One of the best source of highly qualified leads are Contact Us forms on your corporate website. Most forms that users submit on your website are to view webinars, download white papers or access research studies. The end-user may or may not have an immediate need. But with the contact form the prospect is giving you permission to contact them. And in most cases the end-user has a need (which they typically describe in the free form text) that immediately converts into an opportunity.

I always enjoy reading the the contact us forms that come into my company’s website. As a result I have them sent directly to my inbox. Not only are they insightful, but they provide a sense of satisfaction and reward for all the time invested in marketing campaigns.

But as much as I love getting a contact form with a warm lead, I cannot help but think that if a prospect has to fill out a Contact Us form then the marketing team has not done a good job. Today’s buyers are more empowered than ever.  Studies from CEB, Forrester and IDC indicate that B2B decision makers conduct up to 50-80% of the information they require to make a purchasing decision before they are willing to even speak to a vendor’s sales rep. The Contact Us form is usually filled out at the 70% threshold at which the buyer wants to engage the vendor.

If marketing is doing its job they should have engaged the prospect long before they reach the point of wanting to speak to a sales representative. The prospect should have been exposed to your content and your brand much earlier in the buying cycle. And if your content is effective then the prospect should have engaged with sufficient frequency to trigger your lead scoring algorithm to recommend a sales rep make contact.