42.7
54.6
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28.2
M
1
$
Lead gen is more of a focus than three years ago
%
69.3
Interim chief marketing and communications officer, Apex Group
Chantal Cantin
People implement these things [lead gen programmes] knee jerk without fully understanding what the strategy underpinning that needs to look like.
Commercetools
CMO
Jen Jones
The sales cycle has got longer, so making sure the business understands that data and how it compares to where we were a year or two ago is going to be critical.
Seismic
CMO
Paige O’Neill
You see the tension at times when you’re trying to build the quality of leads. The lead quantity goes down and that makes people nervous, so it can be hard to weather that transition to get to that higher quality, because you’ve first got to wean yourself off the illusion that if your pipeline is bigger, it’s better. It might make you feel better, but it’s a false sense of security.
7. Kicking the lead gen addiction
For some B2B businesses, generating leads is “priority one, two and three”. But is a preoccupation with volume over quality setting marketers up to fail?
Budgets have been under pressure for at least the last two years, impacting customer pipeline as leads become harder to come by. In addition, the B2B sales cycle is becoming longer and the buying committees more complex. If a buying cycle was typically six to nine months, brands can now comfortably tag on another quarter.
Established talent, as well as incoming marketing leaders, often come under pressure to revamp lead gen, a process which can take anything up to 18 months and become a frustrating exercise.
CMO tenure has a part to play. Often leaders may leave before the revamp is complete and then the next leader wants another reset, creating a cycle of impatience within the wider business.
The third of marketers who say their lead gen tactics aren’t changing could be a source for worry, especially given the need for brands to adapt in a rapidly changing environment.
There is also recognition from more than a third of B2B marketers that their firm’s lead gen tactics aren’t fit for purpose and yet they are still under pressure to deliver a growing pipeline of potential customers.
In addition, marketers are being forced to deliver leads regardless of quality. There is a tension to face when lead quantity goes down in search of increased quality. Having a large pipeline of potential buyers can give businesses a false sense of security, even though many of these leads never materialise.
• Encouraging a long-term mentality among CEOs, CFOs and the sales function requires marketers to adopt language that puts them on a level with their fellow business leaders, taking marketing specifics out of the conversation.
• Businesses should appreciate the need for lead gen to evolve to keep pace with the rapidly changing business environment, not least the rise of gen AI.
• Marketers need to educate the wider business about the length and complexity of the sales cycle, as well as the potential of marketing beyond simply driving leads.
• Marketers are being urged to wean themselves off the illusion that the bigger the pipeline, the bigger the pay off.
35.6
%
40.2
%
My company’s approach to lead generation isn’t fit for purpose
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The marketing department is under pressure to deliver marketing qualified leads regardless of quality
Lessons
%
Delivering MQLs is the only metric of success marketing is measured on
%
Senior leadership fail to understand the potential of marketing beyond
lead generation
%
Senior leadership do not understand the length or complexity of the sales cycle
Marketers on the lead gen challenge