No Lead Left Behind

Can a Sales Lead Go Backward?

 There is a lot of focus on moving potential customers in your lead queue from a Well Qualified Prospect to a Marketing Qualified Lead to a Sales Qualified Lead.  But, can a lead “devolve” also?  As an example, what would make a lead go from Sales Qualified back to Marketing Qualified?

Leads can and do “devolve”.  This isn’t to say they should be abandoned for good…it depends on why the lead deteriorates and whether it can be salvaged for later sales.

One example of a lead “devolving” is when a sales person returns the lead as “not sales qualified”.  If information about the lead was inaccurate (e.g., they’re not actually buying for another six months versus now), then it might be appropriate to put them back into the Marketing Qualified pile for further nurturing.  If the original contact has left the company, or the company has decided against purchasing products in your category, it may make more sense to put them way back into the Well Qualified Prospect queue, where they essentially start over. 

Leads can also devolve from “Marketing Qualified” status if they show no activity over a period of time, including failed attempts to reach out to them by phone or email.

The key take-away here is that leads should devolve under certain conditions.  It’s all a question of probabilities – you have to devote your sales and marketing resources against those leads that have the best probability of converting to a sale.  So, devolving some leads and moving them off the front line keeps your lead conversion efforts focused on those leads that have the best chance of closing.

JT McDonald

How Do You Determine Sales Lead Escalation Triggers?

Depending on the sophistication of your lead management system, leads can fall into one of several categories – prospect, marketing qualified lead, tele-qualified lead, sales qualified lead, etc. One of your jobs as the “Lead Management guru” for your company is to properly escalate the lead from “vaguely interested” to “customer”. This means putting content, offers and other communiques in front of these leads to bring them along the sales path until a purchase occurs. But it also means knowing which actions, or “triggers” indicate they’re ready to move. So, how do you do this?

Statistics (ugh!) has to play a role. Statistical modeling sifts through all of the data (company-based, dealer based, end-user initiated, demographic, firmagraphic, psychographic, etc.) to determine which factors contribute to someone being more likely to buy, and which activities are more likely to indicate someone is getting closer to a purchase. Since we’re talking statistics, these models only tell us whether the “likelihood” of a purchase is higher under a given set of conditions, not that it’s guaranteed. However, knowing which factors increase purchase likelihood tells us which triggers we can put in place to indicate when someone is moving the next stage of the sales path.

One other note – the more data, the better. Your statistical model is the “dumbest” the day you launch it. As time progresses, you will gather more information that can predict purchase likelihood. And your triggers of escalating someone from prospect to marketing qualified lead to sales qualified lead become more refined.

JT McDonald

WQP, MQL & SQL… oh my!

 There’s been a lot of talk lately of only sending qualified leads to the sales channel but very little talk of exactly what makes a lead “Sales Qualified” (also known as a SQL and not to be confused with the Microsoft database product).  Here’s a quick shot at basic rules for determining where a lead should live within a lead management framework:

• The Well Qualified Prospect (WQP) – Defined as the person or company that should be in the market for your products or services based on the way they look.  They are in the right SIC code, have the right number of employees, just bought a new home, own a surfboard, etc.  Let’s get something straight.  I’m sorry Sales Genie but these are NOT leads!  Putting WQP into your lead management solution and telling your sales people to go get them is pretty much a waste of time unless they have absolutely nothing else to do.  It’s a bit like a fishing spot (IMHO).  You might get lucky but then again you might just sit there all day without a nibble.  These people are targets for outbound marketing efforts.  Once they respond to a campaign THEN they move into MQL or SQL status.
• The Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) – This person has raised their hand in some way and said “Hey – I’m interested in your product.”.  This does not necessarily mean they want a sales person knocking on their door tomorrow.  Your lead qualification questions come in handy now as you can use them to determine if you should continue to nurture them or if they are ready for a sales person to follow-up.  There are nuances to MQL (like buying phase) and I promise to break that down in my next post.  As a rule of thumb, if their role is “information gatherer” and they aren’t ready to purchase within the next 60 days, they’re not ready to be handed to a sales person.  A little common sense can go a long way here.
• The Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) – “I’m about to purchase something and if you contact me first it’s three times as likely that I’ll buy it from your company.” That’s what the data you collected about this lead should be telling you… it’s clear that it’s ready for sales follow-up.  Here are just a few key indicators of purchase intent: 
  • A quick timeframe
  • Their role is “decision maker”
  • They’ve come into your lead management solution through more than one TouchPoint (request a catalog & trade show visit for example)
  • They have budget
  • They select “have a sales rep contact me”.   (I know it’s obvious but are you asking your leads?)
  • They’re perhaps a bit further (timing) from a purchase, but your products involve a longer selling cycle due to their complexity

 Have more to add?  Disagree with me?  I’d love to hear your comments.

Jennifer

Where Does Passive Web Tracking Fit in Lead Management?

Do you like cookies?  With milk perhaps?  Even if you don’t, most people get cookies everyday…dropped on their computers based on where they go on the internet.  Pending legislation in congress notwithstanding, dropping cookies plays an important role in how Lead Management professionals track product/service interest and how far along prospects are in the purchase process.

Although the use of cookies (also known as “passive web tracking”) is a powerful tool in assessing sales lead status, it should be used carefully.  Arming the sales organization with this specific info is dangerous…to an untrained sales person, contacting a prospect and saying “saw you on our website” certainly escalates the “creep” factor.  On the other hand, using it to trigger further communiqués and as part of statistical analysis to refine lead scoring is an important component of any Lead Management and Lead Nurturing solution.

JT McDonald,
President, MarketNet Services, LLC

More on lead nurturing:  http://www.marketnetservices.com/solutions/lead-nurturing.aspx