Lead Management Best Practice Lead management refers to the process by which a lead is created, qualified, analyzed, and distributed to sales and marketing divisions. Lead management is one if the most critical aspects in the success of sales; as such, best practices have been established for handling and converting leads into satisfied customers.
The first step a business takes in managing a lead is to identify the prime leads and route them automatically to the appropriate entity; this might range from a direct sales representative to a channel partner. This is one of the most important aspects of lead management and time is of the essence: a lead should be thoroughly qualified by the time a sales representative is assigned to them; if a cold or unqualified lead is passed through the pipeline, valuable time and resources are wasted. Thus the quality of the lead and where it's directed upon qualification are important factors. If it gets passed around a bunch or given to the wrong person, a qualified lead can cool; thus, making an effective, efficient, targeted trip down the pipeline is imperative to the success of the entire lead management operation.
The next stage of operations is wooing and nurturing the qualified leads, guiding them through the pipeline and turning them into paying customers. This practice is even easier now with advanced technology like sales force Automation and CRM, allowing leads to be passed quickly down the line without getting cold or lost. Ideally, every step of this process, from nurturing and guiding the lead, to readying them for purchase and tracking their preferences, should be logged in the company's CRM system. This allows any available representative to track a customer's history and status, and continue fostering them accordingly.
This technology
can also
aid in the third step: tracking the leads to closing and analyzing
the ROI, or return on investment, of a company's online and offline
marketing campaigns. Tracking leads can help a company pinpoint its
strengths and weaknesses, as well as the overall preferences of the
customers. This allows for increased growth and improvement within
the company itself and its CRM system. Such improvements might include
bettering a lagging product, targeting weaknesses in a pipeline, creating
stronger marketing divisions, training better representatives, and
much more.
After the leads have been tracked to closing, a business
or corporation should focus on integrating outside channels, including
strategic partners like value added resellers. They should also provide
for offline customer management and services, such as call centers.
These two steps together serve to cement the quality of customer service
and increase the amount of incoming qualified leads.
Remember:
with lead management, measuring and evaluating existing systems and
programs is integral; reporting, post-campaign analysis, detailed strategies,
informed representatives and teams of agents, lead qualification, tracking
customer interests, readying them for service—all these aspects of
lead management play a crucial role in determining a company's conversion
ratio, the number of incoming new customers, the volume of new sales,
and the satisfaction of happy customers.
Salesforce.com is the world's first on-demand application service and
a giant in the field of CRM. With over 24,000 customers, over 500,000
subscribers, and a 97% customer satisfaction rate, Salesforce.com continues
to lead their field.
|