| For Immediate Release: |
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| CSO Insights 2010 Lead Generation Report Bears Out Marketing Budget Reductions in 2009 Bungled Sales Success | |
| In 2009 67% of respondents froze or reduced their marketing spend; a 2010 budget thaw reduced this number to 27.5% | |
| BOULDER, CO - July 13, 2010 -- CSO Insights announces
the release of their annual
Lead Generation Optimization report-2010 Lead Generation
Optimization Key Trends Analysis (LGO). Key findings show that the
fallout from freezing or reducing marketing budgets in 2009 reported by
67% of respondents contributed to an ugly year for sales performance as
reported in the February
Sales Performance report. With 72.5% of firms increasing their
marketing budgets this year, how will those funds be most effectively
invested? Over 635 firms took the 2010 LGO study. Of these, 63% were small firms (< $50M in revenues), 22% were medium-sized companies ($50M to $500M in revenues), and 15% were large enterprises (>$500M in revenue). Initial survey questions were designed to surface the lead generation priorities companies had for 2010. The survey also assessed how marketing budget allocations had been changed to achieve companies’ strategic marketing objectives. The top priorities this year are increasing customer acquisition (91.2%), increasing brand awareness (54%) and optimizing cross-selling and up-selling (41.2%). Based on quality and quantity of leads, respondents selected their top three lead generation programs: 1. Email
marketing topped the list again, as in 2009, but moved up in the
percentage of responses from 59% a year ago to 62% this year; Data deterioration dealt its biggest blow in 11 years to lead generation campaign success. An example of this was that only 8% of the firms surveyed reported the currency and correctness of their prospect data was >90%—responding to this challenge, 50% of respondents are increasing investments in data management this year. “Of companies that are achieving above-average results from their lead generation efforts, we found five critical factors that contributed to their success,” said Jim Dickie, managing partner. “We present these findings in the report so companies can see what their peers are doing to improve their lead generation performance.” A first in the history of this study, over 50% of the firms now have processes in place to track campaign ROI. A key part of determining ROI is the ability to track leads by source via a CRM system. With over 75% of all sales organizations leveraging CRM today, marketing can see into the life cycle of the leads they are generating. The top three ROI criteria are: 1. Total number of leads
generated per campaign, About CSO Insights CSO Insights (http://www.csoinsights.com) is a sales effectiveness research firm that specializes in measuring how companies are leveraging people, process, technology, and knowledge to improve the way they market and sell to customers. For 16 years, CSO Insights’ surveys of over 10,000 sales effectiveness initiatives have been the standard for tracking the evolution of how the role of sales is changing, revealing the challenges that are impacting sales performance, and showing how companies are addressing these issues. Media • To interview Jim Dickie, please email Jim.Dickie@csoinsights.com or call 303-521-4410. • To obtain a PDF copy of the full report, please email Teresa Acosta at Teresa.Acosta@csoinsights.com. • Tag: lead generation, sales effectiveness ### |
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