Crowdsourcing Will Improve the B2B Funnel by John Calkins

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CROWDSOURCING WILL IMPROVE THE B2B FUNNEL

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CROWDSOURCING WILL IMPROVE THE B2B FUNNEL

TODAY, MOST OF US HAVE B2B FUNNEL YARDSTICKS. But some are 36 inches. Others are 29 inches. Others still are 43 inches. And some don’t use inches at all. In fact, there is a whole range of yard sticks. The result is that we can’t easily compare what we are doing with what others are doing. Given the ever-increasing complexity of B2B sales, that’s a shame. Worse yet, even within the same company, different people use different units of funnel measurement. Sometimes people start out measuring things one way, and then new people with their own definitions join the organization and the metrics framework changes. Other times, people in one region or business unit measure things one way, and people in that same organization in another region or business unit measure things differently. It’s a mess.

The conversion of a lead to a sale should be universal. But some people, including benchmarking giant SiriusDecisions, call people filling out forms “inquiries.” MEASUREMENT SHOULD BE OUR TRUE NORTH In a sea of sales and marketing intuition and emotion, measurement should be one common thing that grounds us. And for those with great analytics skills or teammates, that may be true for a given campaign. But across the enterprise or between companies? Not so much. Consider how crazy measurement is today. The conversion of a lead to a sale should be universal. But some people, including benchmarking giant SiriusDecisions, call people filling out forms “inquiries.” Most people use the term “lead.” And what is an “inquiry” or a “lead”? Is it everyone who fills out a form? What if someone uses a tool like captcha? What if someone else scrubs out obvious duplicates, incomplete information (like an email address of “Dave.Green”), or clearly bogus information (like a name of “Mickey Mouse”)? What about the tradeshow attendee list? Are those leads? And are they different from attendees who let you scan their badge at your booth? Is it only people with email addresses, as too many marketing automation tools require? KEEP READING ON THE NEXT PAGE >

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CROWDSOURCING WILL IMPROVE THE B2B FUNNEL

You can see the problem. Details are everything. One way to measure “leads” could result in a much larger count than another — and a lower conversion rate. The problem of definitions occurs at every conversion stage. In fact, about the only definition we all agree on is when someone buys something. If you can’t compare what you are doing with what colleagues are doing, how do you really know how good (or bad) things are? You don’t

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you can’t compare what you are doing with what colleagues are doing, how do you really know how good (or bad) things are?

THE CROWD-SOURCED B2B FUNNEL MANIFESTO! For this reason, we need to follow the example of the software industry and develop a free, open-source B2B framework for the funnel. The software industry has had massive success using the idea of developing a free product through a collective effort within a given community. Free open-source products like WordPress, Linux, Apache, and Firefox, to name a few, have benefited hundreds of millions of users around the world. Why an open-source movement? If we all use the same funnel stages and definitions, then comparing notes with others in social forums, at events, and other networking venues will have much more value. Most importantly, by using a consistent framework, across new hires and leadership changes, we will give ourselves the necessary long view to really understand what works, which is crucial given the length of the typical buying cycle, Additionally, if there were a universal set of standard definitions for the funnel, then marketing automation platforms, CRM platforms, and analytics software companies — just to cite a few examples — could plug in the standard terms and make them available as pick lists and dashboards right out of the box. KEEP READING ON THE NEXT PAGE >

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CROWDSOURCING WILL IMPROVE THE B2B FUNNEL

People writing books and blogs, trying to expand our knowledge of lead generation and lead management, could also reference these standard frameworks and add clarity to their writing.

“PERSPECTIVE IS WORTH 80 IQ POINTS.” That is a quote by Alan Kay, a computer scientist, professor, and former Apple fellow. This observation certainly applies to something as complex as B2B funnels. Our collective work on the funnel produces more useful and accurate results than any individual or company could achieve alone. That's the main reason to move forward with crowd-sourced open standards for B2B funnels.

ACCOUNTANTS DO IT. Accountants have adopted standards for reporting revenue and breaking out costs. This approach provides investors with a common language and a universal yardstick for comparing financial performance across companies. Why not similar standards for B2B funnels?

