5 Key Points When Developing A Lead Management Process

Updated: July 14, 2010

1. Dream big, start small and scale appropriately.

To many times organizations try to move from no process to a full-blown Lead Management Framework. While ambitious, its not realistic and often the reason a project stalls or never gets off the ground in the first place. Organizations should set milestones and develop a roadmap when undertaking process change so that the vision and expectations are realistic and attainable. And remember short-term wins will go far to maintain momentum and create internal alignment.

2. The development of lead management process is not a marketing only exercise

Marketing must work with sales in order for this approach to work. With marketing and sales working in unison the alignment gap will close and greatly improve an organizations demand generation results. Remember the goal here is to have a meaningful engagement with your buyers. The rewards of that engagement are higher qualified leads, improved sales and increased revenue. When this happens . . . both marketing and sales win!

3. To develop a lead management process, you must understand the current (or lack thereof) process in the organization.

The place to start is with an internal audit. Much like a mechanic that gets under the hood to find why that rattling sound is occurring, companies need to get under the sales and marketing hood to understand what issues are obstructing ROI. Get an understanding of where you are as an organization and what needs improving then set a plan to begin developing the process.

4. Lead management is more than just lead nurturing and scoring

Lead Management is a holistic exercise of conjoined processes. Many organizations look at scoring and nurturing and develop these without understanding the role of data, lead planning, lead routing and metrics. Be sure to look at your process as a whole and define the touch points between them.

5. Technology alone is not the answer

Marketing automation technologies abound and many with the promise of lead management. Technology enables a solid lead management process but does not create one. The need for people and process is what will enhance the value of the solution. Before investing in any Marketing Automation Solution, be sure that your personnel can support the solution and there is a defined process that will be enabled by the solution.