Eleven Effective Ways to Manage Sales Leads

1. Utilize a CRM tool. A good customer relationship management tool enables you to manage your leads while aiding in the follow up process. A complete CRM package includes auto responder functionalities such as email follow-ups, fax broadcasts, and voice broadcasts.
2. Determine the nature of a sales lead. After this has been defined, it is pertinent that all staff members know and understand the characteristic of a qualified sales lead. This will ensure that your sales staff is only focusing on quality leads.
3. Assign leads immediately to the appropriate sales person. It is imperative that contact is made as soon as possible with a prospective client. Because a certain level of research must take place before contact is made it is important that the sales person is informed quickly and that proper measures are taken to get the lead follow-up process started.
4. Research. Make sure that your sales staff is educated on each lead. Research should be done before contact is ever made. A basic understanding of the prospective client’s business model and how your products or services can simplify their processes is important.
5. Follow up, follow up, follow up. Many CRM solutions take the leg work out of this seemingly endless process but there is still plenty to do from the standpoint of a sales person. Set up a timeline for lead follow ups, including emails, voicemails and phone calls. Employ your CRM to take care of as much of this as possible and ensure that your sales staff is building a live relationship through this process as well.
6. Document each contact. Make sure that each conversation and any other type of contact is documented. Most importantly keep track of the facts learned from each conversation. Remembering your learnings from one conversation to the next is essential for developing a working relationship.
7. Track your progress. In the online space tracking can be appended to virtually everything. Monitoring the success of each sales lead is quick and easy with the right tracking tool. This data can be monitored over time to determine where in the process a prospective client is likely to buy.
8. Meet with your sales staff regularly to stay informed on progress. These meetings can also serve as a time for sharing successes and failures in order to learn as a team.
9. Get feedback. Talk to customers who have gone through the sales process, from a lead to a customer. Find out what they liked, and what they didn’t like. It is not always as easy to get feedback from those who chose not to use your services but it is also worth trying to contact these people from time to time. This type of feed back can often provide more insight into your process than anything else.
10. Contacting new clients shortly after the sales process is complete is also very important. This will reinforce the working relationship that was built during the sales process. While your sales staff maybe strapped for time, questions and concerns can often be addressed by another party, but it is important that the client feels that their satisfaction is an ongoing priority.
11. Exceed their expectations. Give them a thank you gift after they have made their purchase. The gift does not have to be pricy, perhaps a free service upgrade for their first month. This will not only surprise your new client but it will make them feel as if you are continuing to accommodate them even after they have made their purchase.