respondents’ companieshad revenues of 10‐250M USD.

2,6%3,5%3,9%4,3%5,2%5,2%5,6%6,5%7,4%

9,5%12,1%13,9%

20,8%

Transportation & StorageEducation

TelecommunicationsHealthcare&PharmaConsumer ServicesEnergy & Utilities

Computers & ElectronicsMedia & Entertainment

OtherFinancial Services

ManufacturingBusiness Services

Software & Internet500K‐1M USD12%

250M+ USD18%

Less than 500K21%

1‐10M USD21%

10‐250M USD28%


Survey demographics

Role in lead generation process31% of the respondents wereresponsible for overall leadgeneration team management.

Job title categoryThe respondents’ most popular jobtitle category was lead generationdirector (29%).

1%2%2%2%3%4%5%6%7%8%9%

22%31%

Copywriter/content creation

Other (please indicate)

Consulting on lead generation

Approval and budgeting

No role

Databases

Telemarketer

Online ads and promotion

All the lead generation fuctions

Realization of lead generation campaign

Closing sales

Strategy and planning

Lead generation team management

2%2%

5%6%6%6%8%

11%12%14%

29%

CCO/Business Development Director

Chief Executive Officer/General manager

Business Development/Commercial Manager

Other

Sales and Channels Director

Founder/Owner

Sales and Channels Manager

Lead generation director

CMO/Director of marketing

Marketer/analyst

Lead generation manager


I would recommend for companies whose leadgeneration is not the expertise of their businessto outsource it to marketing firms that specializein this function. Outsourcing enables theseenterprises to focus their energies on closingsales, leaving the tedious work of lead generationto those who are highly experienced. Anoutsourcing agency has to show that it hasgenerated results and ROI for its clients anddemonstrate that the agency is comprised ofhighly professional employees that will representtheir client’s business.


JR Global Marketing

Experts’ Opinions


Experts’ Opinions

Be more social and try to get to know moreabout customers rather than telling moreabout you. Timely follow‐up and engagementon LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social mediaplatforms with the prospects are also veryimportant for success.

Rahul ShrivastavaLead Generation Manager

Cyient Limited

Adopt pipeline marketing! Pipeline marketingis a marketing approach that focuses onconnecting marketing and sales data, whichenables decision making based on revenue.Move away from using lead volume as aprimary success metric, and start learningwhich of your marketing efforts are drivingbusiness.


Bizible


About NWComm

NWCommmarketing and lead generation agency was established in 2009. Weprovide high‐level business communications which drive sales. We havesuccessfully completed over 170 lead generation and marketing projects. Thecompany specializes in lead generation for information technologies,telecommunication, corporate education and consulting companies.


ContactsNWComm

info@nwcomm‐marketing.comwww.nwcomm‐marketing.com