4 Best Practices on Lead Management
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Lead management is an essential task for any business. It is responsible for keeping the money flowing which can be used to fund the operations of the business – producing, paying the labor, maintaining equipment and facilities, and anything that should be done for the business to survive. Lead management is not just concerned with the number of leads you are acquiring – but also the quality of the business relationship you have developed with them to convince and prepare them to make a purchase.
Definition of Lead Management
Lead management is the process of acquiring new leads, maintaining a healthy business relationship with them, and successfully convincing them to make a purchase.
There is no single template to use to successfully manage your leads and turn them into customers. But there have been successful models in the past that businesses have used to capture leads and convert them. Most of these models follow a structured system to increase the number of leads they have captured and increase the success rate of conversion.
To help you with this, here are four best practices that you can follow to manage your leads successfully:
1. Identify your unique selling proposition and match it with the right leads
Your unique selling proposition (USP) is the actual value you give to your customers, something that they cannot get elsewhere. It can be a benefit of using your product or service, the innovation or technological breakthrough your company has made, or anything that makes your business special on the market.
The reason why this is so important is because, during the lead management process, you must be able to successfully persuade your leads that they need or will need the product or service your business offers. Your unique selling proposition makes it easier for the sales team to distinguish your business from the competition and match the actual value your product or service offers to the needs and interests of your leads.
Being able to do this practice from the get-go will also make the buyer’s journey smoother for the lead. When all the sales pitch or promotional material your lead is exposed to from the start of his or her journey is relevant to that lead’s interests, he or she will naturally be incentivized to learn more about your business. This means that your content must be tailored to fit the profile of your target audience.
When the needs or interests are not matched with the right leads, there is a chance that the lead will lose interest from the start or in the middle of the sales process. This is a waste of time and energy and doing this practice will help you save cost and allocate your resources to hot leads or leads that are actually interested in what your business has to offer.
2. Allow for smooth and seamless collaboration between your sales and marketing teams
To those who are not familiar with common business terms and practices, sales teams and marketing teams actually have different roles and responsibilities in companies. They are commonly used together but they both function differently although sometimes interdependently.
Sales teams are commonly tasked to man the operations related to the selling of the product and service of the company while marketing teams are those tasked to get people interested in the product or service. This means that marketing teams are in charge of promoting the business to the market. They look for people who might buy something from you. And when they have found one, the sales team will take over and ensure that an actual purchase will be made.
Sometimes companies separate these teams from each other because of the seemingly stark difference in their roles and functions. But a better practice has been discovered by successful companies these days. When allowed access to a centralized database, sales and marketing teams can successfully work together to ensure a smooth and personalized buyer’s journey.
The sharing of data and what teams know about the customers allow the company to interact with the lead as one, not as separate departments. This eliminates asking repetitive questions, repetitive procedures like filling up of forms, and annoying business practices like repetitive verification of identities– which can discourage potential customers from making an actual purchase.
There are systems developed to allow seamless collaboration between sales and marketing teams like CRM software solutions. These systems are often built with tools that reduce the workload of sales and marketing teams through automation and customized templates ready to be used anytime.
3. Get full control over your data
This is an often underlooked practice in the world of business. Having full control over your business data allows you to make key decisions correctly. The data that you have gathered related to your business such as your customers’ information, sales and marketing data, and your business performance analytics are all useful in making business decisions. They guide you in when to make actions, where to focus, and who to prioritize especially in the sales and marketing arena.
CRM software solutions such as Saphyte are developed to enable you to do all of these. It allows you to automatically gather information from your customers through forms, analyze your sales pipeline and performance, and forecast your sales to prepare your teams for what lies ahead.
Being able to have full control over your data plus the automation that CRM software solutions offer helps you get an edge over your competitors. Having more data means more accurate information to aid you in crafting a better strategy to stay ahead in the competition.
4. Keep your potential and existing customers engaged
Lead management is all about ensuring the new leads eventually convert into paying customers. To do this, you should be able to gather qualitative data about your leads’ journey into becoming customers – what keeps them going, what discourages them from making a purchase, what push is needed to motivate them into making a purchase, and etc.
This task can be automated using CRM software solutions. Sending them automated e-mails for feedback or even automated “thank you” emails keep your potential and existing customers engaged while gathering the data you need to improve your sales process.
You can also automate emails using CRM software solutions like Saphyte to keep your leads engaged and guide them into making a purchase. You can start with an “instructional” email that informs them of what your business has to offer. By choosing from the array of products and services you offer, you can automate a follow-up email that can guide them into making future choices with your business. This smoothens out the buyer’s journey for them, making it easy for them to make their first purchase.
Conclusion
So these are four best practices to manage your leads – guiding them into making their first purchase right from the start. Remember the importance of lead management as they have been known to make businesses successful. Know what makes your business different and what actual value your business offers that your competitors do not. Ensure seamless collaboration between your sales and marketing teams for their crucial roles in your business. Get a 360-degree view of your business and gain full control over your data and keep your leads and customers engaged as they are the lifeblood of your business. Remember these four best practices when managing your leads to have a smooth business run.