Best practices for lead generation, marketing automation and revenue generation topics.

Lead Liaison

Marketing Automation Improves Sales Pipeline Management

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Sales Pipeline ManagementFor most small to mid-size B2B companies staying competitive with the “big boys” is a day-to-day challenge. Solution pricing, available resources,  and operational costs must be constantly managed to remain viable. The most important business practice, sales, is often managed poorly so perfectly good sales leads slip through the cracks as a bare-bones staff tries to hit as many leads as possible to generate revenue and earn commissions. In fact, managing your sales pipeline efficiently may mean the difference between staying afloat and closing your doors.

The good news is: there is a sales pipeline management solution available which often makes financial sense to employ yet is overlooked as a cost-effective answer to lost leads. A marketing automation platform, such as our Lead Management Automation™ solution, can focus your sales agents and boost your close rate. However, putting a marketing automation system in place will only be effective if used properly. Here are five steps to improve your sales pipeline management practices by using an automated marketing program to boost sales effectiveness and enhance your lead management practices.

  1. Develop a lead profile based upon your existing customer base. Most salespeople are particular about the leads they will pursue. They want hot leads. The trouble is that most small to mid-size B2B enterprises are not set up to efficiently provide the most sales-ready leads to their sales agents. The first step is to define an optimal lead profile based on attributes and behaviors evident in your typical customer. This profile will represent the “low hanging fruit”. A marketing automation platform allows users to define the optimal sales prospect through lead scoring criteria; once a prospect (lead) achieves a specific score, any associated information can be easily shifted to a customer relationship management (CRM) program to be used when the sales department makes contact.
  2. Track the lead source once a prospect has entered the sales pipeline. Knowing how leads have come to your company is important in addressing their needs. Most B2B buyers spend time researching solutions prior to purchase. A lead management system that includes a marketing automation platform allows a sales agent to better connect with prospects by understanding what they are seeking and what marketing messages they have responded to.
  3. Distribute leads effectively (based upon lead scoring criteria) and quickly (based upon achieving a lead scoring threshold). Many times prospects are not ready to buy when B2B salespeople contact them. A marketing automation system provides a timing mechanism that, when used properly, will deliver the best leads at the appropriate time to the sales department.
  4. Nurture prospects when they are not ready to buy. As mentioned in #3, most leads aren’t ready to buy on first contact with your company. A marketing automation program will routinely deliver marketing messages and encourage prospect engagement to move leads through the sales pipeline until they are ready for a sales call. In this way, your sales agents are speaking with leads that have been introduced to your solutions, have been exposed to support materials (such as a white paper or webinar), and have been educated to the point where sales staff can now work on buying objections.
  5. Measure your company’s marketing effectiveness. A marketing automation program will provide analytics that reveal how effective your marketing messages have been in not only attracting leads but nurturing them (moving them through the sales pipeline) to the point of a sales contact. Although small to mid-size companies can develop their own systems for measuring sales effectiveness, the time and expense involved with such efforts can be wasted if an unproven and/or ineffective system is implemented.

There are more reasons to implement a marketing automation platform as a way to improve sales pipeline management. If you’d like to find out how our marketing automation solutions can boost your sales department’s effectiveness, contact a Lead Liaison representative for a free consultation.

Lead Liaison

You’re Bleeding Money if You Don’t Qualify Leads

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You’re Bleeding Money if You Don’t Qualify LeadsLead qualification is all about determining a particular lead’s likelihood to buy. Qualification should be based on a few scoring factors – meaning, not all leads are created equal so you shouldn’t necessarily treat them as such. You’re bleeding money if you don’t qualify leads.

In qualifying leads, one thing to look at is the likelihood that the client will buy based on your sales team’s interaction with the client or the strength of their interest during initial inquiry. The second thing to look at is how the client matches up with the rest of your sales cycle – or your anticipated time frame in which the lead will become a customer via a purchase.

Lead qualification is not lead conditioning

Qualifying leads isn’t about conditioning them. Not every lead that comes through your pipeline is going to be as good as another. So if your sales team members are instructed to treat all incoming leads equally, you’re actually losing money.

