Experience Issues #11: how do you turn these webinar leads into $$$?
- How much new biz have we closed from the webinars last month?
- But…our sales cycle is at least 180 days…
Does this conversation sound familiar? I bet it does.
Key takeaway: every stakeholder wants to see $$$ coming in right after every marketing activity, and it’s up to us to educate them about how things actually work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Out of the myriad questions around the webinars, there are top 3 that come up EVERY time at ANY company. Let’s have a look at what they are, and what the answers can be.
Stakeholders: Where are the deals from the webinars?
A webinar is one of the touch points and, depending on its focus, can occur at any stage of the buyer’s journey. While the set of webinars created for the bottom of the funnel prospects is expected to facilitate and speed up conversion into closed won deals, the majority of the webinars companies run are focused on thought leadership / brand awareness. These webinars are a great instrument to attract new leads (that require further nurturing) or use as conversation starters/references for the sales team.
Even though you may not be able to attribute revenue right away, if you analyze the journey your buyers had, you will see what role webinars played in making that deal happen.
Event marketers: Why aren’t sales people following up with the webinar leads?
While this can be frustrating, what we need to understand is sales team has a quota to hit. If they spend time engaging with new leads that have no intent to purchase or at least consider your solution - they are not going to get paid.
So instead of fuming about “why”, think strategically about what type of webinars you run to deliver leads that are aware of your solution (not the problem!) and show intent signals. These are the ones your sales team should go after. And it’s your job to hand over these leads.
Keep reading this newsletter for further details 😉
Marketing leaders: How do we measure the ROI of the webinars?
Depends on the type of webinar. Not all webinars will focus on converting attendees into prospects and closed won deals. It would be unfair to expect a lead that joined a webinar out of interest in the topic to be waving their credit card ready to purchase right after.
The ROI can be measured not only in direct revenue, but in additional metrics that are focused on moving the prospects along the funnel, attracting and engaging your Target Accounts, and creating evergreen content for further repurpose (and dollars saved on it!). More on this in the next section of this issue 👉
Pick your poison stage of the funnel
We all want one silver bullet to cure it all. But there is no such thing even with the webinars! You need to be very clear with what outcomes you want, and it will dictate the format, topic, and audience.
Overarching business and marketing goals should dictate what type of webinars you need to focus on. However, keep in mind, that prioritizing one type doesn’t mean the other ones should be completely forgotten.
I have gathered a few examples per stage to show how you can attribute revenue results to it:
Top of the funnel:
Format:
Conversation with industry experts around a relevant topic
Presentation of industry research you’ve conducted
Core audience:
your existing database
net new leads
ROI metrics:
# of Target Accounts engaged
# of new MQLs
# of content pieces produced as a result
Middle:
Format:
Interactive session involving the audience about solving a very specific challenge
Case study conversation with your customer where the focus is on them, their challenges, and solutions. Your product comes up but is not the main hero.
Core audience:
Prospects in early-stage conversations
Stagnated prospects
Existing MQLs
ROI metrics:
% of attending MQLs converting to SQLs after the webinar
Pipeline created on the back of the webinar within X number of days
Pipeline engaged by the webinar
Bottom:
Format:
Showcase of your new killer feature
Case study conversation with your customer where the focus is on your solution. “This is how we achieved X with Y” style.
Core audience:
Prospects with deals in progress
ROI metrics:
Pipeline engaged by the webinar
% of engaged pipeline closed won within X number of days after the webinar
Note: your existing customers will benefit from all of the formats, so if NRR is a big focus for your company, you can show how these activities support it.
Follow up with the purpose
Now that we’ve got a nice thing going on with the actual webinars, we need to strategize the post-event part. Cause that’s where the ROI happens.
My advice: build up a follow-up sequence where you give-give-give and lead people to naturally request a demo. Don't chase but guide instead.
Navigating your leads through the maze of content and hitting them up with all the right touch points (and bumping up that lead score) is an extremely satisfying process for any marketer.
What you need to know to build up such flow:
You best converting content. The one that moves the needle and makes people request the demo. If you don’t have tools in place to see this easily, ask your content marketers and your sales team! They should be able to give you some clues.
Paths to conversion. If you are lucky to have that mapped out as a marketing team - it’s gold. Clearly shows in what sequence to deliver content depending on the type of lead you’ve got.
Lead scoring system. Some companies have sophisticated systems in place and you simply need to guide your leads towards the desired score. Some have none. If yours is the latter, start small and say a net new webinar lead needs to complete 3 additional actions (for example: read a blog post, download a guide, watch an on-demand recording) to be ready for the sales outreach. Then take it from there, test, and adjust.
Once you have the basics nailed down, you can take it up a notch and start personalizing the follow-up flow depending on the segment: everything from the job title to industry to pain points plays the role here.
Of course, not all leads will obediently follow the path you laid out in front of them. And it’s ok. Their time will come. Until then, keep nurturing and remind them about your existence by inviting them to the next webinars and events, sharing truly valuable content, and by being helpful. Not annoying.
If you want even more follow-up related thoughts (and haven’t read them yet 😊), check out:
Hidden gems unlocked
It’s all nice with the follow-up flows, but it takes time. And we don’t have time. We need to show results.
Good news: even at the very high-level thought leadership webinar there can be hot leads that just need a little nudge to turn into that hot-hot prospect your sales team will love!
What you can do to discover them:
1. Make it easy to book a demo right during the event. Emotional purchases are our everything - you need to capture that interest and not let it fade out.
2. Have a “soft demo CTA” ready. Sometimes the next step being a demo is too fast for the prospects. They would appreciate the next CTA to be for a small round table to discuss challenges they have, and one of the solutions could be yours! It's like an in-between step where you can get more insights into why they might need your solution, and for them to build more trust.
3. Keep an eye on the chat: comments, questions, and reactions to certain messages can tell a lot. Make sure to have someone on the sales team in the chat during the webinar and have them ready to follow up personally with the most engaged contacts
***
Uff, that’s been a lengthy one. Thank you if you made it this far!
It’s not always easy to structure and put my learnings and frameworks into words, but, hopefully, there was a thing or two you took away or found confirmation that you are on the right track.
I promise the next edition will be an easy summer read!
By the way, if you have any topic ideas in mind - please do let me know by responding to this email or messaging me on Linkedin. I will gladly cover something that is currently burning for you!
Have a wonderful July, and I will talk to you in two weeks!
Best,
Aleksandra