Ensuring Success

Lead Management as a process is central to the workings of the front office and merits a change management approach. Change management is the process during which the changes to a system are implemented in a controlled manner by following a pre-defined framework. Every successful change management project involves some design/re-design of process, organization, and infrastructure/technology.

INTEGRATION WITH THE ORGANIZATION

Successful change management initiatives benefit from buy-in throughout the organization. This is especially critical for process-intensive initiatives like Lead Management. Marketing is the most logical owner of Lead Management for most organizations because marketing campaigns generate the vast majority of leads and represent the largest single source of lead data. Also, most companies include dialog marketing campaigns for low scoring leads as part of Marketing’s outbound email process. Beyond the Marketing organization, the key stakeholders in building a successful Lead Management strategy are:

• Sales — Sales will provide key input into the scoring process as well as how best to define and separate the hot leads from those that should be routed to other channels. In addition, Sales will be a continual partner in helping reform and improve the Lead Management process over time;
• Customer Service/Call Centers — Outbound Call Centers can provide a human interaction at a more cost-effective price, and Customer Service provides valuable customer information; and
• Finance — Finance provides cost information for each channel and revenue information for each customer and should be employed to help select the most cost-effective channel for each lead.

SELECTING THE RIGHT INFRASTRUCTURE

Selecting the right infrastructure requires a detailed understanding of all the elements of the Lead Management process and workflow, including existing and future technology applications, responsible stakeholders, and the business rules that best support the overall process and productivity of affected organizations. But the most important part is to understand how each element of the process drives value and ROI.

For example, any action that can improve the productivity of the Sales Force, such as saving time on research by more comprehensive information supplementation, will add value, particularly if the Sales Force is highly compensated. Or, if the products or services are of extremely high value, then investing in lead escalation and closed loop marketing will drive ROI by ensuring that no lead falls through the cracks.

THE BUSINESS LOGIC FOR ACTION

There are few opportunities to improve processes across the front office functions (Sales, Call Center, Marketing) as impactful as optimizing the process of Lead Management. The measurable improvements to ROI are:

• Increased Revenues —Proper lead supplementation and scoring prioritizes the call-back list, resulting in more timely attention to ‘hot’ prospects driving revenue gains and nurturing secondary leads to help secure future revenues.
• Decreased Customer Acquisition Costs —When maximum value is drawn out of each lead, more customers are acquired for the same level of investment, increasing the impact of customer acquisition investments and decreasing the cost of each customer acquired.
• Increased Sales Force Productivity —With all leads going to the appropriate channel, fully supplemented with the right information, Sales can spend more time closing sales and less time researching and culling through lower value leads.
• Increased Response Speed—A faster response to a hot prospect can result in an increased likelihood of a sale. At best, the prospect is approached at a decision-making juncture; at worst the company has garnered goodwill and looks organized and professional with the swift follow-up.

Lead Management is a process that many organizations can improve, with profitable results. The most effective Lead Management solutions combine workflow and data management technology with thoughtful analysis. Adhering to the steps articulated in this article will move a Lead Management strategy forward with measurable results.

Author

David Bartenwerfer is the founder and principal of Quantum Consulting and Technology. QuantumCT helps product and marketing organizations get smarter and prove, predict and optimize impact and ROI with economic and financial modeling that employs customizable algorithms and technology leading to fast and lasting insight and action. Mr. Bartenwerfer has over twenty years’ experience in the High Tech, Internet, Telecom, Media, Financial Services and Retail industries and holds a B.S. in Systems Engineering with minors in applied mathematics and economics from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. For further information, contact the author at davidbartenwerfer@quantumct.com.