by: Joseph Mann
In a recent post I pontificated on the importance of having a systematic approach to lead generation by employing a formal lead scorecard to qualify leads prior to sending them on to the sales team.
With only 50% of respondents in a survey this year by VisionEdge saying they have a process in place to track the market share growth they are trying to attain, I realized that starting with the lead scorecard was like putting the metrics cart before the strategy horse: we should first have a good picture of what demand we want to create before we try to score it. After all, whether you have a tracking process or not, how can you determine if your demand creation initiatives have been successful without some tangible pre-determined target to hit?
I thought about devising my own tool to assist in this, but then remembered a widget I came across during MarketingSherpa’s BtoB Lead Generation Summit a few years back — a simple marketing lead calculator created by one of the Summit’s well-known speakers, Mac McIntosh. While its parameters may not exactly fit every business, the fact that its stupid simple and free — two of my favorite points in any tool — make Mac’s calculator a must-have in my planning arsenal.
The third piece of a systematic, closed-loop approach to lead generation is a lead nurturing process — but that’s a topic for another post…
Original Post: http://marketingroi.blogspot.com/2006/06/dont-put-metrics-cart-before-strategy.html
