Software can be expensive. Businesses need to constantly evaluate their expenses so that they can maximize their Return On Investment (ROI). So the biggest question when management has to make an investment is: Is it worth it?
Many sales and marketing teams get along just fine without marketing software. Some may be they don't need it or that it would only hinder their workflow. I agree with them. If effort is not made to properly implement software meant to imrpove workflow, marketing, and ultimately sales, it will just be yet another stumbling block to progress. An investment in Lead Response Management software is not only a monetary investment but a time investment as well.
I would argue, however, that it is an investment well worth the while of just about any marketing and sales teams. Lead response management takes work, but in the end, it saves time in all of the right places. Everyone hates clerical work. Updating records on leads or customers can be very tedious and time consuming. It is also some of the most importantant work that can be done to make sure your business is running smoothly.
If this could be automated, however, more time could be spent on what really keeps the money coming in, ie. good marketing and sales strategies. That is where software has a place. LRM software can provide automation tools that allow for time to focus on ROI. It has the capacity of updating records on its own based on a specified trigger, which may be as simple as updating one piece of information on a record.
For example, say you want emails to be sent to all of the leads you have that meet a certain criteria. All of those emails can be sent out automatically simply by changing the status of a lead. The time saved by this automation can be spent on improving the content of the email you are sending out. Ultimately, this could potentially improve ROI significantly.
Many times we get so caught up in making a complex lead nurturing system work that we don't focus on the quality of how we're nurturing. It is great to send out emails on a regular basis, but are are they too wordy with not enough in them to build a good customer relationship? Other companies give up on nurturing altogether because it is such a complex process.
Once you've put a good Lead Response Management system into place, building a lead nurturing strategy is much more feasible. That's is why I believe that if you are willing to make the initial time investment,automating your marketing and sales is well worth your while.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Leads Generated? Check! Now what? (part 2)
As promised is my last article, we will continue the thought on how to proceed once you have your leads. The first thing to do is qualify you leads, but we already discussed this. The next step is to nurture your leads. To properly nurture you leads, it is important to understand them.
Lead nurturing processes cannot be generic. You interested leads should not be receiving the same emails as you cold leads for example. Break down your leads into different categories. Once you have these categories set up. Decide which would be the best way to approach them. If you have leads that are cold, or maybe lukewarm, try an approach that is not so direct. Build your rapport with informational emails or mailers. In this way, you are not only maintaining yourself as an available option when they are ready to buy, but you are also improving your standing with them so that their chances of choosing you are increased. Birthday cards are not enough! I never went back to a dentist solely based on the fact that he sent me a birthday card. Another benefit of informational mailers and emails is the increased likelihood of their reading your message. If a cold lead know every correspondence from you is a sell, they'll never read it.
While using this strategy, however, periodically test the water with an email offer or something else which is more direct. When you notice their increased interest, switch to more aggressive strategies which may include calling. If your company is large enough, have specialized teams, and one which only uses a dialer to get through these leads. This will either convert the lead into a sale, or throw them back into one of your nurturing pools. Don't be afraid to drop someone back into one of your pools of lower interest, they may buy later. But also be sensitive of when a little nudge may help the sale go through.
For your interested leads that you have trouble getting a hold of, be more aggressive. Set up a campaign similar to a drip campaign, but where you include calling as well as email and shorten the time in between each contact. If you do not get a hold of them, someone else probably will.
Ultimately the idea is to understand all of you leads and market and sell to them at their level.
Such a process is involved and not very easy. Lead Response Management tools can help, but even then they take a lot of work. The good news is that once you set the system up, it is a lot easier to keep it going.
Lead nurturing processes cannot be generic. You interested leads should not be receiving the same emails as you cold leads for example. Break down your leads into different categories. Once you have these categories set up. Decide which would be the best way to approach them. If you have leads that are cold, or maybe lukewarm, try an approach that is not so direct. Build your rapport with informational emails or mailers. In this way, you are not only maintaining yourself as an available option when they are ready to buy, but you are also improving your standing with them so that their chances of choosing you are increased. Birthday cards are not enough! I never went back to a dentist solely based on the fact that he sent me a birthday card. Another benefit of informational mailers and emails is the increased likelihood of their reading your message. If a cold lead know every correspondence from you is a sell, they'll never read it.
While using this strategy, however, periodically test the water with an email offer or something else which is more direct. When you notice their increased interest, switch to more aggressive strategies which may include calling. If your company is large enough, have specialized teams, and one which only uses a dialer to get through these leads. This will either convert the lead into a sale, or throw them back into one of your nurturing pools. Don't be afraid to drop someone back into one of your pools of lower interest, they may buy later. But also be sensitive of when a little nudge may help the sale go through.
For your interested leads that you have trouble getting a hold of, be more aggressive. Set up a campaign similar to a drip campaign, but where you include calling as well as email and shorten the time in between each contact. If you do not get a hold of them, someone else probably will.