First and foremost, sales teams should undergo an exercise of analyzing those best customers for commonalities. WHY NOT JUST USE THE SIRIUSDECISIONS DEMAND WATERFALL? The Demand Waterfall is a useful tool, but SiriusDecisions would need to make it freely available, including detailed definitions. They would also need to encourage widespread collaboration on improving and expanding the definitions, whether you were a subscriber to their services or not: • To start with, the waterfall metaphor doesn’t make sense. Waterfalls let all the water through, but B2B funnels filter out most inquiries or leads. • Additionally, some of the terms SiriusDecisions uses are imprecise. For example, take “Sales-Accepted Leads.” The term implies that sales glances at the lead in a CRM and decides just by looking at the lead whether to accept it. That may not be what SiriusDecsions intends, but that is what their term implies. KEEP READING ON THE NEXT PAGE >

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CROWDSOURCING WILL IMPROVE THE B2B FUNNEL

• Why is “teleprospecting” necessarily a marketing function? Far more often, it’s a sales function. And what difference does it make which department owns the function? What’s important is accounting for this function in your conversion funnel, right? • Why inbound and outbound inquiries? Why do we care about this distinction? And what is inbound? If someone sees information about your company after searching on Google, isn’t that an “outbound” message? If you do a banner ad on your home page for a new product, isn’t that outbound? The human brain easily filters out advertisements that are not relevant, regardless of whether they are “inbound” or “outbound.” (There is a name for this phenomenon: banner blindness.) So customers are always in control. Even if marketing someday can transmit messages telepathically, won’t that still be outbound? Alternatively, distinguishing between paid and organic lead sources would seem a more helpful distinction. • Why are “teleprospecting generated leads” necessarily less qualified than a “sales generated lead,” as the graphic implies?

First and foremost, sales teams should undergo an exercise of analyzing those best customers for commonalities. • What about “opportunities”? This is a tab in salesforce.com and Microsoft CRM Dynamics and many other CRMs. “Opportunities” is also a term that most sales leaders use, but you won't find it on the latest the SiriusDecisions Demand Waterfall. • SiriusDecisions changed their Demand Waterfall model a few years ago and dropped one of their terms: Marketing-Qualified Lead or MQL. Sadly, many marketers still use “MQL,” despite SiriusDecisions dropping the term. SiriusDecisions (and no doubt their advanced subscribers) must have seen a problem with it. Was an MQL a lead that an inside team phoned and qualified? What if the inside team that followed up was a sales team? How could it be “marketing” qualified? I have a feeling you blackbelts in marketing operations and analytics can cite additional problems. If so, I hope you do. KEEP READING ON THE NEXT PAGE >

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CROWDSOURCING WILL IMPROVE THE B2B FUNNEL

Of course, if this effort encourages SiriusDecisions to lead the open source movement, I’m all for it. They certainly have the credentials and the most to gain.

EXPERIENCE COUNTS, TOO I’ve been fascinated with B2B funnels for a long time. Back in the 90s, some friends and I saw that there were predictable stages in the business buying cycle, and we developed conversion benchmarks we used to build the business case to several technology companies for funding lead generation and lead management investments. We raised tens of millions of dollars in the process. Over time, we created a complex spreadsheet model that forecasted revenue and expense over time from lead generation programs and capabilities, using ever more nuanced conversion benchmarks.

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, there are prospects who have entered your sales funnel and, for whatever reason, decided to go a different direction. In 2000 and 2001, one of those friends (Michael Saylor) and I wrote a book on scalable lead generation. In that book we advocated applying manufacturing principles to lead generation processes to drive continuous improvements. The core idea was that B2B companies could use the predictable pattern of the business buying cycle to map sales and marketing operations to key buyer’s journey stages. Conversion benchmarks were key. My ideas in this blog are just a continuation of that work and experience.

A PATH FORWARD Given that perspective, I would like to ask subject matter experts in B2B funnel metrics in sales or marketing to work with me to develop an open-source framework that everyone can use. I’ve set up a LinkedIn post for discussion and collaboration: B2B Crowd Funnel: Click here. SEE THE FUNNEL ON THE NEXT PAGE >

www.salesstaff.com · info@salesstaff.com · 888-591-8022

CROWDSOURCING WILL IMPROVE THE B2B FUNNEL

I’ve taken a stab at a first pass at the funnel and ask you to join me in refining the model and making it a de facto standard:

Crowd-Sourced B2B Funnel Filter UNIQUE VISITOR

LEAD GENERATION

PAID MEDIA LEAD

ORGANIC LEAD

VALIDATED & ENHANCED LEAD

MARKETING QUALIFICATION

SALES DEVELOPMENT

NURTURED LEAD

FAST LEAD

PHONE-VALIDATED LEAD

PROSPECTING LEAD

OPPORTUNITY

SALES RESOLUTION

SALES-VALIDATED OPPORTUNITY PIPELINE OPPORTUNITY CLOSED-WON OPPORTUNITY