The First Friday ReportTM

PowerMinute: 60 Second Learnings To Help You Sell More

For 60-second learnings on these and other hot sales lead management issues, tune to the newly introduced PowerMinute videos.

Near-Term Opportunities are Important, But So is Keeping the Pipeline Full

Your sales team likes nothing better than getting leads with a high probability of closing soon. So much so that many reps often ignore every lead they don’t consider hot.

With many B2B buying cycles often extending several months, maintaining a consistent and relevant communication flow with pipeline prospects is essential toward meeting sales goals. Having relevant messages ready to address prospects’ questions and problems grows a pipeline and boosts lead nurturing. Whether your prospective buyer discovers your business solution through inbound search, an email campaign or shared during an outbound sales call, the varied messaging should provoke and educate the prospective buyer.

In sales and marketing we are all looking for ways to generate more leads. It's likely a daily discussion for most of us, but have you ever considered that your sales reps need fewer leads—or more accurately, fewer raw, unfiltered, unqualified leads. Sales reps need leads that have been carefully qualified, properly and consistently nurtured and appropriately developed increasing the likelihood of a completed sale.

We have a software client whose marketing representative proudly stated that they had driven 9,000 leads to sales the prior twelve months. The VP of Sales, however, expressed that he had received “zero leads.” So we ran some tests and found that inbound leads from one particular source were netting one qualified lead per 100 raw leads generated. What chance do you think there is that a busy sales rep would follow-up on 100 raw leads to generate one qualified lead? Your answer should be zero to none.

Welcome to the January 2013 issue of the First Friday Report.

With folks taking time off during the holiday season to enjoy family and  friends I decided to send this month's First Friday Report today—the Second Friday.

The First Friday Report started in the summer of 2010 as a curated list of resources and ideas to help you fill your sales pipeline. Since then, our issues have featured dozens of great resources—ranging from books to podcasts to infographics—about converting your prospects into substantial opportunities.