The CRAP Report

Today I’m going to finish up this three part series on key performance indicators for teleprospecting.  On Tuesday, I shared with you that you should be more concerned about your quality conversation number versus activity numbers, and yesterday I told you to be on the look out for the lead rate.  The last key performance indicator that you should be interested in is what you could call a “closed loop” percentage.  If conversations can point to upcoming qualified sales leads, and the lead rate gives you insight into success levels at converting conversations to leads, this closed loop percentage indicates that the leads you’re paying for are actually moving to pipeline.  Say wha!?

Okay, let me put some handles on that for you:  let’s say that you’ve picked your B2B lead generation team and they’re sending over highly qualified, targeted leads to you.  However, there’s one problem – when your sales team calls on them, the information provided to you doesn’t get validated.  There’s no budget when you were told there was budget.  The decision maker winds up being in the decision making process, but you weren’t told that the decision making process they’re a part of is choosing between Dunk’s or Starbie’s.   You were told that the prospect was truly interested, when in actuality, they were truly interested in kicking tires.  The closed loop percentage keeps track of this for you and lets you know whether you’re really getting what you paid for or not. 

To figure out the closed loop percentage, you’re going to need help from your sales team.  You’ve got to find out a few things from them – did the appointments occur, were they successful, and are they moving on in the sales cycle?  The more “yes’s” you get the better, and the higher your closed loop percentage becomes.  The higher your closed loop percentage is, the more likely that you’re really getting what you paid for.  Any “telemarketing” firm that can’t tell you what their company average is regarding the closed loop should raise a red flag in your mind.  As a good rule of thumb regarding the closed loop, a good range is 70% – 75%.

Mike McDermott said, “Listen, here’s the thing.  If you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.”  If you don’t want to be the sucker when it comes to the money you’ve spent, or are going to spend, on B2B lead generation, make sure you understand the three key performance indicators that have been outlined over the last few days; they’ll make all the difference in the world between a big win or a bad bet.