The key role of the Marketing function is to feed the Sales force with qualified and actionable leads, with whom to engage. This role could therefore be synthesised down to generating, nurturing and qualifying of actionable sales leads, via the Marketing Pipeline.
The same principles can be applied in both the B2B & B2C environment, although the sales activity maybe delivered in a different manner, depending upon whether the sales channel is delivered on-line or off-line.
Regardless of the shape of your pipeline, fat, thin, long or short, it needs to be designed to deliver two major outcomes ...
- Qualified Leads.
- Potential Contributors.
Often ignored, Potential Contributors, are those Unqualified Leads that you actively choose to exit from the pipeline, because they can not meet the criteria for qualification. The aim is not simply to exit them, but to do so in such a way, that they can still contribute to marketing your product or service. They can still support your efforts by communicating there experiences amongst their network, either via word of mouth or via their on-line social network, indeed remember that some of these Unqualified Leads may be journalists.
Sales Readiness: The two pipelines meet ...
The starting point to align the Marketing and Sales pipeline is to agree a definition for a Qualified Lead, within the overall business context and an understanding of the Sales Process. This definition could be formed based upon of factors within the prospect:
- Need
- Value
- Opportunity
- Person
- Readiness
Given that the handover from Marketing to Sales is likely to trigger an intensive period of activity (especially in a B2B environment) with the Lead, it is vital that the Sales force do not waste their time chasing Leads that have not truly been Qualified. In a resource limited environment, this can represent a significant Opportunity Cost.
The emphasis should be placed upon an optimum balance of quality & quantity that must result in a clear set of performance metrics for the Marketing team:
Qualified Lead Forecast: A measure of the effectiveness and velocity of the Marketing Pipeline. is whether the forecast number of Qualified Leads are being delivered to Sales, for a given period
Conversion Ratio: Although this is equally a measure of the performance of the Sales Pipeline, it could also reflect the quality of Qualified Leads. Definition: Over a defined period of time, the ratio of "Qualified Leads" converted to "Customers".
Lead Re-Qualification Ratio: A measurement of the quality of Lead Qualification. Over a defined period of time, the ratio of "Qualified Leads" to "the number of Qualified Leads that where handed back to Marketing", i.e., the lead was not ready to engage in the Sales process.
