The One-Two Punch of Effective Lead Engagement

Accurate Lists and Powerful Content

The One-Two Punch of Effective Lead Engagement

Brian Carroll Executive Director of Revenue Optimization, MECLABS

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MECLABS: A science lab with a consultancy

• More than 10 years of research • 1,300+ major experiments • Over 1 billion emails • 10,000 sales-paths tested • Hundreds of publications and

conferences

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Today’s Speaker

Brian Carroll

Executive Director of Revenue Optimization

MECLABS

Brian Carroll is Executive Director of Applied Research at MECLABS. Brian is also co-founder of InTouch (now part of the MECLABS Leads Group), a B2B marketing firm and one of the first companies to provide lead generation services for the complex sale.

Author of the popular book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale (McGraw-Hill), Carroll is a leading expert in lead generation and he's profiled and regularly quoted in numerous publications. Brian also speaks to 20,000 people a year on improving sales effectiveness and lead generation strategies.

He’s been profiled and regularly quoted in publications such as BtoB Magazine, Selling Power, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Target Marketing, Inc., Marketing News, DM News, MarketingProfs, MarketingSherpa, Software CEO and CMO Magazine.

@BrianJCarroll

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• 80% of marketing leads wind up lost, ignored or discarded

• 80% of B2B marketers pass raw leads to sales

• Long-term leads (future opportunities), often ignored by salespeople, represent 77% of potential sales

• 73% of companies have no process for re-engaging and nurturing leads after sales

MarketingSherpa 2010-2011 B2B Benchmark Report CMO Council and Business Performance Management Forum, Sirius Decisions

The case for effective lead nurturing

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Background: A B2B company with a short sales cycle launched an email series to nurture older leads Objective: To reinvigorate leads that have passed the initial 30 day window in which most clients are most likely to convert. Primary research question: Which tactics can be implemented to re-engage existing leads in the database?

Test Design: Intensive initial 30-day lead nurture campaign followed by regular newsletters, webinars and long term added-value email series.

Experiment ID: Protected Account Location: MarketingSherpa Case Study Library Test Protocol: CS31985

Research Notes:

Case Study

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Customers are from leads generated over three months ago

Customers are from leads generated over one year ago

Key takeaways: Focus on your fresh, relevant leads but don’t neglect those you met three or more months ago.

Ensure your brand stays top of mind but communicate to them in a way that is relevant and respectful.

What can you do to reach out to your existing list in a helpful way?

!

Results: How did they do it?

37% 20%

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Step 1: Nurture the fresh leads first

Leads generated through content downloads

Topic C Topic D Topic B Topic A

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Week 1

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Week 1

Week 2

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CTA: sign up for online software demo




Week 1

Week 2

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CTA: sign up for online software demo




Week 1

Week 2

Online Software Demo

Sales-ready leads Re-engagement

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Step 2: Maintain an ongoing email program

If leads finish the initial nurturing series without converting, the team sends two other types of emails to the audience:

Email Newsletter This monthly email includes short columns from the company CEO, as well as information on industry events, book reviews, marketing advice and other content related to the company.

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Step 2: Maintain an ongoing email program

Once leads finish the initial nurturing series without converting, the team sends two other types of emails to the audience:

Monthly webinar invitations • The term "webinar" in its subject line • Personal salutation • Description of the event • One link and one button to register • Header image linked to registration page

Manage your email subscriptions

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/

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Step 3: Design long-term "tips" email series

In addition to the newsletters and webinar invitations, a biweekly email series that features marketing tips and other practical information for 12 months. Leads enter this series immediately after finishing the short-term series.

Primary Goal: Maintain contact with the leads and showcase the company's expertise

De-emphasized call to action: Register for online demo

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Step 3: Design long-term "tips" email series

Pro-active option to opt-out

Above and beyond CANSPAM, an email is sent three months into this series which gives them an opportunity to opt-out.

Shows respect for the prospect and gives them a chance to reaffirm their interest.

