Lead Management Does Not Have to Be Difficult!
(With the right lead management software, it is even EASY!)
Lead management is at the top of my mind every time I wander around a big consumer expo of some type. This past weekend here in the Valley was no different. Maricopa County Home & Garden Shows put on a fantastic show, and it was a real pleasure to see the people out in masses, something I have not seen for several years around here!
So why think of lead management while walking through a show? In reality, I think more about the LACK of lead management among many vendors who have paid a lot of money to take part in a show. I think of all the lost possibilities for those companies! In following up with many people after the show, I asked how they plan to keep track of and follow through with their leads, and they had some pretty pathetic answers. Many of them have a system no more sophisticated than a piece of paper and a pencil! That is nearly unbelievable in this day and age, and if I did not see it over and over again, I’d have a hard time believing it. They are losing money!
If You Do Not Have a Lead Management System in Place and Are Spending Money on Marketing, You Are Losing Money.
There is no other way to put it. With all the systems available nowadays, you do not even have to spend money to get at least something to keep all your leads in one spot! When a prospect or customer returns a call, how quickly can you shuffle through the papers to find their information? Or once you have the paper in front of you, how quick and easy is it for you to find out what your previous conversation was?
What if the phone is ringing constantly, and you have no time to paper shuffle? In time you start to feel like the woman in the picture below…in other words, slightly overwhelmed. Furthermore, your leads are lost.
What about old leads for prospects who never bought at the time of initial presentation?
Depending on what you are selling, there are times when your prospects have sticker shock. There are various reasons why they do not always buy right away. It does not necessarily mean they do not like you or do not want to buy from you, they simply are not ready at that time. You really need to determine that, and then follow up accordingly. In speaking for myself and using a very simple example, this past week I followed up with at least three people with whom I had spoken nearly a year ago, and now they were ready to buy.
Had I not taken the necessary steps to flag myself to follow up with these people, I would not have made the sale. Instead, I had easy access to a history of our prior conversations (one of them had been eight conversations before I could even get someone out there), and was able to keep on top of what was going on with them througout a period of time.
“A Lead Management Software is So Expensive and Time-Consuming.”
Costs are real. Typically the cost of not implementing a system is more of a cost than implementing. As I stated before, there are even some FREE systems available for you to at least have some semblance of order to your leads. It would behoove you to check into other systems, too, to see what you might be missing in revenues because of not having a good system in place.
As far as time-consuming goes, yes, it does take some time to get set up and trained and used to a new system. However, once you have gone past the initial 30 days, you shoudl be well into saving time already and being able to concentrate on making sales.
Proper Lead Managment Can Make Your Life So Simple and a Whole Lot More Pleasant!
Not having a nice lead managment software versus having one is almost like comparing a rattle-trap car to a nice, trusty vehicle. When your systems are in order and well-greased, everything seems to run more smoothly.
There are many more reasons for having a lead management system in place, as well, but for now this is enough! It’s time to take action and get something in place. Of course, I’m partial to By The Numbers.