If you are working in sales, lead management becomes an essential part of your day. Learning which leads need to be contacted, if follow-ups were scheduled, and whether payments have been made becomes necessary so no lead goes unnoticed.
So, what are the main elements of having good lead management, and what tools do you need to succeed? Here’s how to upgrade your call center and manage your leads better.
If you’re interested in a CRM that assists with your lead management, Hooked CRM has you covered. We’ve combined a dialer and AI assistance within a CRM, making it easier to track all of your leads. Book a demo with us to see how Hooked can integrate into your workflow.
What is Lead Management?
Lead management is the process of tracking and caring for your potential customers. It begins with generating leads from ads or social media, reaching out to the new clients, and closing the deal. At every step, leads need to be tracked, and every interaction should be recorded to ensure the customer is taken care of.
With good lead management, you can fine-tune your workflow and increase your ROI. Re-evaluating your lead management process is essential as your customer journeys evolve.
Is Lead Management Part of CRM?
CRMs are the best tools for lead management. The main function of a CRM is to cultivate a relationship with your customers. Every interaction with customers is recorded within the system, and the next steps are clearly dictated for you and your call representatives to follow.
While CRMs are not essential to the lead management process, if you aren’t using one, you’ll see a degradation of the quality of your leads as your company grows. At every stage of your business, a CRM can enhance your workflow and manage your leads more effectively.
Why Lead Management Matters
Today, lead management isn’t optional. No matter the size of your company, tracking and cultivating relationships with your customers causes your business to thrive. Here’s a short list of some of the reasons why you need to consider a process for lead management in your business:
Higher Lead Conversion Rates
When you intentionally manage your leads, you can pinpoint exactly what your customer needs in that moment. If they are confused about a price or weren’t convinced by a pitch, it’s easy to see where that opportunity was missed and what you can do to fix that in future interactions.
This leads to higher conversion rates for your desired outcome. If you can address your clients' needs as soon as possible, you will have a higher ROI.
Shorter Sales Cycles
After managing leads and keeping detailed records of each call, you will start to recognize your customers’ patterns. Once they are identified, expediting your sales process without ignoring quality becomes easier.
With a shorter sales cycle, your agents and call representatives can talk to more people and sell more. That makes every employee more effective and valuable.
Better Marketing and Sales Alignment
How each lead finds your company should be tracked by good lead management. By managing your leads, you can determine which funnel your customers find you, making it a valuable resource for your workflow. For example, if all your high-value leads are coming from social media, it’s best practice to invest more in your social media campaigns.
No Leads Fall Through the Cracks
The problem that occurs when you aren’t tracking your leads properly is that the leads are more likely to be dropped and forgotten. Throughout the lead management process, every interaction and lead position is recorded to figure out how to care for the client.
Decent lead management programs should also give clear direction on what to do next with your lead and schedule the next appointment for you.
Lead Management Process
Every company does lead management differently. However, here is a basic template you can use to start your management journey:
| Step | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Lead Capture & Tracking | You first need to capture your leads' interest through outreach. This can be done by creating social media posts, running ads, or performing in-person events to connect with others. Take care to craft content that is appealing to your demographic. Once you have your lead, tracking their information and following up with them is the next step in caring for your lead. |
| Lead Qualification | After you’ve made initial contact with your lead, it’s important to evaluate how viable they are to your company. For instance, if you run an ad for homeowner's insurance, and the person on the other end only wants life insurance, the lead isn’t likely to purchase from your company. |
| Lead Routing & Assignment | Once you’ve ensured the lead is viable, you’ll need to route them to the appropriate source, especially if you are selling different products. |
| Lead Conversion | After properly sending them to the right channels, it’s up to your employees to make the conversion. The avenue will depend on how you’d like your employees to facilitate conversations with your clients, but the overall outcome should remain the same — increasing your ROI. |
| Measure, Report & Optimize | When your agents or call representatives are making those calls or sending those messages, those interactions should be recorded — if the sale was made, what could have been better, what changes they are planning in the future, etc. This is the chance for your team to optimize their strategy and determine how to achieve their future goals or maintain their current ones. |
Lead Management Best Practices
Lead management processes will look different for each company and goal. However, no matter what strategy you employ, there are a few best practices you can utilize to ensure the best outcome.
