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How to Design a Successful Lead Distribution Process

May 29, 2014/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Distribution, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Don’t let another lead slip through the cracks because of poor lead distribution practices. Minimize human error through an automated distribution system while also implementing an analytical way to effectively distribute your hard-earned leads. There are several methods of lead distribution to choose from; it is critical that you have done due diligence in determining the best process for distributing your leads. Take the following considerations into account when determining how to design a successful lead distribution process for your team that will maximize conversion.

Iterative Process

First and most importantly, optimize the distribution process through iterative evaluation—test, evaluate, optimize, and retest. Each lead is different and each sales rep unique, so it is expected that results will vary each time. Create a systematically evolving process that encompasses the most effective combination of the various distribution methods (round robin, push/pull, top performers, etc), depending on which stage of the sale you’re in. No one method will be the most effective; rather it’s a combination of them that will produce the successful lead distribution process.

Utilize Your Skill Sets

With your marketing automation practices, you are already collecting a plethora of data on each lead. Put it to use. Use the “specialization method” of lead distribution to assign leads to reps based on the lead’s interest and buying readiness (all of which can be found through visitor tracking practices). Evaluate the lead’s profile and distribute to a specific channel that will enable your rep to be the most prepared and able to accommodate the lead.

Evaluating each lead before distribution can be a timely process and may or may not be worth the marketing team’s time; reserve this method for leads that have greater buyer readiness (based on their previous behavior). Misdirecting a lead can have a detrimental consequence, for example, sending a lead to the incorrect sales rep and wasting the lead’s time as they are redirected to the correct sales rep with the corresponding expertise.

Effective Scaling

In order to design a successful lead distribution process, you must be able scale the lead management process effectively. For high volume lead processing, round robin is not the best route to take. Take time to understand the patterns, and from those results implement a shared push/pull method that enables sales reps to better manage their workloads (which translates to higher quality lead nurturing) while also holding them accountable for assigned tasks.

Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. There are many dynamic factors to consider when you are trying to design a successful lead distribution process, and because of this, the best distribution process is a constantly evolving one. Keep in mind the skill sets of your sales reps, the specifics of each product being sold, and the expectations of the leads. Utilize marketing automation practices to increase ROI and decrease lead loss. To learn more about how Lead Liaisons can make your lead distribution process more efficient, check out their solutions.

3 Things to Know About Lead Distribution

April 2, 2014/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Distribution, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Studies have shown that automating your lead distribution process leads to higher conversion rates. Advanced marketing automation software ensures that more of your reps’ precious time is spent interacting with prospects rather than organizing lead distribution manually. Here are 3 things to know about lead distribution and a few things to know when implementing the most effective marketing automation platform for your teams:

1. Collaboration

Communication is key when it comes to moving a prospect forward. Each business runs differently, but having an organized way of passing a lead around is mandatory for success. Be sure all of the reps on the team have a simple way of updating a prospect’s status so that when it’s time to distribute, all the necessary information is in place.

2. Methods

The most common methods for lead distribution can be categorized into a push, pull, or hybrid.In addition to the 3 things to know about lead distribution, here are 3 things to know about lead distribution methods:

Push. Lead Liaison offers the Round Robin approach, a push method that evenly disseminates leads to the appropriate reps in a systematic, cyclical manner. Performance-based distribution is also a push method, where the incentive to turn the prospect into an opportunity is to gain another lead. Criteria-based distribution is another push method, where prospects are assigned using location or type.

Pull. Rather than pushing prospects out to the reps, another method is the pull method. This allows reps to take charge and pull prospects from the pool when they’re ready to take them on. Pulled leads can be regulated in a few ways, such as ensuring the rep’s other prospects have been advanced or enacting a cap on each day’s pull allowed.

Hybrid. As you would guess, the hybrid method is a thoughtful combination of both push and pull methods. An example would be using the Round Robin technique in addition to allowing reps to pull new prospects under a set of conditions (which could be performance-based).

3. Getting Higher Conversion

Managing an effective system of lead distribution helps increase conversions. A higher contact rate—more interaction between the reps and their prospects—is one of the best indicators of higher conversion rates. Deciding on the method(s) of distribution that best fits the needs of your business may be difficult, but finding that balance (even through trial and error) will boost the business in the long run.

By automating lead distribution, your team will have more time to focus on creating personalized campaigns and to contact prospects in a more meaningful way. For more information on how Lead Liaison can manage your lead distribution, click here.

How to convert more B2B leads into customers? Marketing Automation!

