B2B Firms Are Intent On Increasing Effectiveness . . .
Mature lead processes decrease customer acquisition costs, improve sales relationships, and
help demonstrate marketing’s value to cost-conscious executives.2 In recognition of this, 34% of
respondents say improving lead quality is their top priority compared with 27% who say lead
volume is their foremost concern.3 We also found that:
- Process maturity is on the rise. As B2B marketers recognize that quality leads are more
important than merely filling the pipeline, we were pleased to find that most firms have
mastered fundamental lead capture and routing, and are working on developing standard
processes and metrics to refine their lead management efforts. More than half of all firms (55%)
have standardized processes across most of their company, while 73% track the impact their
marketing activities have on sales.
- Software firms have the most sophisticated practices. Across industries, firms in the high-tech
software industry possess the most mature lead management practices (see Figure 4-1). These
firms engage leads, establish a dialogue, educate prospects, and build credibility long before
sales steps in to negotiate a deal. To attract and keep the right prospects in their sales funnel,
these firms also prove to be more adept than average at standardizing and automating their lead
management processes.
- By necessity, larger firms focus more on lead management maturity. Just 21% of firms with
1000 or more sales reps have reached the top level of our maturity model, but these large firms
outpace their peers with fewer sales staff members (see Figure 4-2). Why? Because firms with
large sales organizations simply can’t manage pipelines effectively or track complex marketing
programs run across multiple product lines without consistent processes and automation to
support them.
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