“If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.”
How true this is. But aren’t you glad this isn’t true in marketing? Even if you’re an old duffer you can still learn better ways to create the number one thing all salespeople crave: qualified leads.
A friend of mine, Dan McDade of PointClear said, “Most golfers would be very happy if they shot par (.5% do, only 20% of all golfers consistently shoot under 100). So the vast majority of golfers never break 100 – and while they are not very satisfied with that result – it does not stop them from playing.
Measurement of satisfaction around the creation of qualified leads in most companies is just like the average golf scores. A very low percentage would be graded as par while the vast majority of companies would have handicaps over 28. That is because of:
- A cost per lead mentality
- Poor conversion from marketing leads to sales leads
- Poor close rates
- A total lack of communication between marketing and sales
The result is that the problem isn't fixed.
The fix is: improve the drive by providing sales with leads that actually meet an agreed upon definition; step-up the approach shot by measuring acceptance and qualification of marketing generated leads; and, cut down on putts per round by measuring the percent of sales qualified leads that close.
In average companies just 2.89% of marketing generated raw leads ever make it to a closed won deal. In optimized companies the results are over five times better. So, do you want to be an
Thanks Dan...there will be more "Golfing Wisdom" in the coming weeks.
