A Simple Approach to Marketing-Sales Handoffs

Let's talk lead generation. And for once, let's forget the app suggestions, services and myriad different ways you can use them.

At it's core, B2B lead generation is the process of identifying and starting conversations and conversions of qualified buyers.

Your sole goal in lead generation should be to fill a pipeline - be it on a spreadsheet, notepad or CRM - names and relevant information about qualified, interested buyers - who graduate down the sales funnel or move to the next step in your personal sales process. 

Qualified meaning the person you've identified has shown interest, can buy, and fits your ideal customer profile. (A broke 22 year old college student is not a prospect for a high end real-estate agent).

The 3 Metrics that Matter Most with Lead Generation

Here is a simple plan if you are part of a sales & marketing team - you should be focused on at least 3 very easy metrics and the associated funnel:

Leads: any person who has shown interest or fits your ideal customer profile (If you dont know identify ideal customers, do not pass Go, do not collect $200).

MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads): leads that have progressed through your marketing funnel (whether it be by filling out a form or responding to an email or signing up for a webinar) and are qualified (based on your criteria) to be buyers. These people can move on to the next step:

SALs (Sales Accepted Leads): Dumping a bunch of interested, but non-researched leads on a sales reps desk is an awesome way to waste their time, burn them out and make everyone involved much less likely to hit their growth targets. Instead, you should be dumping a bunch of interested, pre-qualified names on their desk. From there, your reps can quickly put on their own detective hat, double confirm that these leads have strong potential, start a conversation, ask the important questions, listen, and now accept them into their pipeline - which should provide significantly more data for your sales team in terms of budget, urgency of need, and so on.

Sales should be taking a conscious step by accepting and agreeing that the leads provided are strong, and now they are going to walk them through the buying process.

At this point - even with this simple process (which could include manual or automated steps) - you have a lead generation strategy. You have volume coming in, you are qualifying to maximize effort, and you are accepting your highest potential candidates and providing data which improves the entire system.

Those of you running lead generation for a B2B sales team - I implore you. Drill everything down to these 3 core metrics, discern what they look like and figure out the most efficient ways to drive them. Keep the broke college students off reps' desks - unless the product you sell happens to be Ramen.

Ambition: Drive Sales Performance and Accountability

Ambition is a sales management platform that syncs business teams, data sources, and performance metrics on one system.

Modern sales leaders use Ambition to enhance sales performance insights and run supercharged sales reports, scorecards, contests, and TVs via drag-and-drop interface.  

Ambition is endorsed by Harvard Business Review and AA-ISP (the Global Inside Sales Organization). Hear more from business leaders who use Ambition in their organization.

Watch Testimonials:

1. FiveStars: Adam Wall. Sr. Manager of Sales Operations . 
2. Filemaker: Brad Freitag. Vice-President of Worldwide Sales.
3. Outreach: Mark Kosoglow. Vice-President of Sales.
4. Cell Marque: Lauren Hopson. Director of Sales & Marketing.
5. Access America Transport: Ted Alling. Chief Executive Officer.

Watch Product Walkthroughs:

1. ChowNow. Led by Vice-President of Sales, Drew Woodcock.
2. Outreach. Led by Sales Development Manager, Alex Lynn.
3. AMX Logistics. Led by Executive Vice-President ,Jared Moore.

Read Case Studies:

1. Clayton Homes: HBR finds triple-digit growth in 3 sales efficiency metrics. 
2. Coyote Logistics: Monthly revenue per broker grew $525 in 6 months.
3. Peek: Monthly sales activity volume grew 142% in 6 months.
4. Vorsight: Monthly sales conversations grew 300% in 6 months.

Contact us to learn how Ambition can impact your sales organization today.