Marketing Ops Journal

Insights & Tips

Already a subscriber? Login

Become a subscriber and unlock an information arsenal focused on building effective marketing operations.

Most Sales Teams Are Throwing Good Leads Away!

As you’re looking at the big number for this quarter and wondering where all those new sales opportunities are going to come from, consider this…

For every 10 leads your sales team deemed worthwhile to pursue last quarter, they threw away 10 leads that could have bolstered your number this quarter.

And it gets worse…because they also threw away another 10 leads that would’ve been worthwhile to pursue next quarter.

That’s right…for every 10 leads pursued in a given quarter, most sales teams are trashing 20 other leads that will be viable within the next two cycles!

In a Playbook diagnostic, Dan McDade, the author of The Truth About Leads, shares data and insights gleaned from 250,000 prospect interactions, and explains how most B2B sales teams end-up leaving a full two-thirds of their sales opportunities just lying on the table.

But here’s the thing…the fault doesn’t lie with the salespeople…not entirely, anyway.

Sure, salespeople will sometimes give-up on a lead too quickly, or make hasty decisions about a lead’s qualification and interest. But as Dan makes clear, this problem often exists because salespeople are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do—i.e. focusing on opportunities they can close this period.

So…does that mean that all these wasted opportunities are inevitable? That there’s nothing you can do to reclaim and recover them?

Not at all.

In fact, if you take the self-assessment that Dan provides in the diagnostic, you really can’t miss the solution. Just turn the assessment around a little bit, and a fairly straightforward solution for getting two to three times more qualified sales opportunities is revealed.

(Hint: The third answer is the key!)

Discover the exclusive tools and research that subscribers get access to.

Take Our Quick Tour

Related Resources

  • Generating More Sales from Existing Customers

    Many B2B companies struggle to identify untapped sales opportunities and maximize revenue from the customers they've already acquired. In this four-part recorded training session, learn what leading sales operations are doing differently to grow share-of-wallet with existing customers.

    View This Webinar
  • Creating Content That Actually Works

    While every marketing pundit and publication is fueling the hype around content marketing, the hypesters are omitting some important facts and glossing-over some crucial processes. In this on-demand training webinar, you’ll learn about ten proven strategies for creating more effective sales and marketing content.

    View This Webinar
  • Navigating the B2B Marketing Minefields

    There are many myths and misconceptions about B2B marketing that can trip you up, hold you back, and prevent you from achieving success. In this on-demand webinar, you'll learn what they are and how to avoid them.

    View This Webinar
  • How to Fight a Price War

    In this on-demand webinar, learn strategies and tactics for preventing a price war, handling "dumb" competitors, de-escalating and avoiding provocative situations, and winning without actually fighting.

    View This Webinar