It matters to Elon Musk, it should matter to you

Why is Elon Musk backing out of his bid to purchase Twitter?

A primary reason is due to fake accounts and the valuation of Twitter as a result of the actual account number. Twitter reports that fewer than 5% of accounts are fake, but Elon doesn’t believe that. Elon estimates that number is 20-25%. What is the truth?

SparkToro conducted a fresh analysis of 44,058 active Twitter accounts and determined that 19.42% fit a conservative definition of fake or spam accounts.

We may never know the truth about how many fake Twitter accounts there are but we do know that the impact of false/bad data is a source of conflict. When you know that there is bad data, it is hard to NOT focus on that.

As marketing and sales professionals, we experience this conflict all the time when it comes to leads and the transfer of data back and forth between marketing and sales. Whether it is bad data or targeting the wrong leads, the results are the same: lack of trust between marketing and sales.

A new study by the research firm Ascend2 and SharpSpring, reveals that the #1 complaint that sales teams have about the marketing teams is targeting the wrong leads (43%). Other complaints include inaccurate data and incorrect attribution.

What is behind the sales team’s top complaint that marketing is targeting the wrong leads? Does the sales team feel that marketing doesn’t know the customer (which is a major problem) or do they feel that marketing is more concerned about hitting a specific lead total for the month as compared to delivering to sales only leads that are “real” prospects? Most likely it is the latter.

(Download the 24-page research report, The State of Marketing and Sales Alignment 2022.)

The debate on what is most important, the quantity of leads vs. the quality of leads is no longer a debate. There are countless research studies that show that the quality of leads is all that matters. Does Elon care that Twitter claims to have 330 million monthly active users? No. What is most important are the real accounts. And what matters most to marketing and sales teams is the quality of leads, not the number of leads. Why? Because only quality leads have the chance to convert to paid customers.

So how can you improve the quality of your leads? Here are 5 tips:

1. Formalize a definition of a “sales-qualified lead” between marketing and sales. Make the definition available to both groups and only pass leads to sales that have met your definition of a qualified lead.
2. Integrate your email and CRM to gather quality data about your prospects. Start conversations that lead to conversions with prospects, using personalized messages and automated campaigns that respond to user behavior.
3. Score leads based on engagement and fit. Use marketing automation to engage leads at critical points in their unique buying journeys. Don’t treat all leads the same and act on leads at the time that they want to engage with you.
4. Track leads from creation to close. Have a seamless process between your marketing and sales process. Use integration between your marketing automation and CRM to create feedback loops and a seamless view of the buying process.
5. Convert more leads with your forms. Use dynamic forms to capture the information you need but also maximize your conversion on those pages. Create user-friendly forms that maintain the continuity of your brand and the buyer’s journey. 

How about the technology you use? Technology helps you build a process to deliver the lead quality you desire. The technology you use should align data, improve communication, and help you scale your lead strategy.

Take a page out of Elon Musk’s playbook and don’t settle for fake accounts or leads that never have a shot to convert.

Learn more, download the 24-page research report, The State of Marketing and Sales Alignment 2022.