A LeadJen study released on October 16 shows lead generation best practices for marketing technology and services vendors.  

Indianapolis has become a leader in growing marketing technology companies, which is why we were excited to embark on our latest study, “What works when selling to marketers.”

Looking at some 1.45 million outreach attempts to marketers by email and phone, we found interesting trends. The entire white paper and infographic can be downloaded, but here are some key findings.

1.  Marketers are more receptive to lead generation than other professionals. This surprised us a little, because marketers tend to manage a lot of different areas (advertising, public relations, CRM, SEO) so they are targeted frequently. In our study, marketers were 25 percent more likely to accept an appointment than other professionals.

2.  Marketers are very likely to respond to an email. In our study, 22 percent of appointments were set by marketers responding to a lead generation email. Most appointments were set after the first email/phone call combination, which take place on the same day.

3.  Outbound calls are still the most effective lead generation method. In our study, more than half of all appointments were set during a prospecting call. While email is a critical component of lead generation, nothing beats a phone call.

4.  Retargeting efforts for marketers are very fruitful. Because marketers juggle so much, they tend to say “no” quickly but will reconsider at a later time with a targeted campaign.   13 percent of all appointments set in our study (and $700,000 in revenue) came after an initial “no” response.

5.  A sales rep is most likely to reach a marketer live on Tuesday, 2-3 pm Eastern. This brackets the lunch hour in all time zones, when marketers are catching up on email and social media. The worst time to call a marketer is Friday before or after hours.

Marketers are challenged more than ever to keep up with changes in the industry, which can present both challenges and opportunities to lead generation campaigns. While marketers are looking for solutions to help them perform their jobs better, getting through to them can be difficult. Understanding the best ways to reach marketers can significantly increase the success of a lead generation campaign.