4 Marketing Strategies That Can Boost B2B Sales: Study
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Four business marketing strategies can boost business-to-business sales conversion rates by up to 25 percentage points, based on results of a survey Altman Vilandrie released this week.
However, only 15 percent of businesses fully take advantage of them.
Even those that do use the strategies sometimes fail to maximize sales conversions because of a lack of coordination and integration.
The four strategies:
- standardizing lead handoffs;
- employing lead scoring;
- creating detailed customer maps; and
- coordinating between sales and marketing departments.
Researchers polled 190 B2B marketing decision makers at U.S. companies with annual revenues of at least US$100 million. They also interviewed B2B marketers and relied on the industry experience of the firm’s own consultants for the study.
Standardizing Lead Handoffs
Standardizing lead handoffs from marketing to sales would increase marketing qualified lead (MQL) conversion rates by 13 to 17 percentage points, the study found. However, only 35 percent of B2B marketer respondents considered their lead handoff practices highly standardized.
A standardized lead handoff has two components, said Kate Rodriguez, a principal at Atman Vilandrie and coauthor of the study.
First, there is a defined point in the customer journey at which marketing hands off the lead to a sales rep, she told the E-Commerce Times. Second, there is a service level agreement that, for example, requires a sales rep to call a newly assigned qualified lead within a specified number of days.
“Often, the lead handoff isn’t standardized because of a lack of clarity around the process,” Rodriguez said. Companies need to establish the process and clearly define the expectations.
“If marketers and sellers all understood who’s accountable to perform a task,…