July 1, 2013/0 Comments/in Lead Generation, Marketing Automation, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

As the post title implies, our answer to the eternal sales question “how do we convert more leads into customers?” is to deploy marketing automation. Is that the only answer? No. But with the amount of data available today, marketing automation will do more to improve your B2B lead conversion rates than social media, PPC, or stale drip campaigns.

It’s quickly becoming apparent that marketing automation can play a significant role in improving your lead conversion ratio. From first touch (initial point of contact) to pass through (migration to CRM), lead conversion for companies in most industries is improving thanks to MA. The first step towards higher B2B close rates is to manage your leads effectively before they are sent to your sales team.

To begin, you should know your customers well. Who are they? What do they like? What do they do? Why do they buy? Much of this information is now available digitally, the key is to leverage the information you collect into effective lead management.

Lead Generation

An often overlooked concept about lead generation is that it should be approached holistically not unilaterally. When you need to convert more B2B leads into customers look to strengthen lead generation efforts. Lead gen starts with first touch, escalates through lead tracking, and winds up with capture. If you’re not focusing on developing good content for your touch points, tracking your website visitors using business intelligence integration, and capturing contact information through digital assets, you’re not effectively generating leads – and you can’t convert leads you don’t have. Make sure your lead gen scope is broader than list buys and PPC campaigns.

Lead Nurturing

Many think lead nurturing equals email drip campaigns. Though partly true, lead nurturing is so much more. Lead conversion through the nurturing process requires that you develop the relationship through escalating engagements. Simply sending the occasional “hi-how-are-you?” note won’t be sufficient to move your leads through the marketing pipeline. Build a campaign that offers more at advanced buying cycle stages: a webinar invite, a product demo. Remember, nurture means “to grow”.

Lead Scoring

There’s nothing worse for a sales agent than to receive a lead that turns out to be a graduate student completing his thesis. MA platforms provide lead scoring and grading capabilities that should allow you to sharpen the sales team’s focus towards the most suitable, marketing-qualified leads. Establish specific criteria that can be scored or graded. Most leading systems grade explicit lead attributes (industry, company size) and score implicit behaviors (webpage visit, webinar registration). Once a scoring matrix has been created, determine a scoring threshold that automatically migrates the lead to your CRM.

Lead Distribution

Lead distribution must be optimized to channel leads appropriately to your sales force. Which sales agents are available to respond quickly? Which agents have high close rates? Which agents know the lead’s industry best? Automated systems distribute leads using parameters that can maximize your sales team’s efficiency. Some MA platforms allow you to assign lead ownership according to predefined criteria, such as geography or seniority. Leads distributed effectively will shorten your average sales cycle and improve sales close rates.

Keep in mind that marketing automation is a tool that will improve sales conversions and help convert more B2B leads into customers. Though MA platforms have improved sales outcomes, much of the success that comes from lead management is dependent on the content you provide. If you don’t have strong creative minds to develop messaging in-house, consider outsourcing.

Lead Liaison Improves Lead Distribution Capabilities in its Lead Management Automation™ Platform

June 18, 2013/0 Comments/in Press Releases, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Allen, TX (PRWEB) June 15, 2013 – Lead Liaison, an emerging innovator in the marketing automation space, has improved its flagship Lead Management Automation platform by optimizing its lead distribution capabilities. The company announced in May a roll out of the enhanced lead distribution functionality, as well several automation improvements, improved analytics, and deeper integration with Saleforce.com.

Lead Liaison has paced its product development according to market demands. Lead distribution has become more important to the SME market the company serves. VP of Communications Alex Brown explained that “within many industries, companies are running leaner since the Great Recession, often deploying lower marketing and sales spend. They are turning to MA for more efficient resource allocation.”

“We recognize the need for lead stream management that provides breakout according to performance, geography, and other parameters,” said Brown. “Our focus has extended beyond how a lead moves through the funnel. It’s just as important to assign leads effectively.”

Alex BrownVP Corporate Communications–Lead Liaison

One company that has leveraged the lead distribution functionality is Telappliant, Ltd., a major telephony and VoIP provider headquartered in London. Marketing manager Tommy Powell has seen improvements in productivity since implementing the system. He said the previous lead distribution process “(was) inefficient, as there was often a time delay between leads arriving and being distributed marketing manager. A member of the marketing team…manually used SFDC to distribute leads to various members of the sales team. This process was time-consuming in terms of human resources.”

“(The platform) has enabled each lead to be instantly and automatically distributed to the salesperson most likely to be able to close it. In addition, the sales team is now working leads more effectively,” said Powell.

