CenterBeam Revs Revenue Despite Economic Downturn Via Lead Nurturing Programs

CenterBeam, a leading provider of outsourced IT services based in San Jose, CA, has been working with its lead generation services partner, PointClear, on delivering a number of higher-value sales prospects. CenterBeam has been working with Atlanta-based PointClear since 2003, and has seen a 12:1 ROI to date, translating into millions of dollars of closed business. PointClear programs have produced on average 50 percent of CenterBeam’s new business per quarter.

Even with the economy in tailspin in recent months, Karen Hayward, Executive Vice President and CMO for CenterBeam, says the company is still increasing its sales revenue. “We just closed our quarter and we had our best quarter that we’ve had in the past twelve months. We’re actually over plan on a year to year basis. We made our plan Q1 and Q2, so this is the third one in a row,” Heyward says. “We’ve also had our highest percentage of PointClear revenue. We were closing business right up until last night, and it was somewhere between 70% and 80% of our quarter’s revenue was driven by opportunities created by PointClear.”

Hayward says a key part of the success of PointClear’s opportunity creation has been focusing on lead refinement to pass along truly qualified prospects to the sales team. “The right lead refinement practices ensure that we receive only well-qualified, higher-value prospects – enabling our sales reps to concentrate their efforts on the most likely buyers. In this way, we believe PointClear has played a key role in accelerating our business growth.”

She added that PointClear has also enabled a much deeper analysis of  CenterBeam’s prospect database and the performance of various outreach efforts. “PointClear focuses on the number of touches, and what campaigns are working so that we can really turn the dials to deliver optimum performance given the amount of effort we’re putting into any one marketing segment,” Heyward says.

She added that the dramatic shifts in the economy have driven substantial changes in the priorities of its prospects. “One of the things we look for is how PointClear is touching our inbound Web leads. We got an inbound web lead from a company we had touched via PointClear 54 times since 2004 and then they suddenly became a lead. That’s a phenomenon we’re starting to see happen a lot more in the last 18 months,” Heyward says.

Dan McDade, president of PointClear, points out that companies that have remained aggressive in this climate have gained an edge on their competition. “Some companies push the panic button and say there are fewer leads to work on and they’re more expensive so let’s go into a shell and invest less in lead generation. The reality is there are still a lot of businesses out there. Now is the time to invest in lead nurturing, because you know that your competitors are going to leave business on the table,” McDade says. “Despite the economy over the last several months, we’re generating leads for clients like CenterBeam, who are then closing business. There is business out there. Now is not the time to pull in and circle the wagons.”

CenterBeam’s Heyward also points out that the company has adjusted its messaging to address the changing priorities of its prospects. “Over the last couple of years we’ve been selling on growth. Now we’re helping on the cost side of equation,” he says. “I think you have to shift the emphasis of your value proposition so that you’re in line with the dynamic that is that play in the marketplace. We are a great cost containment strategy. We are often able to deliver significant saving, especially within organizations that are highly structured in nature, like construction and real estate.”