I was asked recently on a briefing call how to effectively track Marketing versus Sales generated leads. My response - stop separating them! The key is facilitating buyer engagement, and not create division over who gets “credit" for the lead. To manage this effectively, companies need to first understand the differences between lead source and contact source.
- Lead Source - The action or activity taken by the customer or prospect that results in the qualification of the lead and subsequent engagement in an opportunity. It has multiple touch points and attributed as such. Example, registering for a webinar, downloading an ebook, etc.
- Contact Source - How the buyer contact information was obtained. Example, a sales rep's list of contacts, partner referrals, a purchased list, etc.
Many companies use the term “lead source” as a catchall for both, and measure it as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to determine Marketing or Sales effectiveness. Unfortunately, this method often leads to more confusion around what specific program/tactic actually resulted in the qualification and unproductive credit claims on “who" provided the contact information. With the digital era, buyers don’t become interested or qualified through how their information was obtained, so why measure that way?
Throughout my career working with sales and marketing teams, I've recommended separating contact source from lead source. What has become more important, and how companies should measure program ROI, is looking at the quality and quantity of buyer engagement. Whether that was an article that captured their interest, attended a webinar after receiving an invite, or an inside sales follow-up phone call after a booth visit (see my prior article on the importance of follow-up). Effective engagement requires marketing and sales to partner to create an experience along every point of the buyer’s interaction. The contact source simply doesn’t provide the insight needed to truly determine interest level. It’s at this point that I’ll usually get the question from sales, “Why should I give up my personal contact list if I don’t get any credit for it?” Of course the sales rep should. Create a separate field to track contact source as your company could tie other incentives like rewards or contests for adding the most contacts, the most amount of buyer engagement, etc.
If your company leverages Marketing Automation or CRM systems, this process is simple to implement:
- Create a new field separate from Lead Source titled “Contact Source”.
- If the lead is from a sales rep's contact database, sync to this new field with a list title of “<Sales Rep Name> Contacts”.
- Setup reports or dashboards in CRM for your sales rep to include this field to track contact engagement.
