Track Leads to Generate Customer Value and Quantifiable Results

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We are a community driven by results. Lead generation and the ability to turn those leads into quantifiable results—an active customer—is an important driver of the marketing and sales relationship. In fact, 78% of marketers feel that generating high-quality leads is the most pertinent marketing challenge for their organization, according to MarketingSherpa’s August 2010 B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey. Quantity and quality are two very different goals, and meeting the demand for quality requires efforts by marketers as well as resources from the channel partners they select.

There are four stages in building relationships with quality leads to make them sales ready. It’s important to understand and utilize the capabilities of each stage to strengthen the relationship during the transition from prospect to customer. [Find two of these stages below. For the rest, see b2b.]

Lead Reporting

Lead reporting is the stepping stone for understanding who is engaged with a marketing campaign and how to reach this individual. This stage is where some lead generation programs stop, leaving sales unable to prioritize the best follow-up method. Participants in the recent MarketingSherpa study stated that they pass leads to sales once they have basic contact information (80%). This information is the first stage for developing a relationship with a prospect. Digging deeper into the interaction, additional information can be gained including demographics and what assets have been downloaded, helping to plan your initial contact and highlighting key solutions that will serve their needs.

Lead Scoring

Lead Scoring is an understanding of how invested an individual lead is in a specific technology as well as identifying where they are in the purchase process. This “score” provides valuable and actionable information. However, lead scoring is not widely adopted yet. Only 25% of marketers will wait to approach a lead, or amend the initial lead details, once the lead has reached a certain lead score through expressed interest in a number of categories. The demand for lead scoring services should grow as the economy stabilizes and organizations have money to spend. This will be driven by sales teams wanting to shorten the sales cycle by having the tools to create the right dialogue based on the needs of each lead.

Once you’ve successfully turned a lead into a customer, your product quality and service will be the essential tools for building and maintaining a strong relationship.

Michael Friedenberg is CEO and president, IDG Enterprise.

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