Thanks for the comments, and I quite agree with you. I guess I missed my mark in expressing the point. The point is that if a sale takes several months to complete from the time that someone actually identifies themselves as a lead, there are likely several months (or more) in which they are a potential and unidentified lead. So websites should take those pre-lead-form-completion months as seriously as possible.

Of course, once a lead form has been completed, then it’s time for the sales force to carry the ball across the goal line. No question on that one.

What clients have often experienced, however, is that a properly constructed website can dramatically shorten the post-lead sales cycle. In fact, while most lead-gen clients start out with a primary goal of simply getting more leads, most of them benefit far more from getting better qualified and quicker-to-sign leads.

- Jeff

If you’ve got sales processes that take up to a year then you’ve inevitably got a whole range of interactions from personal meetings, conference calls etc that come into play.

Laying the responsibility for the sale solely at the feet of the website, I think, is limiting.

It may prevent companies from addressing other areas that impact on the final sale.

With so many emerging technologies it can be hard for everyone to keep up with the latest and best ways to interact with their visitors.

I describe the mini-goals as “stepping stones” for visitors who aren’t ready to jump across the river in one big leap. The difference is that you need to allow the visitor to jump to the other bank from any stone and to take the stones in her own order.

When it comes to optimising each stone you need a better tool than GA.