the 4 ts leadmgtwhitepaper

8/4/2019 The 4 Ts LeadMgtWhitePaper

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GlobalSpec White Paper

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The 4-Ts of Lead ManagementA Practical Guide to Lead Generation and Management Strategies That Get Results

Applying classic marketing fundamentals in the Internet era


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IntroductionFinding new customers is the goal o every manuacturers business-to-busi-ness marketing strategy. Tat means getting the right message in ront o theright target audience to generate quality leads, and then understanding whatit takes to turn those leads into customers.

Te ability to execute marketing undamentals makes the goal o nding newcustomers achievable. Te backbone o traditional marketing has long beenthe 4Ps: Product, Pricing, Placement and Promotion. While these undamen-tals still hold true, the Internet has changed marketing and the undamentalswe apply to it.

In recent years, the technical, engineering and industrial communitieshave migrated to the Internet to locate manuacturers and to search orcomponents and services. New and innovative online marketing tactics nowhelp manuacturers build their brand and nd potential customers online.

Some potential customers are hot and ready to buy while others are longterm and need nurturing. o turn these long term prospects into customers,marketing and sales teams must have disciplined lead management practices.

Tis environment has created the need to complement the classic 4Ps omarketing with a variation called the 4s: arget, actics, ransact and rack.Tis paper will explain these new undamentals. And it will oer practicaladvice to help your marketing and sales teams achieve the lead generationand lead management results that deliver new and satised customers to yourbusiness.

About the AuthorGuy Maser joined GlobalSpec in 2001 and serves as senior vice president omarketing or GlobalSpec, responsible or product development, Web sitetrac and design, media, communications, strategic planning, lead genera-tion and lead management.

Guy Maser brings more than 25 years o experience in marketing, sales,business development and strategic planning to GlobalSpec. He has servedas President and COO o Chinabig.com and Unicom Yellow Pages Ltd. PRC.Additionally, he has held senior executive positions within R.H. DonnelleyCorporation. Mr. Maser attended the Wharton School o Business, Columbia

University Graduate School and Hostra University.


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The GlobalSpec Approach to MarketingEngineering, technical and industrial proessionals regularly use GlobalSpecto actively search or components, products, technical inormation andmanuacturers. Because GlobalSpec users can search or components byspecications and easily access technical inormation, they do not have to sifthrough the entire Internet to nd what they are looking or. For this reasonGlobalSpec is popular and respected by engineers and technical proessionalsworldwide.

For manuacturers, GlobalSpec oers turnkey marketing programs andexpert online marketing advice quite dierent rom the go-it-alonemarketing options that general search engines have to oer. We help youbecome highly visible to, and discovered by, potential customers througha searchable online catalog o your products and services, keyword ads,publishing opportunities, targeted banner advertisements, e-mail marketing,e-newsletters, and more.

Your customers and potential customers are on GlobalSpec. Over 3.5 milliontechnical proessionals are registered on our site, a number that is constantlygrowing. When you get a lead rom GlobalSpec you arent just getting a clickto your Web site. You will know who it is and their area o interest thetype o critical inormation you need to build a relationship and gain a newcustomer.

Te ability to reach potential customers a deep understanding o whatyour technical audience is looking or a marketing model built to deliveryou customers not just clicks and a wealth o practical advice about onlinemarketing this is the GlobalSpec approach to marketing, rened andenhanced over 10+ years o customer development experience. And its whymany manuacturers choose GlobalSpec to be their marketing partner.

GlobalSpec oers turnkeymarketing programs and expertonline marketing advice quitedierent rom the go-it-alonemarketing options on generalsearch engines


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Introducing the 4TsTe 4s are simple concepts that complement the traditional 4Ps o market-ing. Tey can be integrated into every manuacturers sales and marketingprocess without requiring dramatic changes to business processes, invest-ments in expensive sofware systems or wholesale organizational changes.What they do require is a commitment rom sales and marketing to worktogether. Te 4s are:

Target

arget is all about keeping a steady ocus on your audience o engineering,technical and scientic proessionals. arget is knowing exactly who youare going to reach with your marketing. Its believing 100 percent that yourpotential customers behavior, needs and goals will drive your decisions onhow to market, communicate and work with them.

Tacticsactics are the sales and marketing programs and media you use to reachcustomers and potential customers. raditional marketing programs suchas trade shows and print media are still in the mix or manuacturers, buttheir share o marketing budgets is shrinking compared to online tactics.Marketing priorities now include search engine marketing, e-mail marketing,online directories and comprehensive online programs such as GlobalSpecthat provide online options to complement your traditional programs.

