In The Black Report™, our global study on sales lead generation, marketers selected digital lead generation as their top lead generation channel, while salespeople selected outbound telesales as their top channel. We say they’re both right, but the important question remains: how do you turn digital traffic into real bona fide sales leads? The key is to integrate the digital leads into a full lead generation strategy.
Here are three things to think about:
Keep score
Not all sales leads are created equal. Many companies have great website traffic, visitor engagement and repeat visitors that could all be considered warm leads. Developing specific scoring criteria on what is and what isn’t a lead can be the difference between salespeople wasting their time and investing it against real prospects. Your scorecard should include site visits, fill forms, download requests, webinar participation, and more. The lead scorecard for each company will differ, but not having one means there is no benchmark for determining what you classify as a sales-ready lead.
More qualified traffic means more qualified leads
Digital advertising campaigns for a client of ours in the B2B category have been setting user engagement records on LinkedIn and industry websites. The click-through rates are frighteningly good, but these numbers mean absolutely nothing on their own, other than our client and our lead generation team get bragging rights. These clicks all link to a very specific call to action, linking to lead scoring and eventually, the wider lead generation program.
Now what?
While every company and campaign is different, an action we often take is to put the B2B digital sales leads into an outbound calling program. Don’t just let these leads sit in a list that keeps piling up. Instead, make contact when the scorecard says it’s time. But don’t be too aggressive or premature with any outbound contact—you only have one chance to make your second impression count! Set the expectation of contact in advance via your digital call to action. Whether it is a phone call, an email, or a social media post, ensure that the prospect knows they will be hearing from you soon.
If you’d like to learn more about how we drive ‘insane CTRs’ to convert digital traffic into qualified sales leads, contact us.