Generating leads counts for nothing if leads do not convert to revenue. The responsibility is on marketers to drive them to convert. This is very important in today’s competitive world where marketers are hard pressed to deliver more results with fewer resources. Forrester Research estimates that 47 percent of B2B marketers close fewer than 4 percent of all marketing generated leads, while the Bridge Group reports that less that 50 percent of sales representative meet their quota in 42 percent of all organizations.
The primary requirement is to gain a “360 degree view” of the customer. Marketers need to use the information gleaned to understand the entire story of the prospect’s relationship with the brand and devise ways to further the prospect’s relationship with the brand.
This may assume the form of:
- Devising a scoring strategy that combines the individual profile and engagement scoring rules to provide a complete picture of the prospect as an individual
- Understanding the different stages of the relationship of the prospect with the brand and treating each stage differently.
- Connecting with the customer emotionally to understand when to hand over the prospect to sales to close the deal. Gallup poll estimates that people are 12 percent more likely to convert if the marketer creates an emotional connection.
Marketers also need to align their efforts in this direction closely with sales for better coordination and improved efficiency.
Our webinar, “The score tells a story,” explains how to go about doing so in detail.
