Customers or clientele are the core of any business set-up, irrespective of the stage the business belongs to. Every type of business, regardless of its size, needs customers. Organisations have to tap a large number of potential customers from the market and convince them to become customers. Such potential customers are regarded as leads.
Lead management in present times
Experts maintain that converting leads into customers is an art. Not every business is adept at converting leads into customers. There are various reasons for the same, including lack of time and the right kind of skills. Hence, organisations should execute an organised lead management strategy. Lead management plays an important role in the growth and expansion of an organisation.
Lead management is quite crucial to track leads, qualify them, and nurture them at the right time and in the right manner. There are organisations that have suffered heavy losses due to the absence of a lead management process in place. It is necessary to set up a lead management system to tap customers in an efficient manner.
Traditional v/s Contemporary lead management
Earlier, lead management involved making cold calls, sending bulk emails and fax, and knocking on the doors of potential customers. However, this was a time-consuming task and did not always result in a conversion. In present times, lead management has become a little complex. However, if there is a strategy in place, then it is a cakewalk. Check out 4 Ways Customer Service Lead to More Sales.
People today have several touchpoints with a business owing to availability of several marketing channels. There is not one fixed formula that works for all the marketing channels when it comes to lead managment. Sales team is required to follow a niche process for every channel to convert leads. Hence, there is a need for lead management software to lessen the load of organisations.Check out 6 steps to a stronger marketing management process
An effective lead management strategy requires taking help of lead management software. To make organisations tap leads in an orderly manner, Refrens recently introduced comprehensive lead management software. Organisations liked the fact that this software is very convenient and does all the heavy lifting required for the process of lead management.
Here are five major steps of lead management that help find loyal customers, improve conversion rate, and ultimately increase streams of revenue for the organisations. When these five steps are in place, then it helps streamline the sales process and increase business opportunities available to organisations.
Stage 1
Lead Capture
When a lead gets in touch with the business through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or any social media, email, website or by the means of paid ads, the first step that the salesperson needs to do is record the details of the lead. When a good software is in place, it helps enter the information of the leads and save it for future reference. The software helps eliminate incorrect information, data duplicacy and even loss of leads.
Stage 2
Lead Tracking
It is the responsibility of the sales team to conduct lead tracking when they are in the funnel. There are several stages in the funnel that the lead could be in. It is necessary to bifurcate the funnels clearly and decide the stage of the lead in the funnel. This helps the sales team to move the leads to the next stage and finally close the deal. For instance, Refrens helps customize lead stages according to different pipelines and manage them to never miss out on a follow-up.
Stage 3
Lead Qualification
There are several methods to qualify leads, conditional to the type and size of business. For instance, lead management software like Refrens helps label and tag every lead by its source, personas, business type and more for 1-click filters and reports. This helps sales team to ascertain if the lead needs to be pursued. Ultimately, it helps save time and money.
Stage 4
Lead Distribution
Once the lead is qualified, the next step is to assign the leads to the right member of the sales team. This can be done with the help of a software or manually distribute leads with the help of sales representatives. There should not be a huge gap between communication with leads. The quicker the sales team addresses a lead, the chances of their conversion improve significantly. Automating lead distribution with the help of software is quite important for avoiding lead leaks.
Stage 5
Lead Nurture
Every organisation savors the dream of 100% lead conversion. However, that might not always be the case. Hence, the last stage of lead management is very important. During this stage, sales team needs to customize their sales pitch to align different stages of sales funnel. While some customers might need a gentle push through an email, others might need a call to help them choose the organisations for its product or service. Lead nurturing is a long phase where customers are gently nudged over a period of time to help them make the decision.
Why use lead management software
Lead management requires organisation and skills. It relies heavily on sales representatives. However, it is limited to their skills and experience in this regard. Hence, organisations should utilise a lead management software. It is not only cost-effective but also highly useful when it comes to taking care of all five stages of lead management. The software makes use of different features and tools that help in effective and long-term lead conversion.
Conclusion
A lead management system for every organisation is different. It is dependent on sales outcome, marketing channels available to the business, customer demographics, and various other factors. A business needs to define its sales goals. It helps find the right leads that can be easily converted. Further, every business should try and understand the pain points of the customers and help fix them in a timely manner.
When businesses are aware about the interests of the customers, then it is easy to offer the product in a right manner. Businesses should make an effort to understand exactly which age group or gender does it customer belongs to. This helps them use the right marketing channel to find them. Lead management becomes a cakewalk when businesses adopt the right approach. Check out 4 Ways Customer Service Lead to More Sales.
