Sales Lead Management Association Blog: Recent Comments

Comment on Target Account Profiling & Pre-Qualification: Why Don’t We Just Ask The Questions?

Jonathan Wright — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:36:05 GMT

Hey Mark have you got a link where I could find the HBS article you reference?
I mange a group of Leads Coordinators globally, we take the raw Marketing Leads and Qualify them against certain Sales criteria. How you do that properly and still get the sellers to follow-up on the Qualified Lead in a global company is a whole other dynamic.
There is Marcom efforts that are there just to raise awareness and others to generate Leads, and it is necessary to understand the differences between them and ROI is not the measure to use in that case.

Comment on Closed Loop Lead Systems = Lead Quality and Lead Management

Travis Turner — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:26:19 GMT

Companies are spending a significant amount of money without first doing the appropriate research. With the appropriate CRM and dialer in place you will be able to reach a large amount of leads in a small amount of time. The important thing to note though is that eventhough you are reaching a large amount of people in the least amount of time the agent makes the phone call personal and gives the lead a positive experience. This one lead in turn multiplies itself and eventually you may receive 5 leads from that one positive experience. With this in mind the organization is happy as well as the lead thus making the whole experience beneficial.

Comment on Sales Lead Management Association Declares June 9-13, 2008 to be National Sales Lead Management Week

Sales leads — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:23:10 GMT

Sales leads are the most important things if you are running a business; even you are running the small one. Without sales, your business will gain no profit, and of course won’t last long.

Comment on CRM Success Is Reduced To The Saleperson’s Acceptance: How Have You Done It And Lived?

Paul McCord — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:34:09 GMT

My experience has been that companies don't engage the end users when designing the system. They may engage senior management within the various departments, but not the salespeople or the customer service reps who will actually be using the system.

I have three simple rules. Unfortunately, they aren't quite so simple to implement:

1. Allow every end user to have their input into the system. Obviously, not every idea or suggestion can or will be used, but giving them the opportunity to participate gives them a feeling at least that the system is being designed for them. In addition, you get some great insights from the real world.

2. Rather than starting with the idea of 'this is want we want the system to do, now how do we get people to do it,' start with what the individuals involved actually need and work from there. Then make sure that every end user understands how the system is going improve THEIR sales, make their job easier, increase their income. It has to be personal--one-on-one to get real buy-in.
3. Train beyond the 'how to' of the system. Certainly, everyone must be trained on how to use the system, but that is where most companies stop. They must go beyond that to individual training and coaching of salespeople to train them how to get the promised benefits from the system. They must actively cater to the user's needs, not just show them how to input the data and print a page.

The biggest issue isn't the technology, of course, it is the humans using it. And the biggest issue there is not just telling the user how it will help them make more money or make their life easier, they have to train them on how to use the product to do just that--and hardly anyone does that.

Comment on Target Account Profiling & Pre-Qualification: Why Don’t We Just Ask The Questions?

Mark Friedman — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:38:44 GMT

Right on Brian! Lists are merely the starting point to a well conceived and implemented marketing campaign. The Harvard Business School did a study that indicated that over 80% of "leads" generated by Marketing are never followed by Sales. There are many reasons, but one of the biggest is these "lists" are not qualified leads - they are suspects.
Qualifying leads based on sales input will pay dividends way beyond the cost to do so - the ROI from increased sales results, productivity and trust in their marketing organization is significant and measurable.

-Mark

Comment on Target Account Profiling & Pre-Qualification: Why Don’t We Just Ask The Questions?

Brian Steel — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:17:38 GMT

Michael,

Appreciate the feedback. Your additional depth and insight into the pitfalls that occur once a decision is made to "Call and ask the questions" is right on target. I believe your post has the making of a strong follow on article.

-Brian

Comment on Target Account Profiling & Pre-Qualification: Why Don’t We Just Ask The Questions?

Michael A Brown — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:00:37 GMT

Hi Brian! Outstanding post!

In my Business To Business By Phone consulting and training practice, I see a couple additional things going on and one important thing NOT going on.

First, when companies rely too heavily on third party information, they often attempt to "leapfrog" their prospects' consideration process. That is, they become so certain they are "targeting" the right person, they bypass marketing dialogue and move into the selling mode prematurely.

Second, in phone-based lead generation and qualification, I hear too many interrogations and too few conversations. I counsel that phone marketing is not about data capture or verification. It's about discovering a likely business matchup and pursuing it together.

What's NOT happening too often? Pre-call research, especially a visit to the prospect's web site to at least know the nature of their business. "So what do you guys do, anyway?" is an invitation to a quick "click!"

Michael A. Brown

Comment on Marketing: The Builders of Wealth

Jim Obermayer — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:13:31 GMT

Jim, will you ask your clients to stand up and take credit for the wealth they create? By showing they are creating a 5x to 10x return for every dollar they spend they assume tremendous power in their organizations. They are equal to salespeople. Marketers need stand up and be proud.

Comment on Marketing: The Builders of Wealth

Michael A Brown — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:28:04 GMT

Hi Jim! Terrific post. A couple observations if I may ...

First, management likes to watch the "end of the movie," which is the sale itself. Unless and until marketers can get them to also watch the "making of the sale," i.e., marketing, we're at a disadvantage. The good news is that if we market what we do as well as we market what we sell, management will participate and respect marketers more.

Second, marketers enjoy a longer time perspective than sales people. Sales folks have short-term quotas. I urge marketers to influence management to attend to both short-term and long-term business development. That's where the wealth is!

Michael A. Brown

Comment on Marketing: The Builders of Wealth

Dan Rime — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:54:03 GMT

Great comments on a sometimes scary topic. A professional tracking system offered by a number of lead management companies and CRM applications would be a great thing to have. But, you still can’t get blood from a turnip. Many, if not most, small companies see a sales lead management system as something for the big guys and the cost as an expense, not as an investment because they haven’t seen the baby steps of measured and reported accomplishment. Start with what they know and accept as currency…qualified sales leads. “Qualified” is often in the eye of the beholder. Let sales help identify what constitutes a qualified lead. Then get a number of how many they need to open the number of new accounts they are required to get by year end. It doesn't require a whole system to get some simple metrics in place that are accepted by management and sales. They may not be the best to start, but once they have seen some simple metrics achieved, you can move up the chain. Sometimes winning the little battles for a year or two will lead to winning the war. Pick and choose which battles will help achieve your long-term goal of an “investment” in a sales lead management system. By the time you get it, everyone will be involved and committed to making it work!