Commentary

Who Ya Gonna Talk To When Prospecting?

According to an infographic and study recently released by LeadJen, a B2B lead generation company, director level professionals in marketing organizations and those with functional responsibility for sales are most likely to respond to prospecting efforts from marketing technology vendors.

Marketing Functions Most Likely To Respond To Lead Generation

Function

% Response

Biz Dev/Sales & Marketing

26%

Executive/Strategy

21%

Other

15%

Branding/Creative

1%

Marketing Technology

10%

Digital/Email/Web Marketing

14%

Social Media

5%

Marcom/PR

8%

Source: LeadJen, May 2014

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The infographic also shows that 49% of appointments are set with budget owners, including those with director, vice president or CXO title paths. By contrast, 22% of appointments are set with managers specializing in marketing functions such as digital, e-commerce and social media. These marketing managers, even without direct budget control, have a clear influence on spending decisions.

Director Level Most Receptive To Lead Generation

Function

% Response

Director

30%

Manager

22%

Vice President

11%

Individual Contributor

11%

CXO

8%

Coordinator/Specialist

6%

Other

12%

Source: LeadJen, May 2014

The infographic provides insight into which lead generation tactics are most successful for marketing technology vendors, the best day and time to set appointments with marketers, and which months are most active for lead generation to this audience.

Marketers with visibility into and functional responsibility for sales account for the highest percentage of qualified appointments at 26%

  • 30% of appointments are set with the first call attempt, and 26% of appointments are set when a prospect responds to an email or phone call
  • Outreach to marketers require 169 attempts (calls, voice mail messages or emails) to yield one qualified appointment
  • Fall is the strongest season for lead generation, with 38% of appointments set September through November
  • The most productive days for setting appointments with marketers are Tuesday and Wednesday, and 2-3 pm Eastern is the best time to reach a marketing executive live

Jenny Vance, president of LeadJen, says  “… marketing technology vendors have a captive audience of prospects who are willing to learn about new products and services… strong message focused on benefits… and the right calling cadence… (makes) lead generation efforts to marketers effective… “

What it takes to get a qualified appointment:

  • 169 attempts: calls, voicemail messages or emails
  • 20 conversations: live dialogue, referrals, follow ups and “no” responses
  • 6% response rate: % of accounts attempted to qualified appointments

Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days to reach a marketer (percent responding):

  • Monday   19%
  • Tuesday    23%
  • Wednesday    23%
  • Thursday    20%
  • Friday   15%

Midday (Eastern) best time to reach a marketer (% responding):

  • 9-10 am   6%
  • 10-11 am   11%
  • 11-12 pm   13%
  • 12-1 pm   13%
  • 1-2 pm   13%
  • 2-3 pm   14%
  • 3-4 pm   12%
  • 4-5 pm   10%

The first call is the most fruitful (% responding):

  • Call 1   30%
  • Call 2   14%
  • Call 3   7%
  • Call 4   2%

Inbound response   26%

Referral or call back               9%

N.B. Prospecting to Marketers graphically presents best practices compiled from lead generation campaigns targeting marketers from 2010-2013, including 264,300 outreach attempts, and nearly 32,000 conversations with marketing executives. These calls resulted in 1,561 qualified appointments, $4.5 million in revenue generated and an additional $7 million in pipeline value.

For additional information and access to Infographic from LeadJen, please visit here.

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