It may be a medical term, but false-positive diagnoses happen in sales, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFalse positive\u201d sales leads are those you\u2019ve mistakenly labeled as likely to close. In these cases, it\u2019s harder for sales reps to avoid pursuing dead-end opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But how do you help salespeople find that needle in the haystack? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a sales leader, if you told me to take the budget and resources previously driving hundreds of sales leads \u2013 and redirect them to start focusing on fewer accounts \u2013 I\u2019d have thought you were crazy. But, instead of hunting down questionable \u201cleads,\u201d sales teams can sell more<\/em> when they have a better way to prioritize time and effort. Here\u2019s how you can stop chasing the wrong opportunities and start identifying the right ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of our current B2B lead-scoring methods are broken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The insights are limited to first-party data \u2013 which would include your company\u2019s online forms, Webinar guestlist, and newsletter subscribers \u2013 and only focused on one persona rather than the entire buying committee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Buyers purchase in groups today; nine people are involved<\/a> in an average purchasing decision. That means examining data on a single lead isn\u2019t nearly enough. The problem is, you could focus your time on the lead from a CEO who isn\u2019t even looking to buy, while completely ignoring the lead from an intern doing research for a CEO who is actively seeking to purchase a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All this running around chasing the wrong opportunities is the result of misalignment between sales and marketing. Today, most of the buyer journey takes place in the \u201cdark funnel\u201d \u2013 where signals like anonymous Web visits, third-party research, and false form fills go unseen. Operating with all of this unknown information leaves sales going off one set of data and marketing going off another; but, when these teams work in tandem, they generate 38 percent more revenue in 27 percent less time<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To align, sales and marketing teams have to combine resources so they can work off the same insights and deliver a cohesive message to buyers. By establishing common goals, like increasing average deal size and time to contact, sales and marketing work together to close a deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your approach to selling has to be more proactive. To be successful, teams need visibility into the entire buying journey \u2013 allowing them to anticipate leads early in the funnel and line up campaigns to launch even before a form is filled out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a sales rep, imagine how easily you\u2019d close deals if you could carefully analyze every person in every account at every stage in the buying journey, then use that information to determine which accounts your time is best spent on. Luckily, prioritizing leads is possible with comprehensive data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Take Mediafly, a sales-enablement software company, as an example. Originally using a leads-based approach \u2013 particularly focused on events and inbound \u2013 Mediafly\u2019s strategy drove a lot of activity for sales reps but left them running after leads that didn\u2019t produce the bottom-line results they wanted. To generate results, the team needed a way to prioritize which accounts were likely to convert. By leveraging known and unknown buyer signals uncovered with AI, Mediafly could orchestrate an enormous volume of buyer intent data to focus on leads that were more likely to close. And, with those insights in their arsenal, Mediafly increased inbound quality<\/a> by 10x.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Selling isn\u2019t a one-size-fits-all approach. After you\u2019ve identified the right sales leads, the secret sauce to selling more is personalizing your message to address the buyer\u2019s specific need at their specific stage in the journey. How you interact with leads just starting their initial research will be different from how you engage with someone close to finalizing their purchase \u2013 and a sales rep\u2019s time is better spent on leads close to converting.<\/p>\n\n\n\nStop Using Broken Lead Scoring Methods<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Start Prioritizing Sales Leads <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Personalize Your Message to Convert Sales Leads <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/www.sales30conf.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/MarkEbert.png\" "\\"Mark_Ebert_Headshot\\"\/")
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