Defining your lead management process
Lead management is no game: it’s fair to say that it’s both an art and a science. Leads typically come from different sources: inbound calls, outbound calls, blogs, social network, landing pages). This requires flexibility in maintaining lead-capturing channels – while managing them in a systematic and structured way. You need a lead management process.
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While lead gen is essential to a business, generating leads doesn’t guarantee you a sale. You need more than just leads. You need
- qualified leads
- the ability to rank or rate them
- a systemic process for follow up
That’s where a well-defined, well-managed system comes in. Below are some indispensable tips on how to maximize this process.
Establish a lead-scoring model
Not all leads are created equal; some leads are are in the early stages of research and evaluation. These may need nurturing and more information. Other leads may be further down the buying funnel. Others are simply not a good fit for your products or services. Lead scoring will help to classify leads and fit them into the right category so that you focus on those you can turn into satisfied customers. Sales and marketing need to agree upon the set of qualifications that comprise a good lead. You may want to consider a prospect’s job title, company size and type, and monitor behaviors like
- viewing product or pricing pages
- requests for specific information
- registering for a demo
- downloading ebooks and whitepapers
Once categorized, you can assign a specific value according to your criteria (a decision-maker trumps a casual visitor; a buying timeframe of 30 – 60 days trumps plans to buy next year). Keep in mind that scores for the same lead will evolve over time, based on interaction with the sales team and future engagement with your offers. Again, sales and marketing need to agree on a lead management process and revisit it on a regular basis to refine and adjust.
Don’t give crappy leads to sales
It’s essential that marketing is in sync with sales. Both departments must work together in each step, from generating leads to converting opportunities into sales. When marketing passes unqualified leads to sales, they are training salespeople to distrust their value – and rightly so. By the same token, when sales people dismiss marketing’s ability to provide the right leads, rather than provide needed feedback on how to improve their quality, they are perpetuating the cycle. A mutually agreed-upon scoring system based on sales and marketing objectives can prevent this slippery slope.
Follow a lead-nurturing process
Nurturing leads is a critical phase to help guide prospects from early-stage interest to sales-qualified leads. Lead scoring will help you to segment them and keep them engaged. Every lead ignored is a sales opportunity lost. Leads are the lifeblood of your business. Track them, test strategies that trigger specific actions, so that you can determine the right offer to give to the right people at the right time.
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