Epson America, a company known for its consumer and commercial products, was facing a significant challenge in optimizing the conversion of its leads. The company's commercial products group, through campaigns such as “Where There’s Business, There’s Epson,” was generating between 40,000 to 60,000 leads each year. However, the responsibility of optimizing the conversion of these leads fell on Chris Nickel, Sr. Commercial Marketing Manager for Epson America’s five commercial groups. The challenge was that there was no solid process in place for managing these leads, and the situation was further complicated as the company extended its product lines. The effectiveness of lead management was also hindered by a lack of visibility into lead follow-up, making it difficult to track and optimize conversion rates.

ScaleArc, a recent startup, was faced with the daunting task of not only building a new brand but also pioneering a new software category - database load balancing software. The challenge was twofold. Firstly, they had to establish their brand in the highly competitive tech market. Secondly, they had to educate potential customers about this emerging software category. Given the crowded nature of the tech market, prospects required multiple interactions before they could be moved through the sales cycle. This posed a significant challenge for ScaleArc as they needed to accelerate a wide base of prospects while also educating them about their innovative software.

Leica Geosystems, a leading provider of geospatial solutions, was facing a significant challenge in their lead conversion process. In 2020, they noticed that their net new leads were not converting to Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) at the expected rates. Despite not having concrete proof that their Pardot lead scoring methodology was flawed, the data suggested that a new approach was needed to nurture and warm up leads. The company also had a large group of untouched, aging, and dormant leads that needed to be re-engaged. The challenge was to keep new leads moving through the pipeline and reconnect with the untouched group of aging, dormant leads.

OEConnection (OEC), a provider of high-quality technology solutions to automakers and their franchised dealers, was facing a significant challenge in their lead generation process. Despite investing considerable time and resources into generating leads, the results were marginal at best. The company needed to focus more on qualified leads to maximize opportunities, but without increasing their headcount. This posed a significant challenge as it required a more efficient and effective approach to lead generation and engagement, without escalating costs or requiring additional personnel.

KnowledgeVision, a company that is reinventing online business presentations, was facing a significant challenge in managing its inbound leads. Despite successfully generating a large number of leads, the company lacked the resources to effectively engage with them all. This resulted in a situation where Business Development Representatives (BDRs) had to selectively choose who to contact, leaving many potential customers unattended. This was a major concern for the company as each lead represented a potential sale and had cost money to acquire. The company had a database of 75,000 records in Marketo, indicating a strong ability to capture prospects, but a weak conversion rate to sales. The challenge was to find a way to engage with every single lead to determine their interest and potential for conversion.

CloudCheckr, a cloud management platform serving a wide range of customers, was facing challenges with their lead funnel. They had leads that were 'stuck' in the top or middle of the funnel, and their email campaign strategy was underperforming. The Sales and Marketing teams were keen on finding new ways to optimize their lead funnel and discover more opportunities within it. Despite their efforts to motivate these stuck leads through email marketing and nurture campaigns, they were not achieving the desired results. They were also wary of burdening their Sales Development team with the task of chasing potentially cold leads.

Allen Samuels Chevrolet Buick GMC, a full-service dealership located in Hearne, Texas, prides itself on creating lifelong relationships with its customers. However, when the company acquired Derek Scott Auto Park and inherited its customer base in 2016, they faced a significant challenge. With the increase in sales and service volume at the new store, it became increasingly difficult to keep up with customer communications. The company found it hard to ensure that each customer received the attention they deserved. The traditional methods of communication such as phone calls, emails, and letters were not sufficient to manage the increased customer base. The challenge was to manage continuous follow-up with customers for service appointments and ensure customer satisfaction.

Assure Funding, a company that works with lending partners to provide loans and capital advances to businesses, faced the challenge of cost-effectively qualifying prospects for funding, reengaging previously interested leads, pursuing leads purchased from third parties, upselling other services, and renewing existing customers. The company's model meant that more was riding on the process of qualifying, pursuing, and closing the deal with prospective clients. The company had been meeting its funding goals by employing inside sales staff to fill three key sales positions: an opener, a chaser, and a closer. However, the chaser’s role was the most time-consuming, often requiring multiple contacts with clients to gather necessary information. This manual process was adding significantly to the company’s overall cost per sale.

