You’ve worked hard to develop compelling content. You've built the most engaging nurture streams possible to escort your prospects through the buyer’s journey. Your leads are growing and people want to talk to you. Everything’s awesome and money is ready to start flowing in, right? Well, no. Not really. Unless you are prioritizing and (dis)qualifying your leads correctly, you could be wasting the time, energy, hopes and dreams of your prospects and your sales team. This session will highlight the do’s, don’ts and maybe’s of lead qualification and help you build better alignment with Sales to make your pipeline more predictable and improve your company's win rate.

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YOU HAD ME AT HELLO!
Best Practices in Lead Qualification
for Inbound Marketers
Michael Freeman
Head of Demand Generation, ShoreTel

2. Fan of hallway commutes and
beautiful views
110% YoY increase in qualified
inbound leads last year
Continued strong growth this year
@spanishgringo
Michael
Freeman

3. 1 Who’s on first?
2 The call
3 Measuring performance
AGENDA

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“Lead qualification is the bridge
between marketing and sales”
– Anonymous

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First, the fine print

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These are my recommendations….
Your mileage may vary depending on many factors

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These are my recommendations….
Your mileage may vary depending on many factors
Take what you can and adapt it as needed

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As good marketers, we like to tinker
with things and make them better

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1 Who’s on first?

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1 Whose line is it anyway?
2 Who you gonna call?
3 To qualify or disqualify, that is the question
Who’s on first?

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It’s not settled where lead
qualification should reside
Who’s line is it anyway?

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For many companies, lead qualifications sits in Sales
(e.g. BDRs at HubSpot)

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For others, lead qualification sits in Marketing
(e.g. MDRs at ShoreTel)

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Most qualifiers reside in sales
Source: The Bridge Group (they’re good at what they do)
Where does the group report?
Sales is 3x more likely than
Marketing to own qualification

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“Inbound-focused” qualifiers are more equally split by dept
Source: The Bridge Group
We’re at Inbound after all, right?
% Reporting to Sales by Focus

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• Role Is clearly defined
• Has agreed upon metrics
• Carries pipeline quota, not a
sales quota
• NOT responsible for closing deals
Whose line is it anyway?
Demand
Generation Lead Qualification
Pipeline
Management
& Closing

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converting

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• Focus on building pipeline
– Better MQL à SQO conversion rates
– Less leakage
• More economical than sales reps
• Proving grounds for future sales reps (in most cases it’s up or out)
• Easier to align with marketing processes and data management
Why have a dedicated qualification rep?

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OK, but which of these awesome leads do you call?

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• Lead scoring is the best route to prioritizing qualification
• Even if you can get to everyone, scoring prioritizes who is called 1st, 2nd, etc…
• I recommend you look at these resources
– Jessica Meher’s presentation from Inbound 2013
– HubSpot User Guide - How to use Custom Lead Scoring
– Infer’s Guide on Predicative Lead Scoring
Who you gonna call?

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Insane Clown Posse
Ideal Customer Profile
The characteristics (demographic,
firmographic, psychographic, and
situational) that identify the “best fit” for
potential customers
If you have clear personas mapped to
performance data you’re ready
Start with your ICP

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– You can always use something to score or prioritize leads
• Take advantage of HubSpot’s lead scoring tools
(Bonus Tip: Make sure HubSpot Score is mapped to SFDC Lead Object)
• Consider Big Data sources to enhance your scoring
Who you gonna call?

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Who you gonna call?
Example of lead view using lead score

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Who you gonna call?
Example of lead view using lead score, source & dates

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Disqualifying not
Qualifying
It’s kind of like, uh, science

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– Lead flow and pipeline management is all about efficiency
• Don’t waste anyone’s time
• Focus where there’s value (i.e. potential sales)
– So, you really are trying to disqualify leads
– Only those that you can’t disqualify continue on the journey
– Your threshold will depend on lead flow and available resources
To qualify or disqualify, that is the question

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Just because you pass judgment on the quality of the
lead, you don’t have the right to act like this guy

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2 The call

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– How did they find you?
– What content have they consumed?
– What pushed them over the edge to become a lead (worth
calling)?
– What does the prospect’s company do and what is their
business model?
– Are their any signals around their likely pain points?
Prepping the call

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– HubSpot Lead Intelligence is your friend
Prepping the call

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Take call prep to 11
Look at the record in HS
Read the HubSpot guide to lead intelligence

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You’ve prepared and are ready to engage,
but don’t go in with guns a blazing

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– Sets the proper expectations
– Changes the context from a pitch to a consultation
– The goal is moving further down the funnel, not closing
Instead, start with the upfront contract

