How to qualify leads for your sales team

     Are the sales people in your organization not following up on the leads you are providing? This is a common challenge for many marketers. But it’s important to recognize that customer acquisition is a process shaped by both marketing and sales.

     A number of reasons can contribute to sales not taking the leads you are producing seriously. In this section we discuss how you can approach this multifaceted challenge.

Improve Lead Quality

     “It was the quality of the leads that closed deals that I paid attention to,” says David about his experience as a sales person. As many sales people share this sentiment, marketing needs to develop a solid lead scoring system that highlights the quality of the leads.

     Here are a couple of ways in which you can accomplish this:

• Ask Qualifying Questions: The forms on your landing pages are there for a reason. Don’t just collect contact information. Use this opportunity to gather some insights about your leads. For instance, on HubSpot’s forms we try to identify the biggest challenge our leads have.
• Design a Mix of Ofers: Sometimes sales might point out your general offers as the root problem for poor lead quality. Maybe you focus on mainstream pop culture icons rather than industry terminology? Or perhaps your ebooks are too broad and not product-specific enough? Well, that is why you have secondary calls-to-action, such as “Request a Free Quote” or “Sign Up for a Free Trial.” Try to maintain a balanced mix of offers that can help you both expand your top of the funnel and deliver a strong middle of the funnel.

Develop a Scientific Approach

     Even if you have one lead that closes, David says, “use that as your poster child of success.” Talk to sales people about it. “Understand deeply why this one closed and the other ones didn’t,” he adds. That will help you develop a more scientific approach to capturing good leads.

     Source: The ultimate how to marketing guide (HubSpot and David Meerman Scott) e-book