The challenge
The B2B marketing world is littered with an abundance of advice that seems highly theoretical.
When an individual reads enough different types of guides regarding intent data and lead generation (which most of them are), they tend to confuse several of them together.
Most of these types of guides utilize the same repetitive process flow of, "collect signals," "segment audiences," "personalise everything" and "measure results."
This looks good on paper but does not translate well into when a demand generation leader attempts to use these recommendations in their CRM, especially if this has not been properly designed or tested.
They quickly run into resistance.
Sales representatives complain about the quality of the leads, marketing points to increases in traffic, and there exists a sharp disconnect between what has occurred between the two.
This disconnect is directly caused by the fact that the marketing organisation is using a poor decision-making model.
Intend Data must be viewed differently for creating a high-velocity B2B lead generation system.
Rather than thinking of it as an opportunity to acquire leads from an individual, the revenue team must think of it as a structured mathematical process. Intent data should include inputs, defined qualification thresholds, routing logic and clear failure conditions.
Intent data should have process design that also accounts for sales reinvestment latency, intent signal decay, and data integrity risk (e.g., cleaning the data).
Here is a roadmap to create a high-velocity B2B lead generation system.
The core of the LeadCaliber methodology for lead generation process
Most organisations will struggle with intent-driven marketing because they typically stop with just the collection of data.
They will invest money into a marketing automation system, monitor all the activity of their target accounts, and then take all of that information and send it all to their sales development representatives (SDRs).
The LeadCaliber Methodology will force an organisation to slow down its intent-driven marketing execution from having an immediate reaction to an interest signal being received (between the collection of the signal and the execution).
It provides additional clarity to qualify for executing the signals.
Based upon the analysis of how high-velocity pipelines are built, the LeadCaliber Methodology describes a six-step process to build an intent-driven lead generation system.
- Signal capture: Aggregation (1st and 3rd party data).
- Technical specifications: Setting the Lowest Level of B2B Intelligence is an Ignorant Way to Generate B2B Intelligence
- Qualification Requirements: Defining the minimum Bar for Ignoring leads
- Dynamic Segmentation: Mapping leads through the pipeline (finding the Journey)
- Routing Logic: Hard coding the rules for handing off leads from Marketing to Sales
- Contextual Outreach: Creating first contact (answer-first) and ultra targeted communications
- Pipeline Measurement: Measuring success via Close Won Velocity (how quickly can we Close our leads), not how many leads in our Pipeline
This is Not a B2B Branding Exercise; it is a Lead Generating engine.
What is not covered in this Roadmap
To understand the mechanics of the LeadCaliber system, it is critical to define the failure modes of the standard B2B Lead Generation Systems.
Too many sites provide the benefits of Buyer Signals and have failed to provide the Process Parameters.
While they paint a picture of an Easy path to Higher Revenue, they fail to address the realities of Tech Debt, Human Error, etc.
The LeadCaliber approach is a Direct Refutation of the "More signals = Better Signals" Philosophy.
All signals are equal
A Marketing VP downloads a Price Sheet for their Company, and that is a High-Intent Signal.
An Intern from the Same Target Company reads a blog post (Top Funnel Content) and that is a Low-Intent Signal.
The Generic System gives Equal Points or Scores for Both Events and Sends out a Lead Alert.
What Happens? Sales Reps Chase the Intern (Waste of time), and then learn to ignore the Marketing Alerts on Leads.
Quantity is Not Higher than Quality, and without any Workflow Differentiation between a Casual Researcher and an Active Buyer, your Business System Will Fail.
The other failure mode is signal decay
B2B Buyer Intent is typically only valid for a couple of days.
If a Lead Searches for a Specific Integration Feature on a Wednesday, it Will be a High-Intent Signal.
Excessive signal delays caused by routing logic will show that the signal is decaying.
Sales follow-up latency must also be part of your lead qualification roadmap.
If you don't continue to engage with your qualified lead after they have been sent to you, then that lead will be a cold lead in no time.
Ignore intent data (The right way)
Many demand generation playbooks don't clarify when to evaluate intent data and take zero action.
For instance, if an account has experienced a surge in 3rd party research, but their company size falls outside of your ICP, you won't be sending that account to sales - you will ignore that account.
If an existing customer is researching one of your competitors, this is not a marketing lead; it is a CS risk.
Having clear rules for when to ignore intent data is as important as developing rules for when to act on intent data.
