When is a marketing lead really a lead? Once he or she has given you their name or email or phone number? Well, not so fast there. Vince Giorgi at Touch Point City worked a hunch that most of us marketers have (though I wager some of us try to sweep this under that dark corner beneath our file cabinet). We’ve all gotten leads that – when called – turn out to be crap or emails that hard bounce.
In The Big Lie of Lead Generation, Vince reveals the results of an admittedly unscientific survey but they still lead to some uncomfortable realizations among us marketers responsible for lead generation. All this leads him to state something that we should reprint in huge capital letters in our office space:
“A lead isn’t a lead until someone is engaged enough to be honest with you.”
We marketers have work to do. We’re going to need to redouble our efforts to encourage honest exchanges of information that go both ways. Vince advises:
So if you’re in the middle of a lead-generation program, or about to embark on one, here’s a suggestion: Assume that people are mostly going to lie on your landing pages. And then go about your business with the mindset that you’re going to earn their honesty. Over time. By offering great information, interactions and experiences. In other words, great content.
photo credit: JaeYong (via Flickr)
Great post Chris. I agree and have observed countless times that firms struggle with obtaining the “engaged” status you describe.
Frankly because in b2b lead qualification you have got to “earn the right” just to ask the qualifying questions. No easy task since most b2b sales and marketing alignment workshops have increased the number of qualifying data points from 2-3 up to 10-15+ now! And don’t assume that a simple stream of email content will move the qualifying question/answer needle upwards.
But, there is hope and there are proven methods. Hint, multi touch such as trained people to call combined with email and an array of relevant offers…