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YOU HAD ME AT HELLO!

Best Practices in Lead Qualification for Inbound Marketers

Michael Freeman

Head of Demand Generation, ShoreTel

Fan of hallway commutes and beautiful views 110% YoY increase in qualified inbound leads last year Continued strong growth this year

@spanishgringo

Michael Freeman

1  Who’s on first?

2  The call

3  Measuring performance

AGENDA

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“Lead qualification is the bridge between marketing and sales”

– Anonymous

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First, the fine print

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These are my recommendations…. Your mileage may vary depending on many factors

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These are my recommendations…. Your mileage may vary depending on many factors

Take what you can and adapt it as needed (What would MacGyver do?)

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As good marketers, we like to tinker with things and make them better

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1 Who’s on first?

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1  Whose line is it anyway?

2  Who you gonna call?

3  To qualify or disqualify, that is the question

Who’s on first?

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It’s not settled where lead qualification should reside

Who’s line is it anyway?

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For many companies, lead qualifications sits in Sales (e.g. BDRs at HubSpot)

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For others, lead qualification sits in Marketing (e.g. MDRs at ShoreTel)

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Most qualifiers reside in sales

Source: The Bridge Group (they’re good at what they do)

Where does the group report?

Sales is 3x more likely than Marketing to own qualification

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“Inbound-focused” qualifiers are more equally split by dept

Source: The Bridge Group

We’re at Inbound after all, right?

% Reporting to Sales by Focus

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•  Role Is clearly defined

•  Has agreed upon metrics

•  Pipeline quota, not a sales quota

•  NOT responsible for closing deals

Whose line is it anyway?

Demand Generation Lead Qualification

Pipeline Management

& Closing

leads qualified leads

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converting

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•  Focus on building pipeline

–  Better MQL à SQO conversion rates

–  Less leakage

•  More economical than sales reps

•  Proving grounds for future sales reps (in most cases it’s up or out)

•  Easier to align with marketing processes and data management

Why have a dedicated qualification rep?

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OK, but which of these awesome leads do you call?

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•  Lead scoring is the best route to prioritizing qualification •  Even if you can get to everyone, scoring prioritizes who is called 1st, 2nd, etc…

•  I recommend you look at these resources

–  Jessica Meher’s presentation from Inbound 2013

–  HubSpot User Guide - How to use Custom Lead Scoring

–  Infer’s Guide on Predicative Lead Scoring

Who you gonna call?

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Insane Clown Posse

Ideal Customer Profile The characteristics (demographic, firmographic, psychographic, and situational) that identify the “best fit” for potential customers

If you have clear personas mapped to performance data you’re ready

Start with your ICP

More articles on developing ICPs

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–  You can always use something to score or prioritize leads •  Take advantage of HubSpot’s lead scoring tools

(Bonus Tip: Make sure HubSpot Score is mapped to SFDC Lead Object)

•  Consider Big Data sources to enhance your scoring

Who you gonna call?

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Who you gonna call? Example of lead view using lead score

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Who you gonna call? Example of lead view using lead score, source & dates

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Disqualifying not Qualifying

It’s kind of like, uh, science

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–  Lead flow and pipeline management is all about efficiency

•  Don’t waste anyone’s time

•  Focus where there’s value (i.e. potential sales)

–  So, you really are trying to disqualify leads

–  Only those that you can’t disqualify continue on the journey

–  Your threshold will depend on lead flow and available resources

To qualify or disqualify, that is the question

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Just because you pass judgment on the quality of the lead, you don’t have the right to act like this guy

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2 The call

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–  How did they find you?

–  What content have they consumed?

–  What pushed them over the edge to become a lead (worth

calling)?

–  What does the prospect’s company do and what is their

business model?

–  Are their any signals around their likely pain points?

Prepping the call

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–  HubSpot Lead Intelligence is your friend

Prepping the call

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Take call prep to 11

Look at the record in HS

Read the HubSpot guide to lead intelligence

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You’ve prepared and are ready to engage, but don’t go in with guns a blazing

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–  Sets the proper expectations

–  Changes the context from a pitch to a consultation

–  The goal is moving further down the funnel, not closing

Instead, start with the upfront contract

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1. Welcome and thank

2.  Reassure them

3.   Limit the scope

4.  Set next-steps

5.  Get consent

The upfront contract

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Listen very carefully to your prospect

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–  HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT US?