Ultimately the idea is to understand all of you leads and market and sell to them at their level.
Such a process is involved and not very easy. Lead Response Management tools can help, but even then they take a lot of work. The good news is that once you set the system up, it is a lot easier to keep it going.
Leads Generated? Check! Now what? (part 1)
There is a lot of talk about the strategies to generate leads and the best ways to improve ROI just by tweaking the way your leads are generated. But what happens to your leads once you have them? It is great to have lots and lots of leads, but it's even even to have all of those leads and know what to do with them. Lead generation, or demand generation as some people call it, is only the first step that leads to a sale and an increase in customers.
This article is the first of two dedicated to discussing strategies for lead qualification and nurturing, and ultimately lead management in general.
Marketing works very hard to generate leads. This can cost considerable money for the company as a whole. This is why making the most out of every lead generated is very important. The first step in this process is qualifying your leads, even before any lead nurturing strategy is put into place. The quicker you can do this the better. Only about 20 percent of your initial leads are ready to buy immediately. For this reason, the quicker you can contact your leads, the better chance you have of making more immediate sales. If you wait too long, others will capture that twenty percent.
The initial lead qualification process has to be very quick, this is why in many, if not most cases, using telephony tools such as a dialer is ideal, because the contact is immediate and direct. It is not a passive media like email or direct mail.
Research has shown that if you contact your leads within 5 minutes, the improvement in results can be as much as 800% according to an MIT study.
This is because the likelihood of contacting individuals while they are by a phone and still interested is considerably greater within those first five minutes. Some leads are never successfully contacted, whether the response is relatively quick or not. So even if you threw initial interest aside as a potential factor in winning a sale, the simple fact that you are contacting more people would increase the overall number of lead conversions you win.
This is why qualifying leads quickly is so important. The other reason why it is so important is that the quicker you can identify potential customers, even those who are not ready to buy yet, the quicker you can begin placing lead nurturing efforts in place.
This article is the first of two dedicated to discussing strategies for lead qualification and nurturing, and ultimately lead management in general.
Marketing works very hard to generate leads. This can cost considerable money for the company as a whole. This is why making the most out of every lead generated is very important. The first step in this process is qualifying your leads, even before any lead nurturing strategy is put into place. The quicker you can do this the better. Only about 20 percent of your initial leads are ready to buy immediately. For this reason, the quicker you can contact your leads, the better chance you have of making more immediate sales. If you wait too long, others will capture that twenty percent.
The initial lead qualification process has to be very quick, this is why in many, if not most cases, using telephony tools such as a dialer is ideal, because the contact is immediate and direct. It is not a passive media like email or direct mail.
Research has shown that if you contact your leads within 5 minutes, the improvement in results can be as much as 800% according to an MIT study.
This is because the likelihood of contacting individuals while they are by a phone and still interested is considerably greater within those first five minutes. Some leads are never successfully contacted, whether the response is relatively quick or not. So even if you threw initial interest aside as a potential factor in winning a sale, the simple fact that you are contacting more people would increase the overall number of lead conversions you win.
This is why qualifying leads quickly is so important. The other reason why it is so important is that the quicker you can identify potential customers, even those who are not ready to buy yet, the quicker you can begin placing lead nurturing efforts in place.
Why VoIP dialer solutions may not be the best option
The are two main types of dialer solutions. The first is a piece of hardware that places all of your calls for you. The second is a software device that places calls via Voice over IP (VoIP). Each of them has it's drawback and its benefits.
First of all, hardware solutions are expensive. I have seen prices anywhere from 2 to 52 thousand dollars! Also, because they are a piece of hardware that is plugged into a computer, they are limited in what they can do. On the other hand, the systems are custom built and when land lines are used the quality is far superior. Not to mention the bandwidth not being a problem.
In many factors, VoIP systems are far superior to hardware based systems. The cost is much lower. Long distance usually is not an issue and there is no upfront cost. Also, the only hardware necessary is a headset and microphone, which are a fraction of the cost of hardware dialers. Another bonus is the regular upgrades as wells as support for your system. It seems like the perfect system, minus one little detail: internet.
Depending on your bandwidth, VoIP systems can significantly reduce the quality of the call. Also, the computers such systems are used on have to be quite fast, otherwise it can reduce quality as well. Ultimately, it is a give and take; you pay less, but lose quality.
Recently, however, some marketing softwareplatforms have begun providing a new kind of dialer system. It is kind of a combination of the good qualities of both hardware dialers as well as VoIP dialers. These systems have dedicated dialer servers that place all of the call for you. On your part, there is not software to install, and there is no upfront cost. The servers use landlines so you still get the same high quality you would from using a hardware dialer. The flat per minute charge on such dialers can be slightly more than that of using a VoIP system, but it is still very accessible and there are no long distance charges. All you need is a direct 10 digit DID and a phone. Furthermore, even though call are being triggered from your computer, there are no bandwidth issues because the calls are not over the internet.
