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In	the	Mid-Market	group,	7,000	leads	were	nurtured	to	the	Solution	Education
stage	and	passed	to	sales	in	Q1.	By	the	end	of	Q3,	6	percent	of	those	leads	had
converted	to	customers,	for	a	total	of	420	customers.	The	average	annual
contract	size	for	each	of	these	customers	was	$200,000.

In	the	Small	Business	group,	11,000	leads	were	nurtured	to	the	Problem
Selection	stage	and	passed	to	sales	in	Q1.	By	the	end	of	Q3,	20	percent	of	those
leads	had	converted	to	customers,	for	a	total	of	2,200	customers.	The	average
annual	contract	size	for	each	of	these	customers	was	$40,000.

With	the	conversion	data	in	place,	we	can	start	to	optimize	the	stage	at	which
each	buyer	should	be	passed	to	sales.	For	example,	one	conclusion	to	draw	from
this	data	is	that	the	customer	conversion	rate	on	Small	Business	leads	is	really
high.	Perhaps	we	waited	too	long	to	call	these	leads,	and	failed	to	call	some
closable	prospects	that	hadn't	progressed	beyond	Solution	Selection.	Obviously,
this	theory	can	be	tested.	Instead	of	waiting	for	small	business	buyers	to	reach
the	Solution	Selection	stage,	we	can	start	passing	the	leads	to	the	sales	team
when	the	Small	Business	buyers	reach	the	Problem	Education	stage.	Let's
assume,	after	running	the	experiment,	we	find	that	30,000	Small	Business	leads
were	nurtured	to	the	Problem	Education	stage	and	passed	to	the	sales	team.	After
a	few	quarters,	only	5	percent	of	those	leads	converted	to	customers,	for	a	total
of	1,500	customers.	The	average	purchase	price	remained	the	same	at	$40,000.

In	this	case,	the	experiment	failed.	When	the	Small	Business	leads	were	passed
to	Sales	at	the	Solution	Selection	stage,	the	small	business	sales	team	converted
2,200	customers	at	an	average	purchase	price	of	$40,000.	They	generated	$88
million	from	those	leads.	During	the	experiment,	the	Small	Business	leads	were
sent	to	the	sales	team	at	the	Problem	Education	stage.	The	sales	team	converted
1,500	customers	at	an	average	purchase	price	of	$40,000.	They	generated	$60
million	from	those	leads.	The	team	performed	better	when	the	leads	were	passed
to	Sales	at	the	Solution	Selection	stage.	When	the	leads	were	passed	at	the
Problem	Education	stage,	the	team	was	likely	overwhelmed	with	the	volume	of
leads	and	wasted	more	time	on	lesser	qualified	opportunities.	This,	in	turn,	drove
down	revenue	productivity.

Become	a	Buyer	Matrix	Expert	through	Microsegmentation

In	this	example,	we	started	with	a	very	simple	buyer	matrix.	I	recommend	you
do	the	same	when	starting	out.	However,	as	you	begin	to	understand	your	buyer
matrix	in	greater	detail,	you	realize	that	there	are	more	complex	behaviors	in
play	than	this	simple	model	can	accommodate.	For	example,	in	the	Enterprise
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