Let’s start with a story
Mr. Pankaj and Mr. Ramesh both hold women 's apparel shops in a famous mall with high foot traffic. Both sell women's clothing. However, Mr Pankaj's shop is always bustling with customers, whilst Mr Ramesh is constantly waiting for them.
So, why is there such a significant discrepancy in client acquisition when both are doing the same job, have storefronts in the same location, and sell high-quality women's clothing with great designs?
The difference comes from the way they run the business, especially their take on lead management. Let us explain the same.
Well, whenever a customer passes through Mr Pankaj's stores and stops momentarily to showcase their interest in the products, he gets up from his seat, goes up to them, talks to them, listens to their queries, organically tells them about the product, unveils their schemes and makes sure the customer ends up entering the shop and, in most cases, does buy something. Even in some cases, when the person who entered doesn’t turn into the customer, he keeps their contact details safe. He keeps sending him information about new designs, stock, sales, etc., in a personalized and ethical way on special occasions. While Mr. Ramesh never bothers to do the same. He wants customers to come on their own without him doing anything.
So, what is Mr Pankaj doing right?
So, you can say Mr Pankaj has mastered the art of marketing, communication and, most importantly, lead management and has turned the wheel of sales in his favor.
So, what is this lead management? Do we have software for the same? How does it work? How is it directly connected with marketing and sales and, most importantly, customers?
Read on; this blog will cover everything.
Lead Management Guide: What Is It and How Does It Work
To understand lead management and the software related to it, we must go step by step to comprehend it.
So, what is a “Lead”?
In the business world, there is always someone (an individual or an entity) who will be interested in the product or service you are selling. After all, that is the reason a company or business has its set up in the first place. Imagine, if there is no need for something, why would anybody be making it? (Though we fully agree with the concept that needs can be generated as trends, markets, and advancements are subject to change or rise with time) So, these people or organizations who may like your product or service are called leads or prospects and have the potential to be customers in the future. Lead management is about discovering these crucial leads and moving them through the sales funnel until the company ends up making some money.
Lead Management: Mastering the Arts of Tapping “Leads”
This is the age of “aware” customers as they have become more aware of their needs than before, thanks to all the technology as an abundance of information is just a tap away. Before making a purchase, most people know
what they want,
who they want it from,
and how much they want to spend on it.
This shift in customer behavior has made lead management more critical than ever.
To tap such conscious buyers, it is crucial you have a strategy, and the best approach is to start early. Once you know this “A” customer is interested in my product, then reach out to them as early as possible to earn their confidence and strike a connection. This approach not only helps you provide an edge in generating leads but also in identifying quality prospects that may be nurtured into long-term relationships. Quality leads increase your chances of converting prospects into sales and developing your organization.
In simpler terms, lead management enables you to attract and manage individuals who are interested in your product or service. It is a systematic, well-thought-out process that begins with the discerning of potential customers (whom we call leads) and progresses through several stages until these leads are converted into actual customers.
Now, there are various steps to it, such as
Lead Tracking: Of Course, finding the leads that match your company’s customer profile data is the starting point. Zeroing in on the individuals or markets that have the potential to be your leads is the basic step of the lead management ladder.
Lead Generation: Without lead generation, there will be no leads to manage. Hence, it is clearly an important aspect of lead management. Lead generation is basically a process using which a company draws consumer interest in their product or service through a variety of marketing initiatives, content drives, social media, SEO practices, etc., to heighten their sales.
Lead Capture: Once you are through the lead generation stage, the next step is to get more information about the same through various mediums for future interaction. This can be done by lead generation form when visitors visit your page.
Lead Qualification: Lead qualification involves assessing a prospect's depth of interest in a company’s product or services. This way the company is able to calculate how likely they are to become a customer. It helps the company to gauge the willingness to go ahead with the purchase, etc. For example, if an individual is visiting your page again and again to see a particular product, then it is a high-potential lead.
Lead Nurturing: Those who are visiting your sites might be your lead but may not be ready to make a transaction yet. Such leads need nurturing through systematic convincing and proper communication. This could include sending tailored emails, sharing relevant articles, or providing free trials or demos.
Lead Conversion: lead conversion is the final destination of lead management. Here, your lead qualifying and nurturing tactics will be geared toward conversion. A successful conversion is aligning your lead for the sales pipeline.
The process has more to it. All these steps undergo many different approaches and categorizations to get the final results, such as
Lead Scoring: Here the leads are segregated on the basis: how much they are ready to make a purchase. Leads are classified based on their level of interest in your company’s product, service or line of thought, where they stand in the purchasing cycle, and how well they fit with your company’s perspective.
Lead Segmentation: Here, leads are categorized based on factors such as demographics, purchasing and browsing behavior, amount of interaction with the company (positive or negative), and current stage of the sales pipeline.
Lead Analytics: Analytics interprets this information to provide insight into lead behavior and sales patterns. It helps you come up with a proper picture of your lead future interaction with your company.
Did you read what we have written about lead management? So much to do? So much data to keep, rewind, and update. How can you do this without a proper tool? Hence, lead management software is the need of the hour.
What is a Lead Management Software?
As we have understood so far, lead generation and sustenance need a lot of accurate data management, and that cannot be done without software. Lead management software helps you bring every information pertaining to leads, such as lead attraction, qualification, action taken to convert them into customers, success rates, etc., on one platform. It helps you centralize all your ongoing actions in one place.
Is CRM and Lead Management the same thing?
Don’t get confused by these two software. Lead management is all about “Leads” and particularly a segment mainly handled by the sales team. The purpose is that sales team people become more organized and collected in their approach as it helps sales representatives complete their daily tasks easily, such as monitoring the status of ongoing arrangements with the leads, establishing fresh leads, coordinating with the other salesperson regarding the next steps to hold or nurture the leads (send a mail, make a call if needed, follow up with a cold prospect, attend a customer meet ups), or accessing a lead's contact history.
Whereas CRM is much bigger than an umbrella holding many things under its shade as it integrates marketing, support, customers, and everything else. Basically, lead management software talks about the “leads”, whereas CRM encompasses the whole customer journey.
It would not be wrong to say that a CRM can be used to handle leads as well as customer relationships and retention. However, one sort of software isn't inherently superior to the other, and one isn't a substitute for the other, especially if you have a big venture to sustain.
How Does Lead Management Software Work?
Helps you capture and manage leads from different origins
These leads, you may assign different sales representatives to handle
Helps you nurture your leads through the sale pipelines and workflows
Helps you track the progress of the leads so you can take customizable actions
It’s a Wrap
Now, you know, working with leads is a task in itself. It isn't easy to do all the data work manually. Lead management just helps make the process easy by allowing companies to organize sales-worthy leads more efficiently. When you're ready to upgrade the way you organize and pursue leads, check out software and tools to determine if they can handle modern lead management. You can browse BUOPSO too. BUOPSO efficient lead management software can help businesses acquire, track, qualify, distribute, and nurture leads on a large scale without overwhelming their sales teams.