The Pipeline is Starting to Dry Up. Do You Know Where Your Leads Are?

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:53:35 +0000

By Elizabeth Sklaroff, Access Marketing Company

I’m a pretty laid back person. I don’t get excited about much – and not much impresses me. But I have to say that I’m jazzed about lead gen again, and it’s because of the web intelligence I’m able to get now. With the help of a smart demand generation “solution” (forgive me for this grossly over-used term in marketing – but in this case, it truly fits), our clients know what their leads are doing and when they are doing it – and most importantly WHO their leads are. After installing the snippet of Net-Results code onto our clients’ websites, I have been amazed, intrigued and slightly addicted to the intelligence.

Until a visitor has completed a specific information-seeking activity, my best intelligence is the IP address’ company name, duration on site and pages viewed. But, once I have associated a lead’s name with an IP address by virtue of an email campaign or a completed form on the website, my insight into the lead’s activities is amazing. If you aren’t doing this – then you are truly missing out on what could amount to numerous opportunities for new leads and sales.

I can see when and what the prospect viewed plus analyze their visit trends over time. As a nice bonus, I can also set alerts so I receive an email a notification when a specific lead is on the site. The beauty of the intelligence is not limited to email campaigns and leads captured through online forms. I have recently found that integrating it with an outbound calling campaign adds a level of detail and granularity that data-freaks (like me) have long desired.

Here’s how it works: The outbound call company/appointment setting service sends me a list of prospects with verified names and email addresses of people they’ve talked to who are interested in our clients’ information or in learning more about their products. I load this list into Net-Results and associate it with a follow-up email. I also set an alert so I will know anytime one of these prospects visits our clients’ sites. I can then view the campaign’s stats and alerts to tell the outbound call company how they did, who might be interested in an additional call, if anyone downloaded a PDF, etc.

Talk about threading the needle!

Unlike those clumsy, ill-timed, generic follow-up calls and emails of years past, I now have amazing insight and data regarding each lead’s site visit and level of interest. And we can now have more data on effectiveness of certain call campaigns because we can see who is taking action after they hang up the phone and get the follow up email. I can use this knowledge about pages visited and documents downloaded to help the call company tweak the script or offer. Furthermore, when a member of the internal sales team or the outside call company follows up with one of these leads, he or she can reference products and services specific to the lead and site visit. The call becomes much more targeted, efficient and effective as a result of this intelligence.

I know in this ultra-chaotic and oftentimes impersonal online world, nothing beats customization and relevance. How great is it to provide this personalization by intelligently using an online demand generation tool? You decide.

Elizabeth Sklaroff is an Account Manager with Access Marketing Company, specializing in B2B marketing strategy, tactics and execution. With a combined sales and marketing background, she is focused on ways to help clients bridge the gap between the two disciplines to get better results more efficiently and cost-effectively. With the help of Net-Results, Elizabeth manages comprehensive marketing, lead gen, lead nurturing and reputation management programs for a variety of clients. Elizabeth uses Net-Results in her day-to-day activities to develop leads, facilitate the sales cycle and promote loyalty and referral opportunities. To contact Elizabeth with questions about how she’s leveraging web intelligence, marketing automation and demand generation to drive results, email her at elizabeth “@” accessmarketingcompany.com.

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The Pipeline is Starting to Dry Up. Do You Know Where Your Leads Are?