5 Things You Can Do To Improve B2B Lead Generation

@brianjcarroll
5 Things You Can Do to Improve
your B2B Lead Generation
Brian Carroll
@brianjcarroll

@brianjcarroll
About me
Brian Carroll
Brian Carroll is Former Chief Evangelist of MECLABS and founder of
InTouch, part of the MECLABS. Author of the bestseller, Lead
Generation for the Complex Sale, Carroll is a leading expert in lead
generation and he's profiled and regularly quoted in numerous
publications.
He has been profiled and quoted in numerous publications such as BtoB
magazine, Selling Power, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Target
Marketing, Inc., Marketing News, DM News, MarketingProfs,
MarketingSherpa, Software CEO and CMO Magazine.
@brianjcarroll

@brianjcarroll
Biggest B2B Marketing Challenges
Source: 2015 Lead Generation Trend Report © 2015 Crowd Research Partners.
Marketers see generating
high quality leads as their
number one business
challenge.

@brianjcarroll
The Problem
Photo credit: http://jephmaystruck.com

@brianjcarroll
Agenda
1. Get sales and marketing collaborating
2. Start doing lead re-engagement
3. Build a lead scoring approach that really works
4. Nurture customers more effectively
5. Use your empathy to reconnect

@brianjcarroll
1. Get sales and marketing
collaborating on these questions

@brianjcarroll
Marketing and Sales Collaboration
Increased
Performance
Marketing
Team
Sales Team
Lead acceleration
meeting session with
sales and marketing

@brianjcarroll
1. Lead Qualification is the bridge between the Marketing and Sales teams
2. Collaborate and get between Sales and Marketing concerning two defined standards:
 Ideal Customer Profile – Do they have capacity to buy?
 Universal Lead Definition – Do they enough motivation to be sales-ready lead?
Internal Alignment
Key takeaways
Get free ULD agenda and tips
b2bleadblog.com/uld
!

@brianjcarroll
2. Build a lead scoring approach
that really works

@brianjcarroll
LEAD MANAGEMENT FLOW WITH SCORING
Lead enters
system
Lead is scored by
intensity level
Lead IS optimal
intensity ULD
Lead IS NOT
optimal intensity
Lead delivered
to Sales
Lead nurtured to
optimal intensity
Responsive Lead Scoring

@brianjcarroll
Background: Provider of professional management services for technology assets for
mid- and large-sized companies.
Goal: To increase the total number of leads generated.
Research question: Which lead qualification process will generate the greatest
number of leads?
Approach: A sequential test of the qualification process.
Case Study on Responsive Lead Scoring
Background: Provider of professional management services for technology assets for
mid- and large-sized companies.
Goal: To increase the total number of leads generated.
Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/
revamped-marketing-automation-crm-technology

@brianjcarroll
Leads Enter
System
Leads are Sent
Directly to Sales
Sales “cherry-
picks” best leads
Many leads are
overlooked
Original lead qualification process was very linear

@brianjcarroll
LEVEL 3 LEADS
LEVEL 2 LEADS
LEVEL 1 LEADS
0 – 19 Points
20 – 39 Points
40+ Points
Sales-
Engaged
Leads
• Organization set up a responsive
scoring system – leads assigned
numeric value based on role/behavior
• Scoring system had 3 levels – once lead
scored enough points to enter third
level (40+ points), Sales would engage
Testing out a responsive scoring system

@brianjcarroll
Profile Score
CEO, Owner President, VP of Sales 10 pts
Target Market ID – IBM BP 10 pts
Email Campaigns Score
Open an Email 5 pts
Clickthrough an Email 7 pts
Web Metric Scoring Score
Visits Any Webpage 1 pts
Visits Offering Page 5 pts
Visits Thought Leadership Article 5 pts
Visits Thought Leadership Video 10 pts
Views a Previous Webinar 15 pts
Visits Testimonial Page 5 pts
Visits Demo 15 pts
Web Metric Scoring Score
Contact Us 25 pts
Webinar Registration 20 pts
Web Demo Request 25 pts
Promotional Dialogue 25 pts
Webinar Playback 25 pts
Building a lead score card
LEVEL 3 LEADS
LEVEL 2 LEADS
LEVEL 1 LEADS
0 – 19 Points
20 – 39 Points
40+ Points
Sales-
Engaged
Leads

