. . . But Key Lead Management Challenges Remain
Less than 10% of respondents achieve our top proficiency level, a clear indicator that B2B firms still have many opportunities to improve their lead management processes. To make improvements, firms should:

· Arm sales with rich prospect data. Nearly 40% of respondents say their firm handles leads differently based on how they are classified, but less mature firms use too little information to classify their leads properly. For example, only 18% of firms that fall into the first level of our maturity model use questions about available budget, purchase authority, defined need, and timeframe to qualify leads. In contrast, almost 80% of firms in the top maturity levels use qualification questions that dig deeper into a prospect’s purchase readiness (see Figure 5). These more mature firms also enrich the leads they capture with data purchased from data providers like Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and infoUSA.4

· Use analytic approaches to guide decision-making. Firms with the most mature lead management processes (level 4) are twice as likely as level 3 firms to use predictive analytics to segment markets and determine which leads to tackle first in a list of hot prospects.5 As one midsize software company explained, “because prospects hire consultants to help them evaluate products, we found that their behavior — how frequently they visit our Web site or request additional information — is a better indicator of lead quality than the title, industry, or company size of the advisor conducting the evaluation.”

· Get leads to the right reps more efficiently and effectively. Nearly half of respondents say they have yet to standardize lead routing rules across their entire organization. Seventeen percent funnel leads through a single point of contact responsible for lead routing. The result? Potential customers wait for sales to call. In contrast, mature firms use automated rules to route leads to sales. Five out of 21 (24%) top performers route leads automatically to sales within 24 hours of receipt. As one marketer from a top-level firm told us, “We find that prospects are more likely to buy if they can download a trial version while their problem is top of mind. If you wait too long to call them back, they find a workaround and the fire goes out.”

· Nurture leads with personalized communication. Thirty-seven percent of less mature firms sit idly by and wait for prospects to tell them they’re ready for additional contact. Quite the opposite, 79% of mature firms use information from their ongoing interactions to tailor their communications to a prospect’s individual preferences and motivations. Almost half of these firms (48%) also trigger communications based on a combination of information provided by the prospect, observed behavior, and data gleaned from prior contacts.