Capture Information and Use it to Classify Frequency and Type of Future Contact
Sales Lead Management*
How To Successfully Manage Leads
Lead management is crucial to optimize revenue when the initial inquiry and a closed sale are separated by an interval of time. Here are several principles of successful lead management.
Use Lead Qualification Questions to Gather Information
Standard practice is to ask and record four pieces of information for B2B leads, and three pieces of information from consumer leads:
1. Purchase time frame, such as:
30 days, 90 days, 6 months, 9 months or more than one year.
2. Quantity to be purchased, such as:
One, 12 or 100.
3. Status of the project (for B2B leads only), such as:
under consideration, budgeted or funded.
4. Prospect's role in the decision, such as:
(for B2B) Influences, recommends, specifies or approves purchase.
(for consumers) Decides, decides with spouse or family member, spouse or family member decides.
This information is used to classify leads.
Classify Leads Based on Information Gathered
Based on the above information, some companies classify leads as "hot", "warm" and "cold".
*These are general recommendations. Specific strategies and tactics should be based on a review of your needs, market and operation. For outside support contact Lieber & Associates.
A more detailed approach is to numerically score leads. Scoring may be cumulative or discrete. A cumulative scoring system might use a scale of 1-100 with each of the 4 lead qualification criteria worth a maximum of 25 points. A discrete scoring system assigns a separate score to each qualification question. For example, a discrete system might use a scale of 1-5 with leads rated as 3435 or 4234, etc. Each position in the number corresponds to one of the 4 different lead qualification questions.
Applying percentages to different characteristics, and to the maturity of the lead, scores may even be used to begin to project sales. Whatever your company's approach, classifying leads is the first step to managing them, thus enabling your enterprise to optimize sales.