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Step 4: Avoid overwhelming your audience

The schedules and scenarios surrounding the email marketing were thoroughly outlined and conditions were set, including:

• Stop emailing sales-ready leads

Leads that scheduled an online product demo stop receiving the nurturing emails and are handed to the company's sales team.

• Start over for new downloads

Any leads in the long-term series that fill out a form to download more content are taken out of the long-term series and placed into one of the four short-term series.

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Understand

Audience

Organize Content

Track Results &

Engagement

Execute Tracks

Messaging

Strategy

A relevant, consistent conversation with viable potential customers, regardless of their timing to buy.

•Touch

•Track

•Follow-Up

1 •Touch

•Track

•Follow-Up

2 •Touch

•Track

•Follow-Up

3 •Touch

•Track

•Follow-Up

4

Progressive Lead Movement Across Buying Stages

What is lead nurturing?

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Closed Loop

Feedback

Marketing Pipeline

Sales Pipeline

Customers

Returned Prospects

Events, Events, Summits, Guides, Subscribers, Website, Teleprospecting

Sales Ready Leads

Not a Fit

Sales Generated

Leads

Existing Clients

CRM

Measure ROI

HANDOFF

Level 3,4,5 Leads

Inquiries (Level 1)

Nurturing (Level 2)

Sales has a funnel – marketing should too

1 Develop a foundational database

2

3

4

Design your content library

Measure and tweak

Cycle back to improve your DB

Four Key Steps


2

3

4


Measure and tweak


Four Key Steps

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Sales team

Past customers

Past event attendees

Inbound inquiries

Newsletter subscriptions

Direct mail lists

Teleprospecting lists

Develop a foundational database

Build your nurturing database – start with who you know

Nurturing list sources

Key accounts Business cards Past sales pipeline Leads not touched 90+ days

Web Phone Email

1 Develop DB

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• Inquiries are not leads: As little as 5 to 15 percent of all inquiries are truly sales-ready.

• Marketing doesn’t need sales to “accept” the leads. Marketing needs sales to confirm whether the lead met the Universal Lead Definition that was agreed to between sales and marketing

• Create your very own version of the universal lead definition, apply it to every lead, and leave room for the definition to go through rapid iterations as you close the loop with your sales team.

1 Develop DB

Marketing and Sales Alignment: What is a lead?

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Action Item: ULD checklist F What makes a good sales lead? • How can we raise the bar and give your better more actionable leads? • What initiative or need makes this a good fit? • What info is necessary to determine if a lead is worth the follow-up? • What are the titles/job functions of economic buyers and influencers? • What does this company values? What’s its culture like? • What are the common business issues?

1 Develop DB

"

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What information is required to qualify leads as being sales ready?

• What are the characteristics of the ideal sales opportunity? • What are the questions sales want answered before getting a lead? • What info is must-have vs. nice-to-have? • Which questions tend to gather the most-needed information? • What should we start doing to make leads more actionable? • What things should we stop doing with leads that don’t value? "

F Action Item: ULD checklist

What information is required to qualify leads as being sales ready?

• What are the characteristics of the ideal sales opportunity? • What are the questions sales want answered before getting a lead? • What info is must-have vs. nice-to-have? • Which questions tend to gather the most-needed information? • What should we start doing to make leads more actionable? • What things should we stop doing with leads that don’t value?

"

1 Develop DB

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Action Item: ULD checklist F

1 Develop DB

"

Use the ULD to delineate “sales ready” vs. “nurture” lead statuses • Will there be a time frame to evaluate and implement a solution? • Will there be a formal or informal budget in place? • Are there specific behaviors or traits you are looking for?

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Identify key info a sales rep would value in speaking with a prospect • What fuels interest and how must we focus on it with the solution? • Where is the best entry point? • Who is involved in the buying process as it evolves? • Should anyone else be contacted? • Where’s the funding coming from and who has authority over it?