@brianjcarroll
• Leads sent marketing content matched
to their particular score
• Aim was to nurture leads up the funnel
and provide more opportunities to
increase lead score
Building custom nurture campaigns

@brianjcarroll
Increase in Lead Generation75%
New process increased total number of leads engaged by Sales
by 75% over previous year
“If you look back three years ago, we were doing all of this work and we weren't
seeing any results, but we didn't really have the system set up to really be able to
measure our success. So, I think for us it's really been looking at and revising
processes and procedures, and just being smarter about how we operate.”
Trish McLoughlin
Marketing Manager
The results

@brianjcarroll
18
Touch points
User-tracked behavior
What have they engaged?
Explicit Information
Meets Universal Lead
Definition
Contacts Companies
Ideal
Customer
Profile
Hand off
possibilities
to sales
Implicit Information
Does it meet
the ULD?
Rep call
to qualify
Assign to rep
Inquiry comes
into DB
Optimized Lead Scoring
Qualify leads based on Universal Lead Definition (ULD), not lead score

@brianjcarroll
Responsive Lead Scoring
Most leads are not sales-ready leads.
The key is to know when someone achieves optimal intensity (ULD).
Lead scoring is a responsive approach to assess the intensity of leads.
Scoring is not meant to replace human touch, but rather to prioritize it.
Key takeaways

@brianjcarroll
to get more

@brianjcarroll
Background: A B2B company with a short sales cycle launched an email
series to nurture older leads.
Objective: To reinvigorate leads that have passed the initial 30 day window
in which most clients are most likely to convert.
Primary Research Question: Which tactics can be implemented to re-
engage existing leads in the database?
Test Design: Intensive initial 30-day lead nurture campaign followed by
regular newsletters, webinars and long term added-value email series.
Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/old-names-yield-37-customers
Case Study on Lead Re-engagement

@brianjcarrollSource: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/old-names-yield-37-customers
Topic BTopic A
Week 1
Email Series
Week 2
Email Series
Online Software Demo Sales-ready leads
Leads Engage with
Content
Leads Engage with
Content
Re-engagement
New approach with ongoing re-engagement nurturing

@brianjcarroll
Email Series #1: Newsletter
This monthly email included short
columns from the company CEO, as well
as information on industry events, book
reviews, marketing advice and other
content related to the company.
New approach

@brianjcarroll
Email Series #2: Webinar Invites
Monthly emails to the leads that did not
convert beyond the initial 2-week email
series.
New approach

@brianjcarroll
Email Series #3: “Tips” Email Series
• The primary goal was to maintain
contact and help potential customers.
• Bi-weekly series lasted for a year.
Sample Biweekly Email
New approach

@brianjcarroll
• One concern was that the new
email series would overwhelm the
leads and actually push them
away.
• So this organization sent an email
once every three months to give
the lead the opportunity to
unsubscribe.
Sample Unsubscribe Email
New approach - Avoid Overwhelming

@brianjcarroll
Customers are from leads generated over three months ago37%
20% Customers are from leads generated over one year ago
"Lead nurturing is actually producing…business for us that we would
not have if we were not…staying in contact with these people”
- Marketing Director
Results

@brianjcarroll
Lead Re-engagement
• Re-engage those you’ve met three or more months ago.
• Keep the conversation going
• Provide content and tools help them have the conversations internally.
What can you do to reach out to your existing list in a helpful way?
Key takeaways

@brianjcarroll
4. Nurture customers more
effectively

@brianjcarroll
Understand
Audience
Organize
Content
Track Results
and
Engagement
Execute
Tracks
Messaging
Strategy
•Touch
•Track
•Follow-
Up
1
•Touch
•Track
•Follow-
Up
2
•Touch
•Track
•Follow-
Up
3
•Touch
•Track
•Follow-
Up
4
Interest Intimacy Intent
Progression Across Buying Stages
What is Lead Nurturing?
Relevant, consistent conversation with potential customers, regardless of readiness to buy

@brianjcarroll
In one lead nurturing effort, you might be dealing with multiple
prospects before the lead becomes a sales-ready lead:
So how does the marketer ensure that the
right message gets to the right prospect?
CEO Practitioner Manager IT Admin
The Right Prospect