–  WHY ARE YOU CONSIDERING [XYZ] NOW (IMPENDING EVENT)?

–  HOW WOULD [XYZ] CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR ORG’S SUCCESS?

–  How will you decide which [XYZ] is right for you?

–  When do you need a new [xyz] solution?

–  TOTAL # OF USERS/EMPLOYEES IN THE COMPANY?

–  Who started the search for [xyz]?

–  What is your role in the evaluation process?

–  HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT US?

–  WHY ARE YOU CONSIDERING [XYZ] NOW (IMPENDING EVENT)?

–  HOW WOULD [XYZ] CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR ORG’S SUCCESS?

–  How will you decide which [XYZ] is right for you?

–  When do you need a new [xyz] solution?

–  TOTAL # OF USERS/EMPLOYEES IN THE COMPANY?

–  Who started the search for [xyz]?

–  What is your role in the evaluation process?

Ask, listen and inspect

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–  Do their answers fit your ICP?

–  Can you find any red flags? (have 1-3 questions to identify red flags)

–  Use their answers to frame future conversations

–  TAKE NOTES!!! (use a template)

Ask, listen and inspect

That’s not a lake!

Looks can be deceiving

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OK, time to clean up Tie up loose ends, and move on to the next prospect

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–  Do you have any follow-up to do’s or requests for info?

•  Are you setting up the prospect and sales rep for success?

•  Will you provide that information or will the sales rep?

–  Does the prospect know what to expect next & When?

–  Are the notes complete and available for the Sales Rep?

–  Was the record updated correctly in the CRM?

–  OK, on to the next call…

The cleanup

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–  If the lead is not a fit, document it with a picklist

–  Have a reasonable list of reason codes •  Enough detail to provide meaning

•  Small enough that it is manageable and not splitting hairs

•  We have ~ 10 (e.g. missing feature, no budget, pricing, unresponsive, etc..)

–  Is it not now (f/u or nurture) or not ever (purge)?

Clean up the bad leads too…

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1  Prepping the call

2  The upfront contract

3  Ask, listen and inspect

4  The cleanup

The call

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3 Measuring performance

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1  Know your waterfall

2  The workday profile

3  Find and share successful behaviors

Measuring performance

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•  Understand your baseline for each transition

•  Compare with benchmarks

Know your waterfall Inquiries MQLs SALs SQLs Closed Won

21% 50% 38% 21%

Source: Sirius Decisions & Infer

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•  For us, lead qualifiers live by these 2 metrics

•  1st: MQL ! SAL conversion rate

•  2nd: Inquiry ! MQL conversion rate

Focus on the right metric(s) Inquiries MQLs SALs SQLs Closed Won

21% 50% 38% 21%

Source: Sirius Decisions & Infer

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–  Find the optimal # of activities per day

–  Estimate staffing requirements

–  X hours per day / time per activity = # of activities per day e.g. 10 min per call ~ 40-45 calls & emails per day

–  Benchmark reps to compare:

•  Activities per day

•  Conversion rates

The workday profile

Read these articles: Marketing math & Team sizing

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•  How does call length improve quality?

•  Listen to calls to identify good & bad technique

•  Improve Harry’s throughput?

•  Improve Ron’s quality filter

Find and share successful behaviors

Rep Harry Ron Calls 260 300

Leads Touched 240 290

MQLs 68 100

SALs 59 65

Lead à MQL 28% 34%

MQL à SAL 87% 65%

Cost per SAL $203 $223

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–  Share with your reps

–  Discuss opp quality with Sales

–  Discuss lead quality with Demand Generation

–  Study why leads don’t convert

Find & share successful behaviors

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“We build too many walls and not enough bridges.” – Isaac Newton

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THANK YOU

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QUESTIONS ?

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1  The Shining – Warner Bros.

2  Back to the Future – Universal Pictures

3  Wineglass Marketing

4  Glengarry Glen Ross – New Line Cinema

5  Despicable Me 2 – Universal Pictures

6  Game of Thrones, Fire and Blood (S1E10 for those checking…) - HBO

7  Swingers – Miramax Films

8  This is Spinal Tap - MGM

9  Commando – Fox

10  Radio Array – Wikipedia

11  Mirage – Wikipedia

12  Pulp Fiction – Miramax

13  Yahoo! Sports

14  Drum Circle – Wikipedia

15  Rickety – Wikepedia

16  The Millau Viaduct Bridge, France - stylishandtrendy.com

Photo credits