Tommy PowellVP of Marketing–Telappliant

Company executives plan to announce additional platform enhancements at another upgrade release later this summer.

For more information about Lead Liaison’s marketing automation products or its support services contact Lead Liaison.

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Lead Liaison is an application development company that designs, develops, and sells cloud-based marketing and sales automation software. The company markets to small and medium-sized businesses worldwide, and focuses on creating the broadest and most user-friendly revenue generation software platform. Applications cover all phases of lead management automation including sales prospecting, lead generation, and marketing automation functions that directly influence revenue generation. It’s innovative and robust lead management platform combines unparalleled sales prospecting, lead capture, real-time lead tracking, lead qualification, lead distribution, database segmentation, lead nurturing and ROI reporting. The Software as a Service (SaaS) model delivers an effective user experience and integrated cloud computing capabilities.

For More Information:

Alex Brown
VP, Corporate Communications
abrown(at)leadliaison(dot)com
888.895.3237 (888 89 LEADS)

Telappliant Improves Lead Distribution Capabilities Through Lead Liaison’s Marketing Automation Platform

June 6, 2013/0 Comments/in Press Releases/by Lead Liaison

Allen, TX (PRWEB) June 1, 2013 – Telappliant, one of the United Kingdom’s first Internet telephony providers, has improved its lead distribution process by selecting Lead Liaison as its marketing automation vendor. Telappliant was a founding member of the Internet Telephony Service Provider Association and was one of the first VoIP providers in the UK. Among its customers are BBC, Vibrant Media, and WorldPay.

As a leader in VoIP deployment in the UK SME market, Telappliant has been delivering telephony solutions for over a decade and has built an impressive database of sales leads. Prior to selecting the Lead Management Automation (LMA) platform primarily for its superior lead distribution capabilities, Telappliant’s marketing team manually distributed leads to its sales team.

According to marketing manager Tommy Powell,

“The process was time-consuming in terms of human resources. Often we would spend at least one hour per day distributing leads generated through online forms and landing pages, more when we were running major marketing campaigns. Leads were checked and distributed several times per day and pushed through Salesforce.com. (This was) inefficient, as there were often delays between leads arriving and being distributed.”

Tommy PowellVP of Marketing–Telappliant

Powell also noted that Telappliant’s previous lead management process provided “no way to automatically redistribute a lead if it was not…properly worked by a particular salesperson.” Through an integration between Lead Liaison’s LMA platform and Salesforce.com’s CRM each lead is now distributed through an automated lead distribution process which includes a series of filters that ensure the lead is sent to the salesperson most likely to convert it based upon available capacity and strongest recent track record of closing similar leads. Leads are automatically redistributed if not worked in a timely manner. Round robin distribution, the “Hopper” and lead distribution analytics further complement Lead Liaison lead distribution capabilities.

Since adopting the Lead Management Automation platform for its lead distribution capabilities, Telappliant has seen a “marked improvement” in percentage of leads closed and a reduction in the average lead cycle. These improvements have led to increased revenue generation and a more efficient sales team.

Powell is excited about leveraging more of the software’s functionality. “We intend to gradually roll out additional functionality, starting with lead scoring/grading and lead nurturing. I expect this to work just as well as (the) lead distribution (function) has for us.”

Powell was quick to note that one of the primary criteria for selecting Lead Liaison as its marketing automation vendor was the “incredible level of customer service and support that we have received from the team at Lead Liaison. I can honestly say that the level, speed, and quality of service has been second to none.”

For more information about Lead Liaison’s marketing automation products or its support services contact Lead Liaison at 888 895 3237 or sales(at)leadliaison(dot)com.

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Lead Liaison is an application development company that designs, develops, and sells cloud-based marketing and sales automation software. The company markets to small and medium-sized businesses worldwide, and focuses on creating the broadest and most user-friendly revenue generation software platform. Applications cover all phases of lead management automation including sales prospecting, lead generation, and marketing automation functions that directly influence revenue generation. Its innovative and robust lead management platform combines unparalleled sales prospecting, lead capture, real-time lead tracking, lead qualification, lead distribution, database segmentation, lead nurturing and ROI reporting. The Software as a Service (SaaS) model delivers an effective user experience and integrated cloud computing capabilities.

