Lead management should not be neglected by SMEs because it stimulates their growth. When effective, it allows them to optimize their sales processes, increase their conversion rate, and improve their competitiveness. According to a Gartner study, companies that automate their lead management see a 10% increase in revenue in 6 to 9 months. Browse this complete guide to learn everything about this subject: fundamentals, strategies, and best practices, the value of a CRM for lead management, and the best tools on the market.
The Fundamentals Of Lead Management
Any business must regularly gain new customers to continue to grow and ensure its sustainability. This involves generating leads and encouraging them to make a purchase. These tasks are an integral part of lead management.
Definition And Strategic Importance Of Lead Management
Lead management, also called lead management, is the process of converting people or companies who have expressed interest in your products or services into customers. She plays an essential role in sales management. Indeed, good lead management optimizes your sales cycle and your commercial strategy.
Concretely, lead management makes it possible to determine precisely when a prospect made a purchase and how they made it. Over time, you will be able to identify practices to adopt to maximize your conversion rate.
The Lead Management Process
Lead management is broken down into several key steps:
- The acquisition. It’s about attracting leads. This can be done through different marketing strategies such as delivering engaging content, targeted advertisements, email marketing, organizing events, etc. ;
- Follow-up. Once a person or company shows interest in your offer, you need to collect as much data about them as possible. In this way, your teams will be able to communicate with the potential customer based on their previous behavior or preferences;
- The qualification. Leads should then be evaluated based on criteria like interest level, budget, urgency of purchase, etc. This step helps identify those who are most likely to turn into customers;
- The distribution. Qualified leads are assigned to the appropriate sales teams for further follow-up. The goal is to get them to sign a contract;
- Maturation or nurturing. Some leads aren’t ready to buy right away. It is then necessary to develop a relationship with them and guide them throughout their purchasing journey by, for example, regularly sending them relevant content or offering them special offers.
What Is The Difference Between A Lead, A Prospect, And A Customer?
Lead and prospect are often confused. However, there is a difference between these two terms. The lead is a person or company that has shown some interest in your product or service offering. They may have provided basic contact information (name, email address, phone number, etc.). However, the lead is still discovering and seeking more information about the solutions available to them.
For its part, the prospect is a contact who has been qualified on the basis of specific criteria. It is at a more advanced stage of the sales process compared to the lead. Your salespeople must offer them the product or service best suited to their needs to encourage them to buy.
The customer, for his part, is a person or company who has gone through all the stages of the sales process and has actually made a purchase. They are then part of the users of your products or services.
The Importance Of Lead Management In A Digital Context
Companies are increasingly using digital marketing strategies to attract leads. Good lead management allows you to precisely target them based on their online behavior. It also makes it easier to understand their needs and preferences by analyzing the pages they have visited, the content they have viewed, etc.
Furthermore, digital channels offer various means to collect essential information about leads (online forms, newsletters, exchanges on social networks, etc.). Lead management gives the possibility of exploiting the data collected to maximize the conversion rate.
Lead Management: Strategies And Best Practices
It is important to put in place certain strategies and best practices for successful lead management . Here are our recommendations.
Ensure Good Synergy Between Sales And Marketing.
Get your sales and marketing teams working hand in hand. This includes holding regular meetings so they can align their goals, share the information they need to complete their tasks and discuss their tactics.
Also, be sure to establish lead qualification criteria clearly. This way, your salespeople and marketers will know precisely which leads to prioritize. Additionally, establish two-way communication between your different departments. Your sales teams will be able to adjust their strategies based on feedback from the marketing teams and vice versa.
Create A Clear Pipeline Aligned With Sales Processes.
A clear sales pipeline aligned with your sales processes increases the effectiveness of lead management. Define the different stages of the lead journey, from their acquisition to their transformation into customers. Then make sure your pipeline accurately reflects these stages. The more these there are, the longer it will be.
On the other hand, clarify the responsibilities of employees at each phase of the pipeline. It is indeed essential that everyone clearly understands their role to avoid misunderstandings that could lead to loss of leads. Finally, continually consult your teams to gather their feedback in order to adjust and optimize your pipeline.
Collect, Store, And Process Lead Data As Best As Possible
Data plays a vital role in lead management. In particular, they give the possibility of personalizing interactions with potential customers, which makes it possible to strengthen their commitment and better encourage them to purchase. They also help gauge the interest level of leads. These can thus be prioritized according to their conversion potential.
There is nothing better than CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or GRC (customer relationship management) software to collect and store your lead data. Centralized in a single location, these are accessible to all your employees. It will, therefore, be easier for them to process this information.
Continuously Monitor And Improve Your Lead Generation
Don’t hesitate to equip yourself with solutions that will allow you to monitor the performance of your lead-generation campaigns. Google Analytics, for example, is an excellent choice. This web analysis tool will allow you to evaluate the traffic on your website and measure the performance of your online advertising campaigns.
Also, consider diversifying your lead generation channels. Depending on your target, you can focus on telephone prospecting, social networks, webinars, etc. Don’t close yourself off from re-evaluating your offers, either. You can offer free trials, discounts, or even exclusive content to constantly attract leads.
Segment Your Leads Effectively
To properly segment your leads, you must first have a clean and organized database. The accuracy of the information will thus be guaranteed. With accurate data, you will have no trouble grouping your leads based on specific criteria. Additionally, a clean and organized database eliminates duplicates. You should know that these can distort the segmentation results.
Effective segmentation of your leads also involves understanding their explicit and implicit data. Data is said to be explicit when it has been voluntarily shared by a potential customer. Implicit data, on the other hand, is collected from the analysis of a lead’s behavior.
Measure And Analyze Lead Performance
It is imperative to carry out a lead management assessment. This will allow you to identify areas that are working well and areas that need improvement. Monitoring KPIs (key performance indicators) is the best way to measure and analyze the effectiveness of your lead management. Pay particular attention to:
Number of leads generated. Referring to the number of leads acquired over a given period, this indicator gives you an idea of the effectiveness of your lead generation campaigns;
- Conversion rate. This is the percentage of leads that were actually converted into customers. This indicator reveals the effectiveness of the qualification and conversion process;
- CPL (cost per lead). This KPI refers to the cost incurred by your business to acquire a lead. It makes it possible to measure the profitability of marketing campaigns;
- Conversion rate per channel. This is the percentage of leads from a specific channel that became customers. This indicator makes it possible to identify the most profitable channels;
- Sales cycle time. This KPI corresponds to the time required to convert a lead into a customer. It allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of the sales process.
Also Read: Customer Relationship Management With “Teamleader”
