A shotgun blast impacts a widely affected and less targeted area, while a laser beam is precise and accurate to its aim. Both have their place in sales and marketing. Which 
style works best for qualified lead generation and provides a lower cost per lead?
The most effective sales people, appropriately nicknamed hunters, are laser-focused on results and seek the most qualified leads from their marketing team. They often bypass the shotgun blasted leads generated by broadly targeted campaigns, like webinars and direct marketing campaigns. Justifiably, sales teams consider the majority of marketing leads unqualified—not worthy of the effort to uncover the few that are sales qualified. In fact, fewer than 7% of leads that are passed on to sales from marketing meet the qualifications for true and actionable leads.
Alternatively, starting with highly targeted prospect lists, laser-focused outbound marketing campaigns provide sharp-shooter sales teams with fully qualified leads. Starting with multi-touch marketing activities centered on exploratory phone calls and nurturing emails result in a pinpoint set of leads. These efforts allow sales professionals to concentrate on closing highly qualified leads versus prospecting through responses.
Our infographic (download below) compares single-touch marketing campaigns that use a shotgun approach versus multi-touch, multi-media campaigns that center around laser-targeted outbound calling. The illustration shows the levels of action required to sift through and pass-on qualified leads to sales.
The laser targeted approach holds sales accountable for every lead. And most importantly, outbound calls combined with nurturing emails result in significantly higher close rates and lower costs per lead.
Is your sales team prospecting or selling?
Are your sales reps laser-focused on closing only sales qualified leads?
We hope you enjoyed this issue of the First Friday Report. For more insights into the B2B sales and cost per lead read our white paper:
How Much Should a Sales Lead Cost?
PointClear is a prospect development company. Founded in 1997, the Atlanta-based company helps B2B companies fill their sales forecasts with qualified opportunities. PointClear closes the gap between marketing and sales—nurturing leads, engaging contacts and developing prospects until they’re ready to close.
Download our ViewPoint White Papers for more insights on prospect development:
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