Sales Lead Management Plan | Alignment Assessment

Overcoming Obstacles with a Sales Lead Management Plan

It?s the same old story. Marketing people think they know sales better than the sales team, and sales people think they know all about marketing. The truth is that both are probably mistaken. Marketing is not sales, and most sales people don?t understand the entire scope of marketing?s efforts.

While this rivalry can drive both teams a bit crazy, the truth is that each has access to information and hard data that can help make the other?s job easier and more effective. Creating alignment and a well-defined sales lead management plan starts with open communication, and the sharing of relevant information and data between the two teams. Let?s look at some information that your sales team can offer your marketing department that can result in more high-quality leads if applied correctly.

What Sales Knows

Primarily, sales people know their customers. They know what drives them to engage, convert and buy. They understand their needs, their pain points, and their triggers. This type of information is vital to designing an effective marketing campaign. Fostering a culture of open communication and data sharing means that sales can give this information to marketing, which will help them to be more effective at bringing in high-quality leads, which can then lead to higher conversions, sales, and revenues when sales picks up the ball. Rather symbiotic, no?

There are several key information points that your sales team should be providing to the marketing department to help them better craft the next campaign including:

? Pain Points ? What problems do your customers have that your product or service directly addresses? How can buying from you ease your customer?s pain? Emphasizing the solutions you offer can cause potential consumers of your product or service to enter your lead funnel, convert, request further information, even self-qualify. Understanding and addressing pain points through marketing is a wonderfully effective way to entice potential customers into your sales/lead funnel.

?? Demographics ? Any well-crafted marketing plan begins with targeting. Creating buyer personas, or fact based and researched fictional representations of your ideal customers begins with real demographic data. Your sales team knows who your buyers are, what they need to accomplish, and where when and what they buy. This information is invaluable when crafting personas for target marketing purposes!

?? Lead Quality ? Traffic and leads are only valuable if the prospect eventually buys. Your sales team understands the lead process and what drives their customers through the decision making and buying steps. By focusing your marketing efforts on known triggers, and known customer behavior, your team can then focus their actions directly to the prospects most likely to respond to your offer or call to action. By understanding what constitutes a qualified lead, marketing can make informed decisions about message, content, and strategy.

? Sales Lead Management Plan ? The key to an effective sales lead management plan is defining the process of your lead funnel. Today, most customers can require several engagements before conversion. Clearly defining where marketing ends and customers are passed on to the sales team to close is a key component. Your sales team understands when this turnover should happen and can offer invaluable information to marketing in terms of qualifying leads as ?ready to buy.?

So, while they may not know the nuts and bolts of the marketing process, your sales team does know what works! Foster a culture of open communication and data sharing between your sales and marketing teams, then sit back and watch your conversions, sales and revenues soar!

Marketing Matters Inbound?is an inbound marketing firm specializing in online conversions, content?strategy, PPC campaigns and traditional media placement. Our experience in?B2B digital?marketing?and?traditional media?allows us to deliver results through a strategic media mix. We believe in?aligning and merging marketing and sales/operations for optimal return on your marketing investment.