Rainmakers and Lead Generation

From time to time, we talk about the difference between marketing and sales.

I’ve had conversations with peers about whether salespeople should generate their own leads.

I’ve even gone so far as to say that the stronger your lead generation program(s), the weaker you are encouraging your salespeople to be and vice versa. The weaker your lead generation is, the stronger your salespeople need to be.

I’m constantly getting pushback. Salespeople want fancy websites, big advertising, more mailings, marketing support, yada, yada, yada. Anything for more leads so they don’t have to work so hard.

Then, tonight, I read Rainmakers and Lead Generation. Brian nailed it. I’ve never seen it put exactly like thie before. Read it and set yourself a new standard!

Thanks, Brian!

8 thoughts on “Rainmakers and Lead Generation”

As a business manager struggling to determine how much to spend on marketing projects, and how much to invest in enhancing the abilities of the sales group to create their own leads, I’ve read this with great interest. In the past, our marketing efforts have not been great at generating leads, but our conversion rate has been pretty strong. I might have just found a way to justify my desire to limit our marketing expenses. If I can use the same budget to encourage or enable sales people to generate their own leads, I might be able to get a much better return on the investment. Thanks Brian and Rick for this food for thought!

At the risk of appearing to be backstepping, just be sure that $1 spent on lead development by a salesperson results in at least as much net revenue as a lead developed by marketing would.

Of course, you are right, Rick. I would want to be confident that I choose the investment with the better return probability. If I figure out a way to be 100% sure, I’ll be calling you to sell MY expertise! 😉 Enjoy the day.