Leads are important for any organization; they are what will eventually (hopefully) turn into a sale. Having a lead definition leads to the SLA (Service Level Agreement) on how soon Sales will follow up on MQL’s (Marketing Qualified Leads) provided to them by Marketing. If Sales doesn’t follow up on the lead soon enough, it grows stale. Subsequently, Sales will declare that the MQL that Marketing provided was NOT a lead, whereas Marketing will say it was. Having an SLA resolves this issue. Both sides need to speak the same language and have the same understanding of the criteria that define a lead.

When everyone agrees upon a similar goal it is easier to keep that goal aligned and increases overall success.

Get ready for some more acronyms.

Most sales and marketing professionals are familiar with using the BANT methodology to define and qualify a lead.

Here’s a quick breakdown of BANT

Budget: Does your prospect have the budget to buy?

The first thing you need to find out about your prospect is if they have the budget to buy your product. It doesn’t matter how much your customer might need or like what you’ve got, if they don’t have the budget for it, they’re not going to be able to buy your product. 

Authority: Does your prospect have the authority to make decisions?

Your prospect might be an assistant or department manager, in this case, it’s important to determine if they have the authority to make decisions. If not, have them direct you to someone who typically has the authority to make decisions for the company or department.

Protip: Use account based marketing to target key decision makers in the company.

Need: Does your prospect need it?

If your prospect doesn’t really need your product, why bother chasing them down? The higher the need, the more motivated your prospect will be to buy. It’s up to you to find out how much they need a product like yours. Asking questions like: “What is your current solution?” And “Why is it not currently working for you?” will help you get a better understanding of their pain points and give you an opportunity to address them.

Timeline: How long will the cycle take?

Lastly, find out how long this sales cycle is going to take. This is important information to gather as they may not truly be in the market to make a purchase until next year. By learning this information early, you can see what you can do to move their timeline up or take note of when they are actually interested in moving forward and contact them at a later date.

The BANT method, which is still used by many organizations to gauge lead qualification, has a few flaws and is quickly becoming out-dated. The problem with BANT is that the steps are not in the right order. Typically, you would start by identifying the customer’s needs and then finding out who the decision makers are and so on.

Some other methods and acronyms of determining if a lead is worth perusing include:

ChAMP- Challenges, Authority, Money, and Prioritization.

Champ is often referred to as “the new BANT” since it is basically an updated version of BANT. While ChAMP is in the correct order, it’s still not quite going to cut it.

ANNUM – Authority, Need, Urgency, Money

ANNUM goes right to the source by identifying key decision makers first. They all work for different strategies but in reality, they’re all the same, just in a different order.

Here’s a list of the many popular acronyms that are often used to qualify a lead.

Finding qualified leads has become more complex over time and as a result, requires a more in-depth process. Acronyms just aren’t going to cut it for much longer.

Enter the Demand Unit Waterfall

The method that we use and encourage our clients to follow comes from Sirius Decisions. They have created a process, which has become the gold standard in defining key stages in the lead management process.

Target: The first stage in the waterfall is about determining the size of your target market and identifying your ideal customer or, creating a Persona. Find out what types of customers will find the most value in your solution.

Active Demand: The number of prospects that have an identifiable need for your product.

Engaged demand: Prospects that have responded to your marketing efforts.

Prioritized demand: The level of engagement has reached a level that justifies additional interactions from tele or sales resources.

Qualified Demand: Based on interactions with the prospect, the fit, and urgency of prospects needs are determined and either considered a qualified lead or as a non-qualified lead.

Pipeline: For prospects who have shown significant interest, it’s time to convert them. Prospects will be entered into the pipeline.

Close: This stage signifies that the sales team has successfully closed the opportunity.

The demand waterfall is a great process to qualify leads, but who should you target in the first place? Someone who signed up for an e-book? Or Someone who emailed to ask for a demo? It could be either one.

Create a custom Definition.

As you can gather from the two methods above, whichever one you choose, you need to start somewhere. It’s a good idea for marketing and sales to come together and create a shared definition of exactly who the marketing team should throw into the waterfall. After all, some people might not be interested in getting wet.

Start with a buyer persona

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on research and real data such as demographics/psychographics.

Expand on demographics

The data that most marketers already have is demographics; detail such as a lead’s location, name, job title, etc. Information on the company they work for should include the companies’ current tech stack and annual revenue. In order to choose the most important factors, take a look at some of your best customers. What demographics do they fall under? Psychographic data such as their interests, pain points, and organizational goals will help to identify the needs of the company.

Conclusion

It’s important to recognize that the definition of a lead is different for each company. It is vital that your organization agree upon a custom definition of what qualifies someone as a lead. This will ensure all departments stay in sync and are working efficiently and toward the same goal.

