1) The more leads you give to sales the less likely they'll be followed up on: Sales is conditioned to not follow up on marketing's leads. Why? Because they've been burned. They receive hundreds of so-called leads generated through tradeshows, email campaigns, webinars, whitepaper downloads, etc. and have learned that there may be, if they're lucky, 10% that are qualified. Sales has a quota and they're not going to spend the hours needed to cull through lists of low-level, so-called leads.

2) Fewer leads empower sales: Marketing can recondition sales by sending qualified opportunities, as opposed to raw, unfiltered leads. How? If marketing segments, measures, and qualifies, sales will learn to value what marketing sends their way. That translates into more deals and more revenue, and that's good for sales, marketing, and the company.

3) When leads are qualified marketing can do a better job: When marketing takes on the lead qualification role, sales gets in front of more qualified prospects. Which means marketing is able to increase its ROI as leads generated are no longer wasted. Plus the process of qualification helps marketing fine-tune its demand generation programs: if a list generated from a tradeshow, for example, is only pulling at 5%, Marketing can adjust its investments to maximize the benefits.

Want to learn more?

• One software company boosted the value of its leads through fast, easy lead qualification. We invite you to read this case study: Lead Development: Turning Raw Leads Into Opportunities.
• The counter-intuitive relationship between lead volume and sales performance warrants attention. Consider downloading this informative white paper: Why Your Sales Force Needs Fewer Leads.

By Dan McDade