In almost every discussion around lead management, the question arises as to which metrics are the most important to measure success. Recently, I participated in a Q&A with Craig Rosenberg, author of the Funnelholic blog, in which I highlighted my top three metrics for success, supporting some of the same metrics that were highlighted in a prior post titled, "Memo to the CFO: 3 Lead Generation Metrics that Matter."

It is true that tracking the funnel math (e.g. MQL, SAL, SQL) as SiriusDecisions has so insightfully defined, as well as the related Cost Per Opportunity and Total Pipeline Created analysis, is useful for optimizing your lead management process. As well, ROMI can still be argued to be useful in identifying the financial success of various marketing programs. However, I believe an important component missing from many metrics is the length of time it takes to convert an inquiry into revenue for your organization. Many direct marketers are familiar with the term "revenue velocity" as it is used to identify high-value customer relationships. I recommend putting a new lead-management spin on this to focus on the lead cycle and measuring the Lead Management Revenue Velocity. The following steps can help you achieve this:

- Measure the Time-to-Revenue (TTR) based on the average time it takes you to capture the first initial inquiry through your lead generation campaign to when the first revenue is booked or won. TTR could be in days, weeks, or months depending on the level of granularity you require for your average sales cycle.

- Next, take your revenue generated (or profits) and divide this by the newly calculated TTR to get your Lead Management Revenue Velocity.

- Another variation would be to use ROI instead of revenue, divided by TTR. This would be an indicator of which marketing efforts provide faster ROI than others by normalizing our ROI results and getting us closer to CFO-aligned metrics like net present value.

Of course, there is an argument for limiting our lead management metrics to only those for which we ultimately control, that being inquiries, sales qualified leads and sales opportunities. However, by keeping tabs on the entire lead cycle, we can help spot potential sales and marketing alignment issues, and facilitate cross-team discussions on the best ways to improve the overall lead management process.

Ultimately, I believe that reviewing both TTR and Revenue Velocity can help marketing better report on the overall impact they are having on sales, not just in total opportunities delivered, but by the speed by which revenue is being generated through our lead generation efforts.

And in these difficult economic times, delivering revenue is ultimately the only metric that matters.

Posted by Will Schnabel at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a new study by the DemandGen Report, B2B marketing budgets are shifting to lead generation and lead management solutions in 2009. This is good news, but it isn't exactly new news to me, if that makes sense.

As I now reside in the beautiful, if not somewhat snowy city of London, it's sometimes easy to forget about the critical ills of the U.S. economic downturn. But that all comes to a reflective and introspective pause when I read about company lay-offs, more home foreclosures and the research of financial analysts who predict 2009 will be worse than 2008. Recessionary times require recession-proof marketing approaches. Change is inevitable, and B2B marketers and sales professionals must change with the times.

The days of B2B marketers and sales teams shooting from the hip or using their force-of-will and hard work to close a deal are not over, and I'm not trying to end them. If it works, it works. The point I'm making is sophisticated lead management solutions offer a quantifiable strategy that can be presented to C-suite executives. Today, B2B marketers who don't seek low maintenance, cost effective lead management solutions complete with the proper data and analytics to add measurable value to their business objectives, are missing the mark and are more than likely suffering from rapidly deflating budgets.

As expressed by Craig Rosenberg, vice president, products and services, Tippit Inc., and a lead management industry heavyweight, in a recent blog post: "The economic crisis will be the compelling event that drives lead management and marketing automation from a 'nice idea' to reality. Avoiding waste, generating ROI and being as efficient as humanly possible are the most important themes of 2009 - all themes marketing has been traditionally bad at."

For the remainder of 2009, my goal is to spread the word about the value of lead management. Lead management has redefined the way B2B marketers engage with their customers and prospects, and its time has come to move from the marketing conference rooms to the board room.

Posted by Will Schnabel at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As we all know, marketing greatly impacts the success of a company. Yet, measuring marketing effectiveness has never been easy for BtoB marketers and their bosses. At the beginning and end of the day, C-Suite executives and stakeholder's want to know if budgets are being well spent. This concern lingers even greater over marketing departments who are tasked with tracking data from multiple campaigns and making sure the results are producing a return on their marketing investment.

Perhaps out of desperation or false advertising, many marketers fall prey to thinking lead management solutions that offer dashboard reporting features will track all the important data to secure their place at the table. Unbeknownst to them is the fact that all dashboard reporting features are not created equal. But having a dashboard reporting feature equipped to capture and summarize actionable data and analytics can turn an ordinary marketer into a BtoB Rock Star.

For starters, a good dashboard reporting feature will include insightful marketing information on where demand is generated, as well as graphic summarizations of various, key lead funnel metrics. Also, the appeal of any dashboard reporting feature should be its easily accessible data, which can help build credibility for marketing initiatives from C-Suite executives and strengthen a marketer's ability to keep successful programs fully funded.

Since measurement tools that provide insight into marketing activities and help defend spending are now sought after, I will share with you several must-haves for a dashboard reporting feature and how you can use the data to market to your C-Suite executives.

• Marketing and Sales Qualified Leads
Marketers know neither the hour nor the day when their CMO will want to find out how many qualified leads are in the queue. If your qualified lead tracking device is a spreadsheet, it probably won't tell your C-Suite executive which leads have been qualified by marketing or sales and which have been qualified by both teams. And if the funnel is getting too full, or there is a lack of leads, having real-time information can allow you to adjust ongoing marketing spending to get back on track. This feature can help close the loop between marketing and sales and reiterate the power of integrated metrics, especially when the qualified leads turn into new clients.   

• Top-Performing Lead Sources
Is it the Webinar, the customer conference or the online white paper advertisement that brings in the most qualified leads? A BtoB marketers' livelihood is nestled in knowing where most of his leads are coming from. This information gives marketers the opportunity to effectively evaluate and restructure campaigns to keep from spending energy, time and money on fruitless endeavors. This can keep key executives from chasing certain BtoB trends for too long. 

• ROI by Campaign
C-Suite executives want to know if the e-mail campaign lost money, broke even or turned a profit. This feature can easily help you defend successful campaigns and guide advocates of unsuccessful campaigns to the light. And it can boost employee morale. According to Forrester Research, three out of four marketers say the ability to track marketing ROI gives them more respect in their organization.

Dashboard reports should supplement your hard work and lend credibility to your marketing genius. It should be able to offer features that can easily quantify data so you can benchmark it later and compare trends over time.  And, remember, C-Suite executives don't always care about the granular details, but more so what works, what doesn't and how is it affecting the bottom line.

Posted by Will Schnabel at 4:40 PM | Permalink