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September 4, 2017
Are Your Lead Sources Dead Ends?
By:
Listen closely. Your lead sources are trying to tell you something. Today I will help you identify your best and worst channels. Take a moment to evaluate your B2B lead generation efforts by leveraging the How to Make Your Number in 2018 . Turn to the Marketing Strategy section, and flip to the Lead Generation phase on pages 300 through 309.
Should They Stay, or Should They Go? You can evaluate your channels—and identify what went wrong—in four easy steps.
1. Start with a simple list.
Make a clear, simple list of all inbound and outbound lead generation sources.
Next, pull your lead source data (or enlist your marketing ops person). For each source, include leads’ contact information, history of activity, and lead status.
Marketing automation software will give you a precise picture of each prospect’s path. If you’re operating manually, your leads’ movement through the funnel may be less clear.
Again, keep things simple. Focus on the most important numbers.
2. Follow the number trail.
These conversion rates will tell you how well your lead sources are performing.
You’re looking for trends over time, as measured by month, quarter, or year. Maybe your business fares better in some seasons than in others. If so, you should account for that in your monthly or quarterly analysis.
If you recently added a new channel to your lineup, be patient. Give yourself time to establish a baseline. Look for online tools that provide benchmarks by channel or industry vertical.
We created The Marketing Channel Scorecard to help you evaluate the performance of your lead sources. The Scorecard use a scientific approach to assist your decision making. It also enables you to evaluate total campaign effectiveness instead of simple cost per lead metrics.
Download the Marketing Channel Scorecard.
3. Look for red flags.
Shrinking conversion rates. Leads that go untouched. An unhappy sales team. All of these point to a big problem.
Does this mean your lead source is a dud? Not necessarily.
4. Uncover the truth.
For every channel that bombs, you must dig deep to answer these questions:
If the channel isn’t the problem, have an honest discussion with your sales leader. Then you can work together to make your future lead generation campaigns more effective.
How to Amplify Your Success
You’ve determined which lead sources are worth keeping. Now it’s time to fine-tune your efforts and maximize ROI.
Have expectations gone up and left you wondering if you can make your number? Here is an that will help you understand if you have a chance at success. Take the Revenue Growth Diagnostic test and rate yourself against SBI’s sales and marketing strategy to find out if:
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