You’re losing money because…

your sales team is putting effort into a potential dead end.

your sales team could be sending your client advertising materials or forwarding them to a particular URL on your website rather than spending time interfacing with them.

you’re setting up an expectation that a client will be heavily paid attention to and courted before the sale closes.

One of the biggest complaints between sales teams and analyst or product teams is disparity in the client’s expectations when they’re being onboarded. If your sales team has spent 30 minutes a day for two weeks or more courting a client for sale – especially for low budget clients – you can bet a converted client is going to expect the same treatment from your team analysts. Does this cost the client money? No. It costs you money and resources.

Where the CRM comes in

When you come up with lead qualification criteria, that criteria has to be applied universally for your entire team. Across the board, sales people need to be rating leads using the same qualifications that are standard to everyone else. Unless you have a CRM that’s robust enough – yet easy to use – for managing your sales qualification process, you’re going to have a hot mess on your hands.

When people come to Lead Liaison looking for help implementing a lead qualification process, every company’s needs are different. Some companies don’t have developmental or advertorial materials they can send to low-interest clients for follow-up. These companies are often either spending too much time on low-interest, ill-qualified leads or just ignoring them altogether – which means when their buying interest is picqued in the future, they might turn toward another company for service. Why would you want to lose a lead you could convert just by regularly staying in touch or sending sales materials?

For some companies, simply starting a company newsletter and maintaining an email list is enough to turn these low-interest leads into buys down the line. We never really know until we can get a good look at what the company has to offer.

If you get me on the phone, I know just the right questions to ask about how to start your lead qualification process and best manage it via CRM. Bigger companies aren’t willing to spend that kind of time on you – but I know that if Lead Liaison does, your CRM implementation and use process will go quickly and easily. We want you to make the most out of our application. Talk to me today about how lead qualifying can stop you from bleeding money – and get you started with a robust CRM that works for your whole team.

Lead Liaison

What to Expect From Your Marketing Automation Platform

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Marketing Automation PlatformToday’s marketers are relying more and more on automated marketing systems to execute and monitor marketing practices. With a number of marketing automation platforms (MAPs) available in the marketplace, how do you know which system will provide you with all the tools you need? Following years of platform development, we have found there are several components that you should seek when searching for the right system for your B2B company. Here are some functionality areas that should be addressed in your decision.

System integration

Outbound and inbound marketing tools should be fully integrated into the MAP and delivered through a single user interface. An integrated system allows users to launch email campaigns and other communication channels from one platform. Your MAP should automate most common functions and provide scheduling for multiple simultaneous campaigns. And a good system will seamlessly integrate with popular CRM platforms.

Content management

The MAP system you select should provide the capability to easily create, re-purpose  or reuse web forms, landing pages, and other assets. Does it have an organized library for documents, templates, forms, etc.? Your content should be easily managed and the platform should allow permission-based access by employees and partners.

Program management

Drip campaigns, display ad routing, and trigger marketing tactics should all be achievable through a robust system. Lead nurturing practices will require message creation, a delivery schedule, exit conditions, and in-campaign updating. Your marketing automation platform should provide all these functions across multiple campaigns.

Database capabilities

Your lists are your lifeblood. A good MAP system allows for easy list creation, import and export functions, and list prioritization. Of high importance is the capability to integrate your marketing databases with a CRM system, allowing for dynamic exchange between each platform. List segmentation is also an important function because such features provide sharper targeting.

Lead generation and management

Your marketing automation platform’s primary goal is to streamline and enhance lead generation, management, and distribution. Therefore, you should expect your system to be able to manage inbound leads and send autoresponders based on website visits and other online activities. And CRM-integration should provide seamless transition between the platforms for leads that must be returned to marketing for nurturing.

Lead scoring

The system should score leads based on explicit (location, industry, etc.) and implicit (behavioral traits) data. The scoring matrix should be adjustable to allow for new parameters and modified weighting. Once a lead has received a score, the platform should automatically place new leads in the appropriate pipeline stage and responsively transition leads through the pipeline as additional engagements take place.

