I always talk about the need to finely target and qualify leads before they even get into the lead generation funnel. This means using the right demographic and behavioral elements. They help you weed down the universe to the mighty few prospects that we can actually call “leads”.

As the prospect progresses through the funnel and becomes a warm lead, then what? What’s the best way to qualify leads before passing them along to sales?

I read an article by Dan McDade, who is an expert on lead generation. I want to share his words with you, along with some Lead Generation Tips of my own.

The more leads you give to sales, the less likely they’ll be followed up on

Sales is conditioned to not follow up on marketing’s leads. Why? Because they’ve been burned. They receive hundreds of so-called leads generated through trade shows, email campaigns, webinars & whitepaper downloads. They have learned that there may be, if they’re lucky, 10% that are qualified. Sales has a quota and they’re not going to spend the hours needed to cull through lists of low-level, so-called leads.

Fewer leads empower sales

Marketing can recondition sales by sending qualified opportunities, as opposed to raw, unfiltered leads. How? If marketing segments, measures, and qualifies, sales will learn to value what marketing sends their way. That translates into more deals and more revenue, and that’s good for sales, marketing, and the company.

When leads are qualified, marketing can do a better job

When marketing takes on the lead qualification role, sales gets in front of more qualified prospects. Which means marketing is able to increase its ROI as leads generated are no longer wasted. Plus the process of qualification helps marketing fine-tune its demand generation programs. If a list generated from a trade show, for example, is only pulling at 5%, Marketing can adjust its investments to maximize the benefits.

So, where do the BEST Leads Come From and what’s the best way to qualify them?

You know that  I am a big advocate of direct mail.  As such, I want to tell you why it is a great medium to drive lead generation.

Why?

• Direct mail pre-qualifies. It is the only marketing medium that gives you true Target-ability. This way you can select and only pay to reach the right audience for your Product. If you are selling expensive HVAC systems to Homeowners, why spend your advertising dollars to reach non-homeowners who won’t quality for credit?
• It allows you to present every benefit of your product or service over those of your competition – the way you want to present it – so it’s consistent with your brand and messaging. This is a chance to strut your stuff before/better than anyone else struts theirs.
• Direct mail delivers. It gets you into your prospect’s home – during the day, evenings and weekends – with no distractions. No other medium gives you this kind of access to your prospects.
• It starts the research. It’s just a fact that direct mail propels purchase groundwork and plays a central role in the purchase journey.

Let’s face it, reaching the right audience with the right offer and the right message is the key to success, because in the end, the only thing that counts is how many quality leads your mailing generates.

Last comment, I would be remiss if I did not remind you that Lead Generation by Direct Mail is not an event, but a consistent planned program, that incorporates testing and tweaking until you know you have it right. Yes, it’s a process but once you have it nailed, it will bring quality leads into your pipeline day-in, day-out.