Much has been discussed about customer relationship management, but getting into relationships with prospective clients is a different ball game altogether.
Matchmaking is an age-old game and it gets tougher when it is not a matter of hearts. Uniting the correct salesperson with the correct lead is harder than it sounds.
Established practices under lead management aim to generate new potential clients through campaigns and promotions. The process of identifying, tracking and managing potential customers also known as customer acquisition or contact management is best rolled out as the joint effort between the Marketing and the Sales teams.
Lead Management forms an important part of comprehensive & extensive sales management systems which puts vital information on the fingertips of the enterprise.
Uniting the Sales Force with the Correct Leads
Matchmaking gets a whole new meaning with mapping the appropriate salesperson to the correct lead. Every sales person’s psyche is geared up to engage specific types of leads. A SFA providing appropriate insights to the decision makers to analyze the capabilities of the diverse sales force and allotting the appropriate leads to them becomes an indispensable asset to own.
Choosing the Salesperson for the Job
Finding the perfect match for each lead is a herculean task. While managers could opt for equal distribution of leads; typically, as and when they come, most of the managers opt to derive logical insights from the past performances before making a decision.
A decision maker could also have to walk the tight rope between choosing the least busy person and the most successful one; who would in all probability be the busiest one.
Winning Over the Leads
Where Leads Come From – The Sources of Leads
It is interesting to know that contrary to the belief that the sources of leads come from advertising; both contemporary & traditional; the leads come from a variety of sources. Websites, tradeshows, conventions, seminars, e-mail campaigns, search engine optimization all are targeted to generate leads.
Typically, different domains show an inclination towards a different source of leads.
Lead Sources
Wooing the Prospective Customers
Winning over the perspective’s heart is no mean feat. Both the marketing and the sales department need close coordination to avoid situations where the lead does not materialize to sales and potential customers get interested in competitors. Correct allocation of the salesperson increases the chances of maneuvering leads through the sales funnel.
Avoiding Heartbreak with Help from Sales Force Automation Software
The biggest challenge the Marketing departments face is that of less number of leads generated. Add to it the chaos generated by lack of coordination with the Salesperson, it is heartbreak for sure.
SFA to the Rescue
- Leads are captured through different channels and recorded into the SFA
- Marketing campaigns are integrated with the SFA
- Lead follow up process are kept closely monitored to avoid communication errors
- Salesperson performances are mapped to the leads shared by Marketing to measure the effectiveness of the synergized performance
- Continuous Lead Performance Management process is in place with well-defined reports & dashboard to analyze key metrics
- Lead Sources
- Lead Status
- Lead Conversions
Lead Lifecycle Management Modules
Advantages of Real-Time Lead Allocation through SFA
A mature sales force automation system aims to hit the bull’s eye by mapping the correct salesperson to the correct lead. The advantages, it goes without saying, are numerous and avoiding the support from an SFA system is not a good idea for sure.
- Logical organization of leads
- A competent lead management system provides an organized method of categorizing and scoring leads as and when they are they are captured. Leads are then organized into various categories like source, industry, geography and more.
- Prompt response times
- A quick and appropriate response to an inquiry goes a long way in converting a lead. Lead management systems integrated into SFAs, are sure to reduce response times by reasonable automation in place.
- Practical distribution of leads
- An organized flow of leads to the sales force is the most critical aspect of lead management as a direct impetus to the efficiency of the sales teams.
- Quick & precise lead tracking
- An SFA empowered with a lead management system indicates the position of the leads in the sales pipeline in real-time. As the relationship advances, the approaches to communications keep changing aiming to keep the entity engaged.
- Increasing chances of materializing relationships
- An SFA pushes the leads through multiple engagements to orient the prospects to the products & services of the enterprise, making them more likely to get associated.
In A Nutshell
Sales management system best practices for lead allocation aim to monetize the leads in practical and intuitive ways.
The balancing act comes by adhering to certain best practices.
- Judge the salesperson skills, abilities & past performances
- Highest quality leads go to the best performing sales people
- Determine which salesperson is best suited for the lead based on source, demographics & other factors
- Employ the right mix of the salesperson to suit all types of leads
- Incentives & motivational compensation should be well aligned to lead allocation strategy
ZooM, the mobile sales force automation solution from SPEC INDIA focuses on lead management & allocation with deep insights presented by engaging dashboards & reports for key decision makers across the system.
Zoom mobilizes and automates the activities of the sales force, customer executives and the field representatives, synchronizing them with the back office. The result is a complete end-to-end field force automation application focusing on integrating the planning and execution of field staff activities along with the availability of business-critical information right on time.
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