Reporting and analytics

An automated marketing platform should provide reporting capabilities. Robust platforms will deliver granular reports and the individual and group levels. The analytics functions should return data from disconnected marketing tools such as social media and user forms. Check for real-time tracking of online behaviors.

Channel integration

Whether your marketing practices include webinars, social media, email, or display ads, your MAP should allow posting, auto response, CAN-SPAM compliance, and personalized capabilities. Better MAPs also provide visitor alerts, behavior tracking, and prospect tagging.

There are many more functions that you should expect from your marketing automation platform. The bottom line is that the MAP system you select should provide you with a broad set of message creation, lead management, reporting, and channel integration tools. If you would like to learn how our Lead Management Automation™ supports your automated marketing practices contact one of our account representatives at 888 895 3237 or sales@leadliaison.com.

Lead Liaison

Building Your B2B Lead Scoring Profile

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B2B Lead Scoring ProfileBuild a B2B lead scoring profile for your business to standardize lead qualification. The most effective strategy to use when you’re deploying a marketing automation platform for your B2B company is to establish an accurate lead scoring matrix. The scores that are assigned to leads as they proceed through the sales pipeline can be a critical difference between committing a sales agent too early or too late and contacting a marketing lead at the right time in the buying cycle. Building a high-yielding scoring matrix first requires marketing and sales managers to contemplate who is their best customer.

We recommend creating a scoring model that reflects the qualities of your customers. Who are they and what do they do when their company is considering a purchase? Optimally, both sales and marketing staff should be involved in the scoring model development process. There is a process of model development that has been successful for many of our clients (which we can talk with you about). However, there are a few mistakes that companies new to marketing automation should avoid when building a lead scoring model.

First, don’t build a scoring model without first developing an optimal B2B lead profile. Define the most common characteristics of your primary markets and create a profile from that information. If your company has multiple market segments (such as 6-8 year old males and their 35-45 year old parents), create a profile for each segment then build a lead scoring model specific to that profile.

Include an adequate number of parameters for your lead scoring model – but don’t include everything. B2B lead profiles can typically be refined into a dozen or so parameters which will include attributes and behaviors. Roughly half of the parameters should represent demographic and business-graphic details of each lead. The other half should represent online behaviors.

Do not assign the same weight to all scoring parameters. Sure, every activity and job or industry-related attribute is an important component to a good lead profile, but some factors are likely more important than others. We offer a free Lead Scoring Model Designer which helps managers build a suitable scoring profile. Users can test scoring models by applying different weights to the scoring parameters.

Do not score all online activity the same. Engagement levels vary within each activity and across all online activities. Your lead scoring profile should account for the variability in message impact and lead engagement associated with each digital marketing asset. For instance, a lead that visits a static web page multiple times is often less impacted each time the page is visited; however, some marketers consider multiple webpage views as a sign of sales-readiness, therefore, worthy of a higher score for that lead scoring parameter. But consumer behavior studies have shown that the impact the repeated message has on a lead is frequently lower each time the page is viewed. Be sure to consider the impact each activity has on your leads and score online behaviors appropriately.

Lastly, don’t create a rigid profile; allow for lead profile refinement as time goes by. Although the general makeup of your leads may not change substantially over time, new strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) will likely emerge that may change certain aspects of your lead profile. So it’s important for you to be able to tweak your profile as situations develop.

If you’re building a lead profile to use in our Lead Management Automation™ platform, we can help you design an appropriate scoring model. Contact us with any questions you may have.

Lead Liaison

How Lead Nurturing Content Fuels the Marketing Automation Engine

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How Lead Nurturing Content Fuels the Marketing Automation EngineAn effective marketing automation program will be able to draw in an endless supply of quality leads. Almost every lead has the potential for conversion, but it takes strategic and informative lead nurturing content to earn their trust and eventually their business.

Most people visit a specific website in search of information. They want to learn more about a product or service to determine whether or not it is something they are truly interested in buying. Static webpages are a start, but they don’t have the same impact as lead nurturing content. Leads have a harder time trusting the material displayed on the website, since it is obviously designed to be boastful promotional ad copy geared at landing new business.