"

Then, only send as many sales ready leads that the sales person can effectively handle

Action Item: ULD checklist F

Then, only send as many sales ready leads that the sales person can effectively handle

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"

Identify key info a sales rep would value in speaking with a prospect • What fuels interest and how must we focus on it with the solution? • Where is the best entry point? • Who is involved in the buying process as it evolves? • Should anyone else be contacted? • Where’s the funding coming from and who has authority over it?

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Company lead classification

Industry

Employees

Sales

Assigned rep

Company notes

Company web URL

Site type

Site address

Site Qualification

Site web URL

Sao Paulo

Site type

Site address

Site Qualification

Site web URL

Frankfurt

Site type

Site address

Site Qualification

Site web URL

Milan

Site type

Site address

Site Qualification

Site web URL

Brian Carroll CIO

Lead classification

Contact info

Conversation notes

Qualification responses

Qualification comments

Contact history

Michelle Passe Dir. eBusiness

Pat Lorch

VP, Supply Chain

Lead classification

Contact info

Conversation notes



Contact history

Lead Classification

Contact info

Conversation notes



Contact history

Identify headquarters, sites

Identify firmographics, compile notes

Identify, qualify contacts

Target company Nestle

Paris

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2

3

4


Measure and tweak


Four Key Steps

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• Organizations deemed “best-in-class” see double the bid-win ratio on nurtured leads compared to peers

• Nurtured leads delivered 47% higher average order values than non nurtured leads

Non-Nurtured Leads

Nurtured Leads

2 Design Library


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Connect with your personas:

• Project Leader

• CIO

• Contact Center

• Field Service Center

• Executive Sponsor

• Stakeholders

2 Design Library

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Connect with your personas:

• Project Leader

• CIO

• Contact Center

• Field Service Center

• Executive Sponsor

• Stakeholders

CIO Q1

Month 1 Free executive report via direct mail with follow-up call

Month 2 Invitation to executive roundtable via e-mail with follow-up call

Month 3 Link to relevant Podcast via e-mail with follow-up voicemail

IT Director Q1

Month 1 3rd party article via e-mail and voice mail

Month 2 3rd party article via e-mail with follow-up

Month 3 Link to relevant webinar via e-mail with follow-up call

IT Manager Q1

Month 1 Relevant white paper via e-mail with voice mail

Month 2 Direct mail piece

Month 3 Invitation to webcast via e-mail with follow-up call

Multi-track lead nurturing timeline

Client Plan for Q1 Audience: 3 Contacts Deep

2 Design Library

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Design your content library Map channels and content

Nurturing

Phone Develop relationships

Confirm correct contacts

Gain internal referrals Get opt-in email

addresses Personal invitations

Re-engage aged opportunities

Identify qualified leads

Email By-lined articles

Links to 3rd party articles

Case studies Press releases Whitepapers

Event invitations Research reports

Collateral/brochures Events

Live seminars Webinars

Executive briefings Conferences Road shows Trade shows

Online RSS

Website Landing pages

Microsites

2 Design Library

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Design your content library - Repurpose

Leverage your internal experts • Harness the knowledge that exists in your functional business groups

• Create a process and function to capture the expertise and share it

• Develop your own thought leaders – make it easy for them to share

Gather, filter relevant content based on message mapping • Third-party articles, relevant topics, research reports

• Vendor-agnostic podcasts, webinars, blogs and case studies position sales team as trusted advisors

• Filter third-party content for a nurturing library of free sources http://www.google.com/alerts

Maximize your energy

2 Design Library

http://www.google.com/alerts

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Quality content can be repurposed

Turn one piece of content into multiple pieces of content

2 Design Library

Research Chart

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Quality content can be repurposed

Tactical tool download

Blog post

Video Clip Webinar

Email

Turn one piece of content into multiple pieces of content

2 Design Library

Research Chart

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The value of content beyond acquisition

Use a macro lens on your organization to make the case for content development support. Who else can benefit from your content?

