Marketers Urged to Focus on Opportunities, Not Leads
What happened
A new analysis of account-based marketing (ABM) argues that B2B marketers should shift focus from generating leads to creating real sales opportunities. The approach emphasizes using intent data to target in-market buyers and deploying ROI calculators and case studies tailored to specific workflows, such as those in insurance claims or SIU.
Why it matters
- The focus on opportunities over leads is a response to the increasing complexity of B2B purchases, which now involve an average of 6-10 stakeholders in the decision-making process. A single lead is often not representative of the entire account's buying intent. - Intent data allows marketers to see which companies are actively researching specific topics, products, or competitors, signaling a potential need before a contact form is ever filled out. Campaigns that use intent data have been shown to be 2.5 times more efficient than those that do not. - A significant challenge in traditional lead generation is that up to 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, often due to a lack of proper nurturing or poor initial qualification. An opportunity-focused model prioritizes nurturing the entire account over a longer B2B sales cycle. - While ROI calculators are powerful sales tools, many B2B buyers are skeptical of them; one report from Forrester Research indicated that 65% of buyers find vendor-provided calculations to be overly optimistic. To be effective, they must be transparent and allow for personalization to build trust. - In the insurance industry, case studies are a primary tool for building credibility and trust. They offer evidence of successful outcomes in specific, complex scenarios like claims payouts, coverage disputes, or risk management strategy implementation. - This strategic shift requires deep alignment between sales and marketing teams, moving away from marketing delivering a high volume of leads to both teams collaborating on a select list of high-value accounts with shared revenue goals. - The account-based model is often described as an "inverted funnel" where marketers identify and target best-
Key numbers
- A new analysis of account-based marketing (ABM) argues that B2B marketers should shift focus from generating leads to creating real sales opportunities.
- - The focus on opportunities over leads is a response to the increasing complexity of B2B purchases, which now involve an average of 6-10 stakeholders in the decision-making process.
- Campaigns that use intent data have been shown to be 2.5 times more efficient than those that do not.
- A significant challenge in traditional lead generation is that up to 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, often due to a lack of proper nurturing or poor initial qualification.
What happens next
- The approach emphasizes using intent data to target in-market buyers and deploying ROI calculators and case studies tailored to specific workflows, such as those in insurance claims or SIU.
Quick answers
What happened in Marketers Urged to Focus on Opportunities, Not Leads?
A new analysis of account-based marketing (ABM) argues that B2B marketers should shift focus from generating leads to creating real sales opportunities. The approach emphasizes using intent data to target in-market buyers and deploying ROI calculators and case studies tailored to specific workflows, such as those in insurance claims or SIU.
Why does Marketers Urged to Focus on Opportunities, Not Leads matter?
The focus on opportunities over leads is a response to the increasing complexity of B2B purchases, which now involve an average of 6-10 stakeholders in the decision-making process. A single lead is often not representative of the entire account's buying intent. Intent data allows marketers to see which companies are actively researching specific topics, products, or competitors, signaling a potential need before a contact form is ever filled out. Campaigns that use intent data have been shown to be 2.5 times more efficient than those that do not. A significant challenge in traditional lead generation is that up to 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, often due to a lack of proper nurturing or poor initial qualification. An opportunity-focused model prioritizes nurturing the entire account over a longer B2B sales cycle. While ROI calculators are powerful sales tools, many B2B buyers are skeptical of them; one report from Forrester Research indicated that 65% of buyers find vendor-provided calculations to be overly optimistic. To be effective, they must be transparent and allow for personalization to build trust. In the insurance industry, case studies are a primary tool for building credibility and trust. They offer evidence of successful outcomes in specific, complex scenarios like claims payouts, coverage disputes, or risk management strategy implementation. This strategic shift requires deep alignment between sales and marketing teams, moving away from marketing delivering a high volume of leads to both teams collaborating on a select list of high-value accounts with shared revenue goals. The account-based model is often described as an "inverted funnel" where marketers identify and target best-