Subtle Sales Tool

Lead nurturing content is more subtle. From the reader’s perspective, it should sound like an educational guide designed to help the lead make an informed decision. It should brand a company as being an expert and offer the potential customers reliable answers to their most commonly asked questions. It should never sound like a sales pitch.

Customized Lead Nurturing Content

It also should be customized to cater to each lead based on their online profile. The marketing automation process starts with generating leads and then defines each lead’s individual potential using a ranking method referred to as lead scoring. The lead scoring process gathers their demographic and behavioral characteristics and creates a profile.

The next aspect of marketing automation is breaking these leads into more manageable segments (groups), so content can be developed for lead’s that share similar needs. Although each lead has a different profile, many will be searching for the same information.

Take for example a business that specializes in acupuncture. Some leads may be looking to treat back pain, others may be interested in trying acupuncture to quit smoking, and some many want to use it to lose weight. Depending on the website pages these leads choose to read (click on), marketers can determine what need they are looking to satisfy with acupuncture.

Answer the Lead’s Needs

Once these leads are grouped based on information that they are currently reviewing, content can be generated that answers their needs. Using the above example, if someone has spent considerable time on webpages that address how acupuncture can help you quit smoking, the marketing automation program can be setup to send them an article on the benefits of quitting smoking.

The article itself does not need to promote how acupuncture can help you quit smoking. A lead will trust the information more if it is solely focused on educating the lead on why they should quit. This shows concern for the lead’s health and ultimately builds trust.

Use Registrations to Gain Information  

A company can also attach featured content to visitor registries to gain further insight into a lead’s demographic characteristics. If a person is truly interested in reading more about why they should quit smoking, they will be willing to fill in their basic information to secure access to the article or tutorial. This information is they added to their profile and used for lead scoring.

Lead nurturing content fuels the marketing automation engine by developing trust as it guides leads through the buying process. It is an opportunity for a business to speak directly to the potential buyer and convince them a product or service is necessary for their well-being. It can be powerful fuel for the marketing automation engine when it is used as a customized, subtle sales tool.

Lead Liaison

Lead Liaison Continues to Expand With New San Francisco Office and Email Deliverability Services

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Lead Liaison has announced the opening of an office in San Francisco where the company’s Email Deliverability Services will be managed. This expansion comes at a time when Lead Liaison’s growth has tripled since late 2012. The company, which provides robust digital marketing solutions, has earned record revenues over the past two quarters.

The email deliverability function is part of Lead Liaison’s flagship marketing automation platform,Lead Management Automation™ (LMA), which helps marketing and sales teams manage the entire revenue generation cycle. With the addition of this service, the company expects to provide its customers with improved email delivery and open rates.

Lead Liaison began offering the services to select customers as a beta test in June 2012. Following successful integration with the Lead Management Automation product, the company officially launched the services in March.

In addition to building a world-class email deliverability network to support Lead Liaison’s marketing automation platform, the company has leveraged its expertise and vast resources to provide tailored professional services to companies interested in becoming an Email Service Provider (ESP). The company’s flexible approach to doing business has paved the way for unique Cost Per Million (CPM) rates and business models for prospective ESP clients to ensure their success.

The Email Deliverability Services are available as three packages designed to optimize the email marketing experience as it relates to the Lead Management Automation platform. Premium packages include reputation management, a best practices guide, blacklist alerts and a dedicated IP address among other features.

Lead Liaison believes the integration of email marketing managed services with the existing platform will allow the company to leverage its automated marketing products by increasing delivery accuracy. It also creates closer relationships with clients, which is unique in the marketing automation industry as most companies redirect integration and managed services to third parties.

For more information about the email deliverability services, contact Lead Liaison at 888-895-3237 or sales(at)leadliaison(dot)com.

