Sales Lead Management System: How To Finally Make Marketing Accountable

Shared Responsibility with Sales Lead Management System

Marketing ROI has always been difficult to pin down. Most marketers would have you believe that marketing is more art than science, but in today?s business climate every dollar spent needs to provide tangible worth and be measurable.

For many businesses the goal is increasingly to achieve alignment between the marketing department and the sales team. Alignment is?crucial?in order to be able to compete in a today’s tough business environment. The key to any effective sales lead management system lies in communication between the teams and a level of mutual accountability.

Sales have always been a measurable and quantifiable aspect of business. Quotas can be set and met. Marketing not so much.?Today, that?s changing as new data metrics and tools have made it possible for management to more accurately measure marketing ROI and hold marketing directly accountable to revenue.

If you believe you communication gaps between your Sales and Marketing departments, take out FREE Alignment Assessment. It will point to areas of improvement and provide actionable steps.

Let?s examine some steps you can take to effectively quantify your marketing teams contribution to sales growth.

1.?Understand The Current State of Your Marketing Efforts

In order to set, measure, and attain?goals, you first need a benchmark. What is the current state of your marketing department? Are you holding them accountable for expenditures? Do you have an accurate gauge of marketing?s ROI? You need to involve marketing in the big picture. They should participate in outlining your organizational goals and strategies in order to understand the company?s direction and ideal ROI.

2.?Provide the Tools Marketers Need to Attain ROI Goals and Growth

Without the proper tools marketers may be hindered in reaching growth goals. Assess your team to make sure they are happy with the tools and resources on hand. If not, consider budget expenditures to add the resources necessary.

3. Use Analytics to Focus on Increasing Conversion Rates

The online world is data driven. Any effective sales lead management system should include access to the analytics needed to measure effectiveness. Make sure that your marketing team has access to, and understands?the data and analytics necessary to achieve revenue growth. Analytics help marketers to transform pre-qualified leads into sales. By using the right data, marketers can increase conversion rates and sales and increasing revenue will follow.

4.?Have Marketing Emphasize Acquiring Customer Feedback

It?s important to have the customer?s perspective of?your product or service in order to make improvements in your approach and target the correct demographic. Have marketing solicit feedback from past customers by using forms, surveys and social media interactions. Product and outreach improvements can grow revenues. Feedback is the key.

5. Clearly Define Your Sales/Lead Funnel

Any sales lead management system needs to have a clearly defined process. It should include what constitutes a pre-qualified lead and when the handover from marketing to sales should occur. Having clearly defined target market personas and incorporating market research to analyze customer behaviors prior to a sale can work to more clearly target marketing?s efforts.? This can refine the lead process and increase the quality of leads, as well as the revenue generated.

The keys to marketing and sales alignment lie in creating a culture of open communication and data sharing across departments. By setting clearly defined goals, providing the right tools and data, and clearly defining process when implementing your sales lead management system, marketing can be held to a level of accountability that can justify their actions and increase ROI.? By relying on data driven analytics and clearly defined roles and processes, there?s little room left for arguing over either teams performance. The result of each team?s effort becomes easier to see and marketing, like sales, becomes a measurable function.

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.