Sales performance swings often come from changes in where leads come from, not the sales team itself. In May 2023, an in-person event brought high-quality leads ready to demo. June 2023 relied on paid ads instead, which convert at much lower rates because they're earlier-stage prospects. Shifting your lead mix changes your conversion rate.
It's easy to jump to the conclusion that sales is the reason why it's worse, but a lot of times it's because our lead mix changes and how different lead sources convert changes. So for example, if in May of 2023 I had an in-person event that generated a lot of those leads and we had some demo requests and some other activities, that's my lead mix. In June, we didn't have an event scheduled, so I wanted to supplement that with paid advertising. And paid advertising actually converts into opportunities at a much, much lower rate. So my mix changed, thereby impacting the quality of those leads and the probability that they would convert. It's not that paid advertising is a bad source. It's just that they're earlier in the funnel and usually in an awareness stage and not yet ready to talk to sales.
