In recent years , an increasing number of B2B companies' marketing departments are working on " demand generation (creating sales opportunities)."
We have already covered the first half of the demand generation process, " lead generation " and " lead nurturing," in a separate article, but this time we will explain the less obvious but still important "lead qualification."
Nowadays, if you post useful information online, you can generate leads from people all over the world who are interested . In fact, many companies have their own media and collect a large number of leads. However, in the case of B2B, the percentage of those who become customers is very low.
Furthermore, the leads collected include not only potential customers, but also employees of rival companies, employees of companies looking to sell turkey b2b leads something to your company, leads that are not eligible as customers, and many people who just want to obtain information for reference.
It is very important to analyze thoroughly and predict "which leads are likely to become customers" and decide the priorities for sales. In this article, we will introduce the importance and methods of lead qualification.
What is Lead Qualification?
Lead qualification is the process of determining whether the leads you collect in your sales and marketing activities fit your company's ideal customer profile ( persona ) and have the potential to become long-term customers.
To explain demand generation in conceptual terms, after " lead generation (creating potential customers)" and " lead nurturing (fostering trust with potential customers)", it moves on to "lead qualification (selecting potential customers)", as shown in the diagram below.
( Demand generation process)
However, in reality, the process is not as clearly divided as shown in the diagram. Creating a persona at the beginning of marketing corresponds to screening potential customers, and the company name and name that you ask the customer to enter in detail when downloading materials from the web are also part of lead qualification. In outbound sales, you can screen potential customers to some extent even during the first telemarketing call or sales meeting.
Although there are differences in the size of the frontier at the lead generation stage, they are the same in that they examine the leads that they have come into contact with using various indicators and determine the priorities of the companies to which they should make sales. As you know, your productivity will be affected by your ability to identify these prospects and where you allocate your sales resources.
A US survey found that approximately 73% of the leads that companies generate online are not at the sales stage, and approximately 50% have no intention of purchasing .
By narrowing down potential customers and making sales, companies can not only increase sales efficiency, but also avoid the risk of unnecessarily damaging their company's image.
Image of narrowing down potential customers
The meaning of lead qualification
Here, we will explain the significance of lead qualification from the perspectives of both the marketing and sales departments.
The difference between outbound and inbound sales
In the case of traditional outbound sales, you can select targets from the sales list creation stage. Furthermore, by getting a feel for the other party during phone calls and sales meetings and asking appropriate questions, you can easily confirm their needs and select high-quality prospects relatively early (see the Sales Pipeline on the right side of the diagram below).
On the other hand, inbound sales is all about "letting the other party choose." Although personas are set when formulating marketing strategies , qualitative and behavioral information such as form-filling information (company name, industry, name, etc.) when a potential customer downloads materials from a website, email open rates, and visited pages are steadily accumulated, and the stage of the potential customer as defined by the marketing department is determined. ( Funnel flow on the left of the diagram).
Simply put, lead qualification for outbound sales, such as telemarketing, has a high initial hurdle but is quick to identify once you meet the person (such leads are often called Sales Acqured Leads), while lead qualification for inbound leads, where lead generation is done via the web, etc., is ultimately lead-driven, so there are differences in that there is a "time" that the company cannot control, and there are pros and cons to each.