If you haven’t had enough, here’s a great list of some commonly used marketing and business acronyms. TLDR.

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Recognize each team member is human. Having empathy is critical if you aspire to be a good marketer. You need to be able to put yourself in your target audience’s shoes. The same thing applies with your employees; you need to put yourself in their shoes. They may be having a bad day. They may have personal issues at home. They may be dealing with medically distressedproblems. In other words, there may be underlying reasons for an employee exhibiting a behaviour that is not ideal. Beyond that, we have to remember that they’re human. Like you, and I, they are probably a bit insecure, immature, inexperienced, self-righteous, and full of pride. They may also be ambitious. And they’ll deny all of these attributes, just as I did when I was their age. That’s okay. Your job as their leader is to recognize these issues and mentor them accordingly with compassion. Create a plan that they can attain. Hold them accountable to goals and objectives. Don’t over-protect them. Don’t shield them from the consequences of bad decisions. And never, ever, micro-manage them. In other words, don’t let your own control issues influence their development. Remember, they’re always watching you and learning from your cues.

Groom them to replace you. Your job isn’t just to manage each employee. Your job is to inspire them. Paint a picture of what their future could look like. Be candid about their strengths and weaknesses. Answer their tough questions with constructive honesty. Explain to them that sometimes hard decisions, and sacrifices, must be incurred to achieve their ambitious career aspirations. If they don’t want to make those sacrifices then explain to them that it’s okay, however they’ll need to revise their career goals based on that desire. Applaud them when they have victories. Promote them to others in a public fashion. Reward them for working hard. I’ve been blessed with incredible employee loyalty over the years because I took time to recognize their accomplishments and reward them with simple things like a $5 Starbucks card. I’ve watched my employees grow to career heights that I’ve yet to accomplish because I taught them early on that they are responsible for their own brand. They need to develop it. They need to maintain it. A good marketer will always be marketing themselves first and foremost. Teach them that, and remind them when they forget.

Inspire risk taking. There are two ways an employee can work for you: they can take orders, or they can create results. If your tendency is to be controlling about all aspects of the marketing team, and the marketing plan, then chances are your staff take orders…from you. You tell them what needs to be done and they do it. If a decision on a campaign needs to be made, they seek you out and look for direction. If you’re not there, then they’re probably lost. I propose that you don’t be the over-controlling leader. Instead, outline for your team what the objective is and let them tell you how they propose to achieve that objective. You still have oversight. You can steer the strategy and the tactics but your employees own the campaign. They feel empowered. I had to learn this the hard way early on in my career when my own employees came into my office, closed the door, and told me to stop micro-managing them. They acknowledged that I knew more than them, but they asked me to give them the chance to make the same mistakes that I once did. It was a brilliant point and something I’ve never forgotten. I recognize now that my team may not do things the way I would do things, however if they achieve the results we set out to achieve then who am I to complain? After all, they may teach me something new along the way that I hadn’t considered. That leads to one of the hardest things I have had to teach my employees – taking a risk is not only okay but also strongly encouraged. Let them know that it’s okay to make mistakes as long as they have a Plan B, or Plan C, or Plan D, to correct the issue and achieve the original goal of the campaign. My job as their leader is to create an environment where they feel secure enough to try something new, and protected enough to know they won’t lose their job as long as they communicate with me throughout the process.

Deliver Value-Add. Your marketing team is hired for their specific skills and expertise. However, I could also search Google or YouTube and figure out how to do most tasks myself. I don’t want my employees to do as they’re instructed. Instead, I want them to take a concept, apply their knowledge, experience and intuition, and make it ten times better than I ever imagined. I want them to add value. The same applies to our customers. I don’t mean those people who buy our products or services. Rather, I mean those people who work at the same company we work at and come to Marketing for assistance. Those people are my internal clients. Our job as marketers is to not only help them, but to also educate them, coach them, encourage them, and motivate them to achieve results that they never could have attained on their own. That’s adding value. If you do that, Marketing is no longer viewed as an administrative function but instead becomes a strategic function and is funded and staffed accordingly. Every Marketer should always be adding value.

Let your employees find their voice. When you have successfully transitioned your management style from “telling them what to do” to asking them “how would you do this”, then you will watch as your employees start saying to you “We need to do it this way”. Creating an environment where they lead the charge will free you up to captain the ship. In the end, that is your role, is it not?

Building a cohesive marketing organization pays off with happier and more talented staff, longer retention, and better campaign results. Creating a great team positions you, as their marketing leader, for a fantastic career with unlimited potential. If you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re doing this for yourself! Your life will be easier. Your job satisfaction will be higher. Your relationships will be more fulfilling. After all, isn’t that what everyone wants?

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