Lead management, the process of managing customer prospects and inquiries, is not simply a single promotion or one-time campaign. It's a fundamental business process that needs to be integrated into everything your company does. A proper lead management system needs to focus on marketing, qualification, segmentation, and intelligence. No matter the size of the organization, a well-defined, effective lead management methodology is critical to long-term profitability.

A clearly defined lead management methodology incorporates lead Generation, lead management and lead conversion. This three-pronged approach will, more often than not, lead to a sale-either to a new or existing customer.

Lead Generation (Marketing)

Lead generation is the life blood of any sales organization because it identifies the interest in purchasing one of your products or services. Without leads, your sales force cannot sell. That being said, too many companies focus their lead generation activities only around their sales force. While your sales force should be the largest contributor of leads, it should not be the only source. A salesperson dialing for leads can only get you so far.

Review your organization's lead generation from a strategic level. Are you properly leveraging your resources to create a sales culture that attracts customers?Remember, the goal is to create motivated buyers or what we like to refer to as "creating market gravity". For example,

• Publish a newsletter, article, or white paper-not only will this boost your company's brand recognition, it will help establish your company as an expert in the industry/market
• Create, sponsor, or attend seminars or events applicable to your target market
• Attend and become active within associations
• Create a networkof select trusted business associates for referrals

Lead Management (Sales and Marketing)

Let's say that your lead generation activities are working and your pipeline is filling up. Great, but now you need to focus on how to maximize leads to sales conversion. After all, a lead does not pay the bills!

At this stage, it is critical that a process is established to ensure that all leads (good or bad) are managed properly. Here are some key elements to a solid lead management process:

Qualifying-Qualifying must be done quickly. Lead turn-around should be measured in hours not days. The best practice is to assign the lead to a trained salesperson to determine the five Ws:

1. What-what is the scope of work or product(s) the prospective buyer is looking for?
2. Where-where is the scope of work or product(s) needed?
3. When-what is the buyer's timeframe for purchasing?
4. Who-this captures two things: The "real" decision makers. Whose approval is needed to sign the deal? Competition. Who is also competing for this buyer's attention?
5. Why-why would the buyer potentially say yes or no?

Categorizing-Not all leads are created equal. Categorize your leads into three buckets:

1. Low-chances of winning are less than 25 percent
2. Medium-chances of winning are between 25 and 50 percent
3. High-chances of winning are greater than 50 percent

Researching-Do your homework. Know your prospective buyer. Who are they? What do they do? What separates them from their competition? Consider these three factors in your research:

1. Industry type-is your prospective buyers' industry an industry you serve and know well?If it's not you may need to do a little more research.
2. Relationship-is there anyone in your company or networking group that already has a relationship with the prospective buyer? If so, how can you leverage that relationship?
3. Reputation-are you known as a leader in your industry, respected by your peers, etc.? How well does your prospective buyer know your company?Are they even aware of your company? Have they received newsletters, case studies, or other market material from you?

Lead Conversion (Sales)

As leads filter through your lead management process, your focus should be on building a reputation and relationship with your prospects in order to increase your overall conversion rate.

• To build your reputation, you must be seen as a leader in your community, industry, or product line. Note This is much more than simply creating marketing awareness.
• To build your relationships, focus on the touch points with multiple decision makers and influencers.

The key to building reputation and relationships is consistency. If your value statement matches your prospective customer's, you will do business 1) when the time is right and 2) as long as they remember you're out there! Therefore on key accounts, you may need to perform up to 12 reputation/relationship touches per year.

Tip of the day: Build a "Touch Matrix" to keep track of your touches to ensure you maintain a high degree of visibility with your prospect.

Paul J. Van Erem is the Director of Business Development for http://www.twgconsulting.com/twg/index.asp [1]

TWG focuses on helping organizations leverage their most competitive assets: process, employees, and customers.

Paul can be reached at