94% of Leads Never Close? Ouch!

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May 2009, Issue 63

Marketing Evolution
94% of Leads Never Close? Ouch!

The average BtoB company leaves 94% of marketing-qualified leads on the table. They never close. And even of leads qualified by Sales, a hefty 77% don’t close. That's the word from SiriusDecisions, the sales and marketing research firm, which just wrapped up its annual summit earlier this month. Fortunately, there's treatment for the diagnosis, provided by the Sirius analysts and observed here by the Bulldog Solutions team in attendance.

Demand Generation: The Big Picture
By Rob Solomon, CEO, Bulldog Solutions

The content presented by SiriusDecisions analysts as well as the external guests such as Deb Nelson from HP provided enormous validation for our own strategic framework. It's gratifying to see the research and observations from experts dovetail so well with what we’ve been advising. I especially liked the way Deb described the vision as "painting a picture."

I was most intrigued by Sirius analyst John Neeson's presentation of the marketing portfolio model and the "demand center." He did a great job identifying key ingredients to building a world-class demand generation capability and framing it in a way that explains the relationship between all of the elements. The buyer's journey is front and center, and he clearly spelled out how the infrastructure, planning and execution fit together. You can't beat SiriusDecisions research for a well-thought-out, well-diagrammed big picture.

Social Media Really Can Work in BtoB
By Amy Bills, Director of Field Marketing, Bulldog Solutions

SiriusDecisions analyst Jonathan Block made the best attempt I've seen so far to put some structure around social media activities. His presentation also contained one of the funniest lines of the conference (turns out the Sirius team has a good sense of humor). In discussing resources most companies dedicate to social media efforts, he lamented the fate of many a newly minted "community manager."

That role, he said, is usually "the first to go."

Many BtoB organizations are cautious and/or confused about how to implement social media: How to develop a strategy? Which tactics make sense? How…oh, how!...do you measure? Jonathan indicated social media is valuable to demand creation and sales enablement, but noted:

"Without a coherent, companywide strategy, most social media efforts will fail."

He then illustrated some workable structure around combining "traditional" and "new" strategies, tactics, measurement and supporting technology in a "convergence zone," and mapped that back to the buying cycle. Seeing social media activities as part of a comprehensive plan really brought home how possible it is to make social media work in BtoB.

Mine Leads You Already Have
By Ahmed Taleb, Senior Director of Strategic Planning, Bulldog Solutions

There's a reason Tony Jaros has been our guest on several Webinars over the past year. His insight into the sales pipeline is rarely matched. In "The Care and Feeding of Leads," Tony described several lead nurturing approaches to getting more out of the pipeline, and I think his discussion of "recycled" leads was very timely.

The approach is described as a series of "non-time-bound efforts to nurture prospects actively or to passively disqualify them." Active disqualification could be deliberate disqualification by a salesperson; passive disqualification could be leads that have not had any activity in a given period of time.

Tony recommended developing a re-engagement nurturing strategy to address specifically the reasons these leads have stalled in the sales process. I think this is a smart call: Mine leads you already have, and do so intelligently. He also recommended building an SLA between Sales and Marketing to ensure that expectations around such a program are reinforced and that recycled leads are removed from the sales pipeline at the right time, and after Sales has had a chance to work them.

Managing Your Waterfall
By Heather Hoetger, VP, Strategic Accounts

Like Ahmed, I was a big fan of Tony Jaros, who spoke on the evolution of the "Demand Waterfall" and conversion measurement as the key to driving more revenue. As marketers have to prove ROI more and more, and with less budget, they need to adapt a flexible and targeted strategy in order to understand everything that will impact and influence the Demand Waterfall. They need the right marketing automation toolsets, an effective campaign framework and the ability to measure the waterfall. And marketers need to spend the time, budget and energy in developing the right type of programs depending on their demand "type" in order to accelerate the pipeline.

I really liked his takeaway tips for marketers—I think these are worth remembering:

Manage your developing waterfall not only to measure, but to detect root causes of why conditions and events are unfolding
History isn't always your best judge: Changed conditions require changed assumptions
Manage the waterfall proactively, not passively

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Marketing Watchdog Journal is a monthly newsletter from Bulldog Solutions, a lead optimization and lead management company dedicated to helping our clients generate more, better leads and turn them into revenue. We welcome your feedback on this newsletter's content and design, and encourage you to share your ideas for topics you would like us to cover in future issues. Please send your comments or questions about Bulldog Solutions to Amy Bills, Director of Field Marketing.