Planning and designing a lead management process

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Marketing Automation

and the Steps to Get There



The Revenue “Mantra”


Everyone is a Data Gatherer


Data is a Strategic Asset


In many

organizations,

the lead process

looks a little

like this…


Sales gets mad when Marketing

doesn’t give them “good leads.”


And Marketing

thinks Sales just

doesn’t know

how to sell and

ruins the good

leads they’ve

been given.


Everyone is saying you have to

manage your leads like a funnel.

Well, that’s a

little better

than a

meat grinder.


They love to show how cool they

can make a sales funnel look.


The problem with funnels is that

gravity does most of the work.

And while

we all obey

the laws of

gravity,

leads don’t.


Remember leads are not a game -

they’re your business’ lifeblood.


Your lead process is really

a “Supply Chain.”



Lead components are data that

may come from different sources



But each added piece of data

helps make a finished product.



Which is then ready

to hand off to Sales.



The key is

breaking down

the processes

down into

manageable

sections so you

can consistently

create this

finished product.


In Marketing’s

case, a “finished

product” is a

“qualified lead”

which is built with

“data” and Sales

is the “buyer.”

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So what are

these processes

that Sales and

Marketing

need to

agree upon?


Data Process

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Data Process –

Some questions to ask

1. Where is customer data stored?

2. Who controls it?

3. Who enters it and how?

4. Are multiple data systems integrated?

5. When is data cleansed and how?

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Lead Planning Process


Lead Planning Process –


1. Is there a documented lead quota?

2. Are marketing & sales in agreement

to these numbers?

3. How is success tracked?

4. How often?


Profiles/Personas


Persona Creation Process –

Some Questions to Ask

1. How do they access information?

2. What topics interest them?

3. How much information do they

want to receive?

4. Who or what influences them?

5. How do they like to be treated?


Persona Example #1 Sarah has operated her own successful company for

the last 4 years. She has always loved this line of

work, and she chose it as a career after college. She

wishes she had taken business courses in college, but

she didn’t expect to run a business.

Her goals are to promote a new line of products, get

new customers, build her customer list and generate

more revenue from current customers. Her major

business challenge is getting the word out about her

business to bring in new customers.

Sarah does not have a huge budget for marketing, but

she is willing to invest and try different approaches.

Sarah is very busy with work and needs her business

software to be fast and easy to use. She is not an

expert computer user and often needs help. She also

needs guidance on how to plan and track

marketing campaigns.

Name: Sarah Business: Micro B2C

Role: Owner, Jack of all Trades

Education: BA in English

Computer Skills: Basic

Marketing Knowledge: Basic


Persona Example #2 As the owner of a small specialized software company

with ten employees, Rick is very comfortable with

technology. However, he is not an expert in marketing

and needs guidance.

He has started researching marketing tools, but he is

unsure which tools and channels will best help him to

generate and convert more leads.

Specifically, Rick aims to increase lead generation,

improve conversion, and improve customer

retention while reducing the overall cost of

acquisition.

Rick’s decisions are data-driven. He relies heavily on

metrics and evaluates ROI for all of his spending.

Name: Rick Business: Small B2B

Role: Owner

Education: Masters in Engineering

Computer Skills: Advanced

Marketing Knowledge: Intermediate


Persona Example #3 Tara is Marketing Director for a well-established large,

local commercial and residential services and repair firm.

She has been spoiled by enterprise-level tools that allow

her to create highly professional creative, build and

execute integrated campaigns, and monitor response.

She has a big budget and will use outside experts to

help grow her business, but she has high expectations

of marketing consultants and software.

She says her business is growing, but Tara wants more.

She wants to increase appointments for an upcoming

trade show, get new customers and nurture current

customers.

