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What’s a Lead? — The Enemy Known as Ambiguity

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Whats a Lead

The difficulties with regards to defining lead classification can be similar to the difficulty in defining sales and marketing roles: there’s not one right answer, and oftentimes, most people assume their definition is shared by everyone else. But again, it’s not. And if you think it is, I encourage you to ask your sales and marketing people what specifically defines a “hot,” “medium,” or “cold” lead. Or perhaps you have just “cold” and “hot.” Or perhaps there are “marketing qualified leads” and “sales qualified leads,” incorporating a scoring system of some kind. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that in order to achieve alignment, each marketing or salesperson should be able to provide those definitions without hesitation. If they cannot do so, the departments are already destined for hard feelings, failure, and the finger-pointing.

Here are two sample sales lead classification systems I hastily put together. Which one is better for aligning sales and marketing (or just sales for that matter)?

Sample A

Cold Lead = Prospect has contacted company, but no additional info is known.

Medium Lead = Prospect has indicated it is actively looking for a solution, but does not have a timeframe for selection.

Hot Lead = Prospect has indicated it is going to make a buying decision within six months.

Sample B

Cold Lead = Prospect is unlikely to buy from our company, but is worth staying in touch with.

Medium Lead = Prospect has a strong interest in our products, but it’s unclear if they have the money to buy.

Hot Lead = Prospect has the money to buy and is making a decision soon.

The correct answer is Sample A. The reason Sample A is better than Sample B is because I’ve removed any subjectivity from my lead definitions. If we were all adhering to the same definitions, there is no possible way a marketer could classify a lead as hot while a salesperson could qualify it as medium. Or one salesperson could classify a lead as medium while another marked it as cold.

Let’s take a look at Sample B. Here we have ambiguity abound. In our “cold” lead definition, what constitutes “worth staying in touch with.” In our “medium” example, what’s a “strong interest?” And finally, in our “hot” example, what’s the definition of “soon?”

Are these the most well-thought out classification systems? Of course not. But they serve to illustrate the point: when it comes to aligning sales and marketing, ambiguity is one of your greatest enemies. As a business, reports are going to be run off of this data. Presumably, decisions will be made and strategies will be adjusted. The best way to prevent Mike the Marketer from punching out Sam the Salesman because he hasn’t closed any of the 20 hot leads he’s been working on – or stop Sam the Salesman pulling out the time-honored classic “that’s not a lead” – is to make sure all parties are speaking the same language.

Remember that the sample lead classification systems above reflect “sales” lead qualifications. A “marketing” lead qualification system may be based on an entirely different system (for example, a “score” based on the number of times a prospect views a particular webpage). At a certain point, the lead becomes ready for sales qualification.

Note: This posting in an excerpt from my free e-book on sales and marketing alingment. Downolad at: http://t.co/M6b4lz7P9W


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