Inbounditis – Inflammatory diseasethat affects the brain’s ability to reason.
I am not anti-inbound, but I probably have that reputation. My position is that while driving inbound inquiries is great, most complex or considered solution providers can’t depend on buyers coming to them in sufficient numbers to make quota.
Over the past several years, especially in big companies, I have seen marketing budgets for “net new” business being cut while lead quotas increase. Why? Because little to no measurable ROI from lead generation results in marketing being measured on a cost-per-lead basis (which sends more low-quality leads to sales faster than ever before).
As a result of how businesses look at marketing, marketers have jumped headfirst on the “inbound marketing” bandwagon. The loud drumbeat is accompanied by marketers chanting their mantra: “cold calling is dead.”
(Cold calling has become synonymous with “outbound marketing” — an incredible disservice to outbound marketing, but true.)
Last year I asked the following question during an industry roundtable: “Which is better? A $1,000 inbound lead or a $1,000 outbound lead?” Knowing the B2B lead generation market as I do, here is what I expected to get in reply:
“The inbound lead is better because outbound is dead.”
“Inbound rules! Stop interruption marketing.”
Instead, what I got back can best be summarized in a response by Casey Devlin who is Director of Account Management for the Corporate Executive Board.
“Our organization has done extensive research over the last two years trying to understand how high-performing sales reps qualify opportunities and nurture those opportunities through their pipelines to higher success.
One fascinating trend we uncovered recently is that average performing reps tend to gravitate more toward inbound, marketing generated leads — because they view them as easier to close (due to the customer being more than halfway through their purchase process, already scoped out their needs, etc.).
“So while average performing reps are running full speed ahead toward inbound leads, high-performing reps, on the other hand, actually told us that they progressively disqualify inbound leads. Instead, high performers opt to hunt down “emerging” demand in the marketplace by getting out in front of a customer’s buying process and helping to shape that customer’s perception of their needs through targeted bursts of controlled insights.”
I see a lot of blogs stating that buyers are 70 percent of the way through a buying process before a sales rep needs to get involved. While I understand the rationale behind this (educated buyers doing more research) I totally disagree with it.
A survey by the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA.com) found that 70 percent of buyers want to engage with sales reps before they identify their shortlist. (See story on facing page.)
Is there a cure for Inbounditis? For starters, take two Tylenol and wait for the swelling to go down. Then rethink your over-dependence on inbound programs. Your company will feel better for it.
Dan McDade is President and CEO of PointClear, LLC (PointClear.com) a prospect development firm that helps B2B companies drive revenue by nurturing leads, engaging contacts and developing prospects until they’re ready to purchase. He blogs at blog.PointClear.com.
