Leads 360°: Using Lead Management for a Total View of Marketing&Sales

Lead management software is a great way to get a complete view
of your entire marketing and sales process. From the moment you
generate or buy a lead all the way through to closing a deal lead
management lets you see marketing strategies and sales processes that
should be quickly scaled and ones that should be immediately cut. Good
lead management software gives you a 360 degree view of your leads.

Lead Generation

Whether you are generating your own leads or buying from a lead
provider it is important to monitor what is working and what isn't.
This means tracking every lead as it enters into your lead management
software and monitoring its performance throughout its life cycle.

Typically, this means a system of capturing the source of the lead,
tracking identifiers, and some means of annotating lead actions and
statuses as it moves through the sales process. Combining this data
architecture with lead reporting will give you simple insight into the
performance of all of your lead sources.

Lead Management

Your lead management software is your command center for both your
marketing and sales processes. The key to leveraging this type of
unique software is its:

• Seamless integration to lead generation sources
• Simplicity of use for sales agents
• Robust lead tracking mechanisms
• Standardized reporting of lead life cycles

A lead management system is an integrated blend of marketing
automation, sales CRM or contact management, and business intelligence
software. Your lead management process should leverage these concepts
and package them into a simple package that helps you increase lead
conversion.

Lead Reporting

Of course, getting your marketing and sales processes right can only
happen if you can see the good from the bad. These opportunities for
optimization are captured in the lead reporting.

Your lead reporting is where you are alerted to opportunities and
concerns. Looking for slowing and heaping in your lead management
system is your goal. Metrics that show leads slowing down in various
statuses or queues can point out weak sales processes or agent
performance issues. Likewise, heaping points out specific bottlenecks
and capacity issues. Meanwhile, smooth flows and alignment with
benchmarks can highlight process points you have perfected.

Getting A 360 Degree View

Everyone wants to see and react to changes and opportunities within
their marketing and sales. Lead management can give you that
opportunity. Focus on simplicity and standardization and your lead
management software can be that competitive advantage.