Sooner or later, someone asks the field marketing team, “Should we do more of this?”
By then, you’ve spent the budget, delivered the leads, and reminded sales to follow up. You have a campaign report. What you need is a clear answer.
A survey-based lead generation pilot can help you get there. You learn which prospects have challenges your company can address, then give sales that information to start a conversation.
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Before launching, ask your sales team:
What would you need to see from this campaign to feel confident investing in a larger program?
Work through the details while you still have time to shape the campaign. These six questions are a good place to start.
1. Are These the Accounts—and People—Sales Wants?
Bring the account list to the planning meeting. Ask your reps to review it.
Are these companies a good fit for your solution? Are they in the right territories? Is someone already working an opportunity that could be disrupted by separate outreach?
Then discuss the people you want to reach. “IT decision-makers” leaves plenty of room for interpretation. Depending on your offering, a director responsible for infrastructure may be a better starting point than an executive whose responsibilities barely touch the issue.
The person struggling with the problem can explain what needs to change and help you understand who else should be involved.
Getting target account selection right gives your account-based marketing strategy a useful foundation.
2. What Does “Qualified” Mean to Your Team?
This is worth spelling out.
A marketer might consider a contact qualified because they work at a target account, have relevant responsibilities, and have opted in to follow-up. A salesperson might hear “qualified” and expect an active project.
Agree on your lead qualification criteria before the first response arrives.
Survey answers can tell you what’s causing difficulty, how a prospect handles the issue today, and whether change is on their agenda. Sales can then explore the details.
An incentive thanks someone for completing the survey and provides a soft opening for a conversation that can lead to a sale. A prospect who describes a relevant problem has given you something to discuss; the conversation helps establish what happens next.
3. Can Your Reps Put the Survey Answers to Work?
Picture the handoff. A rep opens a new lead record. Can they see the prospect’s answers immediately, or do they need to request a separate file?
Make the information easy to find. Then spend a little time on how to use it.
Suppose a respondent says their team spends too much time pulling reports from different systems. A rep could ask:
“You mentioned that reporting across multiple systems is taking up your team’s time. What are you having to pull together manually?”
That’s a question grounded in something the prospect has already told you.
There may also be an appropriate opportunity to thank them for participating and check that their incentive arrived. Keep it brief and personal.
This is where sales intelligence becomes useful sales enablement: the rep has enough context to ask a better question.
4. What Happened After the Leads Arrived?
When you review account-based marketing metrics, follow the same path your reps took.
First, check how many contacts met the agreed criteria. Then look at how many received outreach, replied, attended meetings, and developed into qualified opportunities.
Those distinctions matter. If half the leads are still waiting for follow-up, the results don’t yet tell you how that half will perform.
Record meetings held separately from meetings scheduled. Look at cost per held meeting and qualified opportunity alongside cost per lead.
Also agree on how to handle accounts already in your pipeline. A conversation that helps advance an existing opportunity has value, but it should be recorded accurately.
Choose review dates that leave time for your sales process to unfold.
5. What Do the Individual Conversations Tell Us?
Ask sales to bring a few examples to the campaign review.
One prospect might say, “We need to fix this, but our contract doesn’t expire until next spring.” Another might ask to include a colleague. Someone else may explain that the problem is too small to justify a purchase.
You’ve learned something different from each.
The first contact gives you a reason and timeframe for lead nurturing. The second gives you a next step. The third helps you assess fit.
For prospects who haven’t replied, read the actual outreach. Did the message refer to their survey answers? Was the rep asking for a substantial meeting before establishing a reason to talk?
And if you find incorrect contact details or people outside the agreed audience, raise those with your provider. Settle the replacement process before launch so everyone knows how those cases will be handled.
6. What Would Change If You Doubled the Program?
Imagine the next batch of leads arriving tomorrow. Who would follow up?
If the pilot depended on one particularly engaged rep, consider how you’ll prepare the rest of the team. If responses sat unassigned for days, resolve that before increasing delivery.
Review results against the targets you agreed on. Where contact quality, conversations, and opportunity development support further investment, plan the next campaign around what worked.
Where results are disappointing, identify a specific change to test. That might mean narrowing the audience or giving reps more help with their opening message.
Build Your Pilot Around the Conversation You Want to Start
At SimplyDIRECT, we use survey-based demand generation to help sales teams understand prospects before reaching out. Through Gatepoint Research, we gather buyer perspectives and peer insights that give those conversations substance.
What would your team need to see before doing more?
Let’s discuss your target accounts, how your sales team works, and what a successful pilot would mean for your business.