Archive for August, 2010

Why There is No Such Thing as An Exclusive Lead

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Many B2B marketers still believe in the myth of the exclusive lead and that sales success only comes with exclusive leads. This may have been true in 1980, but in today’s world of online marketing, exclusive leads are virtually nonexistent. The reality is that customers do diligent research before settling on one vendor. And price is not the most important factor for comparing vendors.

If you want to turn your leads into sales, you need to know what your customers are looking for. Are they seeking value, or is it all about the lowest price? Do they compare several vendors or just go with the first one they find?

A recent research study by B2B International found that not only do B2B buyers compare vendors, they also favor quality and reliable delivery over price when choosing a vendor. Of the buyers surveyed, 100 percent said quality was the most important factor in their buying decision. Reliable delivery was ranked second by 84 percent of participants, and pricing took third place for 76 percent.

Key Factors in Choosing
a Vendor		 Percentage of Respondents Overall Ranking
Quality 100 1
Reliable delivery 84 2
Price 76 3
Speedy delivery 42 4
Technical back up 31 5
Sales service 30 6

What prompts potential buyers to search online?

Researchers at Enquiro found that information gathering is the primary objective of potential buyers online search activities. Over 70% of respondents search online to learn more about a product or service or to compare it against alternatives. This demonstrates that search activity precedes purchase decisions in a huge number of cases.

How can these insights help you turn leads into sales?

Knowing that potential buyers are weighing price against quality of service, you can tailor your sales message to emphasize specific ways in which your company delivers quality service. Remember, the large majority are not looking for the cheapest provider, but the one that is the best match in terms of features and service quality.

Of course, this requires that your company actually does offer a level of service that differentiates you from your competitors. Perhaps you will find there is opportunity for improvement in this area. Strengthening the quality of your services in measurable ways will give you a definite advantage when it comes to closing sales.

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Strengthen Your Sales Message to Boost Sales

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

When you receive pre-qualified leads who are ready to buy, they will still need compelling reasons to buy from you rather than from your competitor. You can increase sales up to 30 percent by creating a sales message that is relevant to your buyers’ questions.

A 2008 survey by International Data Group found that the chance of closing a sale was reduced by 45 percent when the content of the sales message was not relevant to buyers’ most pressing questions. The study also found that 42 percent of the time, sales teams had not been provided with adequate training and tools to help them answer these questions persuasively. Although the survey participants were IT buyers, the same principles of effective and relevant sales messaging applies to virtually all types of marketing.

Sales messaging is defined as offering a persuasive and compelling answer to a buyer’s primary questions regarding the services you offer. The three basic questions buyers have are:

  • Why should I meet with you? (If an initial appointment is the next step in your sales process.)
  • Why should I replace my current solution with your company’s services?
  • Why buy this solution from your company and not from your competitor?

According to a recent poll by BtoB Magazine, 70 percent of marketers graded themselves at “D” or an “F” level in regard to how well they prepared sales messaging and supporting materials for their sales team. If you feel you fall into this category, the good news is that you have the opportunity to increase sales by analyzing and strengthening your sales messaging.

The first step toward stronger sales messaging is to know your target market well. This will enable you to replace weak generalities such as “great customer service” with specific information about how your company is uniquely positioned to fill a buyer’s needs.

A future post will go into further detail about how you can create a compelling sales message.

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Seven Tips for Effective Lead Management

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Even the best leads will not produce the results you want if they are not managed and nurtured well. A study by Marketo found that only 25 percent of new leads are actually sales-ready. The rest will require a long-term management strategy to bring in results.

An unofficial survey of several lead management companies produced the following best practices.

1. Nurture leads before sending them to sales. ( Unless you have purchased real-time leads from a lead supplier. Sales should contact these leads immediately, and any that do not close should be given to marketing for further nurturing.)

2. Become a recognized authority in your industry. Offer your expertise to help prospects make an informed decision. If you provide guidance without pressure, you will come to be viewed as a trusted source.

3. Work with sales to define a sales-ready lead. Take into account demographics such as company size, yearly revenue, and purchase time-frame. If you have purchased leads from a lead generation company, that work has already been done, and these pre-qualified leads can be sent directly to sales.

4. Keep your sales team informed about which marketing activities each prospect has responded to, so they can tell you which strategies are yielding results.

5. Compile qualifying questions, call scripts, and email templates to help with the initial contact. Using these tools, a rep can refer to specific interests the prospect has demonstrated, such as downloading a white paper on a particular topic. Ask questions that will help you gain new information, rather than what you already know about your prospect.

6. Don’t waste leads. Make sure sales follows up on each one. Reassign leads that aren’t contacted the first time around. Every lead should be valued and cultivated through the often very long B2B sales cycle.

7. Track the results of individual marketing activities to gain a deeper insight than you would by simply tracking the lead source.

If you are working with a lead generation company to supplement your in-house marketing strategies, many of the best practices listed above, such as lead scoring and qualifying to determine which leads are sales-ready, will have already been done by the lead supplier. Using pre-qualified leads can take some of the pressure off your marketing team while keeping the pipeline filled.

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