Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Anna M. | Delivered July 8, 2020

B2B Sales Lead Qualification

Goals

Gain an understanding of the best ways to qualify inbound B2B sales leads, in order to make recommendations to a sales team on how to qualify their leads, with a focus on most important factors, methodologies and principles, and related statistics on sales lead qualification. 

Early Findings

Research shows that "25% of leads qualify as ideal customers of a business", and approximately 75% never convert to a sale.
Similarly, 73% of leads generated via online prospecting are not ready for a sale.
 67% of lost sales are also caused by leads that weren't properly qualified. 
One digital marketing expert lists four main factors to qualify leads; whether they are in the department to make a decision, their position in the chain of command, company size, and company revenue. 
 Another source notes an effective B2B lead qualification process follows five basic steps; a)determine what the prospect needs b)confirm that your solution is the right fit c)know the prospect's budget d)Identify your prospect's influence level e)understand the prospect's timeline. 
 Prospect budget qualification involves understanding several factors- current spend addressing the problem your service addresses, what department budget this comes out of, cost to build a solution internally, cost of loss for ignoring the problem, ROI on your solution, and budget range they've set for it. 
 One report notes that while there are often universal ways to qualify leads, "Lead qualification does not follow a one-size-fits-all approach. Every business has different needs and a different market to cater to, that changes at its own pace."
Only 56% of B2B companies are verifying business leads before passing them on to their sales team.
 22% of B2B companies are reaching out to prospects on a weekly basis to nurture leads. 