Lead Development Quality: It’s Not the Size

of The List that Counts, It’s the Revenue it Generates

by Clayton Blaylock

 

A lead list can be a very valuable asset.  In the marketing world, a big list can mean respect, credibility, job security, power, fortune and fame. But let’s be realistic, the way to measure the quality of a list is not by its size, but more importantly, by the revenue it generates.

 

Sales lead generation in today’s business environment is a complex undertaking.  There are dozens of options to choose from, from snail mail to social media. It is important to realize that some methods work better than others for the type of prospect you are trying to attract. For example, the primary objective of most Pay-per-Click B2B lead generation efforts is to get the lead to opt-in to your list. Although you may have some control defining key words and geography, for the most part you get who clicks whether the lead fits your profile or not. On the other hand, a white paper can attract a more targeted contact and add credibility at the same time.

 

How to Develop a List That Converts Sales Leads to Revenue Producing Clients

 

Lead Generation Requirements

The first task is to develop the overall Lead Generation Requirements that are right for your business. This is much more than a technical exercise.  The process will require detailed answers to the following questions:

 

·        What are the specific goals of the Lead Generation Program?

·        How many leads do you need to fill the pipeline?

·        What budget is available?  What budget is needed?

·        Who in the prospective organization do we want to target?

·        What geography do we want to target?

·        How will we find our target lead profile?

·        How do we capture the attention of the target audience?

·        How do we increase the opt-in ratio?

 

Lead Generation Deployment Strategy

With answers to the questions above, it’s time to design your lead generation deployment strategy by choosing the specific marketing programs that will help you accomplish your goals. Marketing would be much easier if you had unlimited resources and budget. But if your company is like most, this is simply not the case, particularly in the current business environment. Your deployment strategy needs to be designed to maximize the results for the minimum investment.

 

Focusing all your energy on one method of lead generation is generally not an optimum strategy. This may limit the overall effectiveness of your marketing program. A multi-faceted approach tends to produce more buzz in the marketplace and therefore can improve the overall results.

 

There are dozens of ways to generate sales leads. In the table below we listed 16 of the most effective marketing mediums that you can use to assemble your deployment strategy. Also included is the authors experience in the best application of each as well as its effectiveness in a B2B environment.

 

Lead Generation Mediums	Best Application of Medium	B2B Effectiveness
Letter	Good where e-mail address is not available, Good Multi media approach	Medium
Postcard	Good where e-mail address is not available, Good Multi media approach	Medium
E-Mail	Alternative to direct mail,  but effectiveness limited	Medium
Newsletter	Not great lead generator - Better Nurturing tool	Low
Search Engines/Key Word Search/Meta Tags	Good, Technical expertise required and can be expensive	Medium
Pay Per Click	Good, easy to execute but can be expensive	Medium
Report	Good bonus to encourage Opt-in to list	High
Press Release	Inexpensive way to capture traffic and buzz	High
Trade Magazine Ads	Good to attract target market traffic	High
White Paper	Very good to attract prospects with specific interest, adds credibility	High
White Paper Hosting	Very good to attract prospects with specific interest, expands exposure	High
Case Studies	Very good to attract prospects with specific interest, adds credibility	High
Article	Very good to attract prospects with specific interest, adds credibility	Medium
Telemarketing	Good to compliment another medium	Low
Social Media	Good for creating buzz	Medium

                                   

 

Remember, the lead generation process is not complete until the lead Opts-In to your list. Capturing their attention is only half the battle. Your landing page and bonus offers must be compelling enough to complete the task.  Jon Miller of Marketo reports “as high as 200% improvements in conversion rates,” by optimizing the landing page.

 

In a B2B marketplace and specifically those environments with complex sales cycles, experience shows that it can take 7 touches or more to nurture the average lead to a sales ready state. Although Lead Nurturing and lead development are outside the scope of this article, the effectiveness of your lead generation deployment strategy will help shorten the follow-on lead development cycle.

 

Summary

Many marketers may boast about the size of their list. The way to measure the quality of a list is not by its size, but more importantly, by the revenue it generates. The first place to start to improve the revenue generation potential of the list is to develop a detailed lead generation plan. Next, design a lead generation strategy designed to attract the highest quality leads for your business.

 

Clayton Blaylock is the author of  Lead Development Formula, a self paced coaching program for learning how to harness the power of to the internet to attract and pre-sell B2b and B2C Leads.  For more information go to http://www.leaddevelopmentformula.com or e-mail cblaylock@revisionmarketing.com

 

(This article remains the intellectual property of Clayton Blaylock but may be reproduced with complete contact information intact.)

 

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