Do you want to improve your lead management process in order to ensure leads are always followed up? Or do you want to increase your productivity, concentrating on those leads most likely to convert?
Maximizer’s recent MaxFlix S1E3 webinar provided a thought-provoking discussion, suggesting that “your leads aren’t worth the paper they are written on”.
Webinars don’t have to be boring
“73% of B2B companies agree that a webinar is one of the best ways to generate leads.” – GoToWebinar
If you have an interesting topic, development or a solution to a pain point, why not invite interested parties to find out more through a well-run webinar? No longer drab and boring, the digital age can produce engaging and interactive webinars using techniques such as polls, and I’ve even seen a spin the wheel.
Don’t put off delegates by asking for a mountain of information on the registration page. Instead, capture the bare minimum you need in order to segment and target them post-event. If the delegate is interested in your webinar, they will happily complete the registration form.
Target your prospects with content that’s relevant to them
“72% higher conversion rates are yielded by targeting users with content relevant to their position along the buying process.” – Aberdeen Strategy Research
Once your prospects are in your lead funnel, use automated and targeted marketing to identify the pain points they have. You can then propose solutions to make their processes more efficient.
Your target market may be a niche subset of people who will benefit from your product/services – perhaps they have a specific interest that your product/service is perfect for, or a specialist software system that you integrate with. Alternatively, your target audience might be broader – perhaps all people interested in sport or anyone with a home office. Find markets where you can solve problems and add value.
Another approach to targeted marketing is to identify your ideal customer. Are they small businesses with up to 20 staff? Are they consumers with an income over £30K? Whoever they are, once you’ve identified them, then your targeting can focus on attracting their attention.
Automate your lead management
“Marketers say that the biggest benefits of automation are saving time (74%), increased customer engagement (68%), more timely communications (58%), and increased opportunities including up-selling (58%)” – Adestra
Are you managing your leads manually – assigning them individually? Or perhaps drowning in the volume of incoming website enquiries? Another way to improve your lead management is to manage your leads through technology. Ensuring your systems are joined up will keep your data accuracy high. Integrate your website with your CRM and eMarketing platforms, with the added benefit of reducing lead leakage. Have you also thought about using web capture forms for logging support tickets? Automation can create and assign the ticket in your customer service/CRM system.
Lead tracking will enable you to see how long your web visitors spend on your website, where they go, and what pages they spend longer on. Perhaps a particular blog article sparks interest which you can follow up on.
Using the trifactor of people, processes and technology will ensure you contact the right audience, at the right time in their buying journey. Using the right technology ensures efficiency.
In order to automate, of course you need to capture key pieces of information. For example, if you are going to send specific emails depending on whether the lead is at the suspect stage or has been qualified as a prospect, you need to ensure they are tagged accordingly in your eMarketing platform, CRM system etc. Equally, if you are going to personalise your emails with the recipient’s name, product etc., this data has to be accurate or it could have a detrimental effect.
Another area you could automate is the distribution of leads based on criteria such as territory, product specialism and so on. This can be extremely time-consuming when done manually.
Give your brain a rest from lead management – use a CRM system!
“61% of overperforming leaders use their CRM to automate parts of their sales process versus 46% of underperforming leaders.” Hubspot
Salespeople invest their precious time and effort into qualifying leads then managing the follow-up to ensure they have an efficient system. Improve your lead management with a CRM system. This is particularly useful if you are working with a large number of leads. You can’t be expected to remember all the details! Knowing your customers well (even if CRM is doing all the hard work) makes them feel valued and appreciated.
The smart piece of the puzzle is automation. It enables you to do the right things, more quickly and at the right time. Put the details into your CRM and it can become your memory. It also means the information is shared in the company ensuring everyone is in the know.
Use automation to establish and strengthen the relationship with your leads?
“16% more leads are generated for companies that incorporate high-level automation into their sales process as compared to those that incorporate low-level or no automation.” Hinge Research
16% doesn’t sound like much. But, when you’re dealing with hundreds or even thousands of leads, that’s a big number.
Living in the digital age, we expect immediate responses, whether it’s to live chat, when completing a web form or sending an email. Why not automate the responses to confirm that the enquiry has been logged (you can include a reference number)? Additionally, use automation to assign the enquiry to an agent. The fundamental point is you need to ensure you’re responding quickly. This helps to establish the relationship and increase the level of engagement. Automation will also multiply the percentage of leads you can follow up.
When following up, the quality of the lead is important. You don’t want to invest time and energy following up a lead that is not aligned with your products/services. Instead, add those lower-quality leads to a nurturing campaign, to keep in touch, freeing your salespeople to focus on those that look more like your ideal customer.
Finally, don’t just set the automation and forget about it. Review it regularly, as business is ever-evolving and so your processes should be. Improve processes to further reduce inefficiencies. Engage your Technology Partner to help you get the most out of your automation.
Once you’ve qualified your leads, you may find our blog on How to Improve your Sales Performance using Technology useful.
Further information
We hope this blog has given you food for thought on how automation could help you convert more leads and ultimately close more business. If you have any questions about how you can improve your lead management, contact us below and we’d be more than happy to help:
- Tel: +44 (0)1992 661244
- Email: enquiries@avrion.co.uk
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