B2B Sales Pipeline

I just saw this statement from Marketing Sherpa regarding their B2B Summit, and I felt compelled to point it out.

…Jackie Kiley of Sybase advised everyone to *never* put suspects, inquiries, or unqualified leads into the salesforce.com system (or whatever salesforce.com wanna-be you’re using.)Fact is, the minute names hit SalesForce they hit the laps of your sales reps who then are judged on performance from then on. If you put anything in the system that a rep probably can’t close, then they look bad, they waste invaluable time, and soon they begin to distrust *all* the leads you give them.

Once sales doesn’t trust your leads, you’re completely sunk. Time to look for a new job.

Let that settle in for a second. 

If Marketing floods Sales with a list of 100 Names, how can we be expected to find the estimated 20% of those names who are actual “Sales Ready” prospects.

Marketers - A couple of items in the above statement that I would point out and Translate:

1.  *Never* put suspects, inquiries, or unqualified leads into the salesforce.com system - TRANSLATION- If they just filled out a registration form for a general whitepaper…they probably aren’t yet a lead.   Lead Qual, anyone?

2.  If you put anything in the system that a rep probably can’t close, then they look bad, they waste invaluable time - TRANSLATION - Nurture them in the Marketing Pipeline, and only pass those who show buying signals to your sales team.  Sacrifice Quantity for Quality.

3.  …Your sales reps who then are judged on performance - TRANSLATION - Quota carrying sales people have to close deals today….You should consider the following when determining what constitutes a “Lead” (Thanks to Jame Ervin for the definition):

• Is this person someone who wants to buy something? - If Yes, proceed
• Does this person have approval to buy something? - If Yes, Proceed
• Will they will buy your product, or one like yours soon (and let me note that “Soon” differs from industry to industry)?  If Yes - Congratulations…You’re the proud owner of a “Lead” that you should pass over to your sales team.
  

Anonymous visitor capture software by itself is worthless….there…I said it.

Over the span of the last few days, Pardot’s website was visited by several members of a large software company on the West Coast.  The individuals who came to the site searched for a competitor, landed on our site anonymously, and did quite a bit of research (viewed over 50 pages and 10 pages respectively).

Each day I’ve opted into a digest of all anonymous visitors to our site, so the large number of page views immediately caught my eye.  “Time to do some of that Sales Stuff” I said to myself (author’s note - I actually DO say things like that out loud, which reminds me to use my inner monologue).

Step 1 - Research the Company - In my estimation, it’s a fit.  Proceed to Step 2

Step 2 - Find my target at that organization.  A quick review of their management team identified the person I generally work with at a company - their VP of Marketing.

Step 3- Call.  No answer.  Like an animal stalking my prey, I do not leave a message.  It gives away the element of surprise.

Step 4 - Set a Salesforce reminder to call their VP of Marketing again

Between Step 3 and Step 4, the actual visitor raised his hand.  A gentleman named Alex, who is the company’s Web Producer identifies himself on a form (e.g., “Raises His Hand”) and requests to be contacted.  (Author’s Note #2 - Alex is not in Jigsaw, nor was he identified on their site, so the likelihood that I would have located him is rather slim).  We chatted for a bit, and he’s a great fit, and will surely be a terrific ally as we investigate our solution to fill their needs.

So here’s the moral - Anonymous visitor capture caught the company, however standard sales methodologies (approach your target customer) would have led me to the completely wrong person.

PRACTICAL TAKE AWAYS:

1. Anonymous visitor capture needs to be coupled with some sort of call to action which is attached to a form, so the actual prospect can identify him or her self.  Otherwise it can cause your Sales Professional to spin their wheels trying to get to their target…who likely isn’t the person performing the research on your product or solution.
2. Anonymous visitor capture is terrific way to validate your existing sales efforts.  Did you just complete a demonstration for a key stakeholder at an organization, and 3 unsolicited, anonymous visitors perform research on your solution?  If so - you made your point and found your champion, who is now directing other people to your solution.

For any vendors who represent products that ONLY do Anonymous Visitor Capture - I’d love to hear where you see the value to be, because without some way for the prospect to raise their hand…I really don’t see how it does anything but create noise (e.g., a “lead”) for your sales team.