Appointment setting 'helps boost lead generation deals'

Using face-to-face strategies such as appointment setting is perfectly suited to increasing lead generation deal sizes and the rate at which sales are finalised, research has found.

Speaking to Marketing Sherpa, vice-president of marketing at IBM Cognos Dave Laverty explained that his firm had noticed a change in the business-to-business lead generation market, with traditional techniques becoming less effective due to factors such as lengthening sales cycles.

As a result, the company launched a new strategy in order to boost its lead generation, a move which included carrying out statistical analysis of interaction with potential customers.

The business found that face-to-face meetings "had the largest impact on increasing deal size and close rate", while demonstrations carried out online were useful for creating new sales opportunities.

However, the results also showed that conversion rates "virtually died" ten days after a firm was first contacted with an offer, suggesting that speed is important in lead generation.

Mr Laverty told the news source that the research gave "definitive answers to … questions about response rate and types of offer to provide", something that organisations looking to increase the efficiency of their lead generation may wish to consider.

SBTV.com recently stated that firms should aim to generate five leads from each person they meet at marketing events.