Top Hat, a cloud-based teaching platform, was facing a significant challenge in managing and responding to the large backlog of inbound leads in their database. The company was receiving thousands of leads every month from multiple channels, and it was the responsibility of the sales reps to manage these leads as they came in. However, due to the high volume of leads and the limited number of sales reps, it was not always possible to promptly follow up on these leads. Furthermore, the marketing team, which was small in size, found it nearly impossible to track the progress of each sales rep's inbound leads. The leads were assigned to a sales rep based on the location of the school at which they taught, but sometimes the rep was unable to follow up right away due to being on campus, meeting professors, or on vacation. This resulted in the leads sitting idle and the list of inbound leads growing continuously.

Generating leads is a significant investment for companies, both in terms of time and money. However, many companies struggle with effectively and efficiently following up with and converting these leads into qualified opportunities for their sales teams. This was the challenge faced by CenturyLink, the third-largest telecommunications company in the U.S. The company was looking for a way to convert more warm leads, which were coming in from a variety of inbound and outbound channels, into prospects.

Hootsuite, a leading social media management and analytics platform, was grappling with an excessive volume of leads. The popularity of their platform resulted in a high influx of leads, which posed a challenge for the team to effectively follow up. This led to missed opportunities, wasted time on unqualified leads, and frustration among team members. The company was also undergoing significant changes in Marketing and Sales, with a new Commercial Sales team handling inbound leads. Despite launching a lead scoring model, the conversion of leads was not at an optimal level. The team identified that the most converting leads were coming from their website and were labeled ‘demo request’. However, they needed to go beyond website-generated leads and demo requests to accelerate sales-ready leads from other sources such as webinars, email database, and self-service plan setups. The challenge was to find a scalable way to discover opportunities within these lead sources.

The Faulkner Organization, one of Pennsylvania's largest multi-franchise automobile dealerships, was struggling to manage the high volume of internet leads it received each month. The company's Internet Sales department was receiving nearly 6,500 leads per month from various sources, including third-party lead aggregators and Faulkner’s own multi-brand website. However, the department's appointment setters could only effectively handle a maximum of 150 leads each day, leading to potential sales opportunities being missed. Consequently, the company's engagement rate consistently hovered around 25 percent. The challenge was to increase lead engagement rates and ensure no potential sales opportunities were lost.

SecureAuth, a leader in adaptive access control solutions, was facing a challenge in identifying new prospects with a propensity to buy and re-engaging qualified-but-stale leads. The company had a robust lead generation program in place, which included multiple channels such as third-party webinars, content syndication, sponsorships, PPC, company-hosted webinars, and lead generation through the company’s website. However, the increased flow of leads required a consistent and continuous qualification and engagement process. The company was struggling with identifying qualified, ready-to-purchase prospects and ensuring consistent follow-up. The sales reps were spending too much time on cold prospects and not enough time on hot leads due to the lack of clarity on which leads were more likely to convert. Furthermore, the company found that it was not making enough outreach to engage leads or understand where prospects were in the sales funnel.

INXPO’s Event Cloud® is a platform that enables organizations to use video to engage their stakeholders through online events. The company was experiencing steady growth in the number of leads generated by its marketing team. However, they faced a challenge in qualifying these leads before passing them on to sales executives for follow-up. The sales team was overwhelmed and didn't have enough time to dedicate to all the nurturing required. They needed a tool that would help them be more efficient and effective, and something that could scale with the growing business. The goal was to ensure that no lead gets left behind.

IBM, a 105-year-old company, has been traditionally focused on in-person selling of technology services and products. However, with the rise of digital channels, the company faced the challenge of integrating digital marketing into its established sales-centric model. This was particularly difficult due to IBM's long-established infrastructure, which was dated and burdened with custom enhancements. The company needed to transition to a more modern, global management platform while avoiding custom enhancements. Additionally, IBM needed to change the mindset of its marketers to view the customer’s journey as something much broader and more flexible. Another major challenge was the low rate of phone-ready leads being brought in through digital channels.

