Where are my leads?
Many senior sales executives are still looking for a predictable flow of leads at the end of a lead acquisition and nurturing “funnel.” And while many marketers have been struggling with expectation settings around predictable lead delivery for more than a decade, their sense of panic and angst around this issue has risen to alarming levels.
So what’s going on?
First of all, the funnel metaphor is broken. People no longer make buying decisions in a linear fashion. Second of all, people no longer listen to companies, but instead they turn to advise from their peers, friends, and other users of those products. Third of all, the potential number of choices they can have in their product consideration set is much larger than it ever was before, and the information sources that can get products into a buyers consideration set has grown exponentially.
A new study published in McKinsey Quarterly (requires subscription) reports that 2/3rd of touch points in a buyer’s active evaluations process are now consumer-driven marketing touch points: user generated reviews, word of mouth, and in store interactions. Only 1/3rd of the touch points are still company-driven. DID YOU HEAR THAT? You still control 1/3rd of the touch points!
So how should you think differently about lead generation?
First of all, ditch the funnel concept, and educate sales why the funnel no longer works. Second of all, make sure that there is uniformity among all the different customer touch points that you control: in-store display, packaging, attitude of your customer service department, online product information, educational information, etc. Third of all, position yourself to be findable for when customers can be influenced during their buying cycle – and in many cases that includes post sales as well.
One of the best things to happen to marketers is that most buyers leave a digital trail as they move through their journey. When they ask friends on twitter, you can see it. If they ask peers in communities, you can see it. And when they read or contribute to online reviews, you can see it if you want to.
You just need to make sure that you are there and generally helpful when those interactions happen. You also need to make sure that your branded content can travel as part of word of mouth, not just sit idle on your site. As the McKinsey Quarterly study says, you need to give prospects reasons to switch to you instead of excuses to stay with what they have – and you need to make it super easy for them to progress through their buying cycle.
I know: easier said than done. I am hoping that in the next few weeks we can expand on some of those concepts with some real case studies.
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July 21st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
This post is spot-on, particularly: “People no longer make buying decisions in a linear fashion.” It would seem that this is a strong argument for really good measurement of “unstructured data” as well as for analytics that may not have been invented yet.
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Uniformity among the touch points you control is a must. It makes life so much easier on your customers and therefore you. It saves your company a lot of frustration and from having to do a lot of cleanup work later on. Great post!
July 26th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I agree with Robin, this post is ’spot-on’. The points you make here, ‘You just need to make sure that you are there and generally helpful when those interactions happen. You also need to make sure that your branded content can travel as part of word of mouth, not just sit idle on your site’ are so very true.
A great article.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Hey Francois,
I really see this shift more and more these days. The problem is that quantifying any ROI on “being there when you are needed” is REALLY REALLY hard. I don’t disagree that this is the way things are going, but man it’s hard to justify a budget for doing it. Any strategic marketing worth a crap has a specific, measurable goal in mind…and I know personally that you think the same way (or at least used to
Do you have any suggestions on metrics for figuring out the “hard values” of these types of strategies?
September 5th, 2009 at 5:13 am
[...] Gossieaux says the old “funnel” metaphor is broken, and points us toward solutions in Where Are My Leads? at Emergence [...]
September 30th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
[...] So now that we have companies with real bad habits and a platform of participation called social media that allows people to talk to other people in conversations that are truly reciprocal – it is no wonder that 2/3rds of all buying decisions are made based on information not coming from the company selling the… [...]
July 25th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
actually, lead generation takes some to time to build up. you just got to be patient.,`~
July 21st, 2009 at 12:06 pm
New blog post: Where are my leads? http://bit.ly/8qozn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
July 21st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Where are my leads?: Many senior sales executives are still looking for a predictable flow of leads at the end o.. http://bit.ly/16HQON
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:34 am
is the funnel dead? http://bit.ly/3wSTfA i say not yet
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
August 6th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Where are my leads? http://bit.ly/8qozn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
August 29th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
New blog post: Where are my leads? http://bit.ly/8qozn now
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:39 am
McKinsey study shows companies today only control 1/3 of customer touchpoints in a buying process: http://bit.ly/16goxc
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:47 am
Where are my leads and how can I stay in front of them: http://bit.ly/16yYEU
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:08 am
Good post from Emergence Mktg on leads and how buying decisions are made:http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2009/07/21/where-are-my-leads/
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:09 am
Good post from Emergence Mktg on leads and how buying decisions are made: http://bit.ly/8qozn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Where are my leads? f/@fgossieaux http://shar.es/1njwq. Funnel starts w/ qualified leads (interest, need, $). Lead Gen/Nurture=Mktg Pipeline
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 4th, 2009 at 4:41 am
Where are my leads? http://bit.ly/42NEiy Consumer decision making is changing. From Emergence #Marketing.
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 4th, 2009 at 8:14 am
If you were wondering where your sales leads were http://bit.ly/8qozn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 5th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Twenty-five cent cigars? LOL! When was that quote made? In Ought Six?
This comment was originally posted on Maximum Customer Experience Blog
September 5th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Friar,
Hahaha. Right after the stock market crashed last year.
No, probably in the 1920s or 30s. The Algonquin Round Table was mostly a product of the 20s, but of course I have no idea whether he said it while sitting down to lunch. He was a well-known writer both before and for at least a decade after that. I love what an upside-down observation it is!
(Hope you checked out the thank-you from Curtis Steiner at ChangeOrder, you’d like it—it made me want to sit down and do one… or lie down ’til the feeling passes, not sure which… )
Regards,
Kelly
This comment was originally posted on Maximum Customer Experience Blog
September 5th, 2009 at 8:31 am
By the way, I like the guy’s pants in the video. Geez, look how high the belt is. Purt-near halfway up to the armpits.
That was all the rage in 1960, I guess.
Which explains why today’s seniors dress the way they do.
This comment was originally posted on Maximum Customer Experience Blog
September 5th, 2009 at 8:35 am
True—they haven’t adopted a style, just never changed the one they had.
Isn’t that clip a kick? BTW you can see the whole show on YouTube, just search for 1/4 and start there. It’s superb. What a mind Rod Serling had. Wish there were more of him in the world!
Until later,
Kelly
This comment was originally posted on Maximum Customer Experience Blog
September 5th, 2009 at 8:36 am
1/3…
whatever…
This comment was originally posted on Maximum Customer Experience Blog
September 5th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I like the vocabulary too (remnants of the 1940’s).
“Don’t get wise with me, see? Why, I oughta pound you. Don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes, see?”
Howcome no one actually TALKS like that? (You’d think some Octogenarians would, but you never hear them).
Maybe it’s only “Movie Talk”.
This comment was originally posted on Maximum Customer Experience Blog
September 6th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
New blog post: Where are my leads? http://bit.ly/8qozn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 6th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Wow – what a great roundup! Excellent.
This comment was originally posted on Maximum Customer Experience Blog
September 7th, 2009 at 10:56 am
See Gossieaux’s blog at http://bit.ly/8qozn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 8th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Where are my leads? http://ow.ly/o4M5
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
New blog post: Where are my leads? http://bit.ly/8qozn
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
September 10th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Where are my leads? http://bit.ly/kent460
This comment was originally posted on Twitter