The LeadCaliber Roadmap for rapid and scalable lead generation in B2B
To have a workflow that can be effectively executed, it must have clearly defined measurable steps.
The following list is the technical roadmap from raw data to revenue that your organization should leverage.
Step 1: Capture signals and establish a baseline for understanding intent
All scalable lead generation machines have a common starting point; they begin with collecting data.
However, rather than trying to collect all possible metrics to store, you need to define which of those signals are relevant to your sales process.
Inputs:
First Party Signals; (visits to your websites pricing page, attendance of high value webinars, telemetry relating to a specific product led growth initiative)
Third Party Signals; (searches on G2, mentions of competitors, usage and consumption of content from the other side of your 'content marketing' fence)
Decision Rules:
Map Signals to the Buyer Journey. Does the signal contain anonymized information about individual accounts or is it identifying a lead/client contact?
Points of failure:
Total reliance on third-party data to determine when to move forward with an account without any validation of how the vendor determines this data.
For example, if a vendor is telling you that an account is "surging" based solely on the fact that the vendor hasn't seen an account on your website at all, there is a good chance that the vendor's "surging" is inaccurate.
Therefore, relying on third-party vendors alone without validating that data can put your organization at serious risk.
Output
A comprehensive stream of action-based behavioral data coming from the Marketing Automation platform.
Step 2: Qualification thresholds & scoring
In this step, you'll be establishing gatekeeper functions to identify what constitutes a "qualified" lead.
A large portion of the action data will be raw and therefore most of it is "noise."
The qualifier threshold will filter through the raw data and is designed to determine the likelihood of moving an account into the next stage of your marketing process.
Inputs:
Raw action-based intent data from Step 1.
Decision Rules:
- "If Account X achieves an intent score of 80, but their annual revenue is less than $50 million, they will be disqualified from consideration."
- "If Contact Y attended a demo or training webinar at the end of the funnel, they will be awarded +50 points and put on a fast track to closure."
Points of Failure:
The threshold is too low.
This is one of the biggest pitfalls in B2B marketing – the marketing department needs to meet their lead quota, and thus they set the bar lower.
As a result, sales gets bombarded with unqualified leads, resulting in the erosion of trust between marketing and sales and eventually the failure of the overall system.
Outputs:
A highly-filtered group of prioritized accounts and contacts that should receive your attention.
Step 3: Dynamic audience segmentation
Once you've established qualified leads, don't treat them all the same!
A new business startup with a requirement for quick, inexpensive solutions must be spoken to in an entirely different manner than an enterprise decision-making committee seeking a secure and compliant platform.
Inputs:
High-scoring qualified leads from Step 2.
Your decision rules:
You can determine potential customers based on three pillars: 1) Firmographics (size of company & industry), 2) Technographics (current software use) and 3) Buying Stage (whether the customer is still doing early research or comparing vendors).
Potential failures:
Lazy Segmentation. Having all "healthcare companies" belong in the same bucket, regardless of whether they are a 10-person clinic or a 10,000 employee hospital network.
Your outcomes:
Micro-segments that have been identified for messaging.
Step 4: Routing logic and sales handoff
The customer's intent, as identified through the data collected, is the point where Marketing & Sales Align.
Marketing and Sales must use the same processes for Routing Logic and Sales Handoff.
If both teams have different ideas about whether Marketing or Sales has ownership of a lead, the lead may become "lost" in the CRM system.
Your inputs:
Segmented micro-lists.
Your decision rules:
The routing logic should follow these guidelines:
- Lead is Enterprise and intent score is high, route immediately to Strategic AE (account executive) with a 2-hour SLA.
- Lead is Mid Market and intent score is medium (to check intent), continue routing Lead SDR (sales development representative) with "warm" outbound cadence.
- Lead is an unknown contact, but account intent is high, hold in Marketing Automation for targeted Account Based Advertisement.
Potential failures:
If the Routing Logic relies on the Rep to check Dashboard to view leads, there is a clear way to fail.
Your outcomes:
An SLA-defined Lead Distribution process. The lead gets to the right Rep at the right time.
Step 5: Contextual outreach and execution
Time your outreach correctly; but you better say the right things.
The buyer knows that you are tracking them. Do not insult their intelligence with generic "just checking in" emails.
Your inputs:
Leads in AE or SDR queue.
- Decision Rules - First responder form of outreach, pain point they researched comes first (example: If they did a Google search for API Rate Limits, email starts with: This is how our architecture handles API Rate Limits).
