Are your leads as good as they should be?

Making the case for human interaction

Special ReportJuly 2016

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

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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

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”

A lack of strategic cohesion

3 34% of marketers acknowledged they were unable to ensure only the most appropriate leads progress to salesPoor 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”

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”

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”

Understanding the power of human interaction

6 72% of marketers still rely on offline qualification methods to properly qualify leadsAnd 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”

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.”

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”

When is the right time to call in the experts

9 Only 6% of marketers use external agency specialists to cleanse their dataMaintaining 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”

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 ”

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”

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”

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”

For more information visit:www.ttmc.co.uk

T: 01273 765000