All B2B marketers know how important ROI is to the board so they can see the effect marketing has on the pipeline and sales numbers. The connection between marketing and business goals is well recognised, yet according to a new Forrester report only 51% believe their business sees the financial value of marketing. So how can you demonstrate the real business benefit of marketing?
With analytical advancements in recent years marketers are now able to draw on a range of metrics to measure the effectiveness of their activity, but many of these are not focused on the ROI. Surely the most accurate measure will come when a specific sales pipeline value can be assigned to the results, but to achieve this you may have to change your approach to measurement.
Traditionally in telemarketing the number of leads is counted so the result is an arbitrary metric which can not demonstrate any ROI. If you change the metric and instead of counting leads look at the sales value it contributes to the pipeline you are able to demonstrate to the board the real business value of telemarketing. Telemarketing is one of the few marketing activities that is based on a 2-way conversation allowing you to not only introduce your solution but also to gage the prospect’s interest level and size of their potential project. This valuable information allows you to assess the pipeline value of every opportunity generated and only deliver those with the right potential to the sales team. So instead of estimating the number of leads needed to meet a sales target you can provide a measurable sales pipeline value. Something the board can believe in.
The board is right to seek the financial value their marketing department creates and by providing results focused on the sales pipeline generated you will make it much easier to demonstrate this.