Close
Join 237,000 weekly readers and receive practical marketing advice for FREE.
MarketingSherpa's Case Studies, New Research Data, How-tos, Interviews and Articles

Join our thousands of weekly newsletter readers:

Best-of Weekly
Chart Of The Week
 

We value your privacy. We will not rent or sell your email address.

No thanks, take me to MarketingSherpa

First Name:
Last Name:
Email:
Text HTML
Oct 11, 2011
Article

Marketing Research Chart: Most challenging Marketing-Sales funnel processes

Email to a Colleague   Post a Comment   Permanent Link   Print Version   Free Newsletters  
SUMMARY: The process of optimizing the Marketing and Sales funnel can be a tiresome task. However, breaking the funnel into small stages, marketers can reveal opportunities for improvement. Each organization will approach the project uniquely, but it may be helpful to understand which funnel process will be the most demanding.

In this week’s chart, find out which Marketing-Sales funnel processes were found to be most challenging by more than 1,700 B2B marketers.
by Jen Doyle, Senior Research Manager

Lead conversion rated as most challenging funnel process

View Chart Online

Click here to see a larger, printable version of this chart



Our study found the majority of B2B marketers lack maturity in funnel optimization processes, so it is natural for them to indicate lead-to-customer conversion as the most challenging funnel process.

Organizations are beginning to recognize this as a Sales and Marketing function. However, it is still relatively new to marketers.

Despite the higher level of maturity displayed by B2B marketers in lead generation practices, this is still a significant challenge for them. Once they begin to gain maturity in funnel optimization strategies, they will likely find that their lead generation efforts produce a greater ROI over time.

Participants rated lead hand-off and management as the least challenging funnel process. CRM and marketing automation tools facilitate sending a lead to Sales, but the real challenge is identifying the right qualification criteria to determine when the hand-off should take place.

For additional research data and insights about B2B marketing, download and read the free Executive Summary from MarketingSherpa’s 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report: Research and Insights on Attracting and Converting the Modern B2B Buyer.

And don't miss out -- there is still time to register for MarketingSherpa’s B2B Summit 2011 in San Francisco, CA on October 24-25.


Useful links related to this chart

B2B Marketing Infographic: How are B2B marketers optimizing their funnel?

B2B Tactics: Maximizing marketing efforts in a tough economy

Leads tripled, conversions doubled with revamped Web content

MarketingSherpa 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report

Email to a Colleague   Post a Comment   Permanent Link   RSS   Free Newsletters  
See Also:

Comments about this Chart

Oct 12, 2011 - William of Momentum Conferencing says:
Interesting data, but the first one (conversion from lead into customer) is a sales department challenge, not a marketing challenge.



Post a Comment

Note: Comments are lightly moderated. We post all comments without editing as long as they
(a) relate to the topic at hand,
(b) do not contain offensive content, and
(c) are not overt sales pitches for your company's own products/services.










To help us prevent spam, please type the numbers
(including dashes) you see in the image below.*
→
Invalid entry - please re-enter




*Please Note: Your comment will not appear immediately --
article comments are approved by a moderator.

Improve your marketing

Join our thousands of weekly Case Study readers:
Note: Already a subscriber? Want to add a subscription?
Click Here to Manage Subscriptions
Improve your marketing -- and save money on every purchase

Sign up today for a MarketingSherpa Membership.

Benefits include:

  • Get every Special Report for FREE (usually $97 each)
  • Get every 30-Minute Marketer for FREE (usually $47 each)
  • Save 20% on every purchase
  • Ask the Librarian for help in locating marketing research
  • Enjoy other member-only perks
Get more info and sign up for a MarketingSherpa Membership here.
MarketingSherpa Community
Join thousands of marketers and get FREE access to practical Case Studies, research and training on email, demand gen, SEO, social media and more.
Join


Upcoming Webinars
  • Content Marketing: A discussion about McGladrey's 300% increase in content production

    Wed., June 5, 2013
    2:00 - 2:30 p.m. EDT
    Register for our next Free Webinar
New Research
Latest SherpaBlog Posts
Upcoming Events

Marketing Research Chart of the Week:
New every Tuesday

Click to view this article

Sherpa Sponsorship Opportunities

Weekly Book Giveaway


Questions? Contact Customer Service at (877) 895-1717 (outside the US and Canada please call (401) 383-3131), service@sherpastore.com

Email Marketing Delivered by ExactTarget

Web Analytics powered by Omniture

© 2000-2013 MarketingSherpa, LLC., ISSN 1559-5137
Editorial HQ: MarketingSherpa LLC 1300 Marsh Landing Parkway Suite 106, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250

The views and opinions expressed in the articles of this website are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect in any way the views of MarketingSherpa, its affiliates, or its employees.