Lead Management: Approach & Roles Guidance

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Approach

• The goal of this document is to understand the roles and structure of a Lead Management team, including demand generation and lead development functions

• SBI recommends a phased approach• The staffing solution for launching phase I

should be determined based on the projected end state

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LDR Team Approach

• Hybrid Approaches– Single Lead Development Rep (LDR) role performs both demand

generation outbound activities and lead development nurturing• Unintentional Blending: Outbound efforts begin to help load balance demand

generation shortcomings and seasonality issues• Planned Blending: Budget to stand up an LDR team often comes from outdated

call center appointment setting (in-house or outsourced) and sales has expectations of some level of outbound. Also influenced by the need to drive field event attendance.

– Single Inside Sales Rep (ISR) role performs demand gen, lead development and the sales role• Common with ISR teams that have evolved with changes to buying process• Single role underperforms vs. specialized distinct roles

• Dedicated Approach – The Ideal Approach– The roles of the Lead Development Rep and Demand Generation Rep are

unique

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LDR Role Purpose

• Lead Development Representative (LDR)– Responsible for executing the Lead Development

process to transform prospects through to opportunity (Sales Ready Leads - SRLs)

– The main role is to educate and introduce new concepts --- not to sell

– In the purist sense, this role is dedicated 100% to nurturing prospects and does not perform outboard cold-calling

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LDR Comp Structure – Example

• Lead Development Reps – focus here is quality and conversion results.– Base salary: Varies significantly, 70-80% base – Variable target: $20k per LDR

• $X/Sales Ready Leads; paid monthly as we do today• $Y/SRL’s that become Opportunities; paid quarterly,

providing LDR is maintaining X% conversion rate from Prospect to SRL

– Quarterly accelerator: Additional $X per SRL once LDR is 100% of goal for the quarter

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LDR Role ComparisonIn-house• Pros

– Advantageous for building rapport due to enhanced knowledge of company LDRs

– Most cost effective long-term– Speed to Tune --- Quickly fine

tune and adjust process, techniques, nurture campaigns, etc.

• Cons– Short-term higher cost– Expanded management and

oversight required by marketing leadership

Outsource• Pros

– Speed to market– Lower cost to start-up– Lower risk – Expanded HR issues associated with employment vs.

outsource

• Cons– Lead Development is a strategic capability that should not be

outsourced (no different than outsourcing sales)– LDR team should be intertwined with marketing continuous

improvement of content & nurturing– Very difficult to build strong institutional knowledge– The training of the outsource firm requires a significant investment – Nurturing activities are often 1-inch deep and feel scripted– Lose valuable insights– Sales has confidence they can send a lead back for development

and receive it when it’s ready

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Assumptions of LDR Role

• Time– 60% lead nurturing – 20% managing sales ready leads with the

sales force– 10% admin time (reports, entering time,

expense reports)– 10% participate in coaching, team meetings

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Assumptions of LDR Role

• Time est. of individual activities– Engaged – 5 minutes per lead, one-time review –

Includes review of lead, assign nurture path, updates– Prospect – 30 minutes per lead, touched once a

week – Includes review, enter missing information from research, 1:1 nurturing, SFDC updates

– Sales Ready Lead – 2 hours total to complete notes into the record, tie additional contacts together, communicate with sales and follow-up questions from sales

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DGR Role Purpose

• Demand Generation Representative (DGR)– Responsible for generating inquiries into the top of

the funnel through the use of 1:1 outbound efforts• Efforts include outbound calls, email, LinkedIn mail, social

media contacts, etc.

