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Streamline Lead Generation,
Sharing, and Sales Execution
Closed-loop lead
management—tracking leads from point of generation to sales culmination—is on
the drawing board for many companies; only a few have actually implemented such
next-generation lead management systems. Most organizations,
however, recognize the immense promise it holds and are brainstorming over the
IT architecture and process change required to make it a reality.
Benefits of Obtaining a Closed-loop Lead Management Process
with Analytics.
Analytic applications
for
marketing and sales combine to address:
. Accelerated lead cultivation, delivery to sales,
and tracking
. Percentage of leads resulting in a sale
. Channel and/or demographics with greatest profitability
. Sales effectiveness based on profile characteristics
. Lead assignment, status, sales calls, and response
Business Objects Campaign Analytics: Maximizing the Value of Sales Leads
Business a Objects Campaign
Analytics is an analytic application that enables marketing managers to track,
understand, and manage campaigns and
lead generation. It provides more than 40
analytic components that answer all of the questions addressed in this paper, as
well as key metrics, a personalized dashboard, and alert capabilities. It is a
module of Business Objects Customer Intelligence, which also includes
Customer Analytics, Sales Analytics, and Contact Center Analytics. Together,
Business Objects Customer Intelligence modules comprise an integrated suite that
enables organizations
to build long-lasting, profitable customer relationships through improved sales,
marketing, and customer management and interaction. In turn, Customer
Intelligence is one application in the broader Business Objects Analytics family,
covering supply chain, products and service, finance, and human resources.
Underlying Business Objects
Campaign Analytics and all of the Customer Intelligence modules is Business
Objects' flexible application framework, Application Foundation. Application
Foundation enables businesses to quickly extend and customize analytic
functionality to improve performance across the enterprise
Best Practices
in Lead Management
1. Introduction
Lead Management is the process
of rapidly and effectively creating, nurturing, distributing and analyzing leads.
The ultimate goal? To increase the likelihood that a lead will convert to a
qualified opportunity and then a new, satisfied customer.
2.
Accountability
Operational Accountability has Arrived
The ultimate goal of any marketing department is to generate qualified leads for
sales. Sales then converts leads into customers. The rate at which deals close
is the final yardstick by which every marketing investment should be measured –
but it’s not easy. In the past, the ability to track the cause and effect of
marketing campaigns has been elusive. And the pressure is on. In a recent report,
Boston-based research firm Aberdeen Group revealed that marketing departments
are now being held to demonstrate the same level of quantitative value as other
departments.
Enter Lead Management
The quantity of leads delivered by marketing initiatives is not the only
criteria for measuring marketing value. The quality of leads is just as
important, if not more important. Rather than asking how many leads were
generated, executives are asking for conversion rates, or what proportion of
leads resulted in closed sales. Answering this question means analyzing the
entire lead lifecycle – from how the lead was generated to how the lead was
distributed to sales and what happened once it got there. Teams are accountable
to show investment return and solid performance at every step, and over time, to
show quantifiable improvement. As executives ask tough questions, lead
management technology gives marketers the visibility and the answers they need
to consistently show they’re on the right track.
For best results, a lead management system must bring together the right people,
processes and information at various stages:
Identify hot leads and
automatically route to direct sales or channel partners
•
Actively engage the remaining leads and nurture them
through the pipeline to eventual sale
• Track leads to closure and evaluate the ROI of marketing
campaigns
• Integrate offline qualification resources such as call
centers.
3. Defining Lead
Management
For better or worse,
sales success and the ability to demonstrate ROI is directly
influenced by how effective marketing teams are at the
following:
Lead
Planning & Generation:
This stage consists of planning
the entire campaign – determining lists, developing
messaging, selecting the medium, setting the timing,
planning the marketing project, then specifying lead
qualification and distribution mechanism with Sales.
Qualify
Leads:
In this stage, leads are
qualified, scored and processed according to pre-determined
criteria. Typical lead process points and ‘flags’ are
defined, including qualification questions and process,
distribution rules, lead scoring (specific definitions of A,
B and C-level leads), components and duration of the sales
cycle, how to deal with atypical or out-of-profile leads,
and ownership of each stage of the process.
Distribute
Leads:
Lead distribution is the
process of getting leads to the right person at the right
time. There are many distribution systems - according to
territory, product, lead source, level of urgency, or new
vs. existing customers. They can also be escalated if, for
example, they have a short timeframe to make a decision, or
a ready-approved budget, or if they have a particular
urgency or a high value associated with them. With the right
technology infrastructure, companies can automate the
distribution of leads according to predetermined criteria.
This removes the burden from support staff, and ensures that
leads really do reach the right person at the right time.
Nurture
Leads:
Lead nurturing allows companies
to remain in touch with longer term leads until the lead is
ready to be advanced into the sales cycle. When the lead is
closer to making a purchase, it can be passed on to sales.
Measure
and Evaluate Programs:
The last stage of lead
management is to close the loop on results. Post-campaign
analysis and reporting is the key to demonstrating success,
or perhaps identifying how a marketing approach could be
improved. By going through a detailed planning process at
the outset, teams are clear as to what is to be measured at
each step, and have visibility into how similar campaigns
have performed. When the ROI and cost-per-lead from each
campaign is accurately reported, patterns can be identified
which help marketing teams to do more often what is proven
to work well.
4.
Lead Planning &
Generation:
Step One: Lead Planning & Generation
Planning a successful campaign begins with a strong sense of
what has and hasn’t worked in the past with a particular
audience. It also starts with lining up the necessary
resources and processes to handle the leads when they come
in. This is at the heart of today’s lead management – teams
need to go beyond meeting lead
quotas, and focus on what it will take to close the loop and
foster sales success.
in the following illustration, the funnel on the left shows
a traditional sales and marketing organization. The funnel
on the right shows an organization with automated lead
management.
Leads feed into
the top of the sales funnel as a result of marketing
campaigns. Then, they are distributed to pre-sales
professionals for qualification, and finally to the sales
team for closing. Only when a lead has moved far down the
funnel do sales professionals begin working to close the
most qualified leads. However, many companies have holes in
their sales funnel, through which leads and opportunities
can slip and be lost. In the funnel on the left, the
marketing reach in a traditional marketing department is
much narrower than that of a company using a marketing
automation solution.
This wider reach means more leads, but also means more
highly qualified leads of the right kind. After all, it’s
expensive to move a lead through the funnel and into sales.
By the time a sales rep is assigned to engage with a
prospect, that prospect
needs to be deeply qualified. If a ‘cool’ lead – or the
wrong lead -- is sent through prematurely, valuable sales
resources can be wasted. Smart lead planning and tracking
ensures that the most thoroughly qualified leads are given
the green light to
move forward, and also helps marketing to advance the most
profitable leads at the optimal moment.
To bring a lead management system like this to life, sales
and marketing teams need
to work together to create a lead processing plan. Together,
they should define:
Qualification questions and
processes :
• Lead distribution
rules
• Lead scoring: specific definitions of A, B and C-level
leads
• Components and duration of the sales cycle
• How to manage atypical leads or out-of-profile leads
• Ownership of each stage of the process.
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