Tracking Sales Leads

Tracking Sales Leads

Generating sales leads is only the 1st step in a larger process called the sales funnel or sales pipeline. The sales funnel is as such because it starts big at the top, with a lot of potential clients and it gets smaller as you get further along in the sales process.

At the apex of the sales funnel are all the ineligible sales leads and sales tips generated by the marketing department or salesmen using the methods mentioned on the previous article(Generating sales leads). As the salesmen continues to make their way down the funnel -- making contact first, evaluating the options and negotiating the prices -- many of those first leads will drop away.
It's essential for salesmen to have a well-defined and well-organized system available for tracking sales leads as they work through the sales pipeline. The more knowledgeable the salesman is about his leads, the easier it is to sell the right services at the right time. To be able to do this, each lead needs to be tagged or updated with essential information to help the salesmen do their job [source: Entrepreneur.com].

One example, has the lead asked for a product sample? Has the lead changed his addresses? Does the lead plan to initiate a large project in 6 months?

To keep track of all of this tagged data, many businesses use special lead tracking software or other customer relationship management (CRM) programs. The lead tracking software has several helpful features for managing a large number of leads at the same time:
* Automatically take note sales lead contact information into a database
* Easily update and tag leads through Web interface
* Appoint leads to salesmen by geographical area or product type
* Generate reports on success of different sales campaigns
* Measure the return of investment (ROI) of other marketing techniques
* Compile and import sales inquiries from Web site and other sources for immediate response automatically

[source: LEADTRACK]

VIA How Stuff Works: Tracking Sales Leads

keyword: sales lead