So, you’ve built up a solid
based of inquiries. But
now that you’ve got your
leads, what are you
supposed to do with
them? Believe it or not,
this is a question that
plagues many small
business owners, time
and time again. Getting
prospects are important
to building your new
client list, but unless you
know what to do with
them, you’re doomed to
fail. To make it worse,
you could have
completely avoided it with
the right lead
management system in
place.
Lead Tracking and
Management may sound
tricky, but there are many
solutions available to help
your lead management
responsibilities move as
smoothly as possible.
Lead management
software is by far the
most effective solution
available, and it’s easy to
implement. And, the lead
management software
options for your small
business are astounding.
Knowing what you want
out of your lead
management software,
and knowing how to use
the technology you
purchase, will have a
huge impact on how well
the software system helps
your business perform.
Hosted Lead Management
Solutions
Software solutions are
now available as hosted
solutions and hence no
need to invest in server
hardware and special
software. These solutions
are also known as
subscription based
services or on-demand
solutions. You can
subscribe to lead
administration solutions,
accessible via internet for
as low as $50 a month.
You can start using the
software in a day or two,
if not in a few hours. The
learning curve is not as
steep as it used to be.
Your administrator and
sales personnel can
manage the leads centrally
and access it any time,
anywhere. The pricing
varies with the number of
users / sales persons
accessing the system and
volume of your inquiries
and drip / sequential
emails sent for nurturing
and follow-up.
Key Features
When choosing a
software system for
managing leads and
prospects, there are a few
key features to look for:
database management,
charting, and client
management options.
Database management
will allow you and your
employees to keep track
of new client leads,
manage current leads,
and keep status reports
for each track. Charting
will enable you to create
graphical depictions of
your leads, and show you
what areas are succeeding
and where your company
may need improvement.
Client management can
track individual leads, let
you and your employees
know if a client has an
outstanding question to
answered, and track
previous orders and
future interests.
These three aspects of the
software can boost your
company’s productivity.
You and your employees
can easily track and
manage many different
streams of leads, and
break each lead down to a
single entity to focus on
client relations. This is
imperative for one-on-one
client interaction, which
encourages new clients to
purchase from your
company and increases
repeat client business.
Components of the
Software
•Sales Leads can be
captured and aggregated
from multiple sources
such as web forms, third
party solutions via API,
and emails using an email
parser solution. The leads
can also be manually
entered manually so that
all leads can be managed
in one place.
•Software can
automatically distribute or
route sales leads to your
sales team based on
various criteria such as
geographical area, lead
profile, etc.
•The lead administrator
can qualify the prospects
and rank them (ex. hot,
warm and cold) based on
the conversion possibility.
This would help your
sales agents to focus on
top priority leads first.
•The prospects can be
nurtured using drip email
messages (or sequential
emails or autoresponders)
and future conversion.
Latest prospect
management solutions
incorporates in-built email
marketing solutions for
this purpose.
•The leads can be
followed up and tracked
using the email
management solution in
order to provide full
visibility to all concerned.
Lead management
software should also
allow you to effortlessly
import your existing data
and data from external
sources, and allow for
merging of other
important data along with
the information your
software stores. Reports
will be a breeze to create
with the right type of lead
management software,
which will both cut down
on time spent analyzing
your information and
allow you to see in real
time where your lead
management skills need
improvement. This is an
invaluable tool for your
client management
practices.
The Human Touch
When making the
decision to venture into
lead management
software solutions, keep
in mind that the software
solution is by no means a
replacement for your own
hard work. The solution is
meant to assist your
company in lead
management, and allow
you to handle more leads
with the time you can
save using it. The
software system is only
as worthwhile as the
people using it, so use it
wisely. Remember that
your leads want to deal
with a real person, not a
program, and don’t let
possible clients slip
through the cracks.
Prudent use of
subscription based lead
tracking and
administration systems
can help your business
increase conversions
manifold and improve the
bottom line.
Paddu Govindaraj
specializes in Email
Marketing, Autoresponder
and Lead Management
software tools and
resources for Small and
Medium Businesses to
embrace online
marketing. He provides
design, consulting,
customization and
implementation services
in Email Marketing and
Sales Lead Administration
areas. He blogs on Lead
Management Best
Practices, Web Analytics
and Email Marketing
subjects.
Please take a look at the
features of LeadPro by
visiting the LeadPro Lead
Tracking, Management
and Email Marketing
website. We will help you
in assessing your
business requirements
and configuring a solution
to suit your specific
business scenario.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Sales LeadManagement SoftwareSolutions For YourSmall Business
11:44 AM
Ravi mishra
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