Sales believes marketing is failing….

I read an interesting article and survey today from the Huthwaite group. Apparently Sales reps aren’t happy with the amount of leads being produced by their marketing departments. Have a look at it here if you want to see more.

The survey by Huthwaite revealed fewer than 10% of sales executives, managers and directors were happy with the number of leads generated by their marketing teams with 44.9% indicating they could do with more leads and 30.1% saying they were receiving nowhere near enough.

I must say this should not be a surprise to anyone in sales. Who in sales is happy with the amount of leads they receive? You can always have more, the more leads the more opportunities that are created, the more deals that can be done and of course the more money that can be made. The marketing department could be delivering ample leads and we still would not be happy. And why not? Well in sales leads is the name of the game without a lead where do you start!

Whilst inbound leads form marketing activities are always welcome any Sales professional who relies on this needs to go back to sales 101. Sales from inbound enquiries should be seen as the icing on the cake in most sales roles. Prospecting for your own leads is the corner stone of a sales role and should be relied on. So no wonder fewer than 10% in the sales profession are happy with the amount of leads produced because without inbound leads you must go and find your own. Typically most in sales like the path of least resistance and those coming to you to buy will always be easier fodder than chapping doors and hammering the phones.

More than the problem is not only the quantity of the leads received in my opinion is the quality of the leads themselves. I have often found through my sales career that those clients you prospect for and work hard to obtain are often the best and most profitable over time. Inbound leads often are of lower quality or don’t quite fit in with your ideal customer fit, it’s not a good sign in sales if those top clients are coming to you!