Name: Tara Business: Mid B2B & B2C

Role: Marketing Director

Education: MBA

Computer Skills: Advanced

Marketing Knowledge: Expert


Customer Buying Process


Content Inventory

Content Format/

Length

Date

Created Audience Theme Buying Stage Comments

White Papers

10 Ways to Cut

Training Costs

PDF

6 pages 2008 HR Director Savings Awareness Needs Updating

Best Practices of

Implementing

Training

Software

PDF

4 pages 2009 IT Director Efficiency Awareness Add more visuals

Case Studies

XYZ Corporation PDF

2 pages 2010 CIO Savings Consideration

Update with latest

results

ABC Company PDF

3 pages 2010 HR Director Retention Consideration

Cut to 2 pages, add

video testimonial to

website

Webinars

Boost Retention

Video

60

minutes

2011 HR Director Retention Decision Shorten to 45

minutes

Product Literature

HR Training

Software

PDF

4 pages 2010 HR Director

Efficiency,

Retention, Savings Consideration

Add visual and

savings worksheet

And so on…


Editorial Calendar

Date Topic Audience Theme Buying Stage Format/Length Owner Deadline Channels

Q1 New

Product

System

Integrators

Faster,

better Consideration

Brochure &

PDF/4 page Smith 15 Feb

Trade shows,

direct mail,

website

Q2 Case

Study

Security

Directors ROI Decision PDF/1 page Jones 25 Mar

Email,

website, social

media

Q3 CEO

Interview

A&E

Consultants

Thought

Leadership Awareness

Video/5

minutes Smith 15 Jun Social media

Sep Trade

Show

Security

Directors

Cost

savings Consideration

Blog post/400

words Miller 4 Sep

Blog, RSS,

social media

Q4 Product

Demo IT Directors Ease of use Decision

Webinar/60

minutes Smith 15 Sep

Email,

website, social

media


Content Distribution


Map Content to Buying Cycle


Map the Offer to Buying Cycle


Lead Nurturing Process



Lead Nurturing Process –


1. Is there a lead nurturing strategy?

2. Is it manual or automated?

3. How do you determine the content

and calls to action for your nurturing?

4. Who owns the nurturing programs?


Lead Scoring Parameters

Implicit Explicit

Behaviors Digital body language

BANT (Budget, Authority,

Need, Timeline)

Demographics

Inferred geography,

data quality factors,

etc.

Demographics, typically

captured from data or

data appending


Lead Routing Process


Lead Definitions

MQL vs SAL vs SQL


Lead Routing Process –


1. When must Marketing

send a qualified lead to

Sales?

2. When must Sales follow up

once receiving a lead?

3. Who monitors the actions?

4. What systems are used for

monitoring?


Metrics


Metrics Process –


1. What metrics measure both

Marketing & Sales success?

2. What systems generate your

metrics reports?

3. How often are they run?

4. Do the reports influence

further efforts?

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Inquiries Leads Opportunities Conversion Ratios ROI & Costs

Number of

inquiries

Number of

leads

Number of opportunities

created

Percentage of lead

to MQL

Overall Marketing

contribution to revenue

from all channels

Number of

suspects

Number of

MQLs

Number of deep pipeline

opportunities

Percentage of leads

accepted by Sales

Return on Marketing

Number of

Responses

Number of

SQLs

Percentage of pipeline

contributed by Marketing

Percentage of leads

to SQLs

ROI by channel – which

channel creates the

most revenue

Number

targeted in

campaigns

Number of

raw leads

Dollar value of opportunities

contributed by Marketing

Percentage of

MQLs to SQLs

Cost per lead

Number of

Connections

Number of

QLs

Number of deals closed

from Marketing contribution

Percentages of

leads to

opportunities

Cost per MQL

Typical Metrics


There’s a lot to

this… much

more than is

mentioned

here..

But you’re a

professional.

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So instead of giving

leads to sales that

aren’t ready to buy

(the old way)

The lead supply chain

will do it right.


And instead of going two different

directions at two speeds


Sales & Marketing are aligned

And working together….


How is an understaffed,

overworked, underpaid,

underbudgeted,

underappreciated

Marketing Department

going to do this?


It’s Like Eating an Elephant One

bite at

a time…


Choosing the

Right Platform

Baby Steps


Will Your Bosses Be Receptive?


One Size Does Not Fit All


Don’t Forget the CRM Platform


Defining

Requirements


Defining Requirements-

Some Questions to Ask

1. How many more leads must we

generate?

2. Do we need more effective nurturing?

3. Do we need better sales integration?

4. How do we need more efficient

marketing operations?


Get a One-On-One Demo


Demonstrations-

Questions to Ask

1. How are outbound email and nurture

campaigns configured?

2. What are my lead scoring options?

3. What level of granularity is there for

revenue reporting?

4. What are the direct and indirect

costs?


Big Opportunities for Marketers


Once you implement

Marketing Automation

You’ll realize that

up until now your

business has been

blind to the

information that can

actually help grow

your company.


Recommended Books


www.allinio.com

@allinio

Data Driven RevenueTM

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Planning and designing a lead management process

Business

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