Lead Management Software - Using a Pull Method or Lead Production Strategy

Lead Management Software: Pull Your Way to Success

I was recently chatting with a friend from the auto industry and our conversation turned to the topic of lean production.
During this discussion, I noted that icoSales has leveraged many of
these concepts to increase our clients' sales production and process
efficiency, much like lean manufacturing increases auto output.

Lean production, a methodology that was originally developed by Toyota, is based on the following framework:

• Maximizing production from raw materials (leads),
• Increasing throughput (sales velocity),
• Pull production based on demand (lead distribution), and
• Continuous improvement (lead analytics)

These principles become powerful when applied to lead management software, particularly one that implements a core principle--on-demand or pull system.

Lead management software that uses a pull methodology inherently
makes a sales organization more efficient. Reacting to the demand,
capacity, and performance of an agent before supplying the next lead
minimizes lead spoilage and over buying. This mechanism directly
affects sales conversion. Requiring immediate action and disposition to
get another sales lead also significantly improves lead tracking and
sales performance.

A lean pull system beats a wasteful, low production push system everytime.

Sales Tempo

The general belief that a push system more quickly gets a lead to
the right person is false. The obvious fact is that if an organization
is managing their lead to sales capacity properly the timeliness in
getting to a lead should be equal.

Managing lead distribution based on performance and ensuring that leads do not drop into dead
queues are the keys to success. Therefore, in selecting a pull-based
lead management process is a commitment to increase your sales tempo.

Pushing leads to sales people creates an environment where agents expect leads to be given to them. This builds a sales process with less respect for the prospect and the importance of follow through.

In contrast, pull-based lead distribution creates an expectation that every lead is earned.
Everyone gets leads by meeting the quickly responding to the previous
leads and meeting that previous customer's needs. If you are looking to
increase sales activity, a significant edge goes to the push
methodology.

Time to Initial Contact

In assessing time to contact, you might concede that with high
performance teams there should be no difference between a push or pull
system. However, I have never seen a consistent top to bottom high
performance team. And, in push-based lead allocation, there is still
the opportunity for the dreaded abandoned queue.

Inherently, the push system allocates each lead to a user on the
system. However, is that user ready to work a lead. This is a dangerous
assumption for a lead management system. Is the agent online? Or, are
they on vacation? Maybe, they don't even work at the company anymore?

In a push system, you had better be very active in managing your
user accounts. Otherwise, you may allocate valuable leads into "dead"
queues and once allocated they nearly impossible to track--a very
expensive mistake.

As you scale your sales team to hundreds or even thousands managing
user can become impossible. You are battling the combined effects of
size, scheduling, and typical a high turn over rate. This turns push
lead distribution into a direct hit to marketing ROI. This approach to
lead management routinely leads to gut-wrenching discoveries of
hundreds of leads in "dead" queues--thousands of dollars lost and
hundreds of disappointed customers.

Lead Nurturing

Pipeline management, the nurturing and cultivating of leads, is one
of the most critical components of the conversion equation and the area
where push and pull dramatically differ.

In the push system, leads are distributed to call queues. Then it is
entirely up to the sales person to effectively manage their sales
process. In the push paradigm you hope, you pray, the sales person
calls the lead even once much less the 5-7 times it may take to close
that prospect.

In contrast, a pull system continually forces pipeline leads back to
the sales agent until a final disposition is reached--compelling the
necessary calls. Add to this the power of intelligent lead selection
engine to allocate the next best lead and you have a guaranteed
conversion lift.

Sales Process

One final critical advantage to a pull lead software is the increase
to sales velocity and lead conversion rates derived from a consistent
and disciplined sales process. The difference between the two
methodologies is about enforcing tempo.

The push approach puts a lead in a sales queue and hopes the sales
person does something that closes a deal (note the lack of
accountability). In contrast, the pull system compels the sales person
to annotate and disposition every lead in order to "earn" the next
lead. This creates a consistent sales process and instant feedback to
sales team leaders and marketers.

Push v. Pull

So fundamentally, the push versus pull debate is one of increasing
sales velocity and performance-based lead distribution. The pull method
will always produce more sales and higher conversions. It will always
achieve an accelerated sales tempo. Pulling leads on demand inherently
enforces this behavior in organizations committed to high performance
sales teams.

Obviously, pull-based lead management software has significant
advantages in maximizing lead resources and sales production. If you
want a push system, use your email inbox. If you want to improve your
marketing ROI and increase your sales production then get a pull-based
lead management software.