@brianjcarroll
Sample Persona
Diagnosis
Prospect-level Persona Diagnosis – The Business Manager (finding
solution)
The Right Prospect
Build persona diagnoses for each prospect persona

@brianjcarroll
Background: TAB helps organizations store and manage print and digital documents.
Goal: To increase the overall response to email lead nurturing efforts
Research Question: Which lead nurturing program will generate the greatest number of
email responses?
Test Design: Sequential test of lead nurturing program
Case Study on Lead Nurturing
Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/pilot-campaign-increases-conversion-326

@brianjcarroll
• Company loosely defined a sales lead as anyone who downloaded a whitepaper,
attended a webinar, or completed one of a range of other actions
• Number of leads generated was overwhelming for a salesperson – average
salesperson did not have enough time to call or email all leads, so many leads were
getting wasted
• Only nurturing effort in place was a regular generic email newsletter
Challenges faced by the organization
Marketing decided to test a more targeted
lead nurturing program to help qualify and
nurture leads before sending to Sales

@brianjcarroll
Prospect #1: If I am a decision-maker looking for paper
management solutions (paper only), why should I purchase
from you rather than any of you competitors?
Prospect #2: If I am a decision-maker looking for hybrid
management solutions (paper and digital), why should I
purchase from you rather than any of your competitors?
Approach to building targeted lead nurturing program
Focused efforts on the two main prospects:1

@brianjcarroll
Prospect sees problem
w/record management
Prospect desires to learn
more about solutions
Prospect considers
different providers
Prospect encounters
resistance to solution
Prospect makes a
selection
2. EDUCATION1. RECOGNITION 3. EVALUATION 4. OBJECTION 5. DECISION
Mapped decision sequence average prospect
experienced during purchase/nurturing cycle
2
Approach to building targeted lead nurturing program

@brianjcarroll
Nurturing
Track #1:
Nurturing
Track #2:
Email #1 Email #2 Email #3 Email #4
Email #5
Email #1 Email #2 Email #3 Email #4
Email #5
Score: 15 Score: 30 Score: 45 Score: 60 Score: 75
Score: 15 Score: 30 Score: 45 Score: 60 Score: 75
Organize and build the nurture tracks

@brianjcarroll
Overall increase in lead conversion rate of 32.6%.
650% Increase in Email Clickthrough
“Going forward, we are expanding the number of campaigns to
reach other topics and we are going to use more complex decision-
tree logic to dictate the next message in the cycle.”
-VP, Global Marketing
The results

@brianjcarroll
5. Use Empathy as your intuition
to reconnect

@brianjcarroll
Use your empathy
Photo credit: http://theleadingedgeblog.com/
Sharing another's feeling and thoughts
Empathy is the marketer’s intuition.

@brianjcarroll
Using your empathy
Instead of trying to sound interesting to others,
be interested in them.
Photo credit: http://blog.referralinstitutenn.co.uk/

@brianjcarroll
Case Study on Empathy
42
Background: ActiveNetwork is a large event management software provider
Goal: To increase total lead inquiries (phone calls + form sign-ups) from visitors who
abandoned the free trial sign-up process
Research Question: Which email tone will result in a higher rate of lead inquiries?
Test Design: A/B single factor split
Source: http://www.marketingexperiments.com/blog/research-topics/email-marketing/
email-copywriting-change-tone.html

@brianjcarroll
Control
Treatment
Using A/B testing

@brianjcarroll
Standard Sales Tone
Control
Empathetic/Service Tone
Treatment
Using A/B testing

@brianjcarroll
Treatment
Empathetic/Service Tone
7.08% Conversion Rate
Control
Standard Sales Tone
1.58% Conversion Rate
Using A/B testing

@brianjcarroll
Control
Treatment
Using A/B testing
!
By addressing the customer’s anxiety (with empathy) through
the tone of the email copy, they saw a 349% increase in total
lead inquiries

@brianjcarroll
Summary
1. Get sales and marketing collaborating
3. Build a lead scoring approach that really works
4. Nurture customers more effectively
5. Use your empathy to reconnect

5 Things You Can Do To Improve B2B Lead Generation

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