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Lead Liaison is an application development company that designs, develops, and sells cloud-based marketing and sales automation software. The company markets to small and medium-sized businesses worldwide, and focuses on creating the broadest and most user-friendly revenue generation software platform. Applications cover all phases of lead management automation including sales prospecting, lead generation, and marketing automation functions that directly influence revenue generation. It’s innovative and robust lead management platform combines unparalleled sales prospecting, lead capture, real-time lead tracking, lead qualification, lead distribution, database segmentation, lead nurturing and ROI reporting. The Software as a Service (SaaS) model delivers an effective user experience and integrated cloud computing capabilities.

Media Contacts:
Alex Brown
VP Corporate Communications
abrown(at)leadliaison(dot)com
888.89.53237 (LEADS)

Lead Liaison

Why Your Sales Pipeline Needs Marketing Automation

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Why Your Sales Pipeline Needs Marketing AutomationHave you thought about why your sales pipeline needs marketing automation? We came across an old post the other day that got us talking about marketing automation and the sales lead pipeline. One of Lead Liaison Revenue Performance Specialists commented that B2B lead management has been completely changed because of marketing automation. How, you ask?

1. Redefines Early Pipeline Stages

In the past, a B2B sales pipeline has typically included four primary stages: Inquiry, Lead, Opportunity, and Customer. Thanks to marketing automation sales managers can have a more well-defined view of activity leading up to a sales close. There are four newly recognized phases in today’s sales lead pipeline:  Prospecting, Awareness, Qualification, and Nurturing. These new stages have become recognized as important contributors to the sales cycle.

2. Provides Lead Scoring

B2B marketing automation provides measurements that score leads as they become more familiar with your solutions and company. The commonly quoted industry standard of 80% of first contact B2B leads are not ready to buy means that leads require deeper connections through consistent, progressively-staged messaging. During the lead nurturing process leads can be digitally scored  for sales-readiness within an MA system, which allows salespeople to focus on the hottest leads.

3. Gives Sales Agents Better Information

Sales agents have a greater understanding of sales prospects before they make contact because of the data collected through marketing automation. For example, activities such as webinar attendance and infographic views can be captured in a MA system and reveal how informed a lead is about your products. A savvy sales agent can incorporate that information into her sales approach with that lead. Often B2B prospects must be educated about business solutions. Moving leads through a sales pipeline using a marketing automation system also provides a focused product education process. Automated messaging helps lessen the educational responsibility for your salespeople.

4. Gets Marketers More Involved in the Game

In the past, marketers have had little accountability when it came to moving a prospect to a customer. With marketing automation, marketers now have more “skin in the game” when it comes to moving leads through the sales pipeline. The newly-added sales pipeline stages we mentioned earlier are, for the most part, marketing-related. Prospecting, creating awareness, and lead nurturing rely on digital messaging, social media and search engine strategies, and other marketing-related activities. And now management can see how effective digital marketing campaigns are at bringing in qualified leads through the use of an automated marketing system.

5. Provides Consistent Message Scheduling

Marketing automation uses staged release mechanisms to contact leads on a regular basis. Marketing campaigns used to rely on a lot of leg work to distribute messages; with MA that is no longer the case. From emails to blog posts to articles to press releases, digital marketing assets can be deployed at scheduled intervals using a streamlined process provided by a marketing automation system.

6. Allows Managers to Manage Better

With the incredible level of analytics an automated marketing system provides, marketing and sales directors can now analyze critical details about marketing activities. From page views to click-throughs, MA systems provide data and information that can be used to either improve good marketing campaigns or scrap ineffective ones. Some marketing automation systems require a sizeable investment and may not be appropriate for every company, but those that invest in a marketing automation system to manage their sales lead pipeline find their marketing and sales effectiveness improves. To learn more about how marketing automation can help your company contact a Lead Liaison representative.

Lead Liaison

Five Ways Marketing Automation is Good for Your Company

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Five Ways Marketing Automation is Good for Your CompanyMarketing automation is good for your company. In the world of marketing, automation makes sense. Why? For two reasons: 1) automation provides better tracking and lead management for digital marketing campaigns; and 2) automation provides marketing and sales alignment, which allows both functional silos to operate more efficiently and effectively.

