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Suggestions for overcoming sales resistance to automated lead nurturing.
"Suggestions for overcoming sales resistance to automated lead nurturing? Sales often wants total control right from the start, and doesn't want marketing working 'their' leads."
Question asked from Carlos Hidalgo’s presentation “Keeping Your Strategy in Lockstep with the Changing B-to-B Buyer” at the Focus Interactive Summit, Mastering Lead Management .
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
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3 Answers
Courtney:
We have found that getting sales involved in the process of nurturing and in the development of all areas of a lead management process is key to getting their buy-in. How does marketing get them involved? First by asking sales what they need and then listening.
One of the key roles of marketing is to support sales and sales will be very direct in what they want and need. Marketing should be asking sales questions such as:
- What messages work best with the buyers along the buying cycle?
- What does an ideal prospect or qualified lead look like?
- What can we provide to help propel deals through the pipeline?
- What can we do to ensure we help retain customers and increase customer life time value?
By listening to these answers and then working with sales to develop the process of how leads will be nurtured (working towards quality not quantity), the gap between marketing and sales closes.
Carlos Hidalgo
The Annuitas Group
chidalgo@annuitasgroup.com
www.annuitasgroup.com
I think it all goes back to clarity of definitions and open communications with sales. Any good coin-operated sales force knows that their time is valuable and should be spent addressing opportunities that cross a certain qualification threshold. Once that qualification threshold is agreed upon by marketing and sales (say for example, BANT minimum with oppt size over $500K and customer being w/in 6 months of pulling the trigger), then the decision of how to handle nurturing becomes a moot point. Sales simply will focus their attention on oppts that cross the threshold and let "those mktg guys" figure out how to keep a prospect warm until they are ready to cross the threshold. In my opinion, it sounds simple because it is.
I think "seeing is believing" when showing the value of lead nurturing. With several B2B tech clients in the past, I would send the sales team site visit or email activity alerts so sales could receive intelligence about what 'their' leads were doing...and when they were doing it. Not only did this strategy help sales follow-up in a timely manner with leads, but also it established that my efforts had merit and were going to be legitimately helpful.
In keeping with the other comments, listening to sales cannot be overemphasized in this process either. The sales team's feedback is invaluable in developing materials that leads really want...and being hands-on creates a deeper level of interest and (dare I say) accountability for both sides.
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