How to Improve Your Lead Management Process

How to Improve Your Lead Management Process

Capturing and nurturing a customer’s interest is of prime importance because it is the impetus for whether a product is actually purchased or not. The sole intent of lead management is to build a relationship with each prospective customer in a way that their interest develops into an opportunity for sales. The goal, however, always remains the same - ensuring complete customer satisfaction by marketing automation.

One of the most fundamental processes that is required for an increase in revenue is a periodic review of the lead management program. As prospective leads originate in a variety of different ways, there is usually only a very loose structure in place to manage all those leads. Lead management system begins with the ability to hit revenue targets in your sales pipeline. By adopting the following strategies you can improve your lead management efforts.

• Specifically define a lead so all employees understand it.

The definition of a lead is one of the biggest disconnects between sales and the rest of the company. Most of the leads that are sent to the sales team are never acted upon. This usually happens when the lead is either not routed through the right person or isn’t ready to engage with the sales person. For sales effectiveness, the sales staff and the rest of the company need a specific definition of when a prospect becomes an actual lead and when it needs to be forwarded to the sales team.

• Trail the lead source.

It is necessary to keep track of where a prospective lead originated so that you can better determine what works and what doesn’t, as most people hear about a company and its services through ads or referrals. Keeping track of a source helps determine how many times a customer needs to be contacted and what methods of contact work best. By not capturing a source, there is no way of figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

• Allocate leads quickly.

Studies have proven that the sales closing rate increases tremendously if a prospect is contacted within 48 hours. Quick response sets you apart from the other competitors in the market. This can be tracked as a key sales metric.

• Implement Lead Nurturing.

Lead nurturing best practices call for nurturing of leads. Most prospective leads are not converted to a sale after the very first interaction with the salesperson. It is necessary to develop campaigns that facilitate the interaction with prospects numerous times so that they can be moved from the sales cycle until they are actually ready to make a purchase.
Any marketing organization will be on its way to optimizing lead generation, maximizing sales revenue, and improving marketing results by implementing these key strategies of lead management.

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