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Benchmarks for B2B Funnel Conversion Rates - Sponge IO
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“you see what parts of your funnel are efficient, bottlenecked, leaking, or lacking a clear owner.” >> Related: It’s Time to Abandon TQL and SAL in Your Lead Funnel <<
MQL-to-Sales Accepted Lead basically measures if Sales looks at a lead and says, “Yes, I agree, I’m going to call/email this person. This is worth my time.” Your Sales Acceptance rate should be >80%. “If you’re seeing MQL to SAL rates <80%, you’ve got a problem.” Inflated lead scores for flimsy activity. For example, MQLing people because they clicked emails.
MQL-to-Sales Accepted Lead basically measures if Sales looks at a lead and says, “Yes, I agree, I’m going to call/email this person. This is worth my time.” Your Sales Acceptance rate should be >80%. “You’re qualifying a lot of leads that Sales think are worthless.” Inflated lead scores for flimsy activity. For example, MQLing people because they clicked emails.
If you’re seeing MQL to SAL rates <80%, you’ve got a problem. You’re qualifying a lot of leads that Sales think are worthless. Sources of the problem could be: “Inflated lead scores for flimsy activity. For example, MQLing people because they clicked emails.” Missing data quality controls. Junk emails, junk phone numbers, junk first or last names… they should all be stripped out by your marketing automation platform before a lead gets passed to Sales.
Inflated lead scores for flimsy activity. For example, MQLing people because they clicked emails. “Missing data quality controls. Junk emails, junk phone numbers, junk first or last names… they should all be stripped out by your marketing automation platform before a lead gets passed to Sales.” A demographic fit that’s too broad. Chances are certain industries, geographies, company sizes, etc. are bad fits, but are still flowing through. If Sales can tell by looking at a lead that it’s not worth their time to pick up the phone, don’t MQL them in the first place.
Instead of pointing fingers at reps, Sales Ops, or the exec team, give Sales visibility into their Open Opportunities. Most account reviews are unstructured and anecdotal. Build a dashboard that tracks stage durations and next steps, like this (click to expand): “Encourage the sales managers to use this as the backbone behind their weekly 1:1s with reps.” With full visibility into your conversion rates, and now a clearer sense of normal funnel conversion benchmarks, you’ll be able to spot bottlenecks, poor ownership, and/or leaks in your funnel.
Who is responsible for rescheduling meetings? I recommend BDRs own it, and a recent client increased Meetings Held 21% month over month by doing this! “Scrutinize how you remind prospects about the meeting, and how often. I’ve seen dramatic improvements by simply updating the calendar item so it feels personal and valuable.” Is this another “people problem”? Look at your conversion rate on an individual level and interview reps with great numbers. Chances are they’re adding personal touches that you could systemize and lift all boats.
If the conversion rates are lumpy across reps: “Organize a role play with reps and see if folks are deviating from the script, adding compelling flourishes, or need additional training. Put your best reps (according to the data, not seniority!) first so the rest of the team can learn from them.” Certain reps might be over-selective about BANT. Clearly define what Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing mean for your business (i.e. Timing could be “next 12 months”) and reinforce it constantly.