London, UK – 22 March 2012 – Nurtured prospects buy more, require less discounting and have shorter sales cycles than prospects that have not been nurtured, according to Marketo, the fastest-growing provider of Revenue Performance Management (RPM) technology. Despite many companies generating good quality leads, most new leads are not yet ready to engage, and risk getting lost, ignored or snatched up by competitors.

Lead nurturing techniques not only build relationships with qualified prospects – regardless of their time frame to buy – but according to a Marketo study reported in DemandGen Report, nurtured leads also produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. The same study also found companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost per head. In today’s purchasing process, on average only in the last third of the buying process do buyers want to engage with sales reps. This fundamentally changes the role of marketing. Rather than simply generating leads and moving on, today’s marketers must synchronise their marketing throughout the buying process, providing potential buyers with high quality content that is contextually relevant, and have the insight and expertise to execute lead nurturing campaigns, and lead scoring techniques.

“Some people still think lead nurturing is sending out an e-newsletter on a semi-regular basis, randomly calling leads every six weeks to see if they’re ready to buy, or blasting their entire database with a new customer case study,” said Fergus Gloster, Managing Director EMEA for Marketo. “These are all common pitfalls to avoid. Lead nurturing is no different than building a long term relationship – you need to foster respect and trust, be a good listener and keep things interesting. Incoming lead processing campaigns are your chance to make a positive first impression. What you do and how you act when you first meet someone will affect how they perceive you from there on out. It’s the same with lead nurturing techniques. B2B buyers are now in control, and marketing must proactively understand their needs.”
To address this, Marketo has created The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing, to help marketers discover what lead nurturing is and how they can apply it. The Guide helps companies learn how to create more sales-ready leads, determine buying stages and calculate the ROI of lead nurturing. The Guide is available for download at http://www.marketo.com/b2b-marketing-resources/best-practices/lead-nurturing/the-definitive-guide-to-lead-nurturing.php

Revenue Performance Management (RPM) Defined
Revenue Performance Management (RPM) extends beyond traditional marketing automation and lead nurturing technologies to optimize interactions with buyers across the revenue cycle and accelerate predictable revenue growth. It includes the full range of online and offline customer interaction channels, including web, mobile, social and events. Marketo’s vision is to provide the tools, thought leadership, and best practices to change how marketing and sales work — and work together — to help companies of all sizes accelerate predictable revenue growth.

About Marketo
Marketo is the fastest growing provider in Revenue Performance Management. Marketo’s powerful yet easy-to-use marketing automation and sales effectiveness solutions transform how marketing and sales teams of all sizes work — and work together — to drive dramatically increased revenue performance and fuel business growth. The company’s proven technology, comprehensive services and expert guidance are helping more than 1,700 enterprise and mid-market companies around the world to turn marketing from a cost centre to a business-building revenue driver. Marketo also offers Spark by Marketo™, a new brand of marketing automation tailored specifically for small businesses – the fastest-growing and largest segment of today’s economy.
Marketo was recently named one of “America’s Most Promising Companies” by Forbes Magazine, the fastest-growing private company of 2011 by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and the “2011 CRM Market Leaders Awards Winner for Marketing Solutions” by CRM Magazine. For more information, visit www.marketo.com, or subscribe to Marketo’s award-winning blogs at blog.marketo.com.

PR Contact:
Vanessa Land
Devonshire Marketing
Tel: +44 (0)7768 693 779
Email: vanessa[at]devonshiremarketing[dot]com

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