In our previous post, we discussed some basic lead qualification measures, including using a combination of explicit and implicit factors to determine your best leads. Now, lets take a closer look at a particular aspect of implicit lead qualification – judging interest versus intent.
This is how you being to separate the leads that are in the research phase, and may require more nurturing, from the leads that are sales ready and need to be called on immediately. The standards are going to be different for every company, but you should start to develop a system based on the types of collateral that you offer. Most companies have a variety of conversion opportunities and marketing materials available to potential customers, including items like white papers, webinars, case studies and contact forms.
Things like white papers or time spent browsing on the site would be early indicators of interest. This person is starting to learn about your industry and becoming familiar with the benefits of your product. They may not be ready to enter the sales process yet and bombarding them with aggressive sales calls could turn them off to your product. When you have a new lead that is showing a tentative interest in your product, place them on a nurturing campaign to help them along in their education process.
Intent occurs when the prospect ‘raises their hand’ and shows specific buying activity when interacting with your materials. This can be in the form of viewing a very specific case study, filling out a contact form, reaching out to you with a question or signing up for your free trial. These people already understand the benefits of your product and they want to know if you’ll be the right fit for them. They were probably already on your radar; Perhaps you met them at a trade show, they previously downloaded some of your materials or you’ve been nurturing them along the way. These are the people that you should assign to your sales representatives immediately, even indicating with a note that they are ready for quick follow-up. The sales team can then use the tracking data you’ve gathered to craft the targeted call that will tell your prospect that this is going to be a the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Remember, these factors are unique to your company and your sales cycle. In some cases, a white paper might be a great sign of buying behavior. You can start to determine the right indicators for you by using your marketing automation data to look for patterns in past successes and using those as a starting point for identifying your best leads.
