On the journey from suspect to sale, the jump from lead to opportunity is perhaps the most challenging. Keeping sales leads alive is a vital part of the sales and marketing process. This presentation is in 3 sections: 1. Why do sales leads fail? 2. How to nurture leads so they are sales ready 3. What are the benefits of lead nurturing? Further Knowledge Books, White Papers, Videos and Blogs are available from our website, www.scisalesgroup.com

1. How to keep your sales leads alive

2. On the journey from suspect to sale, the jump from lead to opportunity is perhaps
the most challenging.
Keeping sales leads alive is a vital part of the sales and marketing process.
This presentation is in 3 sections:
1. Why do sales leads fail?
2. Tools, Timing and Techniques
3. What are the benefits of nurture and recycling?
How to keep your sales leads alive
“ ”
•
•
•

3. Here’s the 3 main reasons that leads fail...
Why do sales leads fail?
“ ”
•
BANT – Budget, Authority, Need & Timescale
Management
Follow-up

4. BANT: Before a lead can become an opportunity it needs to have Budget,
Authority, Need and Timescale.
Most leads have just Authority and Need, but without Budget and Timescale they
are left ‘in limbo’ and eventually fall into the Sales Gap.
Why do sales leads fail?
“ ”
•
•

5. Management: Bad management to be precise. In many firms, there’s no formal
process to manage change and a lot of confusion over who controls sales leads.
Why do sales leads fail?
“ ”
Source: B2B Marketing magazine, 2011 n = 228
•

6. Why do sales leads fail?
“ ”
Follow-up: Or lack of follow-up. A staggering amount of leads are not progressed,
yet they could be kept alive through recycling and nurture.
Source: Sirius Decisions, 2011
•

7. Tools, Timing and Technique
“ ”
Before deciding on the best method, let’s examine the most effective tools.
Surprisingly, both Marketing Executives and Buyers agree on the two best.
•
Source: B2B Marketing magazine, 2011 n = 228
SCi Sales Group, 2012 n = 200

8. Contact too frequently and buyers get annoyed, don’t call on time and they search
elsewhere. Timing is crucial and best left to the experts.
•
Tools, Timing and Technique
“ ”
200 Buyers were asked the following question:
“After a call about an exciting product, you ask the
supplier to call back. If they don’t call, when do you
search for alternative suppliers?”
200 Buyers were asked the following question:
“How frequently would you like your major suppliers
to stay in touch with you?”
Source: SCi Sales Group, 2012 n = 200

9. Tools, Timing and Technique
“ ”
Just a few points worth mentioning...•
Your programme needs to...
a)be part of a multi-channel, integrated campaign
b)include scoring to escalate leads
c)preferably include content marketing
Content Marketing and Lead Scoring are not part of this presentation.
Please view our separate PowerPoint (bit.ly/ghkjhkj) or video (bit.ly/jgjhg)
Now, let’s examine the techniques to keep your leads alive...
i)Lead Nurturing; for lead generation longer than 30 days
ii)Lead Recycling; for re-engaging dormant leads in your pipeline

10. Tools, Timing and Technique
“ ”
= Client activity
= SCi Sales Group activity
A sample lead nurture campaign. Note the content on days 5, 9, 16, 22 and 28.•

11. Now let’s take a look at lead recycling. The dormant leads are re-engaged,
nurtured if necessary, and handed back to your Sales Team as re-qualified leads.
•
Tools, Timing and Technique
“ ”

12. What are the benefits of nurture and recycling?
“ ”
Lead Nurturing
i) Maintains momentum ready for the lead to be qualified
ii) Sustains contact if the lead is put on-hold
iii) Ensures leads that drop to becomes prospects are re-engaged
Lead Recycling
i) Re-engages pipeline that might eventually be lost
ii) Gathers further sales and marketing intelligence
iii) Identifies leads that might need nurturing

13. Conclusion
“ ”
Why do sales leads fail?
a) BANT: Leads are not qualified and fall into the sales gap
b) Management: 65% of firms have no formal process to manage leads
c) Follow-up: 80% of leads are not followed-up
Tools, Timing and Techniques
i) Buyers & Sellers agree email and telemarketing are best tools
ii) Timing is critical, leave it to the experts
iii) Nurture and recycling are effective when combined with scoring and content
What are the benefits of nurture and recycling?
1) Nurture incubates leads until fully BANT qualified
2) Recycling re-engages dormant leads

14. www.scisalesgroup.com
Established in 2002, SCi Sales Group began life as a
B2B telemarketing agency and has grown to become a
leading sales acceleration specialist within EMEA.
We have added other offline/online marketing tools to
our portfolio, and can act as an outsourced extension of
your sales force or a supplier of insourced sales talent.
For further information, please visit our website or sign-
up to our newsletter – www.scisalesgroup.com/contact