Lead Generation

Project7, a global management consultancy specialising in performance improvement, wanted to boost their customer acquisition efforts, with a sharp focus on the North American market. With existing contracts in North America nearing completion, they needed a strategic approach to secure new business in the region. So, they turned to Studiowide, choosing us as their partner based on our track record of success in similar campaigns within the professional services sector.

One of the key challenges Project7 faced was the inconsistency in their sales pipeline.

They relied heavily on their management consultants for business development, but once a consultant was assigned to a new contract, their prospecting activities halted, leading to gaps in lead generation. Further analysis showed that while generating leads was tough, the bigger issue was the lack of consistent processes to convert those leads into clients.

Another challenge was the need to extract and formalise the valuable knowledge from the heads of their management consultants into structured content that could attract and engage potential clients. While the company had some success in securing contracts, this was mostly driven by senior leaders, revealing a lack of robust sales and marketing procedures independent of key personnel.

To tackle these challenges, we started with a series of marketing diagnostic events to fully understand Project7’s situation and identify any gaps. We conducted a Core Competencies Diagnostic to evaluate organisational strengths and weaknesses, a Modern Marketing Capabilities Diagnostic to benchmark their marketing activities against world-class standards, and a Sales & Marketing Alignment Diagnostic to assess how well their sales and marketing departments were working together.

Based on these insights, we developed a bespoke Lead Generation and Client Acquisition Programme aimed at securing new business in the North American Aerospace sector.

The first phase of our campaign zeroed in on lead generation. We kicked things off by initiating dialogue with prospective customers through targeted communications. These were auto-triggered by specific actions like opening an email or visiting a webpage. This approach kept Project7 ‘front-of-mind’ with recipients. We used persona profiling and content mapping to tailor messages to the buying stages of each target customer, turning the knowledge from Project7’s management consultants into engaging content.

Our main goal during this phase was to motivate prospects to engage with the content and click through to a landing page, gradually warming them up for further communication. Even when recipients didn’t click through, the regularity of our emails helped build familiarity with the Project7 brand, paving the way for a developing relationship. This structured communication educated prospects about the benefits of working with Project7, and all generated leads were moved into the next phase of the campaign.

In Phase 2, the focus shifted to client acquisition, with the primary aim of securing appointments for Project7’s management consultants.

We used the leads from Phase 1 and targeted them with specific goals, breaking down the booking process into smaller milestones. We returned to our customer persona profiling to identify a common problem within each target company and created a short guide with insights on how to solve it. We also introduced a complementary diagnostic tool as a giveaway to further entice prospects.

As the conversions started rolling in, we qualified each one to determine if Project7 wanted to work with the potential client. Those that met the criteria were personally contacted and offered a value-rich one-hour consultation. During this session, Project7 would help the potential customer build a plan of action, starting with the problem identified in the initial communication. Even those who didn’t take up the offer still experienced the professional and systematic approach that set Project7 apart as a company that delivers real value.

The results of this campaign were impressive. Out of a cold data list of 5,452 suspect contacts, 52% were identified as prospects. Of the 2,840 prospects, 30% were converted into leads, and we generated 64 appointments from the 841 leads. After further qualification, 48 companies were deemed a good fit for Project7. To date, one contract with a world-leading manufacturer of civil aircraft has been secured, equating to a staggering 5000% return on investment. Additionally, three ongoing contract and budget discussions are in progress as a direct result of this campaign. The campaign also significantly boosted brand recognition for Project7 within major MRO Aerospace companies.