How easily can you/your company answer the following questions:
- How are your leads qualified?
- How are your leads tracked?
This is challenging particularly in smaller organizations. Here is a story from a close friend of mine who runs a manufacturing company in CT that illustrates this challenge.
New opportunity, easy to close and it got lost!
My friend called his CRM company to request services for integration of a new touchless time keeping application. The rep he spoke with said he understood what my friend was looking for. They set up a follow up meeting which included resources the rep thought should attend. During the meeting my friend re-explained what services he needed. The rep said “Oh, that is someone else”. Two weeks passed after that meeting and no one had followed up with my friend. An easy deal to close and nothing but frustration.
How are you/your company tracking leads?
Whether you do it relatively manually (e.g. Excel) or with a CRM tool, it is critical to have an approach that all involved in selling have access to. The next questions are:
- Who is reviewing the leads?
- When are the internal discussions about progress on existing leads and possible new leads?
Who is qualifying your leads?
…and what is the approach to qualifying? It is important to establish who owns the primary responsibility for qualifying your leads. Whether you have one person, 4 people or 10 people qualifying leads, be sure to have a common set of qualifying questions that ALL use. This will provide consistency of information gathered and help develop accountability for those qualifying the leads.
Establishing a process will work FOR you
Finding new business is fueled by creativity, high energy and persistence. It is also hard work. Establishing lead tracking and qualification processes that work for you/your company will work FOR you…making the identification and pursuit of leads easier and more focused on opportunities that have the best chance of closing.
Feel free to contact me directly for ideas and/or help on this or other topics!
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