Aberdeen’s PACE model defines the “A” term, “action,” as “to improve the quality of leads in the sales pipeline.” An attempt to achieve a goal is the definition of “action,” and improving the quality of your leads is surely worth taking action to achieve. Marketers need to take strategic steps that are going to have a positive impact for a sales team. The first thing they need to do is to take pressures off of the team by providing them with sales intelligence resources.

Now, more than ever, marketers need to take the necessary actions to improve their leads using sales intelligence to identify prospects, target accounts, and reduce their research time. Aberdeen’s survey stated 74% want to improve the quality of their leads. You need sales intelligence resources that take pressure off of your sales team, but also to enable sales reps to be more productive and formulate better sales strategies. For example, a sales intelligence tool might decrease the time reps spend researching prospects, but if the data is inaccurate and not up-to-date, the investment in the tool is money down the toilet. Not every sales intelligence tool is created equally, and without quality data, lead quality will not improve.

Of the best-in-class companies surveyed, 71% stated that giving existing leads more color is a very critical part of their sales intelligence strategy. Obtaining deeper knowledge of what is happening at a company is the best resource you can have when trying to target accounts or develop a lead pipeline for your sales team. Understanding more about a prospects business initiatives and internal struggles is also essential to the process of qualifying leads; and as David Wallace explains in his post, it is essential in keeping your company productive as well as in decreasing time in the sales cycle.

According to the survey, 51% of respondents said they would like to identify high-value prospects. Every company, no matter the size, has problems that must be solved, opportunities to capitalize on and initiatives they would like to launch. Using sales intelligence tools that provide information related to these “business drivers” are much better than just giving you a name and a phone number. You need that of course, but you also need the depth and understanding of what is currently happening at a company and potential future actions. It will help you to qualify leads more effectively and jump-start your conversations by knowing what the buyer needs right now. With proper sales intelligence, you can avoid wasting time trying to sell your product to a company without a budget, or one that has no need for your services.

- Mark Kilens
mkilens @ salesquest.com
978.749.9999 ext. 118

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