- Failure Conditions - An over-automation of outreach through the use of a large number of highly templated emails where the personalization variables do not work properly (example: "Hi [Company Name], I saw you are in the [Industry] space") destroys your credibility immediately.
- Outputs - Activated, relevant sales cadences that respect the prospect's time.
Step 6: Measure pipeline & provide closed-loop feedback
Traffic counts as a vanity metric, lead counts are a dangerous metric, pipeline velocity is the only metric that counts.
Inputs:
Use the CRM data for closed-won and closed-lost.
Decision Rules:
Go backward - Examine the closes for this quarter. Examine the specific intent signals that those accounts presented 90 days prior.
Failure Conditions:
Attributing solely on a first or last touch basis. There are multiple stakeholders in the B2B buying committee and a long sales cycle. Inconsistent attribution causes incorrect budget decisions.
Outputs:
A calibrated scoring model. Take the insight you received from closed deals and adjust the qualification thresholds from step two to create a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
Calibrating the roadmap by company size & motion
One of the biggest mistakes teams make is that they try to copy and paste the roadmap without adjusting it for their specific sales motion.
The variables have to change based on the Annual Contract Value (ACV) and sales cycle length.
Adapting for enterprise vs. mid-market
If the ACV is $150,000 and the sales cycle is 9 months, the roadmap should focus heavily on account-level intent.
Your goal is not to track every time potential buyers have seen your advertisements, but rather to find out how many people agree to buy the product through a formal committee process.
In Step 4 of your business development process, Account Executives will be given more credit than SDRs when deciding which leads to follow up on, as they will have done considerable preliminary research on the potential buyer.
If your average contract value (ACV) is $5,000 and your sales cycle is 14 days, you will need to automate the entire process.
The rules you establish for Step 2 will need to be stringent. You must not allow manual SDR research.
High intent users will need to be directed into an automated onboarding or self-serve checkout process, avoiding any human interaction unless specific triggers occur.
Tech debt and CRM hygiene
If your database is cluttered, nothing in this process will work.
Intent strategies require a smooth operational flow to be successful.
If your CRM is filled with duplicate records, outdated contact records, and conflicting lead scoring systems from three different legacy marketing platforms, LeadCaliber will not operate effectively.
Data must be cleaned and normalized before the roadmap can be effectively utilized.
You should implement strict rules concerning how you will normalize your database.
For example, Company X (ex: IBM) will need to be mapped to a singular account entity regardless of whether they are referred to as "IBM," "International Business Machines," or "IBM Corp."
Without at least minimal data cleanliness, all advanced intent signals will have little value.
Conclusion: Moving away from generalized intent data
To build a B2B lead generation machine with velocity, you will need discipline.
Purchasing a software license and pointing to an influx of accounts on a dashboard, then claiming to have a strategy driven by intent, is easy—building out the architecture that applies those intent signals to revenue is not.
The LeadCaliber Methodology challenges teams to address the realities surrounding their processes.
It forces teams to answer the following three questions: Who owns this lead? How fast do I have to get back to this lead? What happens when the system does not work?
Prioritizing signal quality versus volume, requiring stricter qualification thresholds, and connecting every marketing tactic directly back to the reality of their pipeline allow revenue teams to cease chasing cold leads and begin converting actual buyers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How fast do intent data signals decay in a typical B2B cycle?
Depending on the nature of the signal, intent signals typically decay in 48-72 hours.
If someone is actively comparing your software against a competitor on a third-party review site, his/her buying window is opened now.
If sales does not respond for a week, the individual has likely taken a demo with the competitor.
The highest-priority signals should be routed and executed on the same day or, ideally, in real-time.
Who owns the routing logic of intent data, sales or marketing?
Routing logic is not owned solely by either sales or marketing.
The two departments need to work together to govern the routing logic.
Marketing typically governs the technical components on the automated marketing platform, but sales dictates the thresholds.
If marketing dictates the routing logic without input from sales, they will build for volume.
If sales dictates the routing logic without input from marketing, they will demand perfection and starve their own pipeline.
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) must be strictly negotiated between sales and marketing to govern routing logic.
Will smaller teams need costly software to apply this methodology?
Absolutely.
Many enterprise teams use expensive third-party intent signal providers and other related tools.
However, smaller teams can apply this roadmap utilizing only first-party data.
By evaluating website data, email engagement, and all submissions, small teams can develop robust and efficient routing engines housed within highly functional but low-cost CRMs.
The roadmap is based on logic for making decisions, not costs for software.