– The main role is to generate new inquiries into the top of the funnel through attendance to a webinar, agree to accept an offer (white paper), or set appointments

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DGR Role Comparisons

In-house• Pros

– Most cost effective long-term if there is a regular cadence

• Cons– Short-term higher cost, and often long-

term as well– Difficult to load balance throughout the

year– Expanded management and oversight

required by marketing leadership

Outsource• Pros

– Flexible to throttle up/down– Speed to market– Lower cost to start-up– Lower risk – Expanded HR issues

associated with employment vs. outsource

• Cons– The training of the outsource firm requires

a significant investment – Outbound activities are often 1-inch deep

and feel scripted

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DGR Role – Recovering Sales Force Prospecting Time

• Recover Legacy Prospecting Time from Sales Force– For net new logo acquisition, the expensive sales

force prospecting time should be recovered to fund the DGR capability --- the goal should be to drive sales prospecting for new logos down to zero --- with the exception of account development, opportunistic prospecting and seeking referrals

– The recovered sales time can be quantified through a detailed time study survey performed pre & post

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DGR Role – Additional Notes

• Concept of In-house ‘early validation’ Capability – While it’s recommended that the peak DGR effort be outsourced,

a company should first leverage a small in-house DGR team to provide an ‘early validation’ capability. The concept is that a outbound calling DGR can be used to test messaging and provide real time feedback to marketing on audience reaction.

• Outsourcing DGR Capability– The caution in outsourcing is that whatever metric is selected for

success ($ payment) will receive a high degree of focus by the firm --- the metric selected needs to be thought through closely.

– SBI can help with best practices to guide outsourcing this function

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Management options

• Option 1 – LDR Supervisor (Player/Coach)– Hybrid role

• Performs function of LDR (Player)• Provides leadership (Coach)

– Ideal for starting an LDR team with minimum overhead• Option 2 – LDR Manager

– Dedicated role to manage and support the LDRs– As the team grows, supported by supervisors

• Option 3 – No manager– Short-term approach where the LDR’s report directly to a

marketing leader

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Option 1 – LDR Supervisor

LDR Supervisor• Time breakout

– 30% LDR role as an individual contributor

– 40% 1-to-1 LDR coaching– 20% LDR observation (Listen in,

review emails, ‘ride along’)– 10% reporting

Pros/Cons• Pros

– Low cost of entry– Proving ground for future

manager– Role provides a career path for

LDR’s• Cons

– Administrative and reporting burdens shift to marketing leadership

– Thought leadership and strategy must be driven by marketing leadership

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Option 2 – LDR Manager

LDR Manager• Time breakout

– 50% 1-to-1 LDR coaching– 20% LDR observation (Listen in,

review emails, ‘ride along’)– 10% consume thought leadership

(webinars, conf, blogs)– 10% administrative (HR, hiring,

reviews, internal meetings, planning)– 10% reporting

Pros/Cons• Pros

– Proactive thought leadership, administrative and reporting

– Experienced proactive leadership reduces risk

• Cons– Higher start-up cost– Within marketing, the career

path is not obvious

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LDR Manager Comp Structure – Example

• Lead Development Manager – focus here is quality and sharing in sales results.– Base salary: $80k base

• Proxy used are inside sales/outbound call center managers, lowest median $73k and highest $82k

– Variable target: $40k – 40% SRLs, 40% revenue conversion, 20% team effectiveness• SRLs: X quantity target for SRLs; $5k/quarter; % attainment

reaching • Revenue conversion: $X Bonus amount for X quantity of closed

deals from Sales Ready Leads• Team effectiveness: $X Bonus paid on reaching 70% of ramped

LDR’s hitting quarterly quota

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Option 3 – No Supervisor/Manager

No Manager/Supervisor• Time breakout

– N/A

Pros/Cons• Pros

– Low cost of start-up– Marketing leadership are very

close to execution– Ability to leverage SBI coaching

(in scope) to bridge gap• Cons

– Absorbs marketing leader time and attention

– Not duplicatable

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SBI Supervisor/Manager Ramp

• Hiring and accountability– Provide job description, scorecard, and screening support– Interviewing final candidates– Guidelines on variable compensation

• Training – LDR training (in scope)– Observation & coaching

• Accountability– Scorecard utilization– Disciplinary action

• Leadership principles and thought leadership• Ongoing mentor/coaching

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