CSO Insights Blog Posts

Is There Really Lead Gen Optimization?

Find the answer next month when we release our 2010 Lead Generation Optimization (LGO) report. Here's a sneak preview of this year's LGO:

625 companies responded to this year's survey and things look much brighter now than they did a year ago.
You may recall that in 2009 two-thirds (67%) of respondents reported their marketing budget would be the same or less than the prior year. This was happening while 85% of companies were increasing their revenue targets for the year ahead.
For 2010 the percentage of companies maintaining or decreasing their marketing spend has fallen all the way to 28%. Yea!
Greater sales and marketing alignment has been a hot topic the past few years and a key initiative for many firms--the idea seems to be gaining traction. The #1 vote-getter for strategic marketing objectives, reported by 91% of companies is...

(wait for it)

...Increasing Customer Acquisition! Yeah, Baby, that's what I'm talkin' about!
Branding still comes in 2nd with 54% of companies claiming it, followed by Optimizing Cross-Selling and Up-Selling at 41% (back to the good stuff!).

Hold the presses!

If you're in the printing business you know how tough things have been, and it only looks like they'll be tougher looking ahead. Did someone say "web-based marketing"? If you didn't hear it, you weren't listening. Investments in and returns from web-based marketing are up again year over year and, by all appearances, will be on this high-flying trajectory for years to come.

Direct mail will be receiving less investment at nearly 40% of companies while web site design/content, email marketing, web search optimization and new media (blogs, podcasts, mobilemarketing, etc.) each will be receiving more funding in more than half of companies reporting.

All this attention to digital marketing means you better have a good database-companies still report this is a challenge, but the numbers reflect that customer and prospect data quality are continuing to deteriorate.

This is even more critical if you're planning on leveraging any of the lead management systems foundational to marketing automation. The data show that companies implementing these systems (85% of which are commercial offerings) are doing much better at scoring leads, nurturing and converting them to first calls and, ultimately to opportunities. And that's what we're really talkin' about! (See chart.)

Chart-Impact of Lead Nurturing

All this and much more is covered in the 2010 LGO. And because you're a loyal and faithful reader of this blog, we have a pre-release special offer for you. The report will be released July 16^th. If you didn't participate in the survey (those that did score the report for free!), it will heat up your credit card roughly 15 Benjamins to buy it.

BUT, if you order the 2010 LGO now, you'll save 5 of those Benjamins for yourself. Hey, you could go out and buy an iPad for yourself and a new iPhone4 for your best friend. And if your dog doesn't want it, you can talk on the phone while watching a movie. Does it get any better than this?

Sell well,

Barry Trailer

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Barry Trailer

Re: Is There Really Lead Gen Optimization?

Tuesday July 06, 2010

Tom,

Absolutely, gettting lead management (LMS) and opportunity management systems (OMS) in place provide the transparency and accountability essential to bringing sales and marketing into closer alignment.

The LMS provides a platform for organizing and measuring which programs/campaigns are generating qualified leads (how many, at what cost, etc.). Implementing these systems also requires defining what constitutes a qualified lead.

Once accepted into the sales pipeline/funnel, each lead's life can be tracked from beginning to eventual outcome. Combining the output from both systems helps identify sources of the "best" leads (e.g., fastest to close, best margins, highest win rates, etc.).

Thanks for being in touch and for your comments!

Barry

Last Edit: July 07, 2010, 14:25:17 by admin

Barry Trailer

Re: Is There Really Lead Gen Optimization?

Tuesday July 06, 2010

Mark,

Thanks for your comments. I doubt anyone would argue that the data quality and sales results would not be better with a fresh, opted-in list than a stale purchased one. However, some companies may feel they have no choice. They are not generating sufficient numbers of opt-in leads and don't have the time to wait for them.

Which only serves to add urgency to your point that everyone needs to get their lead nurturing efforts going NOW! And leveraging the tools available to increase and improve their lead gen efforts. Measuring this effort is also key whether the goal is 100, 1K, or 10K/month.

Barry

Last Edit: July 07, 2010, 14:24:54 by admin

Mark Roberge

Marketing Database Quality

Thursday July 01, 2010

Exciting article Barry. Cannot wait to dig into the data!

I completely agree with your comment on lead database quality being a key driver of success. We see that often with our customers. In my opinion, people fail to appreciate the difference between a fresh, opted in list of leads versus a stale, purchased list. Purchasing and nurturing a list typically results in a lot of incorrect data, emails caught in SPAM filters, and unsubscribe requests. Instead, focus on building a healthy volume of inbound leads (i.e. at least 1K per month) and then implement a nurturing program to further engage these leads for sales.

Great article Barry!

Tom Blondi

Lead Gen and Incubation

Tuesday June 29, 2010

Barry,

Good stuff!!

I've noticed the same increase in the number of companies who are putting much more emphasis on ther lead management and opportunity management systems than before. This seems to be an element of aligning marketing and sales, don't you think?

Tom