Basic Leads Status Examples

I was recently looking at of of the stats on my blog an noticed a few people getting to my blog by searching for lead statuses. As this may be a question that many people have and that can significantly affect good lead management, I decided to write an article about some of the standard lead statuses I have used in the office that might be helpful if you do not know where to start. Lead statuses should be specific and should have a purpose.

Here are the statuses:

New – This status does not need much explanation other than the fact that a lead is only new until the first time it is touched.

Attempting Contact – No matter how many times a lead has been called, it remains in this status until it is finally contacted for the first time.

Appointment Set – After a lead is contacted it will either have an appointment scheduled or it will leave the sales process.

Appointment Held – An appointment was set and actually happened.

Appointment Set/Not Held – An appointment was set, but never happened. Leads can stay in this status until an appointment is finally held or until they are no longer interested.

Qualified – The leads has had an appointment held and has been qualified and is ready to move to the next step in the sales process.

Dead – The lead has left your sales process.

These leads statuses are not meant to be comprehensive by any means. In fact, they are meant to be just the opposite. They are an effort to show how simple a group of lead statuses your company can have. As mentioned in my best practices series, lead statuses should be clearly defined. They should also be linear so that you can easily track your work flow from one lead status to another. Also, in the creation of lead statuses, avoid any statuses that are generic. Generic leads statuses just cause trouble, especially if you have a large sales organization. If people have any doubts about what status a lead should be in, they will inherently pick a lead status that is more vague. An example of this would be “waiting on customer”. No matter where in the sales pipeline a lead may be, sales reps will have the tendency to place leads in this status as soon as they get off the dialer if there is something to be done on the customers side. The problem with this is it that it is not part of a good, linear work flow in lead statuses and you cannot track where a lead has been before it got to it’s present point. Ultimately, the key to good lead response management is to keep a steady and efficient work flow.

Economic Downturn – Time to get out the Big Guns

It is in times of economic difficulty that economic Darwinism really applies. Only the strong survive a bad market. So the question at hand is “How can I be one the ’strong’?” Well, the old adage “hard work pays off” is especially applicable in such times. I think there is another option though. One that can be much more effective than hard work alone. In a down market especially, maybe this adage should be rewritten as “smart work pays off.”
When it is crunch time everyone is working hard, even companies and competitors who typically do not. Thus, this is not a way that you can set yourself ahead of the game. To be truly successful in the market in which we find ourselves, you have to work smart. Working hard is not enough.
The first step to working smart is organization. Good evaluation and reporting are not possible if you are not organized. and tracking improvement is is impossible without evaluation and reporting. That is why getting organized is the first step. Find places in you business work flow or model where things are slow and speed them up. That is really what lead response management is really about, speeding up the less important parts of your sales process so that you can focus on what really counts. Get to the point where your business process is like clockwork. Do not leave any loopholes in your lead management strategy. Reporting will help you find loopholes in your strategy that you did not know existed, but getting yourself organized to begin with makes this possible. If one of the things keeping you from making more sales is the fact that you are not making enough calls or not calling leads fast enough, lead response management software can help you resolve this problem with a built in dialer and which can speed up calls dramatically.
Once you think you’ve plugged up all of the holes in your sales process, start digging deeper into reporting. You will probably have more time for it at this point anyway. The more specific you are with your reporting and metrics, the more holes you can find in your process that will improve your business model even more. It is amazing how many time just a tiny change in the way things are done can dramatically improve your work load and your sales.
Working smart is the key. Everyone can work hard, whether they want to or not, but not everyone can work smart.