Lean B2B companies with smaller sales and marketing departments can automate functions that, in the past, have required hours of work. Mid-size companies can be more agile with messaging that reacts to market sentiment. Large companies can maintain a competitive edge through targeted, sustained campaigns that strengthen brand loyalty and grow top line revenues.

Marketing automation (MA) is used to streamline workflow and provide measurement for marketing activities in order to increase operational efficiency and accelerate revenue growth. How does MA help small to large companies improve their marketing effectiveness? There are five benefits that marketing automation provides:

Nurture Relationships

Marketing  industry analysts claim that 20% of leads that connect with your brand are not sales-ready at the point of first contact. Therefore, a relationship must be built to move a suspect lead to a customer. In fact, when done properly, lead nurturing can yield nearly 50% more sales-qualified leads from marketing campaigns. Marketing automation allows marketers to develop, execute, and monitor extended campaigns that move leads through buying stages.

Retain/Strengthen Existing Relationships

Marketing automation provides a way to encourage brand loyalty through scheduled messaging to customers. Companies that incorporate MA have significantly improved their customer retention rate versus those that don’t, according to industry leaders. Data collected through digital engagements can be analyzed and leveraged towards stronger relationships. In addition, MA provides a structured approach to up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

Segment Market Participants

Companies are able to segment leads by various criteria through the use of marketing automation. For instance, groups can be easily organized by geography, demographics, online behavior, and other attributes. Marketers can increase messaging effectiveness by tailoring campaigns that capitalize on stored data.

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Marketing automation is the best way to blend marketing and sales activities for greater efficiency and effectiveness. MA helps each silo through coordinated messaging, lead scoring, and pipeline management functions. Companies can more readily identify hot leads through a combination of lead nurturing and lead scoring. And systems that integrate with customer relationship management (CRM) platforms provide a seamless transition for leads that have moved from marketing-qualified to sales-qualified status.

Measure ROI

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of marketing automation is the ability for management to measure return on investment in both sales and marketing functions. Executives can analyze response rates,  social media impacts, and other metrics with a few clicks. For example, our Lead Management Automation™ platform provides details about lead sources, campaign types, and most active lead territories, to name a few.

The bottom line is that marketing automation solutions like those developed by Lead Liaison provide companies a streamlined approach to marketing activities and builds alignment between sales and marketing. Business executives can save time and money, measure and optimize marketing investments, and drive revenue growth faster through a robust marketing automation platform.

Please share how your company reaps the benefits of marketing automation. To find out how Lead Liaison can strengthen and improve your marketing process, contact us today!

Lead Liaison

How to Get the Most from Marketing Automation

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How to Get the Most from Marketing AutomationRecently, there have been some marketing specialists that have besmirched the reputation of marketing automation (MA). They have said marketing automation does not work or that MA is not cost-effective. But we are here to tell you that evidence shows B2B marketing automation can make many companies more effective in their marketing practices. The key to making an MA system work effectively is the strategy that is developed before the system is deployed. Here are a few ideas to consider when you’re developing an automated B2B marketing strategy to get the most from marketing automation.

Keep email lists up to date

B2B marketing automation relies heavily on email transmissions. Unfortunately, email addresses often change and job tenure is not as extended as it used to be. Therefore, it’s critical to maintain a current email database with active accounts. Email records decay at a rate of 25% per year so stay on top of your email list: plan to review database records annually and review deliverability reports monthly or quarterly.

Provide timely information

According to a Gartner Research “customers will manage 85% of their relationship with (an) enterprise without interacting with a human.” This means that automated marketing messages had better be relevant and timely. Inbound marketing relies on connecting digitally with leads at the right time, but it’s just as important that auto-response messages connect mentally when prospects are searching for solutions.

Match messaging to lead source

Prospects can connect with your brand from a number of sources. Make sure that the automated messages that follow a lead’s action support the lead source that “sent” the lead. For instance, a lead that connects with you through a Facebook share should receive a message that references the share link that was used to find your brand. This way you recognize your prospects as unique and provide personalized messaging.

