Ask any salesperson what they value most in their jobs, and they’ll probably tell you that it’s a hot lead. Effective lead management, from development right through to closing a deal, makes everyone’s job easier. It also ensures an effective, efficient sales process can be delivered to each and every prospect, greatly increasing the odds that they’ll make the choice to become paying customers. But lead management is one area in which a lot of sales organizations could stand to improve greatly, and understanding how and why good lead management is so important to conversions is the first step in plugging the leaks. 

 

It’s All About the Numbers

From the time a new lead is generated to the time they sign a contract, conversion numbers are everything. A sale is an ultimate goal, but before it can happen, a number of smaller conversion goals have to be hit first. The fresh lead needs to be converted into a qualified lead, that qualified lead needs to be converted into a sales call, that sales call might need to be converted into a face-to-face meeting or demo, all before the final conversion – to a paying customer – can happen.  So, while they’re technically just numbers on a page, conversion rates matter, and it’s important that sales organizations do everything they can to maximize them at each step of the sales process. 

 

How Lead Management Impacts Conversion Rates

Lead management has an enormous impact on conversion rates, and at each gate that a new lead or prospect needs to pass through on the way to become a customer, there are steps that can be taken to optimize the lead management process to maximize conversion rates. The first, and most obvious, is lead tracking. A lead that slips through the cracks or gets lost in the noise is gone forever, making it worthless, and generating it a waste of resources. Yet, it’s incredible how primitive some companies’ lead tracking systems are, often relying on clunky and out-of-date tools like Excel. 

Down the line, one aspect of lead management that can be easily mismanaged is data and information control. Once a lead is being moved through the sales process, perhaps the most valuable resource a sales team has is the information on that prospect that has already been collected. Failing to properly capture, store, and use that valuable information is lead management malpractice, and it strips a huge advantage from the agents attempting to deliver a strong sales process, close a deal, and build a long-term relationship. Ensuring that all relevant lead data is captured and made easily accessible to salespeople for pre-call research and future reference has an enormous impact on conversions and overall sales success. 

 

The Best Way to Plug Holes in Your Lead Management

The question facing sales managers is how do you plug those damaging leaks in the lead management process to ensure conversion rates aren’t being unnecessarily hindered? There is no one answer to that question, but arguably the most effective way is to employ a good customer resource management system. CRM software automates as much of the lead management process as possible and streamlines the parts that can’t be automated, making lead management both easier and more effective. For instance, in a leading system, like CRMDialer, leads can be automatically generated through website forms, email links, text messages, phone calls, and more. Agents can also manually create lead accounts quickly and easily when automatic capture isn’t possible. The result is that failure to capture, store, and categorize leads becomes exceedingly rare. Once a lead has been captured in the system, no opportunity to record and store a data point is ever missed. Because CRMDialer’s lead management system is fully integrated with every other area of the tool, from email, to chat, to SMS messaging, to the power dialer, every single touch can be automatically logged and accessed by agents at a later date. 

That level of control over the lead management process not only ensures the best possible conversion rates, it also enables sales professionals to deliver more customized and personal sales processes – an expectation of modern B2B and B2C buyers. 

For more information on CRMDialer’s advanced lead management system and how it can help your sales organization improve your conversion rates and close more deals, speak to a member of the team, schedule a free demo, or start your free trial today.