So youve done the hard work and got your sales leads – why does it all go wrong from here?
Managing sales leads to deliver results
So youve done the hard work and got a stream of qualified salesleads – why does it all go wrong from here?
After much gnashing of teeth and hours spent justifying theinvestment and calculating your required return on investment,you have spent your hard-earned marketing money to generate astream of sales leads – whether telemarketing, exhibitions,seminars, online or offline advertising, direct responseadvertising or directory listings they all have one thing incommon, they are expensive and the investment has to bejustified.
Now you have your leads
Whatever the source, you are now the proud owner of a stream of(hopefully) qualified sales leads, unfortunately our experienceis that this is just the beginning and on its own it does notmean that this will automatically translate into sales.
A CRM system is key building block
Perhaps the most critical task you can do once you have got theleads is to make sure that you capture all the information aboutthese leads onto a database in a way that is going to allow yoursales team to easily access and update this information and in away that is going to allow you to track and monitor the progressof these leads as they are developed. This can be done using anyone of the many sophisticated CRM systems that are available orby developing your own database. Now is not the place toevaluate the various CRM systems that are available or to assessthe relative merits of using an off-the-shelf package vs. theDIY approach, suffice to say that either way it must happen!
Many companies fall down on this – wasting time and money!
Unfortunately many companies appear to skip this key buildingblock in their sales management process and as a result they areinefficient in following up leads and they lose visibility ofprogress causing many expensive and hard won leads that couldhave converted into business to be lost. This is nothing shortof a criminal waste of precious marketing resources but ourexperience is that it happens all too often in organisations ofall shapes and sizes.
Not all leads are created equal
You must classify your leads depending upon their potentialworth to the business and your probability of winning thebusiness. If you do this you can allocate your resources andprioritise accordingly. There is little point having yourexpensive field sales people chasing up business that your desksales people could do or that you have little chance of winning.
Somebody has to be
accountable for every lead
You can not fudge ownership of leads, this is where sales andmarketing teams come together and it is where they have to workeffectively to prevent potentially good leads going cold. Incricketing parlance somebody has to shout “mine” and catch theball. To some degree it doesnt really matter who does this aslong as somebody does and they take accountability Without thisclear accountability, the urgency in the follow up will be lostas different team members look to each other and nothing getsdone!
As somebody once said …”I didnt plan to fail but I failedto plan”
For all leads you must have a contact plan that is appropriateto the class of lead. Equally important is the ability of yoursales team to plan and prepare for the sales meeting or salescall itself – the ability of your sales team to close thebusiness once in front of the prospect is another story!
Keep records so you know where you are
Every contact with a lead should be recorded on your database /CRM system. The status of the lead should evolve throughout thesales development process, accurate records must be kept.
This is in activity where most sales people singularlyfail!
By nature sales people are generally not good at administration,they are too busy pushing on with the next prospect or outmeeting their existing customers – whatever the excuse this isrubbish – you must hold them to account and make them update thesystem otherwise you are flying blind and you are reliant uponsomebodys memory which is all too frequently selective!
And finally, as somebody else once said …”you get what youmeasure”
Never was a truer word spoken in sales. If you are to maximisethe return on your sales leads you must track and reportprogress and hold people to account! It is unrealistic to expectall leads to turn into business but we have to know that this isnot because we havent effectively managed that lead. Knowingwhich leads converted and why and which leads didnt convert andwhy is precious information for future campaigns – record it,nourish it and cherish it!
About the author:
About the author – Mark Brewerton is responsible for marketingat Broadley Speaking. We provide a full range ofbusiness-to-business (B2B) outbound telemarketing, telesales,sales development, appointment setting and lead generationservices for our clients. Contact us on 01822 618537 orby email to info@broadley-speaking.com or visit ourwebsite at http://www.broadley-speaking.com
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