Set a reasonable pace for message delivery

With so much email – both wanted and unwanted – filling up mailboxes, it’s a challenge to grab attention and generate enough interest to get read. To get opened you must approach your leads cautiously but consistently. Avoid sending messages too frequently, you may become an irritant. Send messages too infrequently and you risk losing a customer to another more timely message. There is no magical formula for setting delivery schedules but a good rule of thumb is to schedule messages for delivery between three and seven days from the previous contact event.

Tailor messaging to lead behaviors

Don’t simply send a broad message to market segments, acknowledge the path that has brought a prospect to your brand by addressing previous online activities. You can’t rely on your messaging to be simply relevant to your markets’ objectives (i.e. seeking a solution); messages should also remind leads of the digital journey they have taken to get to your brand. Blog reads, website visits, purchase history, and search activity should all be considered when designing automated marketing messages.

Change with customer evolution

Automated marketing should not remain static. Ten years ago there was no Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. The channels that B2B buyers use to find solutions will likely change over the next 10 years. B2B prospects use search engines 93% of the time to find solutions and 37% post questions on social networking sites for information. Your automated marketing strategy should be flexible in order to adapt to changing digital marketing channels.

Don’t rely on email alone

Marketing automation systems are evolving. Use automated article delivery or set landing pages to deliver messaging. In the era of full mailboxes, consider other assets to drive lead engagement.

Automated marketing practices are relatively new, and some claim that the verdict is still out on their efficacy. However, the Lead Liaison sales team has found that customers have seen improved response rates and higher conversion rates through the use of our automated marketing solutions. This means more revenue is being generated. The key takeaway here is that, in order for your marketing automation system to be effective, your automated marketing strategy should be solid. To find out more about setting up an effective marketing automation strategy, talk with one of our knowledgeable Lead Liaison sales agents today!

Lead Liaison

Why Marketing Automation Can Produce More Sales-Ready Leads

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Why-Marketing-Automation-Can-Produce-More-Sales-Ready-LeadsMarketing automation can produce more sales-ready leads for your business. Not every online lead is ready to make a decision. Many online shoppers are still deciding whether or not they even need a product or service. They have not begun the process of deciding where they will make their purchase and they have no desire to speak to a salesperson until they are ready.

Marketing automation is designed for these types of leads. It produces more sales-ready leads by first identifying leads that are actively demonstrating interest by researching information online. Marketing automation then tracks each of these lead’s online behavior and rates their activity against the pre-purchase behavior of existing customers.

Lead Profiling and Scoring

By comparing potential leads to the typical buying patterns of current customers, marketing can prioritize leads based on their likelihood of conversion. They can also encourage leads to volunteer their demographic information using registration forms for newsletters, white papers, or tutorials. Leads that are willing to fill out online surveys are given higher priority, since it demonstrates a more sincere interest in a product or survey.

Marketing automation is designed to gather as much information on a lead as possible to determine BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, & Time). Can they afford to make a purchase? Do they have the authority to make a purchase? Do they need to make a purchase? Are they ready to purchase? The answer to all four questions should be yes before the lead is given to the sales department.

Use Quality Content to Nurture Leads

If the lead is not sales-ready, the marketing automation program will build on their interest with informative content that confirms a need for a product or service. For example, if a lead has clicked on a page that discusses general information about the online accounting software program that the site offers, lead nurturing can be programmed to email a helpful article on how accounting software programs can save a business time and money.

If a lead is further along in their buying process, the nurturing content can be designed to make them feel more confident about their purchase. Using the previous example, it could be an article on how technology has made it safer and easier to manage your finances online. This aspect of the marketing automation process will produce more sales-ready leads by nurturing leads based on their individual needs.

Customization based on Lead Segments

To make the content customization process more efficient, leads are broken down into lead segments based on similar profiles and score. Marketing automation generates an abundance of leads and it is too difficult to personalize content for every single lead. By grouping leads together, content can be created for each type of lead.

The marketing automation process can produce more sales-ready leads by profiling, scoring, segmenting, and nurturing each lead throughout their buying process. Only leads with the highest scores are given to sales, so valuable time is never wasted on leads that are not ready to buy.