I have had ample experience with both systems and I recommend the land line automated dialer systems over standard VoIP. If you really want to do good lead nurturing over the phone, land lines are the way to go.
First of all, hardware solutions are expensive. I have seen prices anywhere from 2 to 52 thousand dollars! Also, because they are a piece of hardware that is plugged into a computer, they are limited in what they can do. On the other hand, the systems are custom built and when land lines are used the quality is far superior. Not to mention the bandwidth not being a problem.
In many factors, VoIP systems are far superior to hardware based systems. The cost is much lower. Long distance usually is not an issue and there is no upfront cost. Also, the only hardware necessary is a headset and microphone, which are a fraction of the cost of hardware dialers. Another bonus is the regular upgrades as wells as support for your system. It seems like the perfect system, minus one little detail: internet.
Depending on your bandwidth, VoIP systems can significantly reduce the quality of the call. Also, the computers such systems are used on have to be quite fast, otherwise it can reduce quality as well. Ultimately, it is a give and take; you pay less, but lose quality.
Recently, however, some marketing softwareplatforms have begun providing a new kind of dialer system. It is kind of a combination of the good qualities of both hardware dialers as well as VoIP dialers. These systems have dedicated dialer servers that place all of the call for you. On your part, there is not software to install, and there is no upfront cost. The servers use landlines so you still get the same high quality you would from using a hardware dialer. The flat per minute charge on such dialers can be slightly more than that of using a VoIP system, but it is still very accessible and there are no long distance charges. All you need is a direct 10 digit DID and a phone. Furthermore, even though call are being triggered from your computer, there are no bandwidth issues because the calls are not over the internet.
I have had ample experience with both systems and I recommend the land line automated dialer systems over standard VoIP. If you really want to do good lead nurturing over the phone, land lines are the way to go.
Lead Response Management: the solution to the sales/marketing rift
Everyone complains about how sales and marketing don't quite mesh together and this causes loss in sales. I have read dozens of articles about the importance of uniting these two department in an effort to make sure leads are not lost along the way. It is true that when these two departments do not work together leads are lost along the way. But that is obvious, you always lose when any two department lack teamwork. It could be sales and marketing, or it could be support and sales; it does not matter. What we should focus on is the solution to the problem, not the need for a solution.
I believe Lead Response Management is an excellent software to remediate this rift. Unlike other management platforms or marketing software, LRM is a complete system that assists in lead generation, takes the lead through the sale cycle, and manages the eventual customer; there is no break along the way.
For the marketing mind, LRM offers web form integration, drip marketing, and mass emailing features. For the sales mind, it offers dialers for inbound and outbound calling, as well as other lead conversion and management tools. When the tools provided in an LRM system are used in concert, lead qualification skyrockets and ROI per lead follows suit.
Ultimately LRM spreads across all departments offering a seamless solution that forces all departments to work together. This is the key part of such a system because it build a stronger lead qualification machine. Lead qualification should be done by both marketing and sales, and this is where the ball is usually dropped and sales are lost. If both teams are focused on qualifying leads, then the transition from marketing to sales is seamless. In other words, the lead never notices that they were ever handed over from one department to the other.
The system also offers different reporting features that track the progress of the leads from generation to conversion. Only a system that can span both department can offer the built in reporting across leads in all stages as well as reports based on all of the methods through which those leads were nurtured, be they by phone, email, or whatever else.
If anyone has a problem in uniting sales and marketing or any other departments involving potential and existing customers, I suggest you look into LRM as a viable solution. It is not a magical answer however, even with this software it takes work, but at least you have the tools.
I believe Lead Response Management is an excellent software to remediate this rift. Unlike other management platforms or marketing software, LRM is a complete system that assists in lead generation, takes the lead through the sale cycle, and manages the eventual customer; there is no break along the way.
For the marketing mind, LRM offers web form integration, drip marketing, and mass emailing features. For the sales mind, it offers dialers for inbound and outbound calling, as well as other lead conversion and management tools. When the tools provided in an LRM system are used in concert, lead qualification skyrockets and ROI per lead follows suit.
Ultimately LRM spreads across all departments offering a seamless solution that forces all departments to work together. This is the key part of such a system because it build a stronger lead qualification machine. Lead qualification should be done by both marketing and sales, and this is where the ball is usually dropped and sales are lost. If both teams are focused on qualifying leads, then the transition from marketing to sales is seamless. In other words, the lead never notices that they were ever handed over from one department to the other.
The system also offers different reporting features that track the progress of the leads from generation to conversion. Only a system that can span both department can offer the built in reporting across leads in all stages as well as reports based on all of the methods through which those leads were nurtured, be they by phone, email, or whatever else.
If anyone has a problem in uniting sales and marketing or any other departments involving potential and existing customers, I suggest you look into LRM as a viable solution. It is not a magical answer however, even with this software it takes work, but at least you have the tools.
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