Sales Leads
Sales leads are the backbone of the sales industry and most sales companies would fail to exist without successful ways to generate sales leads. It is perhaps the most critical part of the sales process since generating quality sales leads greatly enhances the chance of successful sales completions. Sales companies are understandably very interested in finding new ways to generate high potential sales leads since they can increase sales revenue significantly.
A sales lead is any company or individual that could potentially be interested in buying a specific product or service on the market. Sales leads are usually generic in nature and can involve "cold calling” methods as a way of initiating contact. Overall, they generally require harder selling tactics and are more difficult to move along the selling process.
A quality sales lead is a company or individual that has been filtered in some way and is determined to be more likely to listen to a sales pitch. Quality sales leads have a higher success rate since there is a demonstrated use for the product (i.e. a specific merchant requests to be contacted about a debit machine seen on the company's website), and the sales lead is more open to being contacted.
There are a number of companies that specialize in compiling databases of categorized, quality leads that are then marketed and sold to companies looking to secure sales leads. This is especially useful for sales companies that are just starting or having problems generating leads of their own.
Sales Lead Management
Sales lead management is the term used to describe the processes and infrastructure that is in place to organize, manage and assign sales leads and help to generate new leads. Ideally most of the focus of the sales lead management system is generating new quality sales leads, but it can also facilitate the priority of existing leads and to track the effectiveness and return on investment of marketing tactics. A successful sales lead management system will help ensure the sales pipeline remains full of promising contacts.
Sales lead management systems generally track sales leads through the entire sales process. This entails:
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The origin of the lead (cold calling, website, information request, outsourced lead generator company, etc.)
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Tracking of all contact with the lead (if the lead has been contacted or not, lead assignment, interest level, etc.)
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The outcome of the lead (whether lead purchased product, follow up required, etc.)
Most management systems are now electronic as the process can be very in-depth and confusing if it involves a large number of leads. Some of the advantages of electronic sales lead management systems are:
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Capacity to handle extremely large numbers of leads
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Automation of common tasks and time consuming tasks
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Time and money saving
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Sales leads can be prioritized and leads can automatically be queued and sent to next available salesperson
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Real-time systems can be updated seamlessly while salespeople are in the field
With the obvious importance of generating and managing sales leads, implementing an efficient and convenient sales lead management system should be a high priority for all sales companies looking for a competitive edge.