Do you find it startling that many sales and marketing teams still cannot agree on the definition of a sales lead?
The irony of course, is that the deliverable for sales is crystal clear - the sale. The contract is signed and the PO received. The heavy lifting from sales is finished and that of accounts receivable begins.
But for marketing, whose key deliverable is often the qualified lead, the picture is confusing: the definition of a sales lead can be all over the map. Is a lead an appointment or a qualified lead (or both)? Is a lead an inquiry, a trade show visitor, a webinar registrant, a downloader of a white paper or a referral?
To some, a lead is defined as an interested responder. To others, a fully qualified BANT lead (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeframe).
A poorly defined lead is one symptom of a crippling disease: sales & marketing mis-aligment (see my post on ten signs that sales and marketing are mis-aligned).
In the simplest possible terms: a lead is a prospect that sales agrees to accept, engage and close. Best-in-class sales & marketing organizations will add richer criteria to the definition, but the willingness of sales to accept a lead from marketing is elegant in its simplicity.
It also takes into account an important distinction: the definition of a lead may vary by the sales rep. For example, a new sales rep with no sales funnel may accept 'loosely' defined leads versus a sales rep who has a full funnel who will only accept 'strictly' defined, fully-qualified leads.
Unfortunately, the term 'lead' is frequently taken out of context by the vendors that sell to B2B marketers. This may artificially enhance the perceived value of the vendor's solution but adds to the malaise and confusion in the market.
Ask yourself after reading the examples below and apply the simple acceptance rule: can you fathom a field salesperson accepting these 'leads'?
Call me a stickler if you want, but until we see greater success in sales and marketing alignment and in particular, lead definitions, we need to be a lot more careful in the way that we throw around a pivotal term like 'lead'.
Otherwise, it becomes one of those four letter words.
Your thoughts?
Related Posts
Sales Leads vs. Appointments?
10 Signs that Sales & Marketing are Mis-Aligned
Should marketing be compensated like sales?
Comparing B2B Online Data Sources - New Research
Photo Credit: Ash-rly
Link to original post
The irony of course, is that the deliverable for sales is crystal clear - the sale. The contract is signed and the PO received. The heavy lifting from sales is finished and that of accounts receivable begins.
But for marketing, whose key deliverable is often the qualified lead, the picture is confusing: the definition of a sales lead can be all over the map. Is a lead an appointment or a qualified lead (or both)? Is a lead an inquiry, a trade show visitor, a webinar registrant, a downloader of a white paper or a referral?
To some, a lead is defined as an interested responder. To others, a fully qualified BANT lead (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeframe).
A poorly defined lead is one symptom of a crippling disease: sales & marketing mis-aligment (see my post on ten signs that sales and marketing are mis-aligned).
In the simplest possible terms: a lead is a prospect that sales agrees to accept, engage and close. Best-in-class sales & marketing organizations will add richer criteria to the definition, but the willingness of sales to accept a lead from marketing is elegant in its simplicity.
It also takes into account an important distinction: the definition of a lead may vary by the sales rep. For example, a new sales rep with no sales funnel may accept 'loosely' defined leads versus a sales rep who has a full funnel who will only accept 'strictly' defined, fully-qualified leads.
Unfortunately, the term 'lead' is frequently taken out of context by the vendors that sell to B2B marketers. This may artificially enhance the perceived value of the vendor's solution but adds to the malaise and confusion in the market.
Ask yourself after reading the examples below and apply the simple acceptance rule: can you fathom a field salesperson accepting these 'leads'?
- Data Vendors - A significant number of data vendors continue to merchandise their lists as 'leads'. Nothing could be further from the truth. These are lists of 'Accounts and Contacts'.
- CRM Vendors - Most CRM solutions have separate buckets for accounts/contacts and leads. Although I agree that leads need a home in the CRM system, the lead bucket seems to be a dumping ground for all flavors of inquiries and marketing responders. A more applicable label would be 'Prospects'
- Marketing Automation Vendors - A popular and vital process in the demand generation process is 'lead nurture'. I agree that this is an easy to understand term for describing the cultivation of prospects until the prospect is sales-ready. However, these contacts are not leads but are prospects that are not yet ready to speak to sales. At one time, some of these prospect may have spoken to sales and subsequently disqualified. A better term would be 'Prospect Nurture'.
Call me a stickler if you want, but until we see greater success in sales and marketing alignment and in particular, lead definitions, we need to be a lot more careful in the way that we throw around a pivotal term like 'lead'.
Otherwise, it becomes one of those four letter words.
Your thoughts?
Related Posts
Sales Leads vs. Appointments?
10 Signs that Sales & Marketing are Mis-Aligned
Should marketing be compensated like sales?
Comparing B2B Online Data Sources - New Research
Photo Credit: Ash-rly
Link to original post