Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Better Processes & Improved Focus with Queue-Based Lead Management Platforms

  

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AG Salesworks is pleased to bring you a guest post from Kevin Thornton, Executive Vice President - Sales & Marketing for VanillaSoft. 

Here is a statistic that may give you a jolt: “only 25% of leads are legitimate and should advance to sales.” (Source: HubSpot). This raises some questions:

• Are sales and marketing in alignment on what constitutes a qualified or sales-accepted lead?
• Am I purchasing the right lists & working with the right list providers?
• How are leads being reviewed and passed along to my sales reps?

A lot has already been written about sales & marketing alignment and list providers.  Today I want to talk about a third point:  how is your team’s next lead reviewed and passed along to a rep?

Many of us are familiar with list-based platforms that help sales reps access a centralized data repository of potential customer records.  These types of solutions let sales reps apply filters and sift through lists of contacts to try to find the right next contact that may be the right fit for your product.  While it’s better than flipping through reams of paper, it’s still time-consuming and prone to human error.  

When you look at some of the following findings, I think you will agree that there is a need for a more productive and accurate way of distributing leads to your sales reps:

• 45% of companies report that their salespeople need help figuring out which accounts to prioritize.
  (Source: Lattice Engines/CSO Insights)

• 80% of the average salesperson’s day is spent on non-revenue generating activities, including not knowing where to find good prospects or recognizing them once they find them.
  (Source: Tele-Smart.com)
   
• 50% of sales go to the first salesperson to contact the prospect.
  (Source: HubSpot.com)

So, what’s the alternative to list-based platforms?  Queue-based Lead Management.

A queue-based lead management solution handles decision making for your sales team. With queue-based lead management software, you can set up a customizable workflow that manages your team’s priorities. No more sifting and filtering by your sales reps – they stay focused because the system applies sales management’s criteria to provide the reps with the next best lead. The next-best-lead is routed into your sales rep’s queue and automatically presented to them; all they have to do is start the sales call. Removing all of the additional work required to sift through the list frees up your sales team to focus on lead nurturing and building relationships with the lead in an effort to move them closer to the buying process.

The following table shows you how well queue-based lead management performs against list-based lead management methodologies. 

Source:  4 Ways Queue-Based Lead Management Is Shaping The Inside Sales Industry

The next time you review your lead metrics, remember that the root cause for dips in performance can often be traced back to process and focus.  Do you have the right process in place for lead management, and does it focus your reps on the right calling behaviors?  If not, consider switching to a queue-based lead management platform. 

Kevin Thornton is Executive Vice President - Sales & Marketing for VanillaSoft, a cloud-based lead management and appointment setting software provider for Inside Sales Teams. Kevin’s career spans over 20 years leading sales teams that have generated over $1B in software sales.  He is responsible for accelerating global customer and revenue growth and overseeing all new customer engagement and acquisition strategies.  In 2013, Kevin was named to the Sales Lead Management Association’s (SLMA) 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn and Google+.