Transact

Tis key undamental is the bridge you create between potential customers

and your organization. It is how you begin building the relationship that willresult in a sale. ransact reers to opening a two-way line o communicationwith customers and prospects. Having marketing and sales working togetheris critical to successully manage potential customers throughout the salescycle.

Track

With executives demanding more accountability rom marketing, ew mar-keters can justiy a program whose eective-ness is dicult to measure. Te adage that you

can only manage what you measure is true.Fortunately, it is easierthan ever to trackthe results o manymarketing programsand access data tosupport or shif yourdecision making.

Te 4 s can be integrated intoevery manuacturers sales andmarketing process withoutrequiring dramatic changes to

business processes, investmentsin expensive sofware systems orwholesale organizational changes.

From 4Ps to 4TsFrom 4Ps to 4Ts

1.Target1.Target

4.Track4.Track

3.Transact3.Transact

2.Tactics2.Tactics

From 4Ps to 4TsFrom 4Ps to 4Ts

1.Target1.Target

4.Track4.Track


2.Tactics2.Tactics

1.Target1.Target

4.Track4.Track


2.Tactics2.Tactics


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Why Have the 4Ts Become so Important?Te 4s have emerged as new marketing undamentals or two primaryreasons:

1. o help you get the most out o the Internet in your B2B sales and market-

ing eorts. Recent GlobalSpec surveys reveal that more than 90% oengineers and technical buyers use the Internet to search or productsand components.1 Search engines and online communities are replacingprinted directories and trade magazines as top inormation resources orthese technical proessionals.

oday, widespread use o the Internet determines largely what tactics areeective or nding potential new customers. Te Internet also providesa communication channel to interact with your prospects and customers.Surveys show that more than 75% o engineers and technical buyerspreer online communication (such as e-mail or Web sites) or contacting

suppliers.

2

2. o help improve the alignment between sales and marketing within an

organization. When it comes to harvesting new business prospects, lessthan 7% o corporate ocers reported their sales and marketing depart-ments worked together very eectively.3 Lead management is one criticalarea where sales and marketing can work better together to grow thebusiness and earn new customers.

Te concepts o ransact and rack have a lot to do with sales and mar-keting being on the same page, aligned with the same goals. Appropriateinternal processes in the ransact phase allow long-term leads to be

nurtured by marketing until salespeople who are rewarded or havinga short-term ocus are ready or them.

Te act is salespeople do not want to be buried by unqualied leadsthat are not really leads at all. Good salespeople will take quality overquantity any day, which leaves quantity or marketing to nurture andurther qualiy. According to research conducted by inouch, a providero lead generation services, long-term leads (uture opportunities) thatofen are ignored by salespeople represent 77% o potential sales.

Additionally, tracking a potential customer through the sales cycle is anintegrated unction. It requires resources and commitment rom both

sales and marketing.

1. Target

o eectively reach potential customers, you must ask and answer a numbero key questions:

Who are they?

What are their goals, needs and problems?

How do they satisy their need or technical inormation?

Following the 4s helps toimprove the alignment betweensales and marketing within anorganization, allowing each groupto ocus on what it does best whileworking together to gain morecustomers.

1 2006 GlobalSpec Engineering rends Survey.

2 Ibid.

3 2004 BPO Forum and CMO Council Survey.


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Tese are classic questions every marketer must ask. And the answers willdrive your decisions about how to market, communicate and work withcustomers and prospects. Your potential customers likely consist o engineer-ing, technical and scientic proessionals working on technical projects andnew product development. Tey are seeking to innovate within budget and

time constraints.Here are a ew acts about your target audience:

Tey are inormation hungry, seeking ast, easy access to technical,design and product details

Tey use the Internet to locate components, suppliers, technical speci-cations and other technical inormation

More than 75% use at least two search engines or work, includingspecialty search engines such as GlobalSpec4

42% o engineers report that a visit to the manuacturers Web site is theirpreerred way to make contact; 36% preer sending e-mail to manuac-turers that interest them5 (see chart below)

In short, the Internet is the No. 1 communications lieline or work-re-lated matters

2. Tactics

actics include your sales and marketing programs and media used to reach

potential customers. As marketers and business people, were all amiliar withmany marketing tactics, rom cold calls and trade shows to direct mail andsearch engine placement.

I you havent evaluated your marketing programs recently, it is time to doso. While a blend o programs and media is essential to penetrate broadlyand deeply into your target market, online marketing is the most importantstrategy or manuacturers in the industrial sector today. Te reason issimple: your customers and uture customers are on the Internet.

