MarketingSherpa, a research firm specializing in tracking what works in marketing (and what does not) has some eye-opening stats in their 2011 Marketing Benchmark Report. The report details how the B2B Marketing community has been humbled by the recent recession and how the economic crisis has forced marketers to operate with limited resources, while facing a need to produce a higher level of quality leads than ever before.

The chart below (part of the report) clearly shows the greatest marketing challenge that B2B organizations face is generating high-­quality leads.

The reports goes on to say that through budget cuts and increased expectations, the organizations that persevered were the ones who effectively applied the most efficient marketing tactics for every stage of the sales funnel, from lead generation to sales conversion, and then closed the loop with sound marketing analytics for continual improvement.

Can’t wait to see the 2012 report! You can grab your copy of the soon-to-be-released 2012 report here for $447.