Category: Lead Response
Cultivate Sales Leads to Increase Your Harvest
Use strategic lead management to amplify results and increase outcomes
“Don’t take your sales leads for granted.” So says Adam Berkson, president of LiveVoice, a boutique phone support service that is emerging as a leader in lead response services. “To maximize the effectiveness of each lead, it must be cared for and nurtured before you can close it. Attempting to close too soon or without the right preparation, will dramatically decrease results.”
Just as a gardener plant seeds, waters, fertilizes, and weeds throughout the growing season in order to harvest a bountiful crop, so too should leads be carefully attended to. The results of cultivating (managing leads) before attempting to harvest them (close sales) are staggering. But don’t take Adam’s word for it. Consider this research.
Boost Dollars per Sale:
According to The Annuitas Group, which specializes in demand generation programs to align companies with buyers, leads that are nurtured produce more. Their research found that nurtured leads buy half again as much (47 percent more) than their non-nurtured counterparts. “A 50 percent increase in the dollar volume of each sale is huge,” says Berkson. “Not only are nurtured leads more likely to buy, they spend more, too.”
Automation Helps:
Lead management need not be a labor-intensive effort. Automation can apply to maximizing the value of leads and produce elevated results in the process. Gartner Research, a leading information technology research and advisory company, notes that when consistently applied, companies that automate their lead management see a 10 percent increase in revenue after only two or three quarters. “It’s not often that automation can boost outcomes in what is normally an interpersonal effort, but the facts confirm that in this case they do,” adds Berkson.
As a side note, Forrester Research Inc.’s Jeff Ernst speculates that only one in twenty marketers (about 5 percent) use a full-featured marketing automation solution. This reveals a deficiency at most companies.
Achieve Sales Quotas:
A third benefit of mature lead generation and management practices is a more successful salesforce. When properly applied, the right lead generation and management practices result in a 9.3 percent higher sales quota achievement rate. That is, more sales reps make their quota. This comes from CSO Insights, providers of sales data and research.
“Quotas are a necessary evil in sales departments,” says Anthony Vesho, chief operating officer at TeleServices Direct, a worldwide provider of outsource call center services. “Salespeople hate the pressure, and management would prefer to avoid the hassle. Yet without quotas sales languish.” Imagine how great it would be if 9 percent more sales reps made their quota. Lead generation and nurturing can make this happen.
“The strategic use of lead management can produce these three outcomes and so much more,” concludes Berkson. “Every sales and marketing department needs to fully invest in lead generation, management, and nurturing.” The results speak for themselves.
LiveVoice understands how important every call is to your business. Contact them about customizing their flexible, premium phone support service so you can turn opportunity into profit.
Peter DeHaan, PhD, is a freelance writer, call center authority, and publisher of Connections Magazine, which covers the call center industry.
