Marketing automation is the new sheriff in town; it is a powerful tool that can be used by companies large and small in both B2B and B2C environments to create and qualify sales leads. It messages, it drips, it nurtures, it scores, it works 24 hours a day 7 days a week, it can qualify a prospect, and it will eventually replace the need for sales people. These statements are all true except the last one.
Marketing automation will never be able to replace your sales team for one simple reason; it can’t talk.
Effective marketing automation integrated with a content marketing plan help identify when a prospect becomes sales ready by tracking their interactions with messaging and on-line content. It will also help reveal a prospect’s primary area of interest or needs by reporting the on-line content that they engage with most. Gone are the days of expensive sales resources making cold calls to unqualified prospects with the hope of catching them at just the right time. But MA cannot establish a dialogue with a qualified prospect and move that prospect through
What MA will do is improve lead creation and create more sales ready leads!
When a lead qualified via marketing automation is promoted to a sales person they can immediately initiate a meaningful conversation based on the prospects demonstrated interests and quickly determine if the lead is qualified. They will know how to start a conversation and be able to quickly validate client needs without forcing the prospect through usual fact finding expedition. If a lead is yet fully qualified, the sales person recycles it to continued lead nurturing and focus 100% of their time on high probability targets. This is a much better utilization of your expensive sales resources.
Just like your sales team, marketing automation is an investment in terms of both time and money. Many marketing organization will need to re-man or re-tool existing resources to effectively integrate it into their sales process. While marketing automation can never replace the need for sales people, it is possible to achieve sales headcount reduction by improving the sales efficiency of your top producers. Nothing makes a Sales Rain Maker happier than more leads and bigger commissions!
3FORWARD’s Lead Ready program helps companies evaluate and implement marketing automation into their lead generation programs. If you would like to talk with us about how we might be able to help you please contact us!
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