Not Managing as a Practice
In most companies, lead management is not
conceived or executed as a specific practice. Rather,
it is habitually managed as an ad-hoc set of
disparate activities that have grown organically
over time. The Lead Management Framework
(LMF) below details the six key areas of an effective
Lead Management practice.
Establishing Metrics
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Peter
Drucker. Let’s begin by admitting if we can’t
measure it, we can’t manage it. Taking the time to
develop a set of performance Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs) for lead management is a key step
to creating a practice that results in predictable
revenue. A KPI is a value you choose to measure.
It might be tactical (measures the effectiveness of
your marketing activities), operational (measures
the efficiencies in your processes), or revenue
related (measures attribution, pipeline and
revenue).
Defining a Sales Ready Lead
Step 2 in the Lead Management Framework is to
carefully define a sales ready lead. This key activity begins to define a common language used by
marketing and sales and presents the ideal opportunity to begin a business collaboration with sales.
A sales ready lead is determined using demographic data (size of company or title) and digital
body language (online actions). The value of digital body language is continuous in that it helps
score a lead (part of defining sales ready) and
provides on-going insights for making better sales
pursuit decisions.
Creating One Common Lead Funnel with Stages
and Statuses
Step 3 in the Lead Management Framework uses
the common language e