Brian Carroll Brian Carroll is founder and CEO of InTouch, a B2B marketing firm and one of the first companies to provide lead generation services for the complex sale. Brian is a recognized expert in lead generation and author of the popular book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale (McGraw Hill, 2006).  Brian's been profiled and regularly quoted in numerous publications and he speaks to thousands of people a year on improving sales effectiveness, marketing and lead generation strategies. His acclaimed, B2B Lead Generation blog , was named the Best B-to-B Marketing Blog by MarketingSherpa readers and is read by thousands each week. Follow Brian Carroll via Twitter

Ask three different sales people in the same organization to describe their idea of a good lead, and it’s possible that you’ll get three different answers. It’s a common problem. In fact, more than 90 percent of InTouch’s clients come to us without a universally agreed upon lead definition. In return, it’s not unusual to find that as little as 5 to 15 percent of our clients’ inquiries are truly sales-ready.
 
Is your marketing team sending over qualified leads? Or does a lack of communication within your organization ensure that sales simply receives a bunch of inquiries? 

Inquiries are merely individuals seeking information or some level of assistance. Thus, inquiries do not equal leads. In order to overcome miscommunication, poor teamwork and missed revenue targets, organizations need to acknowledge this difference and create criteria for qualifying a lead.

Here are five steps for creating a systematic approach to successful qualification. Note the role the phone plays in the process. It’s a wonderful, efficient tool that should not be overlooked.

Step One: Define and Agree On What the Word “Lead” Means

What is a sales lead? This question goes to the very heart of the lead qualification process. It seeks to identify the relative quality of a lead compared to a predetermined standard. It’s that standard against which every potential customer is compared. It must be applied to all leads, regardless of source, and, more importantly, must be agreed upon on by both sales and marketing.

Here’s a process for creating a custom universal lead definition:

• Meet. Include everyone involved in  the lead generation program and select a facilitator who is credible, speaks the language of both sales and marketing, and can “clear the air” if necessary.
• Ask. Pose questions such as: What do we consider a qualified lead? What are the characteristics of the ideal sales opportunity? What do we really need to know? What would be nice to know? Who should we be contacting? Who is involved in the buying process? What common needs are we addressing?
• Meet again. Confirm that all parties are on the same wavelength.
• Expose. Widely publish the universal lead definition in the interest of integrating it into the organization’s culture and language.
• Close the loop. Marketing and sales should meet regularly to review and reconfirm the universal lead definition’s efficacy with such queries as: Was a particular lead an actual lead? Did it enter the sales process? Why or why not? What else should be known about it? How can we improve on what we are doing?
• Edit and republish. There is no reason the universal lead definition can’t be improved on, if required.

The definition of a hot lead might include the following language:

• Talked with vice president of sales (economic decision maker);
• In the sweet spot (meets ideal customer profile);
• Clear business need/initiative for what we sell;
• Wants to fix the problem;
• Purchase decision made in less than six months;
• Has a formal budget of X or can find a budget; and
• Ready to speak to a sales consultant.

Consistent application of the company’s lead definition will increase the quality and viability of leads and confidence within your sales ranks will grow. Lead acceptance will be drastically increased, and salespeople then can focus only on those prospects with a definite interest and need.

Step Two: Consolidate and Centralize Your Prospect Information

Leads come into marketing departments from a wide variety of sources including information requests from your web site, demo downloads and event attendee lists. In the very least, the data includes an individual’s name, a company name, and either an e-mail address or phone number. Use this information and the source of the lead to determine whether an inquiry is a viable contributor to your organization’s lead funnel.

A properly designed and maintained database is the well-oiled hub of all lead generation activity. Include all gathered information, whether complete or not. This database will represent the rallying point for collaboration between marketing and sales. It can foster cooperation among other groups in the organization, including those interfacing with customers as well as corporate management and research and development.

When constructing this lead database, consider what fields are “must haves” and which are “nice to haves.” The data field requirements will be dictated by your organization’s universal lead definition. Determine the quantifiable attributes of a qualified lead to determine necessary dashboard reports, like activity, results and analysis. Track and manage all contacts made to the prospects in this database. Because the database is an invaluable nucleus for lead generation, assign maintenance responsibility, agree on data-entry processes and keep it current with regular updates by all stakeholders.

