Lead Generation can be an important KPI of a sales campaign

Sales campaigns are focused on maximizing sales, and sometimes they ignore the value they can create by generating leads for future sales efforts.

Some examples of a sales campaign are "Best Value deals in Christmas" or "Clearance sales" or "product launch sale campaign-first 10000 bookings to get a free warranty for next 2 years". The standard KPIs for the sales campaign would be in terms of sales volumes, sales value and sale profitability, new customers etc.

When we establish these traditional measures of success for the sales campaign owner, it's recommended to add the following performance measures for the side benefit of lead generation, which a sales campaign can produce:

• Number of leads generated.
• Existing customer enquiries (if applicable)
• % age of leads generated out of total contacts made. (for example, number of prospects who gave their details.

In terms of analysis, the above KPI's can be measured across the following attributes (the example- with in the braces are indicative for the purpose of explaining)

• Category of leads (high value, medium value, low-value)
• Evolution of leads (Cold, warm, hot)
• Category of information (high, medium, low)

One of the reasons that lead generation angle from a sales campaign may be missed out, because:

• Management does not want to dilute the focus.
• Lead generation is not considered as a core separate function but part of the sales function and people don’t feel a need to measure it as a separate domain.

As a further re-clarification- Many sales campaign ride on the lead generations followed by quick closure. Therefore, lead generation is part and parcel of the sales campaign (for example a telemarketer calls you-up and offers a new product launch and associated discount for early birds..). However, the difference lies in if you are storing/keeping the information your gathered in the telemarketing call, even if it did not lead to sales. Another example is for point of sale. You may have a huge "new range of furniture" launch. In the sales campaign rush, the sales people at the store are focused on selling and the whole lead generation apparatus (visitor information forms, visitors register, "fill-up your address and we will send you a pair of coffee mugs") might be missing.