Lead Management Software for Small Businesses

What is lead management system?

Lead management is on an entirely different level than it used to be, from manual lead distribution to now using tools that do far more - including customer segmentation, lead assignment, lead mapping, and automation of many tasks that used to have to be done manually. And for better!

Lead management is a process of systematically:

• Identifying potential customers and tracking them in an inventory system so that you can follow up with them when they are ready to buy.

• Qualifying leads by determining their interest level in your product or service, their financial status and ability to purchase, and the type of business they work for.

• Segmenting leads into groups based on common characteristics to target each group with specific marketing messages and offers.

• Using lead-scoring systems to identify how interested a prospect is to prioritize the low-lying fruits.

By using these processes in conjunction with marketing and sales tools such as email campaigns, direct mail pieces and social media advertisements, businesses can identify which types of marketing efforts work best and focus their resources accordingly.

A lead-management software also helps businesses track their sales efforts so that they can determine which marketing activities bring in the most revenue. To know more about lead management and its process you can click on the link here.

Lead Management Software Process

The lead management process is a critical part of any successful marketing or sales operation. It is the process of identifying, nurturing, and converting leads into customers.

There are a number of steps involved here - from generating leads through marketing activities to qualifying and converting leads into sales.

Step 1: To evaluate & understand leads

At the very beginning, it is important to spend some time analyzing raw leads. Doing this ensures that only the high-quality ones are passed on to sales.

The leads that you get through any marketing efforts are those that have gained awareness of what you have to offer. At this stage, you have just gained some traction. These leads are far from being sales-ready!

Because most times this is spurred on by interest specifically related to pain points that they experience, more times it isn’t so much that as it is mere curiosity at some material your brand has pushed out. This stage is where you do a lot of filtering to draw them down.

Step 2: Generate collective intelligence on what is SQL

Here the collective intelligence has to be between the marketing and sales teams on what makes a sales-qualified lead (SQL). Many times, marketing and sales teams have two completely different definitions of what accounts for a qualified lead.

A SQL is someone who demonstrates a predetermined “fit” and buying readiness based on demographic- name, number, email; and behavioral attributes - form fills, landing page visits, and so on.

Step 3: Score/bucket your leads

Within your LMS, you’ll rely on buckets to determine success. Without these predefined buckets, it becomes pretty difficult to analyze hundreds or thousands of leads. To enable seamless lead funnel management and also capture lead lifecycle in a common language that everyone understands, buckets are a way to go!

SAMPLE BUCKET STAGE DEFINITIONS INCLUDE:

• Raw - Unfiltered, undifferentiated, and unqualified contacts.

• Inquiry - You have captured interest but this inquiry might/might not make a purchase.

• Engagement - The lead is now warm and has shown signs of strong interest at multiple points.

• Ready For Sales - The lead has shown enough interest to be marketing qualified and has filled out a “Contact Us” form.

• Accepted By Sales - Sales has accepted the lead from Marketing and agrees to review it.

• Qualified By Sales - A lead is recognized by sales as viable.

• Opportunity - This is a lead with a revenue opportunity.

• Rejected Lead - This lead is non-targeted. It does not have a scope to be a potential customer.

• Recycled Lead - The lead does not meet sales criteria and is sent back to marketing for re-work.

• Converted - The lead has made a purchase in a tangible or intangible way.

Step 4: Nurture/Interact

Nurturing, when done well, helps you engage with prospects and potential buyers. The POV here is to not convert but to engage and move the lead.

• Hot leads are presented with relevant content via email, mobile, web, and social channels.

• Warm leads are encouraged to re-engage and ideally become hot.

• Cold or unengaged leads can be sent content they may find interesting, which could bring them toward the warm stage.

Step 5: Route the lead

Lead routing is the process by which we assign system-qualified leads to the right salesperson (by geography, product sales and so on). Automating lead routing ensures that the prospect is followed up in a timely manner by the right person.

The value here is that the sales team receives high-quality leads, giving a fair opportunity for higher conversion rates and improving first-call quality.

Marketing teams can further nurture leads that sales will want to follow up on with relevant content and experiences, which should lead to higher conversion rates from SRL to Opportunity.

The interdependency between teams increases the efficiency of both of them, given the routing happens smoothly.

Challenges without Lead Management Software

Lead management is the backbone of any business. Without it, the whole essence can fall like a domino. Here we have mentioned a few intuitive challenges that can directly affect the growth of an enterprise.

Challenge #1: Non-efficient lead tracking

Without proper identification of the source of the lead and which part of the sales funnel it falls into, taking necessary steps to close the lead becomes easier.

Challenge #2: Messy lead nurturing

Lead nurturing is a crucial step in building customer relationships. Without it, there is no loyalty or attachment.

Challenge #3: No filter, no acquisition

Assigning tags to leads is not just an SOP but a mandate for purchase. The action plan for each bucket should be predefined as per the bucket.

Challenge #4: Less automation, Less Productivity

Imagine handling hundreds of leads manually injecting from multiple sources like social, websites, and offline without any automated emails and notifications. The outcome in terms of productivity and qualifying them for sales becomes challenging.

Challenge #5: No real-time accountability

Most LMS will assign a lead to the assignee. This aids in accountability along every step of the sales process. This also helps build intelligence as to which part of the territory generates maximum revenues.

Challenge #6: Haphazard team coordination

Haphazard team coordination: Most teams thrive on processes and systems. The coordination becomes impossible verbally. Having no system in place can result in a tsunami within groups. Better to prevent than fix.