The recipe for Lead Generation failure

Let’s talk about ourselves: the recipe for Lead Generation failure (despite the fact that nearly everybody still does it when they should know better)

In a survey that informed its recently published 2020 CIO agenda, analyst firm Gartner reports on the types of disruption CIOs have faced over the past four years. Most of them are, in one way or another, linked together.

Severe operating cost pressures, funding shortfalls, shifting consumer demands, IT service failures, product/service failures and disruption of the business environment, are among the issues Gartner has identified. It’s easy to see how the effect of one (say, funding shortfalls) is the cause of another (IT service failure).

The challenging environment described by Gartner should be an opportunity for telecoms network and infrastructure suppliers who, while they may suffer from some of the problems listed (funding shortfalls and cost pressures being the obvious candidates), should nevertheless also be the solution to others (IT and product/service failures, to identify two). Understanding how their products and services enter into the ‘problem matrix’ is a key to effectively articulating the supplier’s value proposition. And yet…

All too often suppliers still take the approach that the best way to build pipeline and sell products is to talk about themselves and the inherent greatness of their own products and services (sic). They’re presumably then baffled when this strategy doesn’t work.

This is despite the fact that, one imagines, many of them spend their weekends shopping for cars but don’t buy vintage Alfa Romeo’s, despite Alfa dealers telling them they’re the most reliable vehicles on the market (eCS tip: Older model Alfas look absolutely great but reliable they’re not.) Cynicism and self-analysis clearly aren’t natural bedfellows.

All of which is to raise the question, what does make a great lead generation script?

For a start, it’s listening to the results of Gartner’s survey, rather than just reading them and nodding sagely. If you know the challenges CIOs face, then you’ve been given the framework of the sales conversation free of charge. And the conversation ISN’T about your products; it’s about solving their problems.

The “why our technology is good” bit comes further down the line. The starting point will almost always be the Use Case; explaining how you’ll use our technology to overcome your challenges – the initial emphasis being on their challenges and not your technology. It’s only once the buyer has understood the outcomes in a context relevant to him or her that the functionality and robustness of the product will be investigated. “Find the pain points and deliver the medication”

At eCS, years of holding conversations with telco CIOs have made it abundantly clear to us as to how to help infrastructure and technology vendors create lead generation strategies and support content that has the best chance of success. We’ve learned how to craft and deliver messages that resonate.

If you’d like to discuss what we’ve identified in more detail, please click on the link below and we’ll be happy to set up a call.