4 Ways To Tell a Lead From an Inquiry
Posted by Jim Monteleone on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 @ 04:46 PM
Content marketing is about generating inquiries and leads. But of course, not every inquiry is a lead.
Nothing kills a marketing program faster than giving raw inquiries to salespeople, when they were promised leads.
With this in mind, if an inquiry has at least one of the following criteria, you can confidently pass it to your sales force as a solid lead:
1. The Prospect is Real -- most salespeople find it hugely de-motivating to screen raw marketing inquiries. For this reason, many firms use a sales administrators or a telesales group to find out if a prospect is a potential buyer, has a budget, etc. The surviving inquiries are genuine leads.
2. There is Pain -- unless there is "pain" that can be resolved with your product or service, it's not a lead, and there will be no sale -- never, ever. The greater the pain, the more likely a sale, and the faster it will be made.
3. Time Is Running Out -- when a project or purchase has to be made soon, the nearer to the purchase date, the better the prospect. At this point, it is not a question of "if", but of "when". Typically, a budget is already set -- all that is left is choosing a viable provider.
4. It's a Referral -- with a referral, half of the sale is already made -- the first half where issues like company integrity, product quality, and dependable delivery are established. With a good referral, the sale is really yours to lose. Referrals should always be flagged, and never included with inquiries.
Because content marketing can generate a stream of inquiries, it's important to qualify them to provide only the best to your sales force. In this way, content marketing can do what it does best -- fuel your sales engine.