We all know that in almost all aspects of life quality trumps quantity. So why does this not ring true with marketers and their leads? B2B Marketing teamed up with The Telemarketing Company to explore the lead-related challenges facing senior marketers today, and consider how they might get back on track.

1. Are your leads as good as
they should be?
Making the case for human interaction
Special Report
July 2016

2. The Pressure is on
We surveyed 100 mid to senior level B2B
marketers, 85% stated they were under
significant pressure to create a greater
quantity of leads.
56% went on to express concern over the
quality and the quantity of their leads
1
Source: B2B Marketing Magazine, July 2016
“The pursuit of
higher numbers in
and of itself isn’t
enough”
“The pursuit of
higher numbers in
and of itself isn’t
enough”
Pressure to produce more leads

3. Tracking the value of each and every lead
2 Nearly a third of B2B marketers confirmed
that poor initial qualification was the
standout issue responsible for dramatically
reducing their ability to measure or report
on ROI on marketing spend.
50% stated they were not capable of
tracking a lead from cold to close
Tracking leads from cold to close
“Without the ability to know which leads
contribute to revenue opportunities.....
marketers have no way of measuring ROI”
“Without the ability to know which leads
contribute to revenue opportunities.....
marketers have no way of measuring ROI”

4. A lack of strategic cohesion
3 34% of marketers acknowledged they were
unable to ensure only the most appropriate
leads progress to sales
Poor alignment between sales and
marketing reveals high numbers of
organisations operate without a standard
definition of what constitutes a lead
The wasted cost to sales of
unqualified leads
“....an industry struggling with leads
entering the funnel that have no place
being there”
“....an industry struggling with leads
entering the funnel that have no place
being there”

5. An over reliance on the machine
4 Marketing Automation (MA) is increasing
quantity of leads but reducing the overall
quality.
Over 50% of marketers felt AQLs
(Automated Qualified Leads) would benefit
from further offline qualification (17%) to
deliver stronger leads to sales
Marketing Automation is producing
poorer quality leads
“ Over half 53% of those who’ve
implemented MA have experienced issues
with AQLs”
“ Over half 53% of those who’ve
implemented MA have experienced issues
with AQLs”

6. Automation can’t do it all
5 Poor datasets and poor integration of
offline qualification of leads headline
factors hindering performance of Marketing
Automation
Over 50% regard these two issues to be
central to improving the overall
performance of MA
Factors impacting MA performance
“However good marketing tech is, if the
data being fed in is not strategically
cleansed....it will at best be ineffective”
“However good marketing tech is, if the
data being fed in is not strategically
cleansed....it will at best be ineffective”

7. Understanding the power of human interaction
6 72% of marketers still rely on offline
qualification methods to properly qualify
leads
And yet, 30% admit not having the
processes in place to ensure these leads
are qualified by a human before being
handed off to sales.
The Human touch still the
preferred choice for qualification
“However good marketing tech is, if the
data being fed in is not strategically
cleansed....it will at best be ineffective”
“However good marketing tech is, if the
data being fed in is not strategically
cleansed....it will at best be ineffective”

8. Poor qualification costs sales money
7 Over 50% of organisations hand AQLs or
scored leads straight to sales to be worked
with only 21% using telemarketing to
further qualify these leads.
Use the right team to pre-
qualify leads
“if marketers are handing leads to sales
that haven’t been qualified properly,
they’ll reduce the effectiveness and
productivity of sales.”
“if marketers are handing leads to sales
that haven’t been qualified properly,
they’ll reduce the effectiveness and
productivity of sales.”

9. The strangulating effect of poor data
8 Nearly 50% of marketers were not
convinced of the quality of their marketing
database.
We already know that 35% of the
marketers also suggested poor data was
preventing them from getting the most of
out of their marketing investments.
Is your data as good as it
needs to be?
“What you get out is only as good as what
you put in”
“What you get out is only as good as what
you put in”

10. When is the right time to call in the experts
9 Only 6% of marketers use external agency
specialists to cleanse their data
Maintaining hygiene levels on data quality
is the only way to improve the quality of
output from your marketing investments
Enlist expert help to improve
your marketing and sales data
“No amounts of analytics or technology
will bring benefits unless clean, accurate
data is the starting point”
“No amounts of analytics or technology
will bring benefits unless clean, accurate
data is the starting point”

11. Data management & hygiene must be a priority
9 Over reliance on technology and desk
research is hampering efforts to improve
the quality of the marketing database.
Only 19% of marketers confirm using
telephone research to cleanse and validate
their data and yet still 35% complain that
data is the root cause of poor marketing
output
Marketers need more faith in
the human touch
“Telemarketing involves a real person
checking and gathering information ”
“Telemarketing involves a real person
checking and gathering information ”

12. Making the case for extra resource
9 Poor data quality blamed on a lack of
resource. 62% of marketers claim too few
resources are at the root of the
organisation’s struggle to improve
marketing data.
To demonstrate marketing ROI, marketers
must have access to high quality data sets
Resource and cost to blame
for poor data
“High quality data is the most integral
starting point for programmes that deliver
ROI”
“High quality data is the most integral
starting point for programmes that deliver
ROI”

13. Harnessing the power of multichannel
10 73% of marketers believe multichannel
marketing to be critical in responding to
customers desire to move seamlessly
between channels, as part of their buying
process.
Outlook looks bright for companies wanting
multi channel marketing to generate
better qualified leads with 86% of
marketers claiming to be confident it will
improve over coming 24 months.
Multi Channel defined part of
marketing strategy
“Customers value speaking to a real
person who can listen to what they need
and solve their problems”
“Customers value speaking to a real
person who can listen to what they need
and solve their problems”

14. Sorting the wheat from the chaff transforms results
11 49% of marketers feel senior management
need to focus more on lead quality than
lead volume.
A third of marketers believe improving the
quality of data requires additional investment
and will help to achieve marketing objectives.
Improved integration of offline lead
qualification with new marketing
technologies crucial to delivering marketing
ROI.
The keys to high performance
marketing
“Smart marketers are employing trusted
methods to verify the quality of data
they’re working with”
“Smart marketers are employing trusted
methods to verify the quality of data
they’re working with”

15. For more information visit:
www.ttmc.co.uk
T: 01273 765000