Sales is unhappy with lead quality from Marketing. How can you turn dissatisfaction into success?

Focus on removing the friction and repositioning the conflict as an opportunity. Align everyone on the same side against the issue and make sure each stakeholder has actions they can take to improve lead conversion.

99% of the time this problem is rooted in the sales team/leaders not performing and looking for a scapegoat. It’s not my lack of practice and skill, it’s the leads. (Tale as old as time). There needs to be a clear agreement, what leads will sales follow up on, how many can be driven in budget, and what KPIs sales has for follow up. Until everyone is on same page, ice skating up hill

Many times, this is simply a disconnect of expectations. It is easy to fall into the trap where marketing and sales define what constitutes a "quality" lead differently. The problem is that they don't talk about it; they just blame bad lead conversion on the other group. With open, transparent, and honest communication, you can merge expectations and drive success together.

Today, with AI and API, this is your best friend. For example, the data sales complain about adding to a tool like Clay and enhancing the data with API and enrichment data points. This will shed much light on that lead. Eliminate any ambiguity by answering all the questions about the quality of that lead. For example, you might have a lead that is not good at the moment, but if you enrich and discover what company this lead worked at and map their connections, you may get some good intros to high-quality leads. Could you make a scoring system and present it to both marketing teams?

As a Retail Business Mentor, I previously helped a customer navigate a similar situation. Their sales staff was dissatisfied with the quality of leads from marketing. We addressed this by going into the data collectively. Sales provided insights on lead conversion and customer feedback, while marketing examined engagement data. This data-driven strategy showed misalignments between lead generation and desired consumer profiles. By connecting marketing tactics with sales requirements, we enhanced lead quality and conversion rates, transforming discontent into strategic success.

If you keep doing what you have been doing, you are going to keep getting what you have got. Solid data analysis is great, but if you do nothing with it, nothing will change. Be sure you have a constant eye on the improvement of processes.

Training is critical. Building and refining processes only works if everyone understands why and how they work. It is important that they not only understand how they function in the process but also how their colleagues do. For these reasons, ongoing training must be a part of the planning.

To turn dissatisfaction into success, collaborate with sales to understand their lead quality concerns and define ideal lead characteristics. Revise Marketing's lead generation strategies to target high-quality leads, leveraging data and analytics to inform decisions. Implement a lead scoring system to evaluate lead readiness and prioritize high-scoring leads for sales follow-up. Establish a feedback loop, enabling Sales to provide insights on lead quality and conversion rates, and use this data to refine marketing's approach. By aligning marketing and sales efforts, you can improve lead quality, enhance conversion rates and foster a culture of cross-functional collaboration.