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If you have been following our blogs for a time now, you may have already been introduced to the Flywheel Model, a concept within the Inbound Methodology that puts customers and customer satisfaction at the very center of the flywheel.
Well-established in the whole inbound concept, the flywheel is described as a structure that “stores and releases energy” just as soon as enough effort has been exerted for it to gain momentum. Customers on the other hand, are referred to as the “stored energy” that fuels the flywheel.
Within the flywheel are the different funnels that make up the whole buyer’s journey. This means that the customers are passed on from the marketing team, to the sales team, and last, the service team.
It might be worth mentioning however, that before they can be referred to as “customers”, these people are but mere page visitors– curious individuals who have been drawn to your brand by a content of yours that they found in the internet, or referred to you by a close friend of theirs who has been a patron of your brand for some time now and has seen enough of your content. Before transitioning into being a customer/buyer/client, these random people whose curiosity was piqued by the content you have strategically positioned all over the web were leads, to be more specific– inbound leads.
By now we know that inbound leads are people who have indicated interest in a company’s product or service through various ways like filling up an information form or by downloading an offering from your landing page. In many ways it would seem like a lead is where an entire sales process starts, rendering lead generation a crucial aspect of growing any business and thereby answering the question: why qualify inbound leads?
In this post, we’re going to tell you all about the process of qualifying inbound leads.
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The Process of Qualifying Inbound Leads
An inbound lead is mostly generated through the collection of information. There are a number of ways to do this.
Generation of leads can be the result of job seekers exhibiting interest in a job ad by filling out application forms from an employer hiring online. Or by a busy mother who shows an inclination to avail of your services by filling out an online form, having been enticed by a free spa day coupon. It can also be a result of a college student filling out an online form to be able to download a copy of an educational tool a University website left as an offering for prospective enrollees.
Really, there is more than just one way to generate leads. And the process of qualifying them closely resembles these processes, too.
In a job application for example, when a job seeker fills out an application form and shares a lot of information in the hopes of being considered for the position, they are exhibiting high interest in the job being advertised. Their act of filling out the application, therefore qualifies them as a lead for the recruiting company. Take note, that they are qualified as a lead for recruitment, and not for marketing nor sales.
The situation would be a bit different when qualifying leads involving product or service coupon offerings. While in job applications job seekers won’t have any choice but fill out the required details, in drawing leads to your product, you’ll need to use some bait that they find valuable enough for them to take the time to fill out their information. It would, of course, be strange to ask for the same set of information that you can require in a job ad, but even when they only leave their name and email address, doing so will be enough to assume their interest, and will be sufficient to qualify them as a lead.
Meanwhile, while job seekers show interest in a job by filling out application forms, and any individual can convey interest in a product or service you offer by downloading coupons– the interest that pursuers of your content exhibit is harder to gauge. So you’ll need to look for more ways to gauge their interest. This is where Lead Scoring comes into play.
Lead Scoring
What exactly is lead scoring?
Lead scoring is simply a way to qualify leads quantitatively. This means there are numbers involved. Lead scoring is a technique wherein leads are given a numerical value (score) to determine their level of interest.
This can range from “interested” to “purchase ready”. Laying out the criteria for distinguishing these levels of interest depends on you, your target personas and how well you know them. Keep in mind however, that these details and criteria are supposed to be harmonized across all your teams so that everyone in the company has the same scale as the basis for their work.
Actions such as filling out information, engaging with your brand in social media channels, and various other criteria your teams have laid out will be the basis of a lead’s score.
The higher the lead’s score is, it is assumed that they are closer to making a purchase.
Why Qualify Inbound Leads
When it comes to qualifying inbound leads, quality over quantity always seems to prevail. You don’t want a thousand leads who will not end up purchasing your product or availing your service. You want even just 10, who will.
Without qualifying inbound leads, you put yourself in danger of pursuing leads that will just lead you on and not turn into a sale. You don’t want to waste your time and resources on these sorts of leads.
Qualifying leads is ultimately a better way to conduct your business.
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