Formula For Effective Lead Management

“Don’t expect what you don’t inspect.”— The Success System That Never Fails (1962) by W. Clement Stone

We hear it often: sales reps complain that the leads from marketing are poor quality, and marketing complains that sales reps fail to follow up on most of the leads. Conversely 46% of marketers with mature lead management processes have sales teams that follow up on more than 75% of marketing-generated leads, according to Forrester Research.

So how do you know if your current lead management process is working well or needs a tune-up? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Am I getting trustworthy weekly reporting on the funnel of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)?
2. Can I get reports on marketing influenced revenue and marketing sourced revenue?
3. Can I easily verify that every MQL passed to sales is being followed up in a timely manner?
4. Can I fine tune the lead quality threshold that triggers MQLs to be sent to sales reps?
5. Are sales and marketing even aligned on the attributes of a qualified lead?

If your answers weren’t all “Yes” then it might be time to review the formula for effective lead management and do some fine tuning of your lead management process, defined roles, lead scoring formulae, funnel reporting and Service Level Agreement (SLA) between sales and marketing.

In a nutshell the formula for lead management success is:

1. Start with the end in mind and define the funnel reporting you want.
2. Sit with sales and document the attributes of a qualified lead.
3. Examine your CRM data around lead and contact stages or statuses and ensure there is common agreement and supporting workflows to make it happen.
4. Write up the definition of an MQL, couple it with the agreement by sales reps and sales development reps to respond to new leads, and have an SLA.
5. Update your lead scoring.
6. Update your lead routing, alerts, notifications, custom sales views and reports.

Proven Success Formula for Lead Management

Did you know that 50-70% of leads sent from marketing to sales never receive a sales follow-up? Proven Success Formula for Lead Management, written by Debbie Qaqish provides a template to establish an effective Lead Management practice at your organization.

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Read more:

• Lead Management Best Practices You Can Implement Now