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1. Welcome and thank
2. Reassure them
3. Limit the scope
4. Set next-steps
5. Get consent
The upfront contract

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Listen very carefully to your prospect

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– HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT US?
– WHY ARE YOU CONSIDERING [XYZ] NOW (IMPENDING EVENT)?
– HOW WOULD [XYZ] CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR ORG’S SUCCESS?
– How will you decide which [XYZ] is right for you?
– When do you need a new [xyz] solution?
– TOTAL # OF USERS/EMPLOYEES IN THE COMPANY?
– Who started the search for [xyz]?
– What is your role in the evaluation process?
– HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT US?
– WHY ARE YOU CONSIDERING [XYZ] NOW (IMPENDING EVENT)?
– HOW WOULD [XYZ] CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR ORG’S SUCCESS?
– How will you decide which [XYZ] is right for you?
– When do you need a new [xyz] solution?
– TOTAL # OF USERS/EMPLOYEES IN THE COMPANY?
– Who started the search for [xyz]?
– What is your role in the evaluation process?
Ask, listen and inspect

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– Do their answers fit your ICP?
– Can you find any red flags?
(have 1-3 questions to identify red flags)
– Use their answers to frame
future conversations
– TAKE NOTES!!! (use a template)
Ask, listen and inspect
Not a lake!

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OK, time to clean up
Tie up loose ends, and move on to the next prospect

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– Do you have any follow-up to do’s or requests for info?
• Are you setting up the prospect and sales rep for success?
• Will you provide that information or will the sales rep?
– Does the prospect know what to expect next & When?
– Are the notes complete and available for the Sales Rep?
– Was the record updated correctly in the CRM?
– OK, on to the next call…
The cleanup

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– If the lead is not a fit, document it with a picklist
– Have a reasonable list of reason codes
• Enough detail to provide meaning
• Small enough that it is manageable and not splitting hairs
• We have ~ 10 (e.g. missing feature, no budget, pricing, unresponsive, etc..)
– Is it not now (f/u or nurture) or not ever (purge)?
Clean up the bad leads too…

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1 Prepping the call
2 The upfront contract
3 Ask, listen and inspect
4 The cleanup
The call

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3 Measuring performance

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1 Know your waterfall
2 The workday profile
3 Finding successful behaviors
Measuring performance

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• Understand your baseline for each transition
• Compare with benchmarks
Know your waterfall Inquiries MQLs SALs SQLs Closed
Won
21% 50% 38% 21%
Source: Sirius Decisions & Infer

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• For us, lead qualifiers live by these 2 metrics
• 1st: MQL ! SAL conversion rate
• 2nd: Inquiry ! MQL conversion rate
Focus on the right metric(s) Inquiries MQLs SALs SQLs Closed
Won
21% 50% 38% 21%
Source: Sirius Decisions & Infer

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– Find the optimal # of activities per day
– Estimate staffing requirements
– X hours per day / time per activity = # of activities per day
e.g. 10 min per call ~ 40-45 calls & emails per day
– Benchmark reps to compare:
• Activities per day
• Conversion rates
The workday profile
Read these articles: Marketing math & Team sizing

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• How does call length
improve quality?
• Listen to calls to identify
good & bad technique
• Improve Harry’s
throughput?
• Improve Ron’s quality
filter
Finding successful behaviors
Rep Harry Ron
Calls 260 300
Leads Touched 240 290
MQLs 68 100
SALs 59 65
Lead à MQL 28% 34%
MQL à SAL 87% 65%
Cost per SAL $203 $223

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– Share with your reps
– Discuss opp quality with Sales
– Discuss lead quality with
Demand Generation
– Study why leads don’t convert
Finding successful
behaviors

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“We build too many walls
and not enough bridges.”
– Isaac Newton

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THANK YOU

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QUESTIONS ?

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1 The Shining – Warner Bros.
2 Back to the Future – Universal Pictures
3 Wineglass Marketing
4 Glengarry Glen Ross – New Line Cinema
5 Despicable Me 2 – Universal Pictures
6 Game of Thrones, Fire and Blood (S1E10 for those checking…) - HBO
7 Swingers – Miramax Films
8 This is Spinal Tap - MGM
9 Commando – Fox
10 Radio Array – Wikipedia
11 Mirage – Wikipedia
12 Pulp Fiction – Miramax
13 Yahoo! Sports
14 Drum Circle – Wikipedia
15 Rickety – Wikepedia
16 The Millau Viaduct Bridge, France - stylishandtrendy.com
Photo credits