Recently I heard the question "...should I filter our competitors (some are also customers)?" This is usually one of steps that are part of a Marketing Automation Platform rollout. It seems like a simple enough question but it has implications on your processes and ultimately your interpreting your success reporting.
Let's broaden the question: why should we filter companies and leads from the lead generation process? Unraveling this question not only opens avenues for targeted solutions but also sheds light on critical aspects that marketers and sales professionals need to consider.
Why Filter Companies and Leads?
Segmentation for Impactful Messaging
Segmentation is key to resonating with our target audience. Sending out generic messages risks being marked as spam, ultimately squandering resources (i.e. budget for paid channels or contact fatigue of our database). Filtering companies and leads within allows for tailored messaging that connects meaningfully with prospects, fostering genuine engagement. You might have special messaging for competitors that could also become customers. We'll talk about that later.
Guarding Against Competitor Insight
The notion of shielding marketing strategies from competitors often dominates discussions. At the point of lead capture, I've seen some block sending emails with content to competitor domains or even go as far as sending differently content to competitors. However, the reality is that determined rivals can bypass these barriers. Trying to block has a smell of desperation and lack of confidence that you can compete, continue to evolve and win. In my opinion it's really not worth the effort.
Leveraging Analytics for Informed Decisions
I've found many marketers striving for reporting that tells the perfect story and often they want to reduce the numbers of lead and contacts from the funnel that are not Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) because they feel there is a very low probability of converting them and it hurts the conversion numbers. By dropping these completely from analytics you would have a hard time seeing a growing trend on visitors that fall outside you ICP. I would recommend just keep the total number but breakdown my known ICP vs not and you can track conversion number for each and can periodically look for trends in the non-ICP segment. It's in this group where you might find competitors and perhaps an emerging trend that could lead to partnerships.
Focusing follow-up
Sales and Marketing leaders want to remove noise from teams that follow-up with prospects. It makes total sense you will want to focus on those that are likely to buy. This should be done by your lead scoring program (ideally machine learning based but rules based). You might have more that one score to help you know what product there are a good fit for. There are times where you compete with others only on some products and not others. Especially if your company has a large product offering. These need to be identified separately as they need a different focus, process, and talk script (if you want to pursue these at all).
Frenamy(s): Nurturing Competitors into Customers
It can be a rather awkward conversation if the BDR (Business Development Representative) calls into a competitor and doesn't even know it and tries to sell them on capabilities they already have with their own solution. But if there are areas where you have a solution that doesn't overlap with their solutions and they don't perceive you as a threat then there could be a chance they could become a customer. Often this is a tricky proposition and likely with will want clauses in the contract about not divulging the relationship etc.
Weigh the benefits of potential conversion against protectionist strategies. These can turn into partnerships and technology partner deals. Delving into nuanced criteria refinement can open doors to turning adversaries into allies, enriching the marketing landscape. Or if they go the other way, resentment and bitter rivalry because of poached (perceived or otherwise) deals.
If competitor are never going to be customers or partners then it's simple to setup filters in you segmentation, capture points (forms, list loads, syndication, etc), analytics and lead management. But if you want to sometime allow competitors into the systems/processes this become much more complicated.
Balancing Protection and Opportunity
By fine-tuning filter parameters, we can strike a delicate balance between shielding sensitive information and leveraging competitor engagement. The synergy between protection and opportunity can birth innovative strategies that harness the competitive landscape while guarding core business insights.
Data-Driven Insights: Illuminating the Path Forward
Leveraging data analytics to evaluate the impact of filtering competitors is indispensable. Understanding the nuances of revenue loss, missed opportunities, and strategic implications allows us to navigate the filtering terrain with precision. Decide at how much business is it worth it to add the many layers of complication you would need to process competitors.
By embracing a holistic approach that balances protection, opportunity, and data insights, we can sculpt a filter strategy that not only shields but propels growth.
The rule to identifying (company level, certain departments or roles, etc) and handling (lead views, playbooks, etc) need to be clear and logical along with the reasoning. Get it in writing and share back the whole set to the stakeholder so everyone is aware. You will want to have written rules in these areas:
Segmentation / targeting
Analytics (i.e. Funnel)
Lead Capture
Lead Management
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