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Demand Generation vs. Lead Nurturing: Understand the Difference to Optimize Your Sales & Marketing Funnel
Brian Carroll, Executive Director, MECLABS
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Brian Carroll Executive Director, MECLABS

Brian Carroll is Executive Director of Applied Research at MECLABS. Brian is also co-founder of InTouch (now part of the MECLABS Leads Group), a B2B marketing firm and one of the first companies to provide lead generation services for the complex sale. Author of the popular book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale (McGraw-Hill), Carroll is a leading expert in lead generation and he's profiled and regularly quoted in numerous publications. Brian also speaks to 20,000 people a year on improving sales effectiveness and lead generation strategies. Hes been profiled and regularly quoted in numerous publications such as BtoB Magazine, Selling Power, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Target Marketing, Inc. magazine, Marketing News, DM News, MarketingProfs, MarketingSherpa, Software CEO and CMO Magazine.

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More than 10 years of research Over 1 billion emails 1,300 major experiments 10,000 sales-paths tested Hundreds of publications and conferences 5 million phone calls 500,000 conversations

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MECLABS Sciences Group

Primary Research

Applied Research

Conversion Group

Leads Group

Technology Group

Training Group

Strategy Group

Agency Group

We optimize the financial performance of the sales and marketing funnel

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 Lead Generation vs. Lead Nurturing The Value of Nurturing in Marketing Today The Five Steps to Designing a Lead Nurturing Program

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Lead Generation vs. Lead Nurturing

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Lead nurturing IS Providing valuable, relevant and timely content to your audience Segmenting your audience to deliver the most relevant content to various segments Calling leads to notify them of a valuable article, or having another valid business reason to make the call

Lead nurturing IS NOT Continually sending promotions to your audience Sending one monthly newsletter out to an entire database, without any regard to segmentation Calling leads once a month to touch base and see if they are ready to buy

Offering content of value to your audience, Offering only self-promotional whether its self-promotional or not whitepapers or product brochures Intending to encourage a purchase of Providing valuable content and communications to your audience, whether your product or service with every interaction or not they ever buy from you

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The Value of Nurturing in Marketing Today

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 80% of marketing leads wind up lost, ignored or discarded 80% of B2B marketers pass raw leads to sales Long-term leads (future opportunities), often ignored by

salespeople, represent 77% of potential sales

73% of companies have no process for re-engaging and

nurturing leads after sales

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 Nurturing can be used with:

Your customers Attached to a lead program Your sales contacts Technical support

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 Be the Trusted Advisor

They know you They have a consistent dialogue with you You are credible They believe you can help them They like you and want to work with you

How you sell me is how you will serve me.

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How Happy are Your Sales People with Marketing Generated Leads? (Be honest. How does sales perceive the leads marketing produces?) 5 = Really happy (Youre doing the selling for me! Great work!) 4 = Happy (These leads help me sell most of the time) 3 = Neutral (About half the leads I get work out.) 2 = Somewhat engaged (Ill get to them if I have nothing
else better to do.)

1 = Disengaged (Leads, what leads? Marketing gives us

leads?)

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Lead Generation: Teleprospecting, Events, Email Campaigns, Podcasts, Website etc.

Qualify Inquiries (Level 1)

Not a Fit

Marketing Pipeline

Nurture (Level 2)

Sales-Ready Leads Huddles Closed Loop Feedback & Reporting

Return Prospects For Reengagement

CRM

Distribute & Handoff Opportunities

Sales Generated Leads Existing Clients

Sales Pipeline
Customers
Source: Lead Generation for the Complex Sale (McGraw-Hill 2006) Page 161
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Measure ROI

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Five Steps to Designing a Lead Nurturing Program

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A relevant, consistent conversation with viable potential customers, regardless of their timing to buy.

Understand Audience

Messaging Strategy

Organize Content

Execute Tracks

Track Results & Engagement

Progressive Lead Movement Across Buying Stages

Touch Track Follow up

Touch Track Follow up

Touch Track Follow up

Touch Track Follow up

Nurturing Execution
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STEP 1: Understand and capture your target audience

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Build your nurturing database start with who you know

Sales team Past customers Past event attendees
Key accounts Business cards Past sales pipeline Leads not touched 90+ days

Nurturing list sources

Inbound inquiries Newsletter subscriptions Direct mail lists Teleprospecting lists

Web Phone Email

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STEP 1: Understand and capture your target audience STEP 2: Develop your messaging strategy

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 How did the conversation start (lead source)? What is their functional role? Industry are they in? What are their anticipated needs? What are their likely priorities and challenges?

Interview your sales team about what they are hearing

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Nurture organizations, not just people

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Who are you speaking to?

Connect with your personas:

Project Leader

Executive Sponsor

CIO, Contact Center, Field Service Center

Stakeholders

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Nurture organizations, not just people

Multi-track lead nurturing timeline
Client Plan for Q1 Audience 3 Contacts Deep
CIO Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 IT Director Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Q1 Free executive report via direct mail with follow-up call Invitation to executive roundtable via e-mail with follow-up call Link to relevant Podcast via e-mail with follow-up voicemail Q1 3rd party article via e-mail and voice mail 3rd party article via e-mail with follow-up Link to relevant webinar via e-mail with follow-up call

IT Manager Q1 Month 1 Relevant white paper via e-mail with voice mail Month 2 Direct mail piece Month 3 Invitation to webcast via e-mail with follow-up call

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STEP 1: Understand and capture your target audience STEP 2: Develop your messaging strategy STEP 3: Build your lead nurturing content library

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 Gather, filter relevant content based on message mapping

Third-party articles, relevant topics, research reports Vendor-agnostic podcasts, webinars, blogs and case studies position sales team as trusted advisors Company-specific white papers, success stories, webcasts
Lessons:

