HOW TO TRACK LEADS FROM MARKETING TO SALES

HOW TO TRACK LEADS FROM MARKETING TO SALES

Do you have trouble measuring the ROI of your marketing efforts? If you answered “yes,” don’t worry – you’re not alone. 75% of surveyed marketers say they struggle with calculating marketing ROI because they don’t actually know how much revenue their programs are generating.

For many CMOs and marketers, unqualified inquiries are just handed off to sales, and there is no reporting mechanism to track them once they are delivered. And while sales representatives know which leads convert, this information isn’t always shared with the marketing team.

With no conversion information, marketers can only rely on vanity metrics (and sometimes guesswork) to answer the ROI question. This is a problem because vanity metrics don’t necessarily reflect real business results, which makes it difficult for marketers to measure the effectiveness of their marketing programs.

So how do you overcome this challenge? A recent infographic from TechnologyAdvice provides some clues.

The key is to break down the silos between marketing and sales with “lead reciprocity.” Lead reciprocity is the open exchange of lead information between marketing and sales. This can be accomplished through technology and strategic alignment:

TECHNOLOGY ALIGNMENT

The integration of marketing automation and CRM platforms gives both marketing and sales end-to-end visibility into lead data and status. Marketers can now track leads, close rates and other important conversion metrics, while sales reps can monitor where leads were generated, how they were qualified, and how long they have been active.

Combining CRM and marketing automation has many benefits. The systems integration enables marketers to track which leads are converted into customers, so they can have a more complete picture of how their marketing efforts contribute to total sales and revenue.

For many organizations, their marketing teams use a lead pipeline that is separate from the sales pipeline. Systems integration is an opportunity to align marketing and sales and to establish a shared pipeline, helping both teams better understand and work toward their common goals.

SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENT

Sales and Marketing alignment is often cited as the biggest challenge most marketers face. In addition to systems integration, marketing and sales also need to be aligned strategically. Both teams need to work together to establish and follow a standardized lead generation process, and maintain open communication about it.

By doing so, sales reps can help inform marketers which sources are creating the best opportunities and how to produce content that converts. This feedback helps marketers identify and focus their resources on the most effective campaign tactics that will ultimately drive more sales and revenue.

Strategic alignment also provides marketing and sales an opportunity to set and collaborate on shared goals and responsibilities, rather than working in silos on their individual targets.

According to SiriusDecisions, B2B companies with aligned marketing and sales teams achieve 24% faster revenue growth and 27% faster profit growth compared to their siloed counterparts.

MAXIMIZING TECHNOLOGY AND STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT

Once your strategies and technologies are integrated, here are three additional steps you can take to maximize your marketing and sales alignment:

1. Build Attribution Models

An attribution model is a way to measure effectiveness of each marketing touchpoint in the buyer journey which contributes to the ultimate conversion. Marketing attribution helps justify your marketing spend and identify opportunities for future improvement.

89% of marketers surveyed by Adobe reported that attribution has a positive impact on their business, and 29% say it has a major positive impact.

2. Improve Lead Generation

Attribution and open exchange of conversion data allow you to gain rich insights into the effectiveness of your marketing campaign tactics and channels. By creating a scoring system based on your conversion information, you can focus on the marketing efforts that will generate higher quality leads.

3. Measure ROI

Go beyond numbers like site traffic and monthly leads – you can now demonstrate clear marketing ROI by focusing on metrics that directly tie to business value, such as lead-to-customer ratio, average cost per lead, and average lead value.

By doing so, you can show your executive team how your marketing efforts are directly driving the company’s revenue and growth, to build a strong business case for your marketing spend and budget.