A worrying third of B2B marketers have questioned their ability to progress only the most appropriate leads through the funnel, according to new research published by B2B Marketing and The Telemarketing Company.
The importance of human interaction in lead qualification was highlighted in the report, which revealed that 30% of organisations have no processes in place for ensuring leads are qualified by human interactions.
This is despite the fact the most common method for following up with qualified leads is sales calls, identified by 55% of respondents.
Jess Pike, editor of B2B Marketing, said: “If marketers aren’t handing leads to sales that have been properly qualified, they’ll reduce the effectiveness and productivity of sales, and ultimately ROI. And it’s definitely clear that there may still be a case for examining the balance between human qualification and automated qualification to ensure the first human interaction a lead gets isn’t from a salesperson.
“Unqualified leads are costly to the sales team, particularly when you think about the kind of conversations that are likely to be considered interruptive or just plain irritating by customers. Having a strategy in place to address the balance between automation and online qualification is vital in ensuring data is being used to maximise revenue.”
