Metrics is defined as a standard of measurement. It’s plain, but not always simple in the real world of lead generation. We are constantly faced with accurately measuring the return our investment delivers from lead generation activities. Metrics are important:
- to see if your activities are producing the realistic results you hoped for
- to spot trend and patterns
- to develop predictable results over time
- to manage and improve
- to determine if the activity is worth repeating
Evolving communication methods and social media may change the metrics we use today.
Assess Social Media and Traditional Channels: Are They Worth the Effort?
Activity is part of the lead generation metric. Traditionally we connected with prospects and buyers through phone calls or emails. Anyone in sales had been asked at one time or another. How many phone calls did you make? How many contacts did you engage with over the phone? How many emails did you send? How many contacts did you engage with through email?
Today companies may connect through traditional and social mediums. If you are using and testing the results these activities yield, shouldn’t both traditional and social activities be measured? You need to know the “how” as well. It makes sense to look at the lead generation activity: from calls to emails to texts to IM to tweets to connections to engagements, in order to determine if this activity is worth the effort. Activity should be reviewed to gauge the relationship between activity and results, not push lead generation representatives toward unproductive behavior.
Results are also part of the lead generation metric. Traditionally the result we are looking for from lead generation is a lead. There are different levels of leads: those that are sales ready, those that need nurturing or those that are dead. I think most would agree that the result measurement of our lead generation activity continues to be generating a qualified lead. The metric used to measure results remains a qualified lead. Clear lead definitions at all levels are critical to develop meaningful metrics.
In the end, metrics are just that — a standard of measurement — and they should be managed using business smarts. There needs to be a logical connection between activity and results. Would be interested in hearing how metrics have worked and are evolving for your company?
Speaking of calling, join us next week and hear an executive assistant’s view about calling vs. email.