Sales/Account Management

• Nurture your existing customers

• Upsell, loyalty and retention

Human resources

• Recruiting

• Internal training and communication

Customer Service

• Training and education

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3

4


Measure and tweak


Four Key Steps

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Tie content to a specific conversion

Tactical tool download

Blog post

Video Clip Webinar

Email

Track for patterns to see what works (and what doesn’t)

Research Chart

Registrants Attendees

Replays

Views Likes/Dislikes Social Shares

Pageviews Comments

Social Shares

Opens Clickthroughs

Shares

Downloads Social Shares Lead Capture

Measure 3

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Measure and tweak

Quantitative

• Use analytics to help clarify how topics and types of content drive engagement and conversions – and which ones don’t

• Lead generation forms tie into database:

• Compare with how the prospect engages with you

• Look for patterns and score accordingly

Measure 3

Qualitative

• Comments and social media engagement on which topics resonate and may be a good direction for future content:

• Blog posts

• Videos

• Articles

• Encourage your sales team to share content with prospects to help explain complicated topics – get their feedback on what connects for the prospect

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• Supported by tools that make it easy to:

• Continue conversation

• Suggest offers based on behavior and engagement

• Lead nurturing automation tools must also support:

• Lower volume

• Ad hoc delivery

• All touch points (phone, email, online, in person)

• Measure nurturing results such as:

• Depth of contact in sphere of influence

• Percentage of contacts who opt-in for nurturing

• Percentage of contacts who become sales-ready leads

Measure and tweak Measure 3


2

3

4


Measure and tweak


Four Key Steps

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Web Inquiries

Sales Generated

Webinar

Registrants / Inquiries

Social Media Inquiries

Event Registrants & Attendees

Downloadable Tool

Database Touchpoints

John Smith Touchpoints: 02/08/2012 - Attended Workshop “B2B Advanced Practices” 10/18/2011 - Email Opened “TODAY: How marketers are transforming change” 10/18/2011 - Downloaded Tradeshow checklist tool 10/18/2011 - Attended Webinar - B2B Mkg BMR: Marketers 10/12/2011 - Email Link Clicked “Three ways to increase leads generation at tradeshows and events” 10/12/2011 - Email Opened “Three ways to increase leads generation at tradeshows and events” 09/20/2011 - Downloaded Q3 Event Summary whitepaper 09/19/2011 - Attended Webinar – “Event budget planning” 09/05/2011 - Called – Spoke with Inbound Inquiry team 09/02/2011 - Message: Your question about services 09/01/2011 - Web Lead – Web – Contact Page

4 Cycle Back

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Progressive Profiling 4 Cycle Back

First time download lead gen form Subsequent download progressive profiling

Capture a little more information each time you provide value

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Progressive Lead Scoring

• Phone – inquiries, conversations, sales leads

• Email interactions – opens, clicks, replies

• Website visits – product or service pages

• Collateral downloads – registrations or clicks

• Event attendance – webinars, tradeshows

• Information requests – contact-us form, email responses

Lead engagement doesn’t equal sales readiness! Use lead engagement to prioritize human-touch follow up.

!

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3

4


Measure and tweak


Four Key Steps

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Takeaway: Action items

Determine your Universal Lead Definition: Build and refine your DB approach

1

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Build a three-month track for your top three personas

2

1

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Build a three-month track for your top three personas

Create one piece of content, and then turn it into four

2

1

3

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Track each content item’s conversion objectives and set goals to increase them

4

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Track each content item’s conversion objectives and set goals to increase them

Connect your content touchpoints to your DB and start a progressive profiling process

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Brian Carroll

Executive Director of Revenue Optimization

MECLABS

651-255-7700 x 640

[email protected]

@brianjcarroll

Additional lead management resources:

MECLABS.com

B2BLeadBlog.com

B2BLeadBlog.com/LinkedIn

Thank you

Technology

The One-Two Punch of Effective Lead Engagement