Read the full post at http://www.fourquadrant.com/marketing-strategy-example-align-qualified-leads-with-sales-targets/ The Marketing Strategy Example – align qualified leads with sales targets – tends to resonate well with CEOs and CFOs because qualified leads are the fuel that drives revenue. Within a marketing organization, the demand creation function is responsible for generating marketing qualified leads. These leads are then passed to demand management where they are converted to qualified sales opportunities, and are then handed off to the sales organization for closing. A Demand Creation Plan requires strategic, proactive and integrated planning to efficiently and effectively align the resources to produce both the desired results and the ROI returns the business demands. Marketing Goal – Impact Revenue By definition, Marketing should directly correlate to revenue, as the lead generation function is part of the sales process and should be managed by Marketing. The key is that Marketing and Sales must be integrated and aligned with the same goals using consistent terminology, definitions, processes and systems. In most cases, Marketing will not own 100% of sales pipeline creation-so the sales team and indirect channels should share ownership. However, Marketing must not be satisfied with just creating a marketing qualified lead — because the mutually shared goal with sales is revenue. As a result, Marketing needs to focus on creating marketing qualified leads with a high propensity to convert to a closed/won deal. Generating leads and spending money is not the same as aligning marketing qualified leads with sales targets. A focused goal and a well thought out marketing strategy is a best practice for generating marketing qualified leads through a managed, repeatable process that is metric-driven, yields expected results and is cost effective. The downside of not embracing this approach is there is a very good probability that the sales team does not make quota and the financial needs of the business are not met. Leverage this Marketing Strategy Example to align qualified leads with sales targets. Download go to market planning templates at http://www.fourquadrant.com/products/

1. Marketing Strategy Example !
Align MQLs to Sales Targets!
See the Complete Marketing
Strategy Example!
!
fourquadrant.com/MarketingResourceBlog

2. Marketing Strategy Example – Goals & Benefits!
Marketing Goal
§ Positively impact revenue by aligning MQLs to Sales
Targets
Benefits
§ Allows for an intelligent approach to building a qualified
pipeline from an integrated plan
§ Enables efficient allocation of resources (specialization and
cost)
§ Provides a consistent pipeline for all channels

3. Marketing Strategy Example – Strategies & Tactics!
Marketing Strategies
§ Create marketing-qualified leads at a rate consumable by
the sales team and consistent with sales targets each and
every quarter.
Tactics
§ Reverse-engineer lead targets
§ Develop a definition of a marketing-qualified lead with the
sales team
§ Incorporate the time lag between marketing program
conception and the generation of marketing qualified leads.

4. Marketing Strategy Example – Marketing Tactics!
Marketing Tactics
§ Reverse-engineer the numbers
§ Create a demand waterfall by week
§ Document estimates and assumptions
§ Define terminology with the sales team
§ Document roles and responsibilities
§ Create a campaign template
§ Summarize the campaign timeline
§ Create and update the database of targeted companies and
contacts
§ Create compelling messaging and offers
§ Leverage marketing automation
§ Integrate marketing and sales automation systems
§ Track, monitor and manage metrics, dashboards and KPIs

5. Marketing Strategy Example – Obstacles to Avoid!
Obstacles to Avoid:
§ The wrong people in the jobs
§ Inappropriate funding
§ A short-term mentality – “one and done” marketing
events
§ A “lead” mindset vs. developing a marketing
qualified lead with a high propensity to purchase
§ A lack of accountability
§ Ad-hoc processes and systems

6. Marketing Strategy Example !
Align MQLs to Sales Targets!
See the Complete Marketing
Strategy Example!
!
fourquadrant.com/MarketingResourceBlog