How to Increase Sales Using Effective Lead Management

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Albert West, a sales and marketing manager at a small logistics consultancy, is unhappy with his department’s performance this quarter. The numbers show that his marketing team is having trouble generating leads, with over 80% of leads sent to sales failing to convert, resulting in a sharp decline in marketing ROI. After detailed analysis, Albert concludes that this is due to poor lead management.

What is lead management? Lead management is the complete taiwanese number process of tracking and managing sales from their generation to their conversion into sales and long-term relationships. The data generated in this process is used to measure the effectiveness of marketing and sales. A typical lead management process outline might begin with lead generation and proceed through lead scoring, lead nurturing, sales contacts, and ultimately sales results. Let us elaborate.

Lead Generation: Traditional lead generation processes involve marketers collecting leads from company trade shows and events. But now with educational webinars, newsletters, case studies, search, and social sharing, where all the information about products and solutions is at your fingertips, the process has seen a paradigm shift. Marketers are now exploring all options, showcasing their solutions wherever a lead might be looking for a suitable solution. The quality and quantity of leads generated varies depending on the method used by marketers. For example, a form on a company website that visitors fill out to request a demo will generate high-quality leads, but not in large quantities; conversely, a newsletter signup list may generate a large number of leads, but not qualified leads.

Lead Scoring: Lead scoring is a way to quantify the readiness of your leads for sales. Lead scoring is based on criteria agreed upon by the company’s sales and marketing teams and can be measured consistently over time. According to a Customer Think survey, 59% of best-in-class companies use lead scoring to consistently grow their leads. A lead can be scored based on two types of data – implicit data and explicit data. Implicit data is data extracted from a prospect’s behavior as they move through the buying funnel, while explicit data is data provided by leads via forms or from a pure lead database. Marketing Sherpa reports that, on average, organizations that use lead scoring see a 2% increase in ROI compared to organizations that do not use lead scoring.

Lead Nurturing: A survey conducted by the Annuitas Group showed that captured leads make 47% more purchases than dropped leads. Another study by Forrester Research also shows that 65% of buyers will choose a vendor that helped them define their buying vision. As a result, it becomes clear that leads are locked into the nurturing process. To do this, the nurturing process must be focused on selling the problem, not the product. During this process, leads should be exposed to specific business challenges they are facing or may face that can be effectively overcome by using your solution before others. Offer more value, such as a case study, eBook, or white paper, for each lead advancement in the sales cycle and track each interaction with the content sent.

Sales Contact: Not all sales happen on the first contact, it takes a lot of effort to engage your customers at different stages of the sales process. The National Sales Executive Association notes that only 2% of sales are made on the first contact, 3% of sales are made on the second contact, 5% of sales are made on the third contact, 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact and 80% of sales are made between the fifth and twelfth contacts. Therefore, it is very important for the sales rep to regularly follow up with leads based on their interest and objections to establish rapport and trust. Ask at least three questions to better understand the problem and provide a complete answer quickly.

Using a CRM to automate sales and marketing and create an effective lead management program can have a significant impact on an organization’s success. With Vtiger CRM Sales Edition, organizations have the tools to automate lead management: from capturing qualified leads from a website, inbox, social media, or marketing campaign to scheduling follow-up reminders, logging phone calls, or automating targeted email outreach campaigns and beyond. To learn more, sign up for a free trial or feel free to contact us at