Mid-Year 2008 Marketing Study Presented by BtoB Magazine and the Sales Lead Management Association

5/28/2008 - This report contains research and opinions on marketing spending in the last half of 2008, obstacles to spending marketing dollars to drive sales, immediate priorities for the remainder of 2008, the percentage of business from sales inquiries, and the percentage of salespeople who report on the disposition of inquiries. These results were published originally by BtoB Magazine in its BtoB Special Issue S15, Lead Generation Guide 2008.  A digital version is available online.

In May, 2008, BtoB Magazine and the Sales Lead Management Association surveyed its membership and circulation list to find out:

1. Are B2B marketers going to spend more or less on inquiry generating programs from July to December in 2008?
2. What are their obstacles to spending more money on marketing to drive sales?
3. What are their immediate priorities for the remainder of 2008?
4. What percentage of new business comes from sales inquiries?
5. What percentage of salespeople report on the disposition of sales inquiries?

The Survey Process

The survey was done via email on Wednesday, May 14th.  A total of 20,370 emails were sent to the circulation list for BtoB and the membership list of the Sales Lead Management Association. 273 responses were received and the survey was closed to responses at approximately 6 PM on Sunday May 18th. For some questions the entire 273 respondents answered, for others a smaller percentage responded and their response was taken as a weighted response from their particular group. We did not ask titles and industry classification.

1. Do you expect to spend more or less money on Inquiry Generating programs from July to December 2008 than you did in the first half of 2008?

A significant 45.42% will spend more. There is a solid vote of confidence that management considers lead generating activities to be important. Only 10.26% said they will spend less ( a very small number).

►45.42% said they will spend more.
►44.32% will spend about the same as the first half.
►10.26% said they will spend less.

127 (47%) out of 273 responded to this question. 68.51% said they will spend 11% or more in the last half. We take that to be a significant percentage.

►31.50% said 2‐10% more.
►39.37% said 11‐20% more.
►16.54% said 21‐30% more.
►12.60% said more than 31% .

►30% Said 2‐10% less.
►16.67% Said 11‐20% less.
►23.33% Said 21‐30% less.
►30% Said more than 31% less.

►47.25% Say that they don't have reports to show ROI for what they spend.
►41.76% Say that sales management isn't reporting on sales inquiry follow‐up so that the marketing manager can show the ROI for the inquiries they generate.
►10.98% Say that their agencies don't know how to prove the ROI for the money they give them!

This shows the problems facing management in proving the ROI. Our questions to marketing are:

1. Why haven't you created the reports you need to prove the ROI? If this is your biggest obstacle, find a way. Look into your CRM system. Do "Did you buy studies" of those that inquired. Get aggressive and prove how much wealth you create from the marketing dollars given to you.
2. If sales management isn't reporting on the sales inquiry follow‐up, get pushy with them. Give them the tools to report and insist on it. Salespeople have a lot riding on where the marketing dollars are spent.

This chart shows the biggest obstacles to spending more marketing money to drive sales.

►27.11% Proving the ROI for marketing expenditures.
►23.08% Getting sales management to follow‐up every inquiry.
►49.82% Increasing lead generation activities.

►23.81% said 10%.
►28.57% said 11‐25%.
►21.98% said 26‐40%.
►14.65% said 41‐60%.
►10.99% said more than 61%

7. The percentage of their new business that comes from inquiries generated?

►24.91% said 10%.
►19.41% said 11‐20%.
►20.88% said 21‐30%.
►7.33% said 31‐40%.
►11.72% said 41‐50%.
►15.75% said more than 50%.

The surprising answer is that 65.2% said that they get 30% or less of their business from generating sales inquiries. What does marketing do with their budget?

►15.75% Said they know the disposition of 76% or more of the inquiries.
►6.23% Said they know about 61‐75%.
►10.26% Said they know about 46‐60%.
►10.62% Said they know about 31‐45%.
►9.52% Know about 21‐30%.
►7.69% Know about 11‐20%.
►9.52% Know about 0‐10%.
►30.40% Don't know the follow‐up percent.

Two things surprised us: 32.24% say that salespeople report on the disposition of at least 46% of the inquiries; while 30.40% don't know the follow‐up percent at all. In fairness, the 30.40% could have salespeople such as dealers and distributors who will never report on the disposition of inquiries.