Extreme Networks, a leading provider of software-driven networking solutions, faced a significant challenge in fully leveraging their marketing investments. Despite generating a large number of sales leads through tradeshows, webinars, and other events, the company struggled to systematically follow up with each lead. This was due to the sheer volume of leads and the lack of resources to engage with each one individually. The inability to effectively follow up on these leads meant that potential sales opportunities were being missed, and the return on marketing investments was not as high as it could be. The challenge was to find a way to engage with every single lead, nurture their interest, and convert them into sales opportunities.

Boch Automotive Dealerships, a prominent automotive dealer in New England, was grappling with the challenge of striking the right balance in their follow-up process. They aimed to convert quality leads into satisfied customers without overwhelming them with excessive follow-ups. As the company grew, this challenge became increasingly complex. They needed to ensure that their responses were prompt, thorough, and human-like, while also assessing the quality of incoming leads. Another significant issue was the ineffective email deliverability. Despite investing considerable time in crafting impressive emails, they were not reaching the customers as they were being filtered into spam.

Matt Ford, a family-owned dealership in Independence, MO, faced the challenge of improving communication with potential clients about the dealership while maintaining their award-winning customer service reputation. The dealership, run by brothers Ryan and Todd Matt, prides itself on its customer service, having received the Ford Lincoln Mercury’s President’s Award for outstanding customer service 19 times. Despite being a small-town dealership, Matt Ford handles a large clientele, with a team of six salespeople tasked with maintaining communication with 60 leads per month and closing on 1,200 sales per year. The challenge was to maintain this high level of service and communication with potential clients, without compromising on their quality of service.

KEMP Technologies, a leader in advanced Layer 2 – 7 Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and application-centric load balancing, faced a significant challenge in managing its growing number of sales leads. As the company's success in the market grew, so did the complexity and time-consuming nature of lead management. The company found it increasingly difficult to engage and nurture web visitors to determine their interest and intent, optimize lead qualification via marketing automation, and increase ROI on lead acquisition. The challenge was further complicated by KEMP's global presence, which introduced geographic and seasonal hurdles. It became impractical to hire enough sales reps to cover raw leads in all regions over all peak periods. The company needed a solution to automate nurturing and engagement with web leads beyond simple one-to-one email.

QuoteWizard, one of the largest independent, privately-held insurance lead providers in the United States, was faced with the challenge of increasing the quality of leads and engagement rates for its clients. The company generates high-quality insurance leads for thousands of U.S.-based agents working for leading insurance carriers. However, in the fall of 2013, QuoteWizard’s management began to explore new approaches to improving the quality of lead sources and in turn enabling their insurance agent clients to increase engagement rates. The company launched a pilot of Conversica’s sales conversion management solution to assist with an internal campaign to re-engage former clients to purchase again from QuoteWizard. Management also tested Conversica on the leads that QuoteWizard was procuring and selling to agents.

The customer, a large provider of single-family home rentals in multiple U.S. markets, was facing a challenge to increase incremental revenue and productivity during the off-season. The company manages and owns tens of thousands of properties and has a national team of 27 inside sales agents who manage between 10,000 and 20,000 leads per month. These leads are generated by traffic to the company’s website, Trulia, and other online real estate listing sites. Despite using Marketo’s marketing automation suite for driving inbound leads and scoring them, along with Salesforce for tracking and managing sales activity, the sales teams lacked sufficient information to engage, qualify, and convert the leads. The company had set two key corporate goals: to reduce customer acquisition costs and create 6,000 rental opportunities by the second quarter of the year.

ScaleArc, an enterprise software provider, was facing a dual challenge of building brand recognition while pioneering a new software category, database load balancing software. The company was leveraging a comprehensive range of outbound marketing programs, including events, PR, content syndication, and e-mail nurture and partner campaigns. These programs generated a large number of contacts and inbound leads every month. However, these marketing-generated leads typically required multiple “touches” to drive further awareness of ScaleArc and to become better educated on the context of and need for the company’s solution. Given the need to drive education and awareness to build the sales funnel, ScaleArc wanted to augment the outreach beyond what their Business Development Reps (BDRs) could personally provide.

DocStar, a division of Epicor Software Management, specializes in document management and business processes management. They receive about 500 leads per month, mostly inbound leads generated through their website. To manage these leads, they score them based on demographic, firmographic and behavioral data before sending them to the Business Development team for follow-up. However, this method of lead prioritization and follow-up presented challenges. The Business Development Representatives (BDRs) had difficulty meeting their quota for the number of outreach attempts for each lead, especially when lead volume was high. Additionally, the timing of the outreach was often not optimal, being either too early or too late in the customer journey to be of value to the prospect.

