Managing Those Leads

Lead management is one of the most important components of most marketing plans today, especially in industries where consumers have to be actively sought out so they can become customers. Retail stores need not do this because people will come by themselves without needing the company to reach out to them. But for a business that requires individual promotion, lead handling is a crucial concern. It is something that can make or break a marketing plan because the effectiveness of the techniques used will greatly impact how much these leads will be converted to actual customers. This conversion is, thus, the main objective of all lead handling efforts.

There are various aspects of lead handling, but basically, they are all aimed at effectively putting in order the process through which a lead manager can effectively handle the leads and increase the chances of converting them to customers. One of the most basic aspects of this task is the assignment of agents. This is how a lead manager will sort out names of targeted consumers and assign these to the company's representatives. Pursuing the lead will now depend on the agents, but they will still have to conform to guidelines set by the marketing department. Various marketing techniques can be used, but for a lead head, the most important task is to assign the leads to agents according to their capacity as sales people. For example, a good agent may be tasked to handle leads for big projects while an agent who displays lackluster performance may be assigned to minor endeavors of the company.

Lead handling will also involve, among other tasks, a schedule on which the entire team will be working on. This schedule will include the date when a customer was first contacted, the initial feedback, when a follow-up call or email may be made and other related tasks. It is important that these things are in the right order. Otherwise, the company could be losing potential sales. For example, if an agent reaches out to a customer who displays keen interest in buying a certain product, but fails to make a follow-up call or email soon enough, the lead would have turned to another company that offers a similar product and sales would have been made by that company.

When handling leads, it is essential to consider the element of time because this can greatly affect how lead pursuance turns out in the end. Competition in the business environment is very high these days and it is up to each company to find ways that they can make the best use of their time so they can yield higher productivity at the end of each work day. In lead management, when time is not given utmost importance, the probability of that conversion from lead to customer is significantly reduced because, in the first place, there are many companies or businesses vying for consumers' interest. Thus, this time element will always make a big difference.


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