Businesses live or die by the quality of their leads, it's a fact. And if there aren't enough qualified leads, sales simply won't happen. There's nothing worse than marketing believing they're giving the best gift ever – sure sales – that don't materialize. Sales lose faith in marketing. Marketing frustration is growing. This brings me to a crucial question - "How can we qualify?" » How can we build an engine that is efficient and has the safeguards and governance to set a business up for success. The key to this business is collaboration. A connected, integrated and healthy partnership for the debate. Not everyone will agree, and it takes marketing and sales working together to create an effective engine that acquires leads, qualifies them, and passes them on to sales ready to close. I saw this firsthand at CallRail. Marketing will work diligently to generate demand, and sales are elated by the thought of prospects who will blast this month's goals. The saddest part is that without the discipline to follow those mystical safeguards and governance I mentioned, what seemed like a sure thing ended up being: Nothing. No. Nothing.
A big good egg. And the sad thing is that both teams are starting to resent each other. But the good news is that it doesn't have to Employee Email Database be that way. By coming together collectively and creating this partnership, all parties are saying, “Yes, you are right. We know that's not really a qualified lead” or “No, that fits our scoring model, we should have worked harder on those engagement leads. Accountability exists on both sides of the fence and it works. It's so much easier to identify what went wrong, where and why. There is no point in trying to sell to someone who will never buy your products. This is why lead qualification is such an important business practice. In fact, it's a key component to having a successful income-generating business. First you need to make sure you are marketing to the right kind of people. Does this person match my company's buyer type? Are they showing intent based on their behavior with my website or marketing assets? You need to think about your lead scoring methodology. Is it set up to flag high-quality leads? Once that's the case, what's your process for bringing those leads to the finish line? When does sales enter the conversation?
Once this has been identified, you have prepared some of the groundwork to qualify leads. But let's take a closer look at what they really mean. In this article, we'll cover all aspects of qualifying marketing leads, including: What is lead classification? What is lead qualification? What are the different types of lead qualification? The Difference Between Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQL) What are the best lead generation tools? What are the best resources for lead generation? What is lead classification? Lead classification is the name given to the general principle of lead categorization. Leads are typically ranked by how close they are to purchasing one of your products. You've probably heard of “cold leads” and “hot leads” before – this is a very generalized form of prospect classification. Effective lead classification dramatically improves an organization's conversion rate. There's no sense in trying to sell to a cold lead the same way you would to a hot lead – by accurately categorizing each lead, companies can be more strategic in their marketing and sales efforts. It goes back to lead scoring methodology. If a prospect clicks through to your website, lands on the pricing page, and engages in a case study, does that mean it's a great lead? You will need to define these behaviors and continually make adjustments to stay ahead of the game.