Today I was reading Sirius Decisions’ latest press release (“SiriusDecisions Benchmark Data Reveals: Best-in-Class Companies Positioning for Better Days“). This sentence stood out to me: “…the firm has found that marketers are changing the make-up of their programs to be closer to field activity, shifting the focus more on clients and current deals.”
It’s interesting to see the reporting data back-up what I’ve been noticing anecdotally. I spend my days guiding Eloqua’s small-medium business customers in their marketing automation projects. One refrain I’ve been hearing over and over is “lead nurturing”. It’s not about lead acquisition right now, it’s about mining the leads you already have, warming them up and getting them ready for sales.
However, it’s definitely time for a shift even further down the lead funnel. Sales cycles are now longer because of the economy and that gives marketing more of a chance to get involved in the sales process.
Alden Cushman, SiriusDecisions’ research director and benchmarking analyst says: “From discussions with clients we’ve benchmarked, we estimate b-to-b companies are doubling their number of pipeline acceleration programs. Instead of focusing on generating new leads, these programs represent a more effective way for marketing to impact the extended sales cycle by helping to move deals that have stalled in the pipeline. Without question, the economy is driving this trend…”
What Can You Do?
- Re-engage Stalled Opportunities: Consider a short nurturing campaign to all contacts that have been sitting in the same Opportunity stage for more than 30 or 60 days (or whatever makes sense for your business). What can you offer them that will give them a nudge in the right direction? Customer testimonial videos are an excellent choice, or perhaps a “Top 10 things to consider when purchasing a…” checklist.
- Nurture the Account: For large deals that involve multiple contacts at one account, think about building a customized landing page for them. You can offer links to the collateral they’ve already seen and maybe some they haven’t yet (add green checkmarks to what they’ve been sent in the past). Be sure to give prominence to the name and number of the sales person for the account. Then add in some exclusive content that is normally only available via a form on your site. This is your chance to show them how well you treat your customers by giving them VIP treatment even before they’re a customer.
- Share “Privileged” Information: Maybe it makes sense to show your late-stage prospects a sneak peek of your upcoming product features or new service offerings?
- Food for Thought: Do you have a lot of ’stuck’ prospects clustered in a geographic area? Host a breakfast and invite those prospects along with two or three of your current happy customers and let them mingle.
I’d love to hear your ideas! Are you moving down the funnel and focusing less on new leads and more on maturing the leads you already have?
Hello,
Many thanks for mentioning the SiriusDecisions research and press release. Smart organizations are certainly focusing on deals in the pipeline and what they need to do to keep them warm and moving toward the bottom of the pipeline. In addition to the tactics you mentioned, they are using many others including free trials, new messaging, TCO and ROI calculators, customer proxy offers, stage-based case studies / reference acciunts, and financial incentives to keep leads warm and moving in the right direction.
Alden Cushman
SiriusDecisions
Alden,
Those are some great suggestions for additional tactics — thanks for sharing them! I foresee future blog posts on those topics.
-Heather