For More Information:

Alex Brown
VP, Corporate Communications
abrown(at)leadliaison(dot)com
888.895.3237 (888 89 LEADS)

Pervasive B2B Lead Distribution Methods

October 25, 2012/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Distribution, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Looking for some good B2B lead distribution methods? Businesses aggressively seeking methodologies for effective lead distribution to their sales forces sometimes face invariable roadblocks which prevent those leads from finding their proper home. Although techniques commonly used by marketing teams work only part of the time when marketing to consumers, business leads are highly touted as ‘gold’ since the expected ticket prices are substantially higher. To quantify success in lead distribution, following the methods below will springboard your B2B lead circulation efforts so the right department within your company, or the right person, receives and nurtures the lead.

Round Robin With Top Producers

We’d all love to pass leads off to proven closers in mass quantities; since this isn’t entirely possible, passing out leads to top producers in round robin fashion will keep fairness across the board, allow historically unseasoned salespersons to shine under pressure and keep excessive workloads off one person. When your company is facing lead scarcity, perhaps start your distribution with top gun producers and work your way down as leads become available.

Stick With FIFO

Much like perishable foods, leads begin accruing shelf life when either bought live, or received just minutes ago. In order to prevent stagnancy in lead distribution, stick with first in, first out when leads come into your database. Organizing aging leads can become problematic if you’re not proactive in keeping each prospect assigned to a sales associate, and this can be taken care of through FIFO.

Pushing / Pulling

Businesses can benefit from well-organized office setups by having leads ‘pushed’ to the sales team as they call or fill out lead capture forms. This automated method of handling lead distribution makes utilizing both round robin and live transfer so different sales team members receive leads intermittently. On the opposite side of this are lead pulls which occur when larger call centers obtain sizable numbers of leads hourly and pull them from queue to call or email. Both distribution methods rely upon accurate lead automation methods albeit online or via call center.

The Hunt Group

Some larger volume sale forces find that load balancing can be problematic when thousands of leads are being handled by only fifty calling agents. Using the hunt group methodology, lead management teams attempt to find sales pipelines or available agents who can handle a customer, and pass the lead off to them. Although this method of lead distribution heavily relies on human accuracy and agent capabilities in handling large scale lead loads, proper metrics and lead scoring techniques could make hunt groups an effective stratagem for distribution of mass quantities of leads.

Tele-Qualifying

Becoming increasingly popular in the lead distribution sector of larger businesses is prequalifying leads through large-scale telemarketing firms who can properly route calls to exact sales agents prepared to handle the lead. This provides an excellent avenue to properly segment what each lead wants, where they best fit across your sales boards and who would best close the sale with the candidate. Mortgage lead qualification specialists perfected this method of lead distribution and many other companies have adopted it as their own.

Avoiding Grab Bags And More

If you’re using trash can lead dumping, or, simply tossing hundreds of leads in the air for anyone to pick, the percentage of closed leads is probably plummeting for your company. Choosing the most effective circulation method for your business to business lead efforts means understanding what is available to you, and the above methods have proven time and time again to properly route leads to closers equipped to handle specific customers for the sales closing.

Automatically Distribute Leads to Sales

November 8, 2011/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Management, Revenue Generation Blog, Sales/by Lead Liaison

Many businesses are able to generate leads and inquiries but have no way to automatically distribute leads to sales in a systematic manner. Companies make huge investments to generate leads from the internet, which warrants responses at internet-like speeds. An interesting article from Harvard Business Review highlighted the benefit of responding to leads quickly in a study of 2,241 U.S. firms. According to the report:

– James B. Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran, and David Elkington / Harvard Business Review

The article suggests three root causes of slow lead follow up:

Three Root Causes of Slow Lead Follow Up

1. Retrieving leads from CRM systems’ databases at one time throughout the day vs. continuously, in real-time, without a way to automatically distribute leads to sales
2. sales teams are focused on generating their own leads rather than reacting quickly to customer’s online behavior and inquiries, and
3. rules for distributing leads among based on geography and “fairness.”

Lead Liaison’s software platform solves the aforementioned issues with a simple solution that can automatically distribute leads to sales. Here’s a short summary of how we help our clients quickly respond to high priority leads:

Use Technology and Alerts to Automatically Distribute Leads to Sales

• Qualify leads using various lead qualification metrics including common buy signals, lead score and a measure of the prospect’s total activity.
• Distribute leads in real-time based on sophisticated lead distribution rules based on region, company name, number of employees and annual revenue. Distribute leads in round-robin or directly to a sales person and add leads to a “hopper” (a queue) if no rules match.
• Send real-time email and text message alerts to sales to urge response.
• In depth lead tracking and lead capture solutions to build complete profiles of visitor’s online behavior, a key indicator of a prospect’s interests.

What advantages or disadvantages do you see by automatically distributing leads to sales?

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