A survey on lead generation practices conducted by the BtoB magazine reveals that 74 percent of the marketers have a formal lead generation program in place, and of them, 48 percent have extensive programs in place. However, not all of them find success. The survey lists out several key factors that contribute to the success of the lead generation exercise:
- Two out of three marketers align closely with sales when generating leads. In that scenario, the marketer takes the input to the sales team to deliver content appropriate for the specific line of business they are targeting. Such an alignment of the lead generation strategy with sales generates rich dividends. In fact, 80 percent of marketers who described their own lead generation efforts as “highly effective” said they work closely with sales in the lead generation process.
- The contrast to this are the marketers who are not as aligned with the sales teams. The same BtoB poll found that “By contrast, among the marketers who described themselves as ‘least-effective,’ only 57% coordinated with sales.”
Lead generation does not succeed in isolation.
The work towards generating leads is, in fact useless, unless there is a strong strategy in place to support and reinforce it. Seventy-four percent of marketers who consider their lead generation programs as successful have sound lead nurturing strategies in place, whereas only 24 percent of the marketers who were least effective in lead generation have effective lead nurturing strategies.
Sixty-seven percent of marketers consider lack of adequate resources as the major obstacle or impediment in lead generation. While 40 percent of marketers blamed poor or inaccurate data as a major obstacle and 27 percent considered lack of adequate technology as the key stumbling block that impedes their lead generation activities.
Interestingly, 21 percent of marketers also admit to their being unfamiliar to the lead generation process to succeed in it.
Using lead generation is crucial to your business. Have you put time and energy into creating a successful lead generation program?
