Market research platform Ascend2 found that around 59% out of a sample size of 375 global marketing professionals from various industries are making quality leads their top priority.

The study also found out that 49% are still dedicated to highlight quantity in their lead generation campaigns indicating that the antagonistic narrative between quality and quantity is far from settled. Marketing experts in highly specialized industries such as information technology and software development continue to argue over priorities in the acquisition of IT sales leads.

Should IT entrepreneurs focus on producing as many leads as they can, or identifying high potential prospects?

Marketing experts weigh in on the issue.

Focus on lead scoring

There is always a conflict between marketing and sales as to the amount and quality of leads to be pursued. Sales often complain that the leads given to them are inferior, forcing the marketing department to increase their quotas.

But according to NewsCred’s Michael Brenner, B2B marketers need to adjust to the requirements of sales. He writes: “Start by providing as much quantity as possible. Help sales fill their pipeline funnels… As the quality pressure starts to rise, you can only send to sales those opportunities that are further along in the sales cycle.”

Brenner suggests that marketers undertake effective lead scoring and lead nurturing as a way to help sales discover and tackle high-opportunity areas.

Related Post: Things You’ll Need to Know (Now) about B2B Marketing and Sales

Quality metrics and ROI

Green Leads CEO Mike Damphousse directs our attention to the need for an efficient lead management program that puts quality as its main metric as it provides “sales ready leads that result in an overall higher ROI.”

What he stresses is that when properly guided to pursue high-quality prospects, sales reps will be able to engage appointments with high sales potential while reducing the likelihood of inaccurately targeting the wrong people.

“Whether an internal team or a third party vendor, if the reps are incentivized to produce Quality appointments, the cost per pipeline opportunity can be as high as 14% more effective,” he says.

Related: The Elements of an Effective B2B Lead Management Structure

More means lesser opportunities

Dan McDade of Salesforce makes a terrific case explaining that B2B managers will gain more from creating and filtering engagements that are bound to end in closes than from amassing large volumes of prospects whose “warmness” is placed secondary. Consider this fact: Quality is tied to revenue since a complete profile of every lead relayed to sales can guide reps into forming talking points that are bound to stimulate some interest.

“By focusing on delivering fewer, yet more qualified prospects, marketing has the very real potential to significantly impact its organization’s ability to generate revenue,” he says.

Do you agree with these points? Will quality be more beneficial in terms of generating IT sales leads? Share your insights in the comments below.

Sources:

http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/sales-alignment/marketing-leads-quality-vs-quantity

http://www.green-leads.com/b2b-blog/bid/19181/Sales-Ready-Leads-Quality-vs-Quantity

http://blog.marketo.com/2012/04/lead-generation-how-do-you-balance-quantity-with-quality.html

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Heres-Whats-Holding-Back-Lead-Generation/1011408