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As marketers we all get caught up in generating leads, building traffic, creating click throughs, optimizing content and generating more views and leads. In doing all this we often forget that the final objective is not just generating the highest volumes of leads but to generate business opportunities which are well qualified and can potentially convert to sales. So what is being done to make sure all those inquiries, downloads and web leads are qualified and the ones that are clear business opportunities are identified and passed on appropriately?

We have covered the need for inbound lead qualification in previous posts and while talking to companies we often hear that they have it all covered and their inbound leads are uploaded straight to their CRM so that in time they can be conatcted by the sales reps. But have they really got things covered? Time is of the essence when it comes to having inbound leads qualified and ideally they should be qualified as soon as they are generated. With every hour that passes by after that, the chances of conversion to a clear business opportunitiy or a sale diminish. Spending on having your inbound lead qualified as soon as possible is more than worth the extra cost. If you can identify clear business opportunities and differentiate them from unqualified leads in the process you will not only have a better conversaion rate but you will benefit from having only good qualified business opportunities from going into your CRM and have your sales team spend their time better on well qualified opportunities rather than just leads. This simple addition to the loop will make your sales machine more efficient and have it working in the right direction. 

Remember the aim should not stop at simply generating leads. Thats just step one. The aim is to generate qualified business opportunities. Identifiying business opportunities within the leads sooner rather than later will give you that extra edge.