Lead qualification can vary depending on the organization and it can even vary within an organization. This is something we find often with our clients, and the miscommunication that follows is not pretty.
We often hear that leads are either good or bad. Well this isn’t true in either sense. There are so many facets to the lead puzzle that the variations of good and bad leads can go on forever.
Many organizations take the BANT approach to qualifying a lead from their marketing strategies. This means they can identify Budget, Authority of who will be making the buying decision, Need of a certain solution, and a Timeline. This approach is effective, but it still misses a number of other lead types that need a certain level of importance.
A good example of this are nurtures. The software market can be a long turn over time for leads which is why qualifying a lead as nurture is so important. Nurtures cannot be ignored, rather they need to be put into a consistent marketing engine so that your company name stays top of mind until they’re ready to purchase.
When you’re defining your lead qualification strategy at your organization, don’t give them an A or F, use the entire scale. Each lead is different and therefore requires a different approach to follow up. Yes, there are probably quite a few that can be thrown out, but you can even learn from those.
Don’t be too quick to grade your leads!
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By Bethany Foyt, Marketing Communications Manager at The Partner Marketing Group
