Understanding the roles sales and marketing play in lead generation

When it comes to setting objectives for your lead generation campaign, both you and your external marketing agency need to communicate openly from the outset to ensure that all expectations are aligned. This will make sure that any goals set don’t put unrealistic expectations on the marketing team, or unmanageable strain on you or your internal sales team to follow up on those leads.

A good example of this is our recent work with Dorset Council on their foster carer recruitment campaign. They came to us with the sales objective of recruiting at least 20 foster carers a year over the next two years. From this, we estimated that we would need to generate at least 400 enquiries over the next two years at a 10% conversion rate. To do this, we delivered an intelligent and integrated continuous marketing campaign using Google Ads, social media, a dedicated microsite, a campaign landing page and downloadable information pack and email marketing. This integrated, multi-channel approach is dedicated specifically to generating enquiries and will mean that both us and the Council are able to track how effectively we’re working towards our goal over the next two years.

Agreeing on what a lead looks like before you get started on your lead generation campaign will spare both you and your marketing agency frustration in the long run. In most cases, your leads will be determined by an action they’ve completed – for example, this could be something like submitting an enquiry on your landing page or downloading a piece of content (like a brochure) from your website.

There’s one thing that needs clarifying here – a lead is not a new customer. This is where the campaign analysis part can sometimes get tricky, as organisations will sometimes mistakenly assume that it’s solely down to the marketing agency to bring in new customers. A marketing campaign to generate leads creates prospects who could become customers. It’s then up to you or your internal sales team to nurture those leads and ultimately turn them into actual customers.

Just about everything in a lead generation campaign revolves around data. It describes the journey your customers are taking and what sort of interactions they’re having with you. It will indicate who is a high-value prospect, and helps inform any future decisions you make about your campaign activity.

Lack of access to data causes problems for both you and your marketing agency. You'll need regular access to marketing data to build connections with new potential customers. And the marketing team needs access to sales data so they can measure the success of their activity. Sales and marketing must work together to make sure all the right data is getting captured and shared, keeping your campaign on track and setting you on the path for success.

To compete in an increasingly competitive environment, both sales and marketing have a role to play in cultivating a deep understanding of your leads – and how to convert them.

If you’d like to find out more about how we can support you by helping to drive enquiries in an upcoming lead generation campaign, get in touch.