Reuse available content before creating new content Filter third-party content for a nurturing library of free sources google.com/alerts
Resource: "Thought Leadership for Lead Nurturing" (content) http://blog.startwithalead.com/weblog/2005/06/using_thought_l.html

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STEP 1: Understand and capture your target audience STEP 2: Develop your messaging strategy STEP 3: Build your lead nurturing content library STEP 4: Execute multimodal and multi-touch conversations

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 Requires human touch via teleprospecting Supported by tools that make it easy to:

Continue conversation Suggest offers based on behavior and engagement

Lead nurturing automation tools must support:

Lower volume Ad hoc delivery All touch points (phone, email, online, in person)
Measure nurturing results such as:

Depth of contact in sphere of influence Percentage of contacts who opt-in for nurturing Percentage of contacts who become sales-ready leads

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Map channels and content

Online
RSS Website Landing pages Microsites Phone Develop relationships Confirm correct contacts Gain internal referrals Get opt-in email addresses Personal invitations Re-engage aged opportunities Identify qualified leads

Email By-lined articles Links to 3rd party articles Case studies Press releases Whitepapers Event invitations Research reports Collateral/brochures

Nurturing

Events Live seminars Webinars Executive briefings Conferences Road shows Trade shows

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Single track lead nurturing flow

Nurturing Send #1

Segment Lead Lists for Nurturing Tracks:

Role* Industry* Size* Geography* Source* Recency* (*if known)

Continue to call other leads previously unreachable

Nurturing Send #2

After each send: Call leads w/active touch points to qualify & offer follow-on content

Nurturing Send #3

Pass leads with ULD match to sales with Conversational Brief

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Sample BDM email 1 of 6

Subject: Get More Business Value from Collaboration Hello Pat, Your people are the drivers of business performance. Putting them back at the center of work by enabling them to access data in real time and share knowledge with colleagues, partners and customers provides a competitive advantage. This article, Put People At the Center of Work with Unified Communications, discusses how advanced communications technologies can both facilitate higher levels of collaboration and deliver tangible results that prove just how valuable interactive, on-demand exchanges have become. http://ams.typepad.com/blog/put-people-at-the-center-of-work.html The days of thinking about communications as one-off experiences are over. Connecting people, data and process via purpose-built communication solutions is what drives competitive advantages and innovation. If you'd like more information about the benefits of how a single source, single platform and simplified solution can transform your IP network into the backbone that drives business performance, I'd be happy to help. Best regards,

Template driven Article of interest CRM integrated Personalized

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BDM email connects to industry blog and

High-value content with educational intent Leverage thoughtleadership and partner relationships Developed by MECLABS

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BDM article connects to email

Sixth article of nurturing series

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Sample follow-up BDM email 2

Subject: Satisfy Staff while Increasing Productivity Hello Pat, Per our last conversation I thought this article "Collaboration Increases Productivity and Satisfaction," might be relevant to you. This article discusses why connecting your staff, data and processes over your IP network is critical to keeping them. http://ams.typepad.com/blog/cips.html But it's not just all about them. Research shows how unified communications solutions spur productivity in parallel with staff satisfaction. And, that's good for business. Let me know if you'd like more information about how to apply advanced communication to increase talent retention along with your business' success. Best Regards, sf_User_First_Name sf_User_Last_Name sf_User_TollFree_Phone http://www.ams.net/ AMS.NET 502 Commerce Way Livermore, CA 94551

Template driven Article of interest CRM integrated Personalized

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Re-engage past leads via phone and email

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Leverage the phone to connect Develop relationships

Personal invitations to events Confirm contacts and get internal referrals Get permission and opt-in e-mail Re-engage aged opportunities Identify qualified leads

Measuring nurturing results

Depth of contacts in sphere of influence Percentage of contacts who opt-In for lead nurturing Percentage of contacts who become sales-ready leads
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STEP 1: Understand and capture your target audience STEP 2: Develop your messaging strategy STEP 3: Build your lead nurturing content library STEP 4: Execute multimodal and multi-touch conversations STEP 5: Track results and measure engagement

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 Phone inquiries, conversations, sales leads Email interactions opens, clicks, replies Website visits product or service pages Collateral downloads registrations or clicks Event attendance webinars, tradeshows Information requests contact-us form, email responses
What you need to understand: Lead engagement doesnt equal sales readiness! Use lead engagement to prioritize human-touch follow up.
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Understand and capture your target audience Develop your messaging strategy Build your lead-nurturing content library Execute multi-modal and multi-touch conversations Track results and measure engagement

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To succeed in todays marketing world, release the marketing-campaign mindset in favor of lead-nurturing conversations:
Lead nurturing is about maintaining a relevant, consistent dialog with viable potential customers, regardless of their timing to purchase. Consistent, continuous conversation across channels should logically guide customers to a close. Dont waste sales time with unqualified leads; bring them into the conversation later in the sales cycle. Its proven: You can significantly increase sales productivity and revenue capacity within your existing budget.

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 Co-create with sales the lead nurturing process Start collecting your lead nurturing content now Dont start until you have at least 3 touches planned Test each email touch Dont rely on email only for lead nurturing

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Brian Carroll Executive Director, Applied Research MECLABS 651-255-7700 x 640 brian.carroll@meclabs.com
Other lead generation resources: B2BLeadBlog.com startwithalead.com leadgenerationbook.com MECLABS.com

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 Available in Partner Marketing Central Subscribe today ciscoaccelerate@cisco.com

Upcoming Webinars: Content is King: How to Use Content to Generate More Sales-Ready Leads - The Human Touch of Lead Nurturing: Proven Strategies to Break Through the Noise with Your Message The Truth About Marketing Blog http://blogs.cisco.com/category/truthmarketing
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Thank you.