Creating B2B Sales Leads: Work Smarter, Not Harder!

Creating B2B Sales Leads: Work Smarter, Not Harder!:

from 3forward by Dan Hudson

What are the challenges that make B2B sales so difficult these days?  Here are a few.

Insufficient knowledge of the business needs of buyers, long selling cycles, and the inability to identify key decision makers are key pressures facing every sales team regardless of their industry orientation.  There are many challenges out there, some more pressing than others.   The issue often comes down to what kinds of actions can your firm take to improve the quantity of qualified leads and to identify or disqualify prospects more easily.   Filling the funnel with quality leads solves many other sales problems.
These questions were explored in depth in a recent Aberdeen Group study conducted during March and April 2012 entitled, “Sales Intelligence, What B2B Sellers Need to Know Before the Call”.  Aberdeen interviewed 215 end-user organizations regarding their sales effectiveness practices and more specifically on how sales intelligence is most effectively deployed.  They applied their Best In Class PACE Framework to determine the capabilities and enablers that high performing sales teams need to sell more effectively.  Here are a few of their key findings.

Differentiators of High Performance Sales Teams

Capabilities

• Sales-focused central repository of account, contact, and sales opportunity information
• A process for tracking prospect engagement; click through’s, web visits, etc.
• Commitment for sales people to share best practices
• Clear understanding of target markets
• Well defined sales milestones/stages that are consistently used

Enablers

• External social media
• Email marketing
• Sales analytics/forecasting
• Web analytics or website visitor tracking
• Sales force automation
• Lead management solutions
• Sales dashboards

Aberdeen found that companies that invested heavily in the enablers and capabilities had significant competitive advantages in the areas of sales attainment, customer retention, and contract value size.  The stats below speak for themselves.

Sales Results for the “Best In Class” – The Top 20% of Aggregate Performance Scorers

• 88% Customer retention rate
• 12.3% YOY increase in total team attainment of sales quota
• 10.1% YOY increase in number of reps achieving quota
• 8% YOY increase in deal size.

Investing in sales and lead generation tools and process can give your sales team the competitive edge needed to win with the current market dynamics. Enable your team to call on the right prospects by providing real time sales intelligence on those prospects most likely to by near term. And remember, if you don’t measure it you cant manage it.   If you’re looking for a ready to implement service that provides all these capabilities and more take a look at 3FORWARD’s Lead Ready B2B demand generation program or schedule a Lead Optimization Review to learn more.