IHS Markit, a $5-billion information services firm, faced a significant challenge in managing the high volume of inquiries generated by its extensive marketing efforts and media exposure. The company, which operates in key markets such as financial services, automotive, and energy, struggled to identify and elevate leads fitting its ideal customer profiles or those ready for sales engagement. The challenge was not just the volume of inquiries but also the capacity of the sales team to follow up with potential leads. The company needed a solution that could help them manage this high lead volume without adding to the headcount, while also improving customer retention and expansion.

The Los Angeles Film School, a renowned institution known for its personalized student relationships, faced a significant challenge in its marketing department. The school's marketing team was tasked with following up with potential students who had shown interest in the institution. However, the team was falling short of its established goal of making seven touches per lead, with an average of only 1.6 touches being made. This shortfall was identified by Ben Chaib, the VP of Admissions and Marketing, who noted that the lack of sufficient follow-ups was hindering the school's ability to convert leads into actual students. The challenge was to find a way to increase the number of touches per lead, thereby improving the lead conversion rate and ensuring more consistent conversions.

Sunset World, a company with six resorts and travel services brands in Cancun and the Riviera Maya, was facing a significant challenge in managing its high volume of leads. The company's promotional campaigns could generate up to a million leads a week from various promotions and sweepstakes used to market to prospective guests from Canada to South America. The sales and marketing team was struggling to handle this volume of leads effectively. The company's CIO, Edgar Osorios, recognized the need for a more personalized way to engage prospects beyond generic emails and telemarketing scripts. The challenge was to find a solution that could handle the high volume of leads and provide a more personalized experience for potential guests.

Corelight, a mid-market technology company specializing in network detection and response solutions for cybersecurity, was facing a common business challenge - too many leads and not enough resources to manage them effectively. This problem was particularly evident in the aftermath of events and tradeshows, where the company struggled to follow up with all attendees, registrants, and booth scans. The team needed a more efficient way to engage these leads, educate them about their solutions, and explain their importance to enterprise security. The challenge was not just about managing the volume of leads but also about providing valuable and relevant information to nurture these leads.

LA Galaxy, one of the most popular American soccer teams, faced significant challenges during the pandemic. The team's Sales and Marketing teams were spending too much time chasing leads and fans, and their phone outreach was inefficient. The team's primary focus was to convert people in the Los Angeles area into season ticket holders, a task made difficult by the competitive nature of the Sports and Entertainment industry and the presence of rival teams. The team was also struggling with incomplete contact information for potential leads, with basic details like phone numbers often missing. This lack of information made it difficult for Account Executives to effectively reach out to prospects at scale. The onset of the pandemic further complicated matters, as the industry's reliance on people gathering together was severely impacted.

OEConnection, a provider of data, software, and services to the automotive industry, was facing challenges in scaling its Customer Success team and enhancing customer engagement. The company had over 20 Customer Representatives in North America, each managing between 500 and 1,000 dealers. The primary methods of customer engagement were emails and phone calls, which proved to be time-consuming and often ignored by customers. The company categorized its customers into three groups based on usage, and the outreach strategy for each group was different. However, this manual outreach was not only labor-intensive but also resulted in low engagement, especially from customers who needed the most attention.

DocStar Enterprise Content Management (ECM), a division of Epicor Software Management, was facing challenges with managing their lead volume. They were receiving about 500 leads per month, mostly inbound leads generated through their website. To manage these leads, they scored them based on demographic, firmographic and behavioral data before sending them to the Business Development team for follow-up. However, the Business Development Representatives (BDRs) had trouble meeting their quota for the number of outreach attempts for each lead, especially when lead volume was high. Additionally, the timing of the outreach was often not optimal, being either too early or too late in the customer journey to be of any value to the prospect. DocStar was acquired by Epicor in January 2017, but for a while the two organizations had separate Salesforce instances. When Epicor adopted Conversica’s Conversational AI in October 2018, they saw a significant boost in their lead engagement rate via email.