This morning, I saw an interesting chart published by MarketingSherpa on the topic of B2B marketing and sales practices. I couldn’t help but think how Infusionsoft delivers on all of them in one solution — and how many B2B businesses are missing out. It’s funny because we sometimes take our features for granted, but it’s clear that we have something powerful under the hood based on this study.
Here’s the chart I’m referring to, published by MarketingSherpa (I love their newsletters, so check them out):
I am shocked that 49% of B2B organizations don’t use a CRM to manage the progression of leads in their business. Maybe it’s my ignorance, but I don’t know how this can be done without a CRM, you can’t grow and touch every lead without a powerful CRM solution. I have an idea … manually … but that’s not fun.
An equally disturbing statistic is that 56% of B2Bs don’t measure lead-generation contributions to revenue. I don’t know about you, I like to think every lead generation source is under as much scrutiny as your sales guys to hit numbers. This can result in more cash burn on under-performing lead sources and suffocated growth. Nobody wants that, do they?
It doesn’t end there. Only 39% of B2B companies have a process to nurture leads when they’re not prime for sales. That means, prospects would receive no follow-up, no education and will defect to competitors when they follow-up. Think about it: what if your company had the ability to educate and follow-up with leads automatically when they moved (or didn’t) in the pipeline? Not in a barrage of emails, either – you can leverage a direct mail piece, a bi-monthly email check-in and perhaps a quick phone call temperature check on prospects.
I’m bothered that only 30% of B2Bs are unable to track the source to conclusion of a sale. Really? How can you identify better sources if you can’t track how they are closed? In our business, we track everything as much as we can so we can analyze and improve our marketing and sales from it. Lead sources, affiliates, in-person contacts, emails sent, PPC ads, referring sites … you name it, we probably track it and make decisions from it. If you want, fill out a demo, talk to a sales person and they can show you around the app to see this in action.
I’ll be honest; one statistic is encouraging in this chart. Most B2Bs have some type of lead scoring and measurement in place. This helps sales teams talk with only the most qualified people and save both prospects and their own time. However, the process has become increasingly complex resulting in less confidence in them between sales and marketing staff. I expect this aspect of software and applications for B2Bs to tighten up on this in the future.
If you’re a B2B, I’d love to hear your thoughts about what solutions and practices work for you. We know this isn’t a one-size-fits-all economy so any practical insight or advice you can share, that would be great.
[Image credit: shaymus22]
Posted In: Small Business