Step Three: Pick Up the Phone and Qualify Prospective Leads

The role of the phone in the modern lead generation process is overlooked by many marketers. This is unfortunate, because if done well, outbound calling is by far the most effective tool for qualifying leads—particularly for the complex sale.  Few other economical options exist for contacting high-level decision makers.  Besides, there is no other channel as accurate for collecting the qualitative information required to justify pursuing a prospective lead. 

According  to the book  “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter’s Guide” (Simon and Schuster Free Press, 2005), the deluge of e-mail today has even helped to give the human voice a significant advantage. The human voice is the ultimate weapon in the war on anonymity and truly the best tool for creating relationships. The authors say, “The phone will give your organization a better chance of hearing the truth, complete with all of those editorial comments and undertones that separate humans from business idiots. If you really want to know, pick up the damn phone.”

Qualification calling will:

• prevent wasting time pursuing unqualified leads;
• ensure that good sales opportunities are pursued;
• adhere to the universal lead definition;
• follow up on events, web inquiries, direct mail responses and all inquiries regardless of source.

Even in light of its uniquely important role, the phone, however, cannot stand alone. It must function as the convergence for all other modalities in the lead generation system as the central point for qualifying inquiries and leads of whatever description.

Most quality leads will meet the BANTS formula:

Budget: Is the prospect aware and capable of meeting budget requirements?
Authority: Are the important players in the purchasing decision process involved?
Need: Has a clear initiative or need been acknowledged? Are they motivated?
Time frame: Has it been determined when the purchase decision will take place?
Sales ready: Is there comfort in the imminent prospect of meeting with a salesperson?

If your organization wants to provide genuine, sales-ready leads to your sales team, create a  dedicated teleprospecting program and make it a top priority.

Step Four: Handing Off Leads to Sales

Fine tune the handoff from the teleprospecting team to sales. Here are five guidelines for making sure the baton isn’t dropped in the process:

1. Qualified, sales-ready leads are prepared in the marketing department for the handoff to sales, meaning all data has been entered into the database.
2. Marketing sets up a meeting or phone call between the lead and the appropriate parties in sales.
3. The teleprospecting team sends a confirmation e-mail to the lead, confirming the handoff, and copies both the sales representative and the sales lead.
4. The teleprospecting team alerts the salesperson of the new, sales-ready lead and provides a lead data sheet that includes prospect profile information and detailed notes of all phone conversations with the lead.
5. Each sales-ready lead is transferred to the sales database or CRM system.

It’s imperative that this process be methodical. Taking shortcuts such as not adhering to the lead definition or providing incomplete contact history may result in miscommunication and missed opportunities.

Step Five: Closing the Loop

Lead generation and, as an extension, lead qualification, is an iterative process that significantly benefits from consistent closed-loop feedback. Closing the loop on a regular basis allows you to constantly learn from each interaction. Closed-loop feedback is the principle of eliciting a continuous flow of pertinent information from the sales team. It tracks each qualified lead from start to end, whether to sales close or to rejection.

Here are some issues that successful, multistep marketers address to conduct closed-loop feedback meetings with their clients. A typical closed-loop feedback meeting will include:

• Attendees
  • marketing program manager (internal or outsourced)
  • lead generation specialists/inside sales/teleprospectors (internal or outsourced)
  • sales team
  • interested observers (managers and leaders)
• Tools Needed
  • reports
  • summary of the month’s activity
  • export of leads into sales stage
• Agenda
  • status of leads in the sales process
  • feedback on each lead, if available
  • leads active and moving forward
  • inactive leads
  • incorrectly qualified?
  • further follow up?
  • leads that require additional nurturing
  • wins that can be celebrated
  • things being done right
  • things that can be improved

Companies that make closed-loop feedback work have higher lead conversion rates than those that do not. Ultimately, companies that “huddle” more frequently improve all phases of the sales and marketing continuum and their ROI.

More Is Not Better

Many marketers believe generating more sales leads is the key to hitting revenue targets. However, the truth is that most companies need to do a better job managing and qualifying the leads (or more likely the inquiries) they already have.

Effective lead qualification is the key to building a reliable sales pipeline. The phone is the best tool for gathering the type of information required to qualify leads and inquiries. If organizations can’t find effective ways to include the phone in a systematic qualification process, then any investment in lead generation activities likely will produce little or no return in the long term.