If there’s one painful truth marketer’s must face, it’s this: not all of your leads will convert into revenue. The reality is, there are many factors that may result in leads that fail to convert to bookings or revenue, whether they simply aren’t ready to buy, you lose them to a competitor, they don’t have the budget, or your product or solution just isn’t the right fit.
As marketers, it’s your job to assess the qualities and behaviors that make up a good lead, so you can make sure you’re spending time on the leads that are most likely to convert into pipeline and revenue. Don’t forget, quantity does not equal quality. It’s better to have 10 good leads that are likely to convert, rather than 100 leads of lower quality. Here are a few areas to consider when determining how to prioritize your leads.
Define your ideal customer profile (ICP)
Let’s face it. Not every company will be the right fit for your product or solution. Have they shown a demonstrated need for what you're selling? In most cases, not every industry will be a fit. Likewise, not every country or market will be a fit. Is your product or service available in multiple languages? It’s best to stick to geographic areas that you’re able to support from a language perspective.
Another area to look into with your ICPs is company size. If the average sales price of your product or service is 6-figures (or more), small to medium sized companies may not be able to fit your solution into their budget. Look into average budgets by industry and company size to get a good understanding of the companies that would be the best fit for you.
It’s also important to interview your Customer Success Managers (CSMs) when putting together your ICPs. Just because you’ve had success selling into a certain industry, it doesn’t mean they make a good customer. Lean on the insights from your CSMs and pay close attention to churn, so you can ensure your ICPs are also those most likely to lead to the highest lifetime customer value.
If a lead doesn’t fall into your ICP - industry, company size, budget, and country - it’s likely not worth prioritizing.
Determine persona-fit
Who are your targeted personas? In other words, who are your typical decision makers with purchasing power? These are the best leads to go after, and the ones your sales team are most eager to speak with.
You should also take a look at the job titles of the contacts that are typically attached to your opportunities. While decision makers (typically senior-level executives), are commonly the goal, the entry point into your organization may be through someone at a lower level, like a manager or director. These managers or directors, who are sometimes referred to as champions or advocates, can be just as important and likely to convert to revenue as a senior-level executive.
Persona-fit leads or those with decision making or purchasing power should always be prioritized.
Evaluate journey stage and engagement
So you have a lead that is both an ICP and persona fit with purchasing power - that’s great news! But where are they in the buyer’s journey? As we mentioned earlier - not all leads are going to convert to revenue, because sometimes they simply aren’t ready to buy.
Is your lead still in the research or awareness phase? That signals that it’s too early to reach out, as they are not ready to commit to purchasing a solution. Conversely, leads who are further along in the funnel at the decision-making phase are ready to make a selection and should be prioritized.
Similarly, it’s important to evaluate the engagement of your leads. Let’s say your ICP and persona fit lead came in from a webinar or a whitepaper - what other actions have they taken since? Have they visited high-value pages on your website? Clicked on your ads? Opened your emails? Viewed your product sheets? Understanding whether your leads are engaged, as well as which channels or assets they are engaging with, is key to understanding how ready they are to speak to sales, and how you should prioritize them.
Work Smarter with AI-Based Lead Prioritization Recommendations
It’s possible to leverage AI-powered insights that tell you which leads to prioritize, and how you can optimize your marketing campaigns based on the channels generating those leads. Utilize the top 25, 50, and 100 lead prioritization recommendations of who you should follow up with based on projected win rates. From there, you can easily save these leads to lists to launch accelerator campaigns that will help speed along your revenue generation efforts.
Ready to see RevSure in action? Book a demo today to learn how your team can begin prioritizing leads to maximize revenue.
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