Why Is There No Follow-Up?
June 16th, 2010 - Posted by Tim Freestone
Sometimes it seems like IT sales professionals treat a full lead pipeline as a security blanket. They like to know it’s there … but they don’t do anything with it. The sense is that just having lead available means the future is secure. After all, they can pursue them anytime they want, right? Unfortunately, leads don’t get better with age – especially the hot ones. Eventually, someone will meet a prospect’s needs, taking away the near-term opportunity and giving another company the chance to turn it into a long-lasting relationship. In the end, a full pipeline actually provides little security, if it isn’t approached with swift action.
Of course, there are other reasons why leads are left dormant. Some sales professionals prefer to chase leads that have big tickets, not recognizing that a small client now can become a big one later. And, every rep has his or her favorite accounts, which provide a consistent flow of revenue with little opportunity for growth. In some cases, fear is involved: nobody wants to chase an opportunity and lose.
To counteract this tendency, the marketing team needs to take action. Start by looking for trends: identify the likely reasons why certain leads aren’t being pursued. Use the data to engage the sales team to understand why they aren’t following up on them. You may gain some interesting marketing intelligence along the way – particularly around lead quality, qualification and prospect time and budget constraints.
By opening a dialogue around why follow-up isn’t happening, consequently, benefits can be found for both the sales and marketing functions. You may learn ways to deliver better leads to the sales team, and the sales team may have to overcome certain internal barriers, or may be alerted to tendencies they didn’t realize existed. The outcome is an increase in marketing effectiveness coupled with improved sales results – a powerful combination in pushing revenue to new heights.
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