A Diagnostic Prospecting Campaign Can Generate a 40%, 60%, and Even 80% Sales Conversion Rate
Diagnostic prospecting is a type of campaign used to fill a sales pipeline with qualified leads. Diagnostic campaigns utilize surveys to capture critical research data target customers desire and are willing to complete in exchange for access to the data. Designed well, diagnostic campaigns provide sales professionals the “warm” introductions and insights they need to expand their pipeline and close sales.
The fundamental difference between a diagnostic prospecting campaign and a traditional marketing campaign is conversion rate. A traditional marketing campaign will return a relatively low sales conversion rate, typically in the single digits (4% to 6%). By comparison, a diagnostic prospecting campaign can generate a 40%, 60%, and even 80% sales conversion rate. How is this possible? It has to do with the two drivers of sales: Awareness of Need and Budget Approval.
Traditional Marketing vs. Diagnostic Campaigns
Traditional marketing campaigns focus on identifying prospects who are ready to buy and have budget approval. The immediate sales come from those who are ready to buy NOW and additional sales are generated from those who are ready to buy in the near future. The fundamental problem with traditional marketing campaigns is the pool of potential buyers is limited, which is reflected in the sales conversion rate. See Exhibit 1.
The reason the possible pool of buyers is limited is NOT due to a general lack of need. Companies would be out of business if there was a lack of need for their products or services. The primary reason the pool of possible buyers is typically small is due to internal commitment. A buying decision occurs when the leadership within an organization is aware of a need, which in turn justifies the budget.
The strategic advantage of a diagnostic campaign is awareness. A diagnostic campaign uses data and analytics to build awareness of need within an organization’s leadership team and supervisory ranks. By building awareness of need, diagnostic campaigns can significantly expand the pool of available buyers, which provides a much better return on your marketing and sales efforts.
As shown in Exhibit 2, by building awareness of need within organizations, diagnostic campaigns are able to target any company in need vs. only those that are ready to buy NOW.
How Does a Diagnostic Campaign Work
A diagnostic campaign is built around a survey and is designed to unearth the pains and challenges facing an organization. In many ways, a diagnostic survey is like a medical checkup that measures a certain aspect of a patient’s health. A diagnostic survey measures a certain aspect of an organization’s “health”. Like most patients, when an organization is presented data analytics that identifies a “health risk”, the organization is inclined to fix the problem.
Given the desire for data, especially comparative benchmark data, among executives and leaders, the opportunity to participate in a diagnostic survey is seen as a positive. There are very few hurdles that prevent a prospect from accepting an invitation.
The key to designing an effective diagnostic campaign is to design the diagnostic survey to capture and measure the pains within an organization your products and services are designed to resolve. When the pains can be documented using hard analytical facts and the data is derived from the inputs of an organization’s own leaders and staff, the sales process becomes a lot easier and conversion rates go up dramatically.
If you are interested in learning more about how Accelerant Innovations designs diagnostic campaigns or are interested in designing your own diagnostic survey, please feel free to contact us. We are happy to answer any question and share case studies.