4 ways to strategically improve the middle of the funnel

4 ways to strategically improve the middle of the funnel VLMS Global

The center of the funnel also presents some particular difficulties; at this point, the leads could get stale and cold. They can quit answering, which would indicate that they are ineligible. As a result, the velocity is low and the lead flow is constrained. Here, we'll go through the four key methods for leveraging and getting beyond these obstacles.

Deal with bad leads at the source

Both the quantity and quality of lead sources vary. Each lead source is tracked using four metrics. MQLs volume, rate of closed conversation, the ratio of opportunities created, and average selling price. 

It's critical to go further into each program's ROI since these metrics support the marketing team in generating quality leads and quickly identifying any problem areas. For example, leads who signed up for a trial advance through the sales funnel more quickly and have a higher closing rate than those who participated in the webinar. Leads from sources with lower-than-average conversion rates, such as downloading a whitepaper, must also clear a higher qualification threshold before being forwarded to the sales team.

In addition, unreliable data results in low conversion rates since lead quality is strongly correlated with data quality. Data from third-party data sources can be used to create fresh leads, but it's important to confirm their provenance. These leads may initially appear to be of high quality when they pass through target businesses in the market, but as they move further down the funnel, they may be missing crucial information like firm size or even have the wrong phone numbers.

Increase lead generation from each segment

Each demand generation marketer has a fantasy of creating an ongoing lead nurturing process. Regrettably, things don't always go according to plan in business. Occasionally, either to achieve a strategic objective or to make up for a lost time, the marketing team has to immediately send a significant number of leads to the sales team. Marketers can concentrate on certain lead categories that are lying in the middle of the funnel to generate greater numbers without reducing the quality of the leads rather than being too wide and hurting the quality.

Lead scoring will increase lead velocity

The lever you may turn to increase your lead velocity is lead scoring. Demand generation managers can identify the traits that make a successful leader by performing routine multiple regression on the database over numerous behavioral parameters.

They can also look at a variety of behaviors, including clicks on emails, website visits, downloads of whitepapers, participation in social media, and webinar registrations. You may keep track of the number of prospects who engaged in these behaviors that eventually resulted in sales, client conversions, and income. These studies assist you in identifying the prospect behaviors that most strongly suggest purchasing intent.

Context and content can reduce handover time

There is a type of gap created when the sales staff doesn't have enough information on each lead to follow up, which frequently causes poor velocity. This is where the marketing team may partially remove these barriers.

First and foremost, marketing must give the sales team resources like case studies and whitepapers that they may use to engage leads. Create tailored content that is pertinent to the client's interests, and then provide a succession of material that keeps them interested at each stage of the funnel.