All Leads Aren't Created Equal

When it comes to lead generation and cultivation, prioritization = better chances for success. Why? Because not all leads are created equal. That doesn’t mean that all leads aren’t important – it’s just that they’re not equally important. And when businesses try to treat all leads equally, the result is usually an ROI for lead generation efforts that leaves you less than satisfied.

Here’s another way to look at the matter of lead cultivation. Let’s say that you got engaged earlier this year, (congratulations!), and your parents have announced they would like to throw you an engagement party. When Mom asks for the guest list, you and your spouse-to-be probably won’t invite every last Facebook friend or LinkedIn connection. Instead, you’ll narrow down the guest list to your family members, close friends and key co-workers. Why? Because you have a limited amount of space and budget for the party, so you have to prioritize.

During the party, while you’ll make an effort to give at least a little bit of attention to every guest, you’ll probably tend to focus on a select group: your best friend who flew in from Alaska, your Aunt Mabel who showed up at all 597 of your soccer games, your boss who missed her kid’s baseball tournament to attend. Why? You have a limited amount of time to invest between the beginning and end of the party, and you have to prioritize how it’s spent for maximum ROI. In other words, you want to make sure that Aunt Mabel, your best friend, and your boss all feel good about their own investment of time and money in attending your party.

Lead generation should be handled the same way. Just like prioritization paid off when you planned your engagement party (Your boss gave you a bonus and Aunt Mabel added you to her will!), it will also help you achieve better ROI for the efforts invested into your sales strategy. Prioritization will also help you sidestep a mistake made by many businesses: selling (or marketing or advertising) to “Everyone”.

Consumer businesses tend to be the most susceptible to this strategy misfire, but B2B brands can fall into this faulty way of thinking, too. The fact is , “Everyone” is not your customer. “Everyone” isn’t interested in your business, no matter how awesome it is-and even if they were, the budget and manpower that’s required to market to “Everyone” is beyond reach of just about every business on the planet, unless you’re McDonald’s.

When it comes to streamlining your lead generation and cultivation activities, ranking and prioritization can help you free up resources while enjoying a better marketing ROI. Find out more about the predictive analytics that goes into lead prioritization here.