What’s the essence of effective lead management and what does marketing automation software have to do with it?

The essence of successful lead management for any business lies in the following two elements:

1. How successful you are in detecting those leads that already see you favorably or are increasingly interested in you;
2. And how effective you are in building a relationship with those leads that have not yet indicated that they are truly or strongly interested in you.

This is a key factor that you have to identify as part of your marketing activities. Everything else is significantly less important for your marketing (and sales) staff. From the business point of view, the return on investment in marketing communication automation mostly relies on the two aspects described above.

What do the two have in common?

Timing.

In sales, we often say that timing is everything, and it increasingly seems that this is 100% true. You can’t persuade customers to buy something when the timing isn’t right for them.

How many leads are there in your database? 2,000? 20,000? 200,000?

Whatever the number, you should ask yourself the following: what percentage of the leads in your database is going to buy whatever it is you’re selling in the next ninety days, either from you or a competitor?

Those that will make the purchase in the next ninety days are the ones for whom the timing was right. These are the ones your sales staff wants to focus on. Can you identify them, or does your sales staff also have to deal with all those other leads (maybe even 99% of the total) for whom the time to make a purchase still hasn’t yet arrived?

Just don’t give me any new leads, please

A few years ago, companies would turn to us to help them win new leads, whereas today they more often ask for our assistance in how not to expend effort on leads that aren’t yet ready to make a purchase. Effective lead management, in which the CRM system used by the sales staff is supported by a skillfully implemented marketing automation system, can help companies increase their sales staff’s performance by allowing them to only deal with the proper leads (i.e., the ones for whom the time to make a purchase has already arrived). Companies have come to realize that their ammunition is limited. Their sales staff must shoot at the right targets and no longer just fire randomly.

Would you agree?