Define the Client
Before you begin any outreach or run ads, you need to define your client. Depending on the product or service you are selling, your demographic can change dramatically, and each one prefers a different style of outreach. For instance, if you are trying to capture younger Gen Z, advertising on social media platforms is preferred instead of television ads.
This ensures that you will be funneling your resources exactly where they need to be and eliminates the randomness that leads can sometimes bring.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
Within call centers, there are so many repetitive tasks that you must complete daily. From logging client information to scheduling the next phone call or customer interaction, these tasks can take up time and consume your employees' days.
Lead management systems should be automating these tasks for you. Whether they use AI assistants or voice recognition software, they should have the tools in place to expedite these tasks and assist employees.
Track ROI
Every call center or sales organization must track its return on investment (ROI). Once you start using a lead management system, it should track your ROI. Whether that is through manual input from your employees or automation, your lead management system needs to provide statistics for each point of contact with your potential client.
Analyze Your Data
Once you get your data, your lead management system must digest it and provide next steps for you and your business. If each step was meticulously tracked, it could tell you exactly where you lost your client and provide insights at every step.
The process should be seamless and provide actionable next steps for your business by adjusting your call center training protocol or reinforcing your workforce engagement management.
Lead Management Automation
Today, any decent lead management system will have some automation for you and your employees. These tools have become essential for the efficiency and effectiveness of your business. Here are some of the automations you should consider within your call center:
What Should You Automate?
Depending on your industry, there are a few things you should consider automating for your business. These are just some of the most important automation tools we’ve seen:
- Automatic Form Fills: One of the most time-consuming parts of a workday is filling out forms and inputting information into a database. Your lead management system should automate these tasks so your agents can focus on what they do best.
- Live Transcription: Oftentimes, we will forget something a customer says or a vital piece of information. Having an automated transcription can help agents and call representatives recall the information.
- ROI Capture: At every step of your workflow, your lead management system should annotate the call success to discover when clients are missed.
CRM Automations
If you’re working with a customer relationship management (CRM) program, it should have built-in automations that help analyze your customer interactions. CRMs can accomplish the most common automations we’ve noticed and provide valuable insights for you and your business. It’s why we suggest investing in a CRM if you are using call center systems.
Plus, depending on the CRM you choose, you’ll have access to different types of automations, but one of the most important we recommend investing in is automatic scheduling. If your CRM can’t recognize a prompt for a scheduled event, it might be time to seek a new system.
What to Look for in Lead Management Software
Your company’s needs are unique, so evaluating the features that benefit your company is the start to your success with lead management software. Here are a few features of lead management software you should consider:
CRM-Native v. Standalone Lead Management Tools
Before you begin your lead management journey, you should check your current CRM system. CRMs include lead management software, and many of the tools you’d like to use may already be within your CRM.
Of course, you can invest in standalone lead management tools, but you should only recommend spending money on them if your CRM can’t accomplish the goals you’d like. Or you can take a look at other CRM options with deeper lead management functionality.
Automated Workflows
Prioritizing automated workflows isn’t optional anymore. Companies are automating simple workflows and creating processes that allow employees to focus on their jobs rather than on menial, unproductive tasks.
Reporting
Your lead management system should provide reports based on your interactions with potential clients. If you haven’t been tracking the important metrics, your process will be held up by constant barriers.
This kind of reporting will help adjust your customer journey map and increase the likelihood of accomplishing your goals.
AI Assistants
Like the automated workflows, having AI assistants can greatly increase your team’s productivity. Not only will they provide you with automated reports based on your data, but they also offer helpful advice and generate events for your schedule.
How Hooked CRM Works As Your Lead Management CRM
Hooked CRM is your all-in-one dialer, CRM, and AI virtual assistant platform that keeps your leads organized. Once your lead is captured, every interaction is recorded and measured based on your metrics for success. Throughout the call, our AI assistant will provide you with suggestions based on your goals.
At the end of your call, our system will determine where to categorize the lead and map out your next steps to ensure success with that lead. It tracks potential clients from the inception of their journey and creates avenues for customers to become lifelong followers of your product.
If you’re interested in our workflow, book a demo with us today, and one of our specialists will walk you through how Hooked can integrate within your workflow.