Manuacturers must use theInternet to target potentialcustomers it is their No. 1communications lieline or workrelated matters.

4 2006 GlobalSpec Engineering rends Survey.

5 Ibid.

While a blend o programs andmedia is essential to penetratebroadly and deeply into yourtarget market, online marketingis the most important strategy ormanuacturers in the industrialsector today.


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Eective online marketing in itsel requires a mix o programs and strategies.It is not enough to develop a Web site without giving your prospects theopportunity to nd you. Instead, you need to balance your site developmentwith a strong presence on the search engines and directories your potentialcustomers use. A specialized search engine and inormation resource such as

GlobalSpec aggregates your audience o engineering, technical and industrialproessionals or you.

Once a prospect discovers you, your next step is to learn more about them.Visitor clicks are not the same as customers, and in act, clicks are not worthmuch unless you are converting them.

One way to convert these clicks into customers is through landing pages onyour Web site. Tese single-purpose pages ocus on certain themes or key-words and ask visitors to take specic actions. Ofen the landing page is notyour home page, but rather a page deeper within your Web site linked romsearch engine ads, e-mail marketing programs or other online tactics.

Another way to encourage prospects to take the next step is to oer themsomething o value or visiting your site and telling you who they are. Accessto data sheets, technical specications or white papers can encourage them toprovide you with their contact inormation. Tis also supports relationshipbuilding.

Finally, you should have lead capture mechanisms such as your phonenumber, an e-mail link and contact orms appear on landing pages and otherpages on your Web site. Te contact orm allows you to collect valuable databy asking prospects a ew questions that will help you segment and qualiyyour audience and understand their preerred way to communicate with you.

One advantage o GlobalSpec is that we provide you with a turnkey solutionthat will meet your needs and complement your other marketing eorts. Wealso give you ull contact inormation o prospects who have registered onour Web site and view your inormation. You will know their area o interestand preerred way o communicating with you which will help you crafthe appropriate response and get your relationship o to a good start. Ourocus is on delivering customers, not just clicks.

When it comes to onlinemarketing tactics, GlobalSpecs

ocus is on delivering customers,not just clicks.

Not every lead has the samepropensity or readiness to buyrom you but the point is thateventually you want them to buyand become a customer. Becauseo this, leads should be segmentedand treated dierently.


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Segmenting Your Audience into Lead TypesWhat do you do when a lead comes into your organization? First, you mustrecognize that not all leads are the same. While you may know a lot aboutyour audience, not everyone ts the same prole. More importantly, notevery lead has the same propensity or readiness to buy rom you butthe point is that eventually you want them to buy and become a customer.Because o this, leads should be segmented and treated dierently.

Segmenting your audience into our dierent lead types will help you betterunderstand how to transact with them when the time comes.

1. Best Friends this group consists o your current customers, the onesyou speak with on a regular basis. Tey are loyal to you. You have dataabout them that enables you to create a customer prole: the types ocompanies they work or, the products they buy, how they buy them.

2. Underutilized Resources Not all customers who have done business

with your company automatically come back to you. We term these cus-tomers Underutilized Resources. Tey know why they bought somethingrom you, but may not know the ull breadth and depth o your productsand services.

With the Internet making it easy to nd out who else is out there, thesecustomers can and will explore other options i they arent aware o theull extent o your oerings.

3. Golden Eggs Golden Eggs have a prole similar to your Best Friends.Tey may have a need and be ready to buy, but you dont know them yet.Tey may or may not have heard o your company or ormed a strongimpression o your brand or product and service oerings.

Tey are on the Internet in the U.S. and in other countries search-ing or products, services and technical inormation. Tey have oundyou because you have been successul reaching out with the right mar-keting tactics and transacting with them. You are able to convert themquickly and there you have your Golden Egg: the short term hot prospectyou can immediately close.

4. Futures Te reality is, there are many members o your target audienceyou dont know yet and are not yet in buying mode. Tey are not readyor your salespeople, and your salespeople are not ready or them. Teseare the Futures the largest segment o your target audience. Teyrequire signicant education about your products and services and mustbe nurtured along through a longer sales cycle.

Futures arent ready to buy. Are you still interested in them? Absolutely.Remember, 77% o business comes rom previously-discarded, long-termopportunities. Te way you reach out to them and put your messageorth and the way you begin communicating with them (ransact) isdierent rom how you would other lead types.

GlobalSpecs online marketingprograms give manuacturersan advantage because they

provide inormation that canhelp segment a lead and saveconsiderable time in the sales

process.


