• Align and Integrate with Your Sales Team's View of Deal Creation
• Audit Your Lead Management Process
• Implement or Update a Lead Scoring System
• Make Sure Your Systems are Integrated Properly
• Clean Data Closes More Deals

 

Marketing teams are always looking for warys to maximize pipeline, close more deals, and increase efficiency in your processes. To create a simplified and effective marketing demand funnel, follow these 5 secrets formulated by the BDO Digital Demand Generation Group:
 

1. Align and integrate with your sales team's view of deal creation

Make sure your sales' definitions align with a joint view of how deals are created. If you don't align your funnel's definitions with those of your sales team, your work will be in vain. 

• Get your Sales team’s Buy In.
• Put yourself in their shoes. Think, “What’s in it for Them?”
• Remember, your goal is building consensus with the sales team that this demand funnel represents their world of converting leads into deals

 

2. Audit Your Lead Management Process

Having a clear, agreed-upon process will help fill pipeline faster and close more deals quicker. An effective audit is a detailed review of your sales process including everything from staff to software to strategy. Audits identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. Here are some questions to ask during an audit:
 

• Do sales and marketing have a shared definition for each step of the demand generation funnel?
• Are the right leads getting to your salespeople at the right time?
• Do you have agreed-upon criteria forwhat constitutes a sales-ready lead?
• Is sales closing the loop on next steps for each lead?
• Are you nurturing the leads sent back?
• Are your forms, nurture flows, and automations/workflows up to date?

 

3. Implement or Update a Lead Scoring System

If you have a lead scoring model in place, take some time to review the positive and negative triggers to make sure they align with your current marketing and sales ecosystem. Does your team still use lead scoring rules in their sales and marketing process? Do the associated triggers need to be updated or removed? Do you find that you need to override the automated scoring often?

If you do not already have one. Lead scoring models can be as simple or complex as your organization requires, and even a simple model is a huge benefit to your sales and marketing teams.

Considerations:

• Do positive and negative triggers align with your current strategy?
• Is your team using lead scoring rules in sales and marketing processes?
• Do the associated triggers need to be updated or removed?
• Do you find that you need to override the automated scoring system often?

 

4. Make Sure Your Systems are Integrated Properly

Improperly integrated systems can be a huge strain on your organization. Missing data, disconnected data, incorrect data, and manual intervention are all symptoms of a disconnected system. Visibility into your entire tech stack is foundational for sales and marketing success.

Review your tech ecosystem to see if there are sync errors, field-mapping issues, or reporting gaps. Knowing what you don’t know will provide a roadmap of what work to do for the rest of the quarter (or year).
 
Symptoms of a Disconnected System

• Missing data
• Incorrect data
• Manual intervention

Items to Review

• Sync Errors
• Field Mapping Issues
• Reporting Gaps

  

5. Clean Data Closes More Deals

Your CRM is the heart of your organization’s success. Do you trust the data in your CRM to provide your organization with a clear idea of what works, what doesn’t, and what is missing? Can you see where your leads are coming from, and what is contributing to closed deals?

If not, it’s time for some spring data cleaning. Here are some ways to clear out the clutter and ensure your team is working on the right prospects.

Review Your Data:

• Cleansing
• Normalization
• Appending
• Segmentation
• Deduplication

 

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