Getting lead management right involves a lot of moving parts, so lets jump in.
Alignment between Marketing and Sales
In my experience, this is how it usually goes.
A potential customer fills out a form or comes to a trade show booth.
Marketing hands off the lead to Sales, saying its a hot lead that needs to be called ASAP.
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The result is a frustrated sales rep, a frustrated marketing teamand no progress on the deal.
This is why its so important that Sales and Marketing are on the same page.
Things like:
Your first effort at this wont be perfectit never is.
Information gathering
The vast majority of the buying process is completed online without human-to-human interaction.
The most important thing on the lead management side is deciding where you want to store this information.
Based on this kind of feedback, it’s possible for you to adjust your lead scoring over time.
Lead nurture
Most leads arent ready to buy the first time they interact with you.
To nudge them through their customer journey, you gotta nurture them.
Lead nurturing allows you to stay in touch with potential buyers until they are ready to buy.
This all builds trustand keeps you front of mind when theyre ready to make a purchase.
Youll continue to nurture your leads (and customers, once they convert) throughout the buying process.
Youll consider things like:
Of course, not all of these apply to every business.
Which elements you prioritize will be based on your industry, what youre selling, and various other factors.
Tracking and adjusting
Lead management is an iterative process.
Combined with feedback from the sales team, youll be able to tweak your lead management processes.
Once again, all the tracking will be automated in your CRM.
Using the right tools
When it comes to lead management,automation is your friend.
Im talking things like a CRM, email marketing platform, event platform, and so on.
This article by Margot Howard was first published on the Zapier blog.
Find the original posthere.
