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Tag Archives: prospecting

Buying prospect data: Why it may cost you 125% more than you think

By admin
January 30, 2012
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Sourcing new outbound leads is a never-ending endeavor for sales and marketing. Prophesies of cold calling being dead have not come true if only for the simple reason that prospecting through all channels must be on the table to fuel the engine of sales growth. Companies typically procure lead data from four main types of leads: Internally-generated leads: Referrals, word of mouth, events, etc. Intelligence-based leads: Newsfeeds, industry alerts, personnel changes, etc. InsideView is one good example of this, but we believe LinkedIn also fits this mold (the evolution of this is exciting) Special or vertical lists: Trade associations, commerce groups, organizations operating with a geographic charter Compiled lists: The likes of D&B and InfoGroup, including credit files But as any sales or marketing manager knows, simply dumping more records on a sales rep is a thing of the past. Lead nurturing and scoring are the norm, wherein prospects are nurtured until they raise their hands as hot leads, and are then forwarded to sales. In addition, predictive modeling that identifies the most likely prospects based on the “ideal customer” profile must be part of the mix. It’s clear that the prospects at the top of the funnel – the ones you might pay for – are not sales ready. Further criteria and …Read More

Caution: Leads may be hot. Handle with care.

By admin
July 13, 2011
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When you change your lead scoring and lead delivery using predictive analytics, don’t forget to train sales reps to think different as well. It’s well-known that salespeople don’t qualify leads, they disqualify them. The more leads provided, the faster leads seem to get disqualified and bounced back in the holding queue. Reasons could be due to lack of data (such as invalid or no phone number), bias (“can’t possibly be a large enough deal”), or simply attitudes (“the more I close out, the sooner I will find something that works”). This approach churns through leads, resulting in significant cost of acquisition and processing resources – both human and machine. If your reps’ closeout rate is 50%, your net cost is twice the initial cost! Marketers and sales leaders often respond by finding ways to deliver a greater number of qualified leads faster. Predictive models are often used to score and deliver ideal prospects from a larger universe into outbound lead gen programs. Predictive models increase productivity and the ROI of achieving specific outcomes such as getting appointments or sales, moving newly-acquired customers into repeat customers, and improving cross and upsell. But caution: predictive models may produce leads with characteristics that are …Read More

What to do when your sales reps think good leads are bad

By admin
June 13, 2011
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Inside sales teams are at it every day, making thousands of calls to prospects, seeking an appointment or a sale. They are given scrubbed lists with contact names, job title, phone numbers and a good luck pat. On the back end, managers track calls, appointments and sales. The cycle continues when reps deplete their assigned leads and it starts over again. There are times when this well-oiled prospecting machine can under-deliver – and you may not be aware.  But there are easy fixes. Here we explore three cases, and discuss how to overcome these challenges. TESTING NEW MARKETS:  When looking at sales data, you may find strong traction among companies that don’t fit the best customer profile — or at least what the rep thinks is the best profile. This finding is usually uncovered by in-depth profiling, micro-segmentation or modeling analysis. These customers may not be among the largest customers, but you find that they purchased numerous units of products that fit specific needs.  As an example, say you are selling technology products, and religious institutions are not known as leading technology buyers. But recently we came across a church buying hundreds of iPads for one of its programs. This is opportunistic entry into a market if other religious institutions have similar programs. What you can do: …Read More

Great Fruit Salad or just Apples and Oranges? A recipe for managing customers and prospects

By admin
January 12, 2011
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Sales organizations – particularly inside sales — choose between reps managing only customers, only prospecting, or having both in their portfolio mix. This happens for a lot of reasons, such as geography, industry and product specialization of the rep or even workload and efficiency considerations. While customers are often measured by trailing twelve month sales, prospects are all about future revenue. So which prospects does a rep focus on, and how can sales reps allocate time that yields the best future gains from both prospects and customers? There are several simple ways you can guide sales reps towards managing their time to call these diverse customers. Rotate based on value: Set up a pattern where the reps are calling out from low to high value, of course where the current low value customers are prioritized through scoring. For every hour, allocate 15 minutes for low value customers and prospects, 15 minutes for high value prospects and 30 minutes for high value customers. Something like this should help them work across the entire portfolio every 60 minutes:   Standardize on future value only: Using modeling and predictive methods, create a future value index for both customers and prospects. You do not have to predict an exact number. Even …Read More

“One and Dones” – The mystery of disappearing leads

By admin
December 23, 2010
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Your lead generation machine is working tirelessly to bring in new leads and appointments. Marketing keeps hot prospects focused on the message and proposition. Your sales team has done an excellent job of converting them into a first time buyer. And then something not-so-good happens. The shiny new customer does not come back to make a second purchase. Months go by, and they end up in this no man’s land called “one time buyers.” As a lead, they are coveted. As a buyer they are ironically abandoned. Countless artists have sung the “one and done” blues. Stevie Wonder even has a top hit on this, I think. True cost of leads The consequence of underperforming leads is enormous – from metrics such as cost per lead, multi-buyer conversion, average initial sale to cost per buyer. Indications are that a hidden deficiency to turn first-time customers into repeat buyers seriously understates the true cost of customer acquisition.  Lead generation should not stop with the initial sale, rather it should cultivate prospects that contribute to maximizing long-term franchise value. This can only happen through continuing repeat purchases and higher level of engagement. It’s a safe bet that you do not make money on …Read More