Lead Management & Lead Nurturing White Papers

Lead Management Systems are proven to increase sales conversion for direct selling channels. But how about for dealer and distributor networks? Can a system be put in place that makes sure dealers and end user prospects are satisfied?

This simple white paper gives you some quick insights on how to address the Five Misconceptions of Dealer Network Lead Management. You will receive practical information on how to combat issues when one or more of these things occur:

• Dealers don't pay attention to the leads you give them
• Dealers don't tell you what happens with the leads they receive
• Dealers sell your competitors' products on leads you've provided
• Your sales people want to see each lead and decide where it goes
• No one thinks your lead distribution is fair

Although challenging, it is possible to deploy a robust lead management system that encourages dealer participation and meets your marketing and sales goals. This means your end user clients are served better, and you experience more closed sales.

Have you wondered why your sales channel doesn’t immediately (and enthusiastically) jump on every lead you generate for them? One reason may be their inability to prioritize one lead over the other, or the fact that the first three they contacted were cold so they’ve assumed the rest are too. Consider simple lead scoring to help your sales team.

How would you answer the following questions about your leads?

• Do you know where they are in the buying process?
• What role do they play in the buying decision?
• What is most effective time for making contact with the lead?

By using traditional (and leading edge) scoring methods, you will have insight to understand your “perfect” lead. Once you know the profile of a responsive buyer, you can build a solid basis for lead scoring. This will encourage sales to follow up with the leads in an urgent and consistent manner.

Who should take ownership of a lead? The corporate marketing department, internal sales management or your dealer sales representatives?

Typically, there is a hand-off from Marketing to Sales, but ownership can get muddled as departments point fingers and blame each other for low sales conversion.

This white paper presents two mini case studies that show creative ways of working with your channel partners, nurturing leads until they’re ready for hand-off. Overall, sales representatives become more responsive to the leads, and the ultimate goal is reached with increased sales conversion.

A formal process for sales lead management has been shown to increase sales for a company from 6 – 18% yet many companies do not invest the time or money in creating a program.

This white paper defines lead management from a B2B perspective and includes information on lead generation, lead qualification, lead nurturing, lead scoring, territory management and reporting on your key performance indicators.

By reading this white paper you should be able to determine if a formal lead management system would benefit your company and know the steps required to start evaluating lead management software vendors.