How to keep your sales leads alive

On the journey from suspect to sale, the jump from lead to opportunity is perhaps the most challenging.

Keeping sales leads alive is a vital part of the sales and marketing process.

This presentation is in 3 sections:

1. Why do sales leads fail?2. Tools, Timing and Techniques3. What are the benefits of nurture and recycling?

How to keep your sales leads alive“ ”

Here’s the 3 main reasons that leads fail...

Why do sales leads fail?“ ”

BANT – Budget, Authority, Need & Timescale

Management

Follow-up

BANT: Before a lead can become an opportunity it needs to have Budget, Authority, Need and Timescale.

Most leads have just Authority and Need, but without Budget and Timescale they are left ‘in limbo’ and eventually fall into the Sales Gap.

Why do sales leads fail?“ ”

Management: Bad management to be precise. In many firms, there’s no formal process to manage change and a lot of confusion over who controls sales leads.

Why do sales leads fail?“ ”

Source: B2B Marketing magazine, 2011 n = 228

Why do sales leads fail?“ ”Follow-up: Or lack of follow-up. A staggering amount of leads are not progressed, yet they could be kept alive through recycling and nurture.

Source: Sirius Decisions, 2011

Tools, Timing and Technique“ ”Before deciding on the best method, let’s examine the most effective tools. Surprisingly, both Marketing Executives and Buyers agree on the two best.

Source: B2B Marketing magazine, 2011 n = 228 SCi Sales Group, 2012 n = 200

Contact too frequently and buyers get annoyed, don’t call on time and they search elsewhere. Timing is crucial and best left to the experts.

Tools, Timing and Technique“ ”

200 Buyers were asked the following question:“After a call about an exciting product, you ask the supplier to call back. If they don’t call, when do you search for alternative suppliers?”

200 Buyers were asked the following question:“How frequently would you like your major suppliers to stay in touch with you?”

Source: SCi Sales Group, 2012 n = 200

Tools, Timing and Technique“ ”Just a few points worth mentioning...

Your programme needs to...

a)be part of a multi-channel, integrated campaignb)include scoring to escalate leadsc)preferably include content marketing

Content Marketing and Lead Scoring are not part of this presentation.Please view our separate PowerPoint (bit.ly/ghkjhkj) or video (bit.ly/jgjhg)

Now, let’s examine the techniques to keep your leads alive...

i)Lead Nurturing; for lead generation longer than 30 daysii)Lead Recycling; for re-engaging dormant leads in your pipeline

Tools, Timing and Technique“ ”

= Client activity

= SCi Sales Group activity

A sample lead nurture campaign. Note the content on days 5, 9, 16, 22 and 28.

Now let’s take a look at lead recycling. The dormant leads are re-engaged, nurtured if necessary, and handed back to your Sales Team as re-qualified leads.

Tools, Timing and Technique“ ”

What are the benefits of nurture and recycling?“ ”Lead Nurturing

i) Maintains momentum ready for the lead to be qualifiedii) Sustains contact if the lead is put on-holdiii) Ensures leads that drop to becomes prospects are re-engaged

Lead Recycling

i) Re-engages pipeline that might eventually be lostii) Gathers further sales and marketing intelligenceiii) Identifies leads that might need nurturing

Conclusion“ ”Why do sales leads fail?

a) BANT: Leads are not qualified and fall into the sales gapb) Management: 65% of firms have no formal process to manage leadsc) Follow-up: 80% of leads are not followed-up

Tools, Timing and Techniques

i) Buyers & Sellers agree email and telemarketing are best toolsii) Timing is critical, leave it to the expertsiii) Nurture and recycling are effective when combined with scoring and content

What are the benefits of nurture and recycling?

1) Nurture incubates leads until fully BANT qualified2) Recycling re-engages dormant leads

www.scisalesgroup.com

Established in 2002, SCi Sales Group began life as a B2B telemarketing agency and has grown to become a leading sales acceleration specialist within EMEA.

We have added other offline/online marketing tools to our portfolio, and can act as an outsourced extension of your sales force or a supplier of insourced sales talent.

For further information, please visit our website or sign-up to our newsletter – www.scisalesgroup.com/contact