…in 2009 Bungled Sales Success
In 2009 67% of respondents froze or reduced their marketing spend; a 2010 budget thaw reduced this number to 27.5%
BOULDER, CO – July 14, 2010 — CSO Insights announces the release of their annual Lead Generation Optimization report-2010 Lead Generation Optimization Key Trends Analysis (LGO). Key findings show that the fallout from freezing or reducing marketing budgets in 2009 reported by 67% of respondents contributed to an ugly year for sales performance as reported in the February Sales Performance report. With 72.5% of firms increasing their marketing budgets this year, how will those funds be most effectively invested?
Over 635 firms took the 2010 LGO study. Of these, 63% were small firms (< $50M in revenues), 22% were medium-sized companies ($50M to $500M in revenues), and 15% were large enterprises (>$500M in revenue). Initial survey questions were designed to surface the lead generation priorities companies had for 2010. The survey also assessed how marketing budget allocations had been changed to achieve companies’ strategic marketing objectives. The top priorities this year are increasing customer acquisition (91.2%), increasing brand awareness (54%) and optimizing cross-selling and up-selling (41.2%).
Based on quality and quantity of leads, respondents selected their top three lead generation programs:
1. Email marketing topped the list again, as in 2009, but moved up in the percentage of responses from 59% a year ago to 62% this year;
2. Live events and tradeshows moved to number two with a 45% response; and
3. Web site registrations moved up from number four last year, to number three.
Social media broke into the top 10 of lead generation programs. And new media (blogs, podcasts, mobile marketing, etc.) while getting a fair amount of hype, have not moved up the list from a year ago.
Data deterioration dealt its biggest blow in 11 years to lead generation campaign success. An example of this was that only 8% of the firms surveyed reported the currency and correctness of their prospect data was >90%—responding to this challenge, 50% of respondents are increasing investments in data management this year.
“Of companies that are achieving above-average results from their lead generation efforts, we found five critical factors that contributed to their success,” said Jim Dickie, managing partner. “We present these findings in the report so companies can see what their peers are doing to improve their lead generation performance.”
A first in the history of this study, over 50% of the firms now have processes in place to track campaign ROI. A key part of determining ROI is the ability to track leads by source via a CRM system. With over 75% of all sales organizations leveraging CRM today, marketing can see into the life cycle of the leads they are generating. The top three ROI criteria are:
1. Total number of leads generated per campaign,
2. Number of leads that convert to sales opportunities, and
3. Amount of revenue ultimately closed from those opportunities.
Get the full report at the 2010 Lead Generation Optimization report web page or email Laura Andrus at Laura.Andrus@csoinsights.com.
About CSO Insights
CSO Insights (http://www.csoinsights.com) is a sales effectiveness research firm that specializes in measuring how companies are leveraging people, process, technology, and knowledge to improve the way they market and sell to customers. For 16 years, CSO Insights’ surveys of over 10,000 sales effectiveness initiatives have been the standard for tracking the evolution of how the role of sales is changing, revealing the challenges that are impacting sales performance, and showing how companies are addressing these issues.
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• To interview Jim Dickie, please email Jim.Dickie@csoinsights.com or call 303-521-4410.
• To obtain a PDF copy of the full report, please email Teresa Acosta at Teresa.Acosta@csoinsights.com.
• Tag: lead generation, sales effectiveness
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