Turning Leads Into Quality Sales by Aligning Sales & Marketing
Presented by NuSpark Marketing
Sales & Marketing Fight
Bicker, Bicker
Let’s Unite
Less Lead Loss!
Better Conversion Rates!
Align Your Organization
Set the Stage to Improved Process
• Only 20% of leads are followed up on• 70% of leads are disqualified due to budget, lack of
timing, etc• 80% of “bad leads” do go on to buy within 24 months• 73% of companies have no process for requalifying
leads• 80% of sales after the 5th contact
Source: Sirius Decisions
More research• An Aberdeen survey revealed results that have been ratified by other analysts:
" … on average 16% of the total leads that are deemed 'sales-ready' opportunities actually close. The difference between a successful company and a mediocre company lies in how the remaining 84% of already qualified opportunities are handled. "
"69% of all respondents not using lead nurturing indicated that the lack of human resources to develop nurturing campaigns was the number one reason for not leveraging lead nurturing.“
Other constraints included: lack of program and process expertise, inadequate content and no formal content creation process.
• We’re here to fix this!
Today’s Buyer Behavior
• Information is free• Prospects access information online• Sales is no longer the information conduit• Marketing is responsible for early/frequent
digital communication
The Buying Definition
The Selling Problem
• Too many people selling their solutions are unable to explain how their offerings can be used by their potential buyers to:– Achieve a Goal– Solve a Problem– Satisfy a Need
So, Our Goal Is To
• Help targeted buyers progress through buying cycles and communicate how they can visualize their organization use your offerings to:– Achieve goals– Solve problems– Satisfy Needs
and understand the value of doing so.
Let’s Figure Out A Quality Lead Together
That Qualified Lead, aka MQL, or a “Marketing Qualified Lead”
• Industries?• Revenue Size?• Title/ Key Influencers?• Budget?• Decision-Making Timetable?• Model Existing Customers• Lead Scores (more later)
Then Personas
• Attitudes• Fears• Perceptions• Pain Points• Media Habits• Social Media and Blog Usage• BANT- Budget, Authority, Need, Time• Preferred Content Vehicles
Agreeing to Lead Definitions Leads To…
• Media Plan• Lead Generation Plan• Social Media Plan• Website Design/Copy Plan• Content Marketing Plan• Lead Nurturing Plan
Which Leads To……….
Lead Management
Lead Generation; Attracting Prospects Into the Funnel
Put Together a Lead Gen Plan
Search Engine Optimization
• Utilizing website copy, structure, and external tasks to increase your company’s position on search engines with the goal to be above the fold on the first page of results. – Marketing Cares: High positioning means more
leads; organic listings mean better qualified leads.– Sales Cares: More emails captured, more sales-
ready prospects, less leads to competition, achieve quotas easier, Nurturing more effective
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
• Generate immediate traffic to website by targeting those with immediate product/service needs with compelling message– Marketing Cares: If offer and keywords are
relevant to buyer, “ready-to-buy” leads are generated
– Sales Cares: More emails captured, more sales-ready prospects, less leads to competition, achieve quotas easier
Online Display Advertising (Banners)• Generate immediate traffic to website by targeting
websites or industry portals with compelling message– Marketing Cares: Reach and frequency is
extended towards those audiences most likely to be interested in your message. Frequency builds message recall.
– Sales Cares: When audiences are more familiar with a product/service, they will more likely pay attention to a sales call, which means increased engagement and increased sales potential.
Social Media
• Listen to, engage with, and create conversations with prospects who are researching these channels for their potential solution– Marketing Cares: Communicating with prospects is part of
customer nurturing and by promoting content prospects engage further. Social media sacrifices media cost for time, but from cost standpoint- quality leads enter your cycle more efficiently than paid media
– Sales Cares: By creating/enhancing relationships, increased trust is built. Sales can learn about their prospects before speaking with them. Engaged prospects are more likely to buy from vendors who provide quality content. Again- more quality leads; more sales
Marketing Automation Starts
Starring Marketing & Sales!
Quick Definition
• “It’s a technology platform (SaaS) that allows you to capture, score, qualify, and nurture prospects by automated processes and drive revenue using trigger-based, multi-touch communication.”
Companies with Marketing Automation
• 107% better lead conversion rate• 40% greater average deal size• 20% higher team attainment of quota• 17% better forecast accuracy Aberdeen Group, “Marketing Automation 101: Ensuring Early Success with the Basics;
Maturing Your Deployment for long‐term ROI” June 2010
Acquire Leads
Offer Content…….Fill Out a Form
Landing Pages
• Marketing Cares: The first step to generating quality leads and gathering pertinent, segmented data by offering engaging content
• Sales Cares: Websites and Landing Pages become lead generators; the nurturing process begins. Having the ability to progressively profile prospects allow marketing to have more valid data points to pass over to sales by asking for prospect data in manageable chunks.