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What many companies orget about Futures is that youve already over-come some major hurdles in the marketing and sales process. Somehowtheyve reached you: theyve heard o your brand and proven responsiveto your message. Youve collected some kind o data about them. Perhapstheyve downloaded a white paper or application notes rom your Web

site, viewed technical specications you have listed on GlobalSpec, orseen your advertisement in an online newsletter. Your ability to under-stand their need and status will drive decisions on how to transact withthem, which in turn will largely determine how successul you are withthem.

ransact is the stage where you

qualiy and nurture prospects onyour way to converting them tocustomers.

Your prospects expect a ast

response to their inquiries, andi you dont deliver, the lead youthought you had is not reallya lead its likely become acompetitors new customer.

Current customerCurrent customer

Ready to buyReady to buy

Unknown prospectUnknown prospect

Long termLong term

Best Friends

Product specs

Account manager

Golden Eggs

Brand comfort

Product specs

Futures

Brand comfort

Technical info/ideas

Product portfolio

Capabilities portfolioCase studies

Product specs

Underutilized Resources

Brand awareness

Product portfolio

Capabilities portfolio

Current customerCurrent customer

Ready to buyReady to buy

Unknown prospectUnknown prospect

Long termLong term

Best Friends

Product specs

Account manager

Golden Eggs

Brand comfort

Product specs

Futures

Brand comfort

Technical info/ideas

Product portfolio

Capabilities portfolioCase studies

Product specs

Underutilized Resources

Brand awareness

Product portfolio

Capabilities portfolio


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Understanding the Needs o Diferent Lead

TypesTe chart below summarizes the our dierent lead types and what they needrom you to increase the likelihood they will do business with you.

GlobalSpecs online marketing programs give manuacturers an advantagebecause they provide inormation that can help segment a lead and saveconsiderable time in the sales process. Te leads we deliver state what inor-mation a prospect viewed on your listing or example, technical specica-tions or your company overview. Te lead may be a specic RFQ or an e-mailinquiry. Armed with this type o inormation, you can determine what typeo lead they are and how to transact with them.

For example, i you have dened an inquiry as coming rom a Futuresprospect, you will want to share specic inormation and resources designedto nurture them throughout a longer sales cycle. As the chart below il-

lustrates, this can include a portolio o products and capabilities, as well ascase studies, product specs and other items that can serve to educate theseprospects.

3. Transact

ransact means communicate building a relationship with the prospectyou captured through your marketing tactics. Tis is the stage where youqualiy and nurture prospects on your way to converting them to customers.Te question is: Who does it and how?

Tis is where a successul relationship between sales and marketing becomes

so critical. o be in alignment, sales and marketing must agree on the answersto these questions:

What is the denition o a lead?

Who is responsible or qualiying a lead: salesperson, marketer, telemar-keter, etc.?

When does a lead get passed to sales and when is it still the responsibilityo marketing to nurture?

Te key concept is agreement between sales and marketing on denitionsand processes to ensure leads are responded to and managed appropriatelythroughout the sales cycle. Te costly mistake that some companies make isto assume the other guy is doing it. Ideally, the CEO appoints a dedicatedindividual or team responsible or developing consistent processes across theorganization.

Timing Your Response

In the Internet era, you need to respond quickly to inquiries rom potentialcustomers. Your prospects expect it, and i you dont deliver, the lead youthought you had is not really a lead its likely become a competitors newcustomer. Te chart below shows that 55% o engineering, technical and


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Average Response Time

From Manufacturers

5 5%

4 0 %

0 %1 %

4 %

1 - 2 d a y s

3 - 7 d a y s

8 - 1 4 d a y s

1 5 - 3 0 d a y s

> 3 0 d a y s

industrial proessionals who use GlobalSpec and sent an e-mail to a manuac-turer heard back within two days but an astonishing 45% had to wait threedays or more.

How to Begin the Conversation

Te nature o a prospects inquiry provides clues to how and when to re-spond. A ew examples illustrate the situation:

Situation #1

Te gure below shows an example o an RFQ sales lead a manuacturer getsrom GlobalSpec. It was created by a GlobalSpec visitor who conducted asearch and discovered this manuacturers catalog o products. Perhaps thislead is a Golden Egg a qualied, motivated prospect who knows what hewants and is ready to buy.

How do you respond to this prospect? Obviously, with a quote rom a specicsalesperson assigned to the lead. And what media do you use? In this case,the phone. Te prospect even tells you so in the RFQ.

55% o engineering, technical and industrial proessionals who use GlobalSpec and sent ane-mail to a supplier heard back within two days but an astonishing 45% had to wait threedays or more to hear rom a supplier.


