Lead management is the first, and possibly most important stage of the sales process. Are you aware that 78% of customers buy from the company that responds to their enquiry first, as highlighted by Codeless. This statistic highlights just how important lead management is for the rest of the sales funnel, as it can make or break a deal. This guide will explore the benefits and challenges that lead management brings to businesses, and the best ways to maximise your lead management performance.
Lead management is the process of organisations acquiring and managing generated leads. This process takes place in the discovery stage of the sales funnel where the first contact is made with a lead. Your business will attempt to convert the client to a qualified lead to progress them through the sales funnel. This stage can be seen as the first impressions phase for you and a client, where they decide if they want to move forward with your business.
Lead management is important in a sales process due to the performance of this stage having a big impact on the rest of your sales funnel. Lead management has been integral to businesses for years, with firms now moving away from manual lead management using things like spreadsheets, to CRM software that streamlines your lead management process.
Your business would have spent time and resources to generate a lead, and if there is not a good lead management process in place, it is likely the lead will not be converted. This means that the resources would have been wasted generating this lead which can hurt your business’s growth and revenue, making it important for you to have a good lead management process.
Codeless shares if you are not able to respond to a lead quickly enough, 30% of your prospects will go to a competitor in the market. This statistic highlights how important it is to have an efficient lead management process to be competitive in the market. Through good lead management, you can maximise the sales and revenue your business generates. Good lead management will give you benefits like:
There can be many challenges that present themselves in a business’s lead management. These challenges can hinder your performance, reducing the number of leads that are converted.
Low-quality leads are clients that do not fully suit the product or service your business is selling. If your business obtains these leads, there is a lower chance of conversion compared to if your generated higher quality leads. To solve this issue, working with the marketing team to do further research into the specific target audience you want to attract will result in better quality leads being generated.
Lead response time is crucial for a good first impression for a business. Service Bell highlights businesses that respond to a lead within the first hour are seven times more likely to have a meaningful conversation with decision-makers. This statistic highlights that if a business finds it challenging to respond to leads quickly, it will have a big negative impact on its conversion rate. Additionally, this may hurt your business’s brand image as prospects will view your business in a more negative light.
Collecting useful information about leads for making data-driven decisions can be difficult and time-consuming. Collecting this information manually will consist of a staff member manually writing down the details of a client and then sharing it with a manager through an email or 1 to 1 discussion. This takes time and resources, and it also has the risk of human error. The best way to overcome this challenge is by adopting automating CRM software which will collate this information automatically for a business to view and analyse.
Automation CRM software can bring massive benefits to your lead management, from efficiency increases to streamlining the management of your lead data. More businesses are adopting this software due to its benefits, with Grand View Research sharing the market size of automation software expected to grow to 13.82 billion USD in 2027, from 7.89 billion USD in 2020.
Automation CRM software allows for faster response times to leads. This is done through the automation CRM software automatically assigning leads to the correct team members instead of a staff member having to do the task manually. This means the lead will reach a colleague in a fast efficient time allowing for communication to be made as soon as possible.
With automation CRM software, you can find the most valuable lead channels that are generating the most profitable leads for your business. This data will be collected automatically, allowing your business to save resources that would be spent collecting the data manually. With this information, you can make data-driven decisions about what channels to invest more resources into, as well as what channels are not delivering you good results.
Filters are a very handy tool that some CRM software provides, as it allows your business to manage your leads in a streamlined effective way. You can organise your leads in line with the priorities of your business, helping increase efficiency and productivity while prospecting the best leads.
Centralized data on leads will help a business stay organised and monitor its leads effectively. Your business will be able to see data about all your previous leads, giving you information on the type of clients that have been converted and lost. This information is useful for making data-driven decisions to try and improve performance in lead management.
With all the benefits that business automating CRM software can bring, some challenges can present themselves when adopting the software for your business.
Some automating CRM software can be costly for businesses and may not fit into a lower budget. To solve this challenge, it is important to find a business automation CRM software that fits into your budget. Some software allows for flexible budgets, for example, TEB. This is an automating CRM software that allows businesses to purchase the package that suits their budget, for example, you can just purchase a lead management automation package for your business.
Every new software introduced to a business will have a learning curve, and CRM software is no different. To fully experience the benefits of lead management automating CRM software, your team must be comfortable with the software, and this will require training. As a result of this, a business will have to spend more time and resources to get the necessary staff training. For a business to overcome this, they invest in software that has added support and training for staff, as well as a lower learning curve with user-friendly features.
TEB is an automation CRM software that can completely transform your lead management. With the unique features that TEB provides, you will be able to connect with leads quickly while centralizing all their data to increase the likelihood of lead conversions. Some of TEBs stand out features include:
As well as these features, TEB provides unique cost-efficient packages that can be purchased. For example, you can purchase TEB to automate and streamline your entire sales process, or you could just purchase a lower-cost package to automate just your lead management.
If you are interested in transforming your lead management and sales process, get in contact with us for a live demo of TEB for you to see all the benefits in action.
