Top 10 Tricks for B2B Sales Lead Generation

© 2014 Mike Moran Group LLCwww.biznology.com
The Top 10
Tricks for
Sales Lead
Generation
Ruth P. Stevens
April 8, 2014
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© 2013 Mike Moran Group LLC
Your speaker for today: Ruth P. Stevens
 President of eMarketing Strategy
 Author of two
business books
 Blogger at blog
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@RuthPStevens ruth@ruthstevens.com 212-679-6486

THE TOP 10 TRICKS FOR
SALES LEAD GENERATION
Ruth P. Stevens @RuthPStevens ruth@ruthstevens.com
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The case for lead generation marketing:
Everyone hates cold calling
 The sales function is your single most constrained
resource.
 You can triple sales productivity by reducing the number of
cold calls sales people need to do.
Just heading
out for a
round of cold
calls, Boss!
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B2B marketing
is all about
leads.
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Trick #1: Decide what is a “lead”
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Lead generation: Identifying prospective customers
and assessing their likelihood to buy, in advance of
making a sales call
A sales lead: The name, contact information and
background information on a prospective buyer
A qualified lead: A prospect who is ready to see a
sales person

Badges zapped at a trade show
are not qualified leads
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Trick #2: Do the math. How many leads
do you need?
Revenue quota per rep $3,000,000
Percent of quota self-generated 40%
Quota requiring lead support
($3M*1-.40)
$1,800,000
Revenue per order $60,000
Converting leads required ($1.8M/$60K) 30
Conversion rate 20%
Qualified leads required per rep (30/.20) 150
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Trick #3: Use the most productive
inquiry-generation media
 Solicit leads at your website.
 Ask your customers for referrals.
 Search engine marketing. SEO, SEM
 Outbound telemarketing.
 Direct mail, including dimensional mail.
 Trade shows, if the audience is highly qualified.
 Syndicated pay-per-lead gen programs.
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Turn your website into a
lead generating machine
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Identify site visitors by IP address
IP Address Software
Providers
VisitorTrack
VisualVisitor
Demandbase
Visistat
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Lead generation media that are
less productive
 Cold email to rented lists.
 Broadcast advertising.
 Print advertising.
 Trade shows, all other.
 And what about social media?
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Trick #4: Use direct-response
communications
 Direct response is targeted, measurable communications that
ask for a response.
 To be successful, you must:
1. Ask for the response.
2. Track the responses using a unique key code.
3. Manage/analyze the inbound and outbound communications
via a database.
4. Give an incentive to respond (the “offer”).
 Lead generation is fundamentally different from branding or
awareness communications.
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Trick #5: Include an offer
 You need an offer to drive the response.
 The natural inclination of a prospect is to do nothing.
 An incentive mimics the power of the sales person.
 Don’t delude yourself into thinking the product will “sell
itself.”
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Checklist of proven B2B offers
 Information-based products
 White paper, case study
 Premium (gift, book)
 Trial period
 Sample
 Free shipping/handling
 Drawing/contest
 Free installation
 Continuity/replenishment
 Self-assessment tool
 Seminar or webinar
 Demonstration
 Discount
 Sales call
 Free lunch
 Consultation or audit
 Estimate
 ROI calculator
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The #1 offer in B2B today:
Information-based products, aka “content”
 White paper
 Research report
 Case study
 Infographic
 Brochure
 Webinar, podcast
 Article reprint
 Book, ebook
 Video
 Demo
 “10 Tips” document
For great ideas:
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Trick #6: Plan for campaign responses
 Be ready to deliver on the offer you made.
 Send out the white paper…
 Deliver the demo…
 Offer multiple response media.
 phone, web, PURL
 BRC, fax, email
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Trick #7: Qualify the leads
 Not all leads are created equal.
 You must find out if the prospect is ready to
see a sales person, according to pre-
determined qualification criteria.
 Method 1: Ask the qualification questions on
your response form.
 Method 2: Use follow-up communications to
qualify.
 Email is ideal.
 Phone is traditional.
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Setting qualification criteria
Establish your
qualification
criteria in
cooperation with
your sales force.
1. Demographics
 Company size, industry, geography
 Individual and corporate
 Potential sales volume
2. Activity/behavior: “Buying signals”
 Recency, frequency, significance (download,
demo)
 Lead source (search term, offer, ad medium)
3. BANT
 Budget, authority, need, timeframe
Never, ever,
pass an
unqualified
lead to sales.
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King Industries created its own custom
qualification criteria
 Specialty chemical manufacturer.
 Uses trade shows to generate leads.
 5-year sales cycle.
 Key criterion is sample requests.
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Trick #8: Use a lead scoring system
 A: the prospect is ready to see a sales rep.
 B: the prospect still needs nurturing, but the
contact is to be done by the sales team.
 C: the inquiry still needs nurturing, to be done by
marketing.
 D: an inquiry that is not worth nurturing.
 Put it into the marketing database for ongoing
communications, or throw it away.
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Lead scoring: The weighting
method
Budget $0-50k 2 $50-100k 3 $100-250k 4 $250k+ 5
Authority recommend 4 specify 3 use 2 approve 5 purchase 1
Time frame 1-3 months 5 3-6 mo. 3 6-12 mo. 1
Rep call? yes 10 no 0
Budgeted? yes 5 no 0
Score Score Score ScoreCriterion Score
Example: Sales wants any lead with a 15+ score to be sent to them immediately.
They would receive a lead representing an inquirer with:
•a budget of $80,000 (3 points), approved (5)
•who is planning to buy this quarter (5)
•who is the end-user of the solution (2)
They would also receive a lead representing an inquiry:
•from a purchasing agent (1 point)
•for a prospect with an urgent need (5)
•who wants to see a sales person (10), but has no budget approved yet
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Trick #9: Nurture inquiries that are
unqualified
 45% of all business inquiries result in a sale—eventually.
Don’t let your competitor get the business.
 Institute a nurturing process.
 A series of communications to build awareness and trust, and
maintain contact till the prospect is ready to see a salesperson
 Some nurturing tactics:
 Email newsletters
 Outbound telephone
 Event invitations
 New product announcement
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Why does nurturing pay off?
Campaign Responses Qualified
Leads
Responses generated 100
Immediately qualified 5 5
Unqualified 95
Post-campaign
Lead pool 95
Contacts reached (60%) 57
Qualified via outbound
communication (20%)
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Nurturing pool 84
Qualified via nurturing
(30%)
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Cumulative campaign
lead total: 41
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Trick #10: Measure campaign results
Activity-based metrics:
Cost per thousand
Response rate
Cost per inquiry
Campaign turn-around time
Qualification rate
Cost per qualified lead
Results-based metrics:
Conversion-to-sales rate
Sales revenue per lead
Campaign ROI
Campaign expense-to-
revenue ratio
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Thank You
ruth@ruthstevens.com
@RuthPStevens
Visit
MaximizingLeadGeneration.com
for a free sample chapter.
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