8 Marketing Reasons Why Most Companies Generate Poor Quality Leads

There are 8 common marketing problems shared by most companies and whilst not every company experiences all the problems at the same time, it is fair to assume that we have all encountered these issues in the past.

Below is an abridged version of Jonathan Calver’s fine White Paper on Marketing Efficiencies. If you would like to download the paper Click here

Problem 1: Insufficient focus on Target Companies

Target companies are organisations you should be doing business with. They are absolutely not the largest, most prestigious companies, nor are they every organisation that expresses an interest in your products. They are those companies which you can sell to with the minimum of effort and the maximum of profit. Examine your current customers. Which customers ‘suit’ your organisation the best? Who do you deliver great service and products to efficiently?

By identifying those organisations that ‘fit’ your company best you can start to develop an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

Problem 2: Reliance on Mass Marketing Techniques

Mass marketing works OK for simple, FMCG products. Unfortunately some B-2-B organisations use similar methods to generate leads for their sales teams.

If anyone in your marketing department uses the phrase: ‘email blast’ or ‘eshot’ then shoot them now: they are seriously damaging your company, your departments reputation and your prospects. You need to develop multi-phase communications. Dialogues that recognise where buying teams are in the purchasing process and communicate accordingly.

Problem 3: Low Quality Marketing Collateral

Are you willing to be judged by the quality of your White Papers, Case Studies and Market Communications? Have you got sufficient material to develop a sensible business argument?

Many organisations have a good ‘White Paper’ in them but one is not enough. And in today’s multi-channel fast moving communication stream you need to invest in regular, good quality pieces. If you don’t, you will lose your audience.

Problem 4: Poor Response Rates

If you solve the first three issues, your response rates will improve. Do not be fooled into thinking that ‘industry average’ rates are good. They are not. If you are not regularly hitting open rates above 25% and read rates (click through) above 30% then you are failing.

Response rates improve dramatically with good quality materials targeted at the right individuals.

Problem 5: Loose Lead Qualification

Does the sales team fight over the leads you pass to them or are they rarely followed up? In an effort to ‘hit the numbers’ marketing teams will put anyone who has opened an email, registered on the website or downloaded a paper into the ‘to call list’.

The result is an increasingly disillusioned sales team and genuine opportunities being ‘overlooked’ in the noise.

Problem 6: Lack of Marketing Consistency

Marketing thrives on momentum. Communicate your value propositions regularly and you will generate a consistent flow of well qualified leads. Many companies take a ‘campaign approach’ this has a ‘stop-start’ effect that creates great surges of leads followed by periods of quiet.

Most companies are unable to manage in the ‘rush’ and are overstaffed when it goes quiet.

Problem 7: Inadequate Marketing Measurement

Most organisations measure ROI based upon ‘leads generated’. However, as most leads are poorly defined, the information obtained is next to useless. measuring website visits gives you nice graphs and open rates provide a talking point. But this is the equivalent of measuring the success of a bridge building project by looking at the size of the trenches dug. OK the foundations may look nice but are you building a bridge?

Waterfall Rates are a much more effective measure if you would like to know more about these Click Here.

Problem 8: Insufficient Marketing Resources or Know-How

Many Business to Business organisations ‘scrimp’ on marketing. Companies are regularly ‘technology led’ or ‘sales led’, they are very rarely ‘marketing led’. But the sad fact for technology companies is that marketing matters: you may be able to do very clever things with software or engineering. But if there is not a market for your product, you will lose money.

For most, not investing in marketing is a false economy. For the smaller concern there are plenty of organisations and consultants who will deliver excellent programmes and drive your sales.

You may agree or disagree with the points raised, Please feel free to comment.

For further reading, the full white paper, written by Jonathan Calver can be downloaded here.

Posted: May 19th, 2010 / 2 Comments /

2 Comments to 8 Marketing Reasons Why Most Companies Generate Poor Quality Leads

Creating good quality marketing materials is difficult but achievable in the short term. But how do you maintain momentum and quality for the long haul?

Biggles Dunlop on May 20th, 2010

The first point, Insufficient focus on Target Companies, particularly resonates with me. I firmly believe that major account allocation is 90% Sales whim, with very little scientific justification for the selection of the selection of target companies. I think there is a real opportunity to take an analytics driven approach to account selection – is anybody up for giving it a go?!

Simon Daniels on May 21st, 2010