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Situation #2

A dierent type o lead might come rom an e-mail inquiry rom your Website or rom GlobalSpec. Tis prospect may be in a very dierent state omind than the RFQ prospect. I the prospect is making an inquiry about yourproduct line or company, you can conclude he is at a much earlier stage in hissearch, exploring options and comparing suppliers.

Tis may be one o the Futures who doesnt know your company or productsyet and may not be ready to buy. Yet something about your presence on theInternet motivated him to contact you. How do you respond?

An e-mail inquiry begets an e-mail response. You send inormation relevantto the inquiry. Your goal is to provide useul inormation so when they areready to buy they come back to you. Here is an example o a more general,nurturing response:

Tank you or your interest in our product line. You will nd our pumpsused by engineers around the world. I am including links to several articlesthat mention our pumps as well as a link to our online catalog . . .

As you can see, there is nothing pushy or sales-oriented about this response.And depending on how your organization is set up and how you alignmarketing and sales, lead nurturing may be a job or marketing, not sales. I a

lead such as this ends up in a salespersons hand it could be discarded quicklybecause salespeople are rewarded or generating short-term revenue.


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Using E-Mail to Nurture LeadsE-mail is a versatile and useul tool or building and maintaining relation-ships with long-term prospects the Futures. Your goal is to stay on theirshort list o potential companies who can meet their needs. You do this bybecoming a trusted resource.

Use e-mail to continue sending useul inormation until the day comes whenthey raise their hand again. It might take a week or it might take a year, butthese prospects who raised their hands once can do it again and then youhave a potential customer ready or your sales team.

What useul inormation can you send? Here are a number o examples:

Relevant links to content on your Web site

White paper oers

Articles

Downloads Event invites (seminars or Webinars)

Links to request more inormation

Te e-mails you send are extremely important. Prospects will judge you bythem. E-mail should be proessional, well-written and to the point. Clearlyidentiy the sender and your company to remind prospects you have a rela-tionship with them. Tey will be more likely to open and read your e-mail.

Te gure below shows an example o a nurturing e-mail. It is personalizedand provides links to valuable inormation or the prospect, helping buildyour brand and credibility with them.

E-mail is a versatile and useultool or building and maintainingrelationships with long-term

prospects the Futures. Your

goal is to stay on their short listo potential companies who canmeet their needs.


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4. Track

Te ourth is rack. I your arget, actics and ransact initiatives areworking, you now have leads in your system. racking allows you to knowthe status o a prospect at dierent points in time: when a prospect is readyor hando rom marketing to sales, what happens to it afer the hando,

what is its resolution.

Another reason to track leads is to nd out what marketing programs workand which salespeople perorm, and to use this data to help decide how toallocate your marketing investments. Remember, the marketing department,by its nature, is a spender, and so it makes sense to be able to demonstrateyour marketing investment is delivering results.

Simple or Sophisticated

racking can be simple or sophisticated, depending on the structure o yourbusiness and your needs. Some companies use integrated CRM systems with

channel inputs, alerts, a central data repository and other advanced unc-tionality. Examples include Siebel, SalesForce.com, Goldmine and Act. Forother companies, a simple spreadsheet can be the tracking tool, with columnsadded to contact names or tracking leads through the sales cycle.

Whatever system is right or your company, your goals are the same:

Acknowledge leads that come in

ie leads to marketing programs

Keep track o leads through the sales cycle

Report on outcomes


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ConclusionFollowing the guidelines o the 4s can help you gain a competitive advantageand make the most o your marketing investments. Te 4s arget, actics,ransact and rack complement and extend classic marketing undamen-tals in the Internet era in the way that online marketing complements andextends traditional marketing strategies. By keeping them in mind, you canimprove your eorts o turning leads into customers.

While some companies may be stronger at lead generation and others atlead management, the 4s present an integrated approach to lead genera-tion and management, allowing you to excel at both. Although it may notbe possible or you to implement all o the strategies covered in this whitepaper, it should be easy to get started with the 4s approach. It doesnt requiredramatic changes to your business operations, but does require philosophicalagreement and commitment rom your sales and marketing organizations.

Te right jump start is to get sales and marketing in agreement, and takesmall steps in launching the 4 platorm. Te important thing to keep inmind is how the Internet now shapes lead generation and management, andto put a plan in place to take advantage o the opportunities and programsavailable to you.

For more inormation on GlobalSpecs comprehensive marketing solutionsthat complement your traditional programs, please call 800.264.2052 or visitwww.globalspec.com. o access additional GlobalSpec white papers, visithttp://www.globalspec.com/MediaKit/WhitePapers.

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