If you are experiencing low lead conversion rates than expected, it may not be always about the strategy. It most probably has to do with the quality of the MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) in your funnel. Lead conversion is a technique and without the good leads or MQLs in your funnel, none of the other elements in your strategy can work in your favor. So how does one overcome the challenges of lead conversion?
This blog analyzes what a lead is, what are MQLs and their importance in lead generation and conversion.
What is a lead?
Before we dive into understanding how MQLs can impact lead conversion, we need to first truly understand what a lead is all about! So who is a lead? A lead is of course a prospect and certain attributes and features of every lead can help marketers identify these leads as good or bad leads!
A lead is someone who is typically facing some business challenges such as low sales, low revenue, poor strategy, incompetent resources etc. These leads are usually looking for insights or knowledge about a subject so that they can find solutions to their challenges. They also look for content assets that have a take-away and insights for them. All they need is a good b2b vendor who can guide them, truly understand their pain-points and provide the right strategic solutions to help grow their business.
Lead generation is nothing but identifying these leads with specific traits and attributes and analyzing their need for a solution. This is also where BANT (Budget, Authority, Need and Time) comes into picture. Determining the needs of a lead depending upon factors such as Budget, Authority, Need and Time is a skill-set in itself, as it can help decide the success of lead conversion for b2b companies.
So once you recognize these aspects, it becomes easier for you to define the lead and its quality. This will help you select the high potential leads and thus create better MQLs and pass it on to the next stage of the funnel. Once you attract and capture the best MQLs, half of your job as a lead generation expert is done. You have made lead conversion easy by passing on only the best leads to the sales team. By doing so, you are also shortening the sales cycle and increasing the chances of lead conversion and ROI.
Check your MQLs
If you aren’t able to convert leads into business, the first thing you must check is the quality of MQLs you have. You must analyze whether your MQLs are low quality or if they are inactive. If yes, then that is the root cause of delayed or unsuccessful lead conversion. How can leads that have less value or potential convert into business? They simply cannot!
So let us understand the MQL behavior- Yes, they have traits that make them an MQL and marketers need to focus on the behavior and thereby focus on how to convert these MQLs into sales. A typical behavior of MQL could be that it may not be yet ready to engage with a vendor but has shown an inclination towards their services. This process of identifying a high potential MQL and taking further action on it is the exact turning point where most marketers fail and thus it impacts the lead conversion results negatively.
The top-of the funnel leads are the marketing qualified leads and these need to be nurtured with relevant and insightful content assets even before they are passed on to sales, why? Because this is where their decision making is most likely to happen! This is the golden opportunity of every b2b marketer to change the mind of the lead or warm up to them and encourage the leads into make the buying decision. And then, the rest is sales!
Conclusion-
While marketers can get busy with big campaigns and other activities that can bring more sales and revenue, they must not forget the importance of MQLs in lead conversion. In fact, this is where they can fine-tune their lead generation and conversion skills by identifying the MQLs and nurturing them well.