Nurture Leads
Lead Nurturing
• Deliver relevant content to prospects
• Designed to move the recipient forward in the sales process
The Statistics Speak to the Value of Lead Nurturing
• According to Forrester Research, companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost per lead.
• According to CSO Insights, companies that excel at lead nurturing have 9% more sales reps make quota and enjoy a 10% shorter ramp up time for new reps.
• According to DemandGen Report, nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20 percent increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads.
Lead Nurturing Benefits• Increase in Qualified Leads
• Decrease in Sales Cycle (from months to weeks)
• Decrease in Cost of Sales (10% decrease)
• Improved Conversion Rates of those leads (1.5 - 3.0x)
• Increase in Quality of Leads Going to Sales
• Increase in Transaction Size
• Increase in Marketing ROI
Content Strategy: Know Your Audience
General Content Guidelines
Content Marketing is the Art of
• Understanding exactly what your customer needs to know, at each stage of the buying process
• Delivering it to them in a relevant and compelling way to grow your business.
Content Is:
• Economical• Long Lasting• Builds Credibility• Attracts Targeted Traffic• Great SEO Tactic
Nurturing Examples
Lead Nurturing
• Marketing Cares: By continually guiding a lead toward a sale with content, we are achieving our mission of generating quality, sales-ready leads for the sales people.
• Sales Cares: When you spend time with quality leads, your win rates increase, and your revenue per deal increases. Lead nurturing allows for Sales to focus on the promising prospects
The Need for Lead Scoring
Lead Scoring You Say?
• Lead Scoring is a method of assigning points to each prospect. Points are assigned based on specific criteria you set. Attributes rated are:– Form submit info (title, purchase
decision), – Website behavior (pages visited, content
downloads), – Email behavior (click to website or
additional content) – Events (tradeshow/webinar attendees)
Two Scoring Factors
Lead Scoring
• Marketing Cares: By agreeing to an optimal scoring grade, only engaged, sales-ready leads who reach that defined threshold are sent to sales. Marketing’s job: Produce sales-ready leads!
• Sales Cares: When you spend time with quality leads that are high-scored, your win rates increase, and your revenue per deal increases. Plus, your time is spent more efficiently
Lead Scoring Impact
Now Sell Those Leads
CRM IntegrationSee the lead’s score
See the lead’s activity
CRM Integration
• Marketing Cares: The process “closes the loop” and we’re doing our job by providing sales quality leads by following the marketing automation process. Plus, we’ll be able to measure sales by campaign and perform ROI analysis.
• Sales Cares: Leads can be acted on immediately once a score threshold is reached and lead is synced to CRM. Sales can interact with lead with better information (implicit activities). By building relationships with leads, closes increase.
Metrics
• Assign costs to campaigns
• Tie leads to campaigns• Then..– Cost per quality lead– Cost per opportunity– Cost per sale– Cost per campaign– Marketing ROI
How much does this cost
• Varies!– Platform cost, management cost, content cost,
CRM/database needs
• But we’ll assess..– Current marketing plan, consider reallocation of
wasted spending– Costs of current email platform– Roles and Resources, plus current content assets
Reallocation Options
• Reduce PR budget; transfer to lead generation• Reduce Ad budget; frequency, size, # of pubs• Reduce Trade show budget• Reduce other vendor spend• Reduce direct mail campaigns
Consider….
• How much time and money saved by consolidating tools and automating email campaigns
• How efficient marketing and sales teams would be by sharing a unified interface
• How many more opportunities created if sales can follow-up with every promising lead
• How much easier it would be to demonstrate the marketing team’s influence on revenue and ROI
• How smoothly your business will run if sales and marketing worked together to achieve your company’s goals
Summary
• When sales and marketing align, positive outcomes occur.
• Better lead management occurs when Marketing Automation replaces email platforms and integrates with CRMs.
• An optimal eMarketing plan generates increased quality website visitors, quality leads, and quality sales.
• Improving each element of lead management results in more efficient spending and better ROI.
Questions
Ready to Begin?
• Contact Paul Mosenson of NuSpark Marketing• [email protected]• 610-812-2725• www.nusparkmarketing.com
About NuSpark Marketing
• eMarketing Firm focusing on lead generation, lead management, content marketing, sales coaching
• Founded in 2010; Team members average 20 years of experience
• Philadelphia based, but works virtually• Provides the process, content, and
consultation for firms that implement marketing automation
References
• Mike Bosworth, CustomerCentric Selling• Pardot Marketing Automation• Jep Castelein, Leadsloth• SLMA, Sales Lead Management Association• Paul Mosenson, NuSpark Marketing• Oliver Picher, NuSpark Marketing• Demand Gen• David Cummings, Adam Blitzer “Think Outside
the Inbox”