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1. Identify Decision Makers
Sending salespeople on wild goose chases is a losing
proposition and resented by all concerned.
Identifying the right person is vital, because it ensures your sales force spend their
valuable time and effort calling on people who have the authority to make purchasing
decisions.
2. Qualify Your Sales Leads
Before your salesperson makes a personal sales visit it's
essential for him to have a qualified sales lead in his hand. This document must provide
him with all the necessary particulars to make an on-target presentation to the decision
maker.
Quantifying purchase potential is another important qualification. For your
salespersons must know when the prospect will be in the market to buy, what quantity he
usually buys at one time, and annually. Also what his seasonal highs are.
3. Analyse Your Response Sources
- How many leads from each source? (Ads, trade shows, all other
promotions.)
- What percentage of leads per source, were converted to sales?
- What was the dollar value of new sales?
- What was your average cost per sale?
- What was the return on your marketing investment?
- How many of your leads bought elsewhere - and why?
- How many appointments do you need to turn a lead into a sale?
- How long is the average sales cycle, from first contact to signed
contract?
- How did each representative perform during the sales cycle?
All above data must be analyzed and related to cost-of-sales. To be
incorporated into a special report for management, for each lead source.
4. Fulfil Your Promises
How many trade shows have you attended where information promised was
never mailed to you? How many times has a representative promised to call you after the
trade show and nothing happened?
To get the best out of the lead conversion process aim to have fulfillment packages in
the mail within 24 hours. Delay is hurtful. Non fulfillment is a costly waste of money!
Above also applies to coupon leads from advertising.
5. Manage Your Sales Leads
Managing your leads involves allocating and deploying your selling
resources more effectively. A professional, customized lead tracking system is the only
way to achieve proper control over your sales leads.
You simply must always know to whom has each sales lead been delegated. And with
what result?
Results are crucial. You have no alternative except to discipline your sales
force, distributors or VAR's, to give you feedback on each lead handed over. No
exceptions!.
Qualified leads with short-term potential must be passed to your salespeople or
distribution channels for earliest possible follow-up. Longer term potential ("Give
me a call in the summer . . . ") must be managed by a centralized database programmed
to alert each salesperson to make a timely call back.
6. Squeeze the Maximum Sales From Every Lead
Does your sales lead program squeeze the maximum potential from each
valuable lead? The sad truth is that leads not properly identified, qualified, quantified,
and followed up quickly lose their value and die.
Expensive selling time is best spent selling to pre-qualified prospects. Unqualified
sales leads can cause even good leads to suffer. A professional approach to the lead
conversion process is the only suitable strategy. Most important in any formal Sales Lead
Management program is the dedication and control by capable individuals to ensure that
each step along the way is followed through.
7. OUTSOURCE Sales Lead Management
If you do not have effective lead management system in place,
outsourcing is the best way to go - at least initially.
ETI Sales Support integrates telemarketing and database marketing to provide your
organization with a customized solution. ETI ensures that the sales potential of each
generated lead is prequalified for your sales force, distributors or VAR's.
Only a customized, customer friendly, state of the art system is acceptable in these
technological times. Only dynamically created data, stats, and reports - delivered to you Just
In Time - can put you in full control. 24 hours a day.
ETI will get your Sales Lead Management program going in days - not months! Our
database marketing system will start reporting to you immediately after installation and
testing. And our high caliber staff are dedicated to provide service beyond expectation.
You will get you more than you bargained for.
The PROOF of the Pudding
Here's a letter written by a high tech client. (Name will be
disclosed on request to Mike Falkson, President, ETI Sales Support.)
"5/21/1997
"Dear Mike
"We’ve been working together now for the past 3 years . It has been one of
those fine relationships that, fortunately, happen upon (name deleted) more often than
not.
"You know this and I know it. And so does our management team. But I thought to
put it in writing because all of us in business appreciate a good word now and then.
"During these last 3 years our business has grown some 500%. Naturally that’s
been because we’ve a great product backed by excellent customer service. Your company
however, has been a significant part of that growth. The work you’ve done to produce
targeted and factually qualified sales leads for our sales force, VARs and Distributors,
has fueled a large part of our increased sales volume. That, and support for our
promotional activities, was the reason we hired you. Your performance has been great.
"What we did not know at the time however, was that with the thousands of leads
(from all sources) and hundreds of VAR’s we now had to manage and control, our system
was due for a change fast. Fortunately you had a lead management system in place which
saved us months of time and scores of thousands of
dollars. It also resolved all our earlier problems of lead tracking and control.
"We also absorbed your relational database software which was integral to your
lead management system. We feel fortunate to be using a smooth working, practical, yet
highly sophisticated system where many have tried and burnt their fingers.
"What I and my colleagues have always appreciated, was your can do attitude. Your
dedicated day and night trouble shooting service was unexpected and highly regarded.
Whenever we needed new solutions you were there for us. You and your colleagues Riki
Olier, Bill McGuire and Michael Fish are a great support team. Our business partnership
works - long may it flourish!
"Mike: you’ve personally done a fine job for us and I’m sure glad our
relationship will continue long into the future." |
(800)
466-4384