Technology

Driving Lead Volume and Investment

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In part one of our two-part article series around lead generation, we will explore a framework to drive lead volume and investment. Part two will expand upon lead attribution diving deeper lead management process and governance.

Lead generation investments, along with AI/analytics and marketing automation, are two of the top three marketing investment areas for 2022. Overall, 79% of organizations are increasing or significantly increasing marketing spend in 2022. (Source: Alexander Group’s 2021/2022 Sales Pulse Survey). In order to fill the funnel with high-quality leads, organizations need to ensure they have the “right mix” of lead sources. This is a key concern for organizations as they determine how to invest in the lead generation engine.

Organizations are identifying leads from a variety of different sources:

Marketing
Sales team/sellers
XDR resources
Channel organization

However, the efficacy of the lead sources varies on two key factors: Product Attributes and Selling Motion.

Technology - selling motion-chart- alexander group, inc.

Innovative Offering with a New Logo

If the product is innovative and represents a new solution or product category where budgets have to be created (as opposed to leveraging existing budgets), the lead generation efforts primarily lie with the sales team supported by marketing efforts. A product evangelist is responsible for creating excitement in the marketplace about the new products and solutions. They partner with the marketing organization to drive value messages, but the ownership lies with the sales team.

Innovative Offering with an Install Base

Account-based marketing can be incredibly effective in driving lead volume within the existing install base. The sales team has already landed the customer and therefore established contacts and relationships. Targeted messaging efforts will reach the right buyers/decision-makers and open the door for the salesperson along with the XDR to have conversations about the new offering.

Standard Offering with New Logo

This is a multi-channel approach to driving leads and the mix will be determined by an organization’s strength of their channel program, as well as the amount of time that sales reps need to prospect to identify and qualify opportunities. Leveraging the channel organization to its fullest capacity for driving lead volume coupled with the sales team’s prospecting efforts, (which shouldn’t exceed 15% of their available sales time based on Alexander Group’s center practice) will determine the additional lead volume necessary for marketing and XDRs to deliver.

Standard Offering with Existing Accounts

Typically, a salesperson will take the lead in current accounts due to existing relationships. However, an emerging trend is to leverage account-based marketing efforts and XDR teams particularly in enterprise accounts to drive cross-sell opportunities with either new offerings or within new buying centers.

Leveraging this framework and criteria for understanding where to focus lead generation efforts will help inform demand generation investments on a go-forward basis.

In the second part of this series, we future explore lead attribution.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Alexander Group can help your organization, contact the Alexander Group Technology team.

Learn more about Alexander Group’s Technology practices.
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