LRM: Best Practices XII – Knowledgebase

In my last post, I spoke about how web forms could be used to improve lead nurturing and response as well as generate support cases or service requests directly within your Lead Response Management system. Specifically speaking about support cases, this process can be further enhanced and fleshed out by developing and taking advantage of a knowledgebase. This is not earth shattering or news breaking information. A source of information on previous problems resolved and how to quickly resolve them is something essential to good support, regardless of whether it is to a lead or to an existing client. The nice thing about a good LRM software is that a knowledgebase can be stored directly in it. In this way support representative only have to be trained on the use use of a single system to perform their job duties.
No one likes the growing pains that arise from acquiring a new hire. It takes a while for your support representatives to learn your systems and business model. I have seen support representatives in various organizations quit just a few weeks after they were hired simply because they could not learn and adapt quick enough to be successful at what they did. Ultimately, the steepness of initial learning curves is unpleasant to everyone. If sales representatives are able to consolidate the time they spend learning on the job to a single system, this can greatly facilitate a quicker turnaround in getting new support reps ready and able to take their own support calls without relying on more experienced reps as a crutch.
This simply takes me back to the original reason for having a knowledgebase in the first place. The ultimate goal of a knowledgebase is to lessen the need of newer sales reps on more experienced ones, thus lessening everyone’s lead.
Another benefit of the knowledgebase system is the quickness of the response facilitated. It really just streamlines your work flow.
This is the ideal scenario:
Your lead or customer that has a concern fills out your case web form describing their issue. The automated tools within your LRM system assign the case to a support reps and the case pops up on his screen, the automated dialer then generates a call to the rep after which it generates a call to the lead or customer and connects the two. The troubleshooting of the case is then initiated and the knowledgebase is referred to. If the problem has ever been encountered before, its resolution will be in the knowledgebase and the problem will be resolved quickly.

LRM: Best Practices XI – Webforms

As far as lead response management goes, there is a great deal to be said about web forms. Needless to say, web forms are an excellent way of capturing leads and trying to make sales. On a web form, you can control the type of data you receive from prospective buyers and get the information you really need. In a lead capture form, it is important to not require too many fields, but at the same time, don’t be too generous. The more information you can glean without driving away traffic, the better you chances of working the lead into a sale will be.
This is a blog about Lead Response Management, however, and I want to speak more specifically about properly using web forms in your lead nurturing and management. Getting the right data for this is important because it will help you tailor your response to the lead in a way that will best nurture that lead into a sale.
For this reason it is essential that web forms post lead directly into your LRM system. Doing this eliminates any lag between lead generation and response. It does no good to respond immediately to new leads in your database if they have been sitting in an excel file since the day before; they are no longer fresh. The process between lead capture and response needs to be seamless. This is especially vital if you are in an industry where the probability of your making a sale depends upon whether or not you are the first person to contact the lead.
Going back to the importance of complete information, it is absolutely vital that you get enough information to be able to assign a lead to a specific nurturing campaign. If you build this capability directly into the web form itself, you can avoid wasting time manually doing it or avoid having to pay someone else to do it for you. If, based on the information they provide on the web form, a lead can automatically be assigned to a specific campaign, this will facilitate automated nurturing responses to that lead so that little management time is required. It may take time to build such a form as compared to a simpler web form, but it pays off in the long run.
As far as response goes, if you use your LRM system for customer support as well, you can create a web form that will drop cases or service requests right into your system as well, thus facilitating customer as well as lead response.

LRM: Best Practices X – Voice Broadcasting

To start off, I will give you a definition of voice broadcasting. A voice broadcast is a prerecorded message sent out to consumers via telephone calls. It is a very useful lead management tool, but it can be a double edged sword. Nowadays, many companies use voice broadcasting as a method of contacting leads and trying to make a sale. This prerecorded call typically has an interactive portion with call forwarding through the telephone keypad. If there is not any kind of interactive portion, the call will tell users to call a phone number or visit a website.
Although this is commonly the way such systems are used, there is a big change ahead. By next year, no person that has not consented to receiving such messages will be receiving them, by law. This means that the use of such systems may dramatically change. I do not think that this contact method will disappear altogether as it is very useful. For this reason I am going to speak about some of the useful methods of using voice broadcasting.
It is obvious that if leads consent to being called, then this is a way of contacting leads that are not typically expensive. I personally would not recommend voice broadcasting as a main method of contact for any of your new leads. The reason for this is that leads are valuable and you generally burn leads this way. Personally placing out initial calls to people through a dialer is what has the potential to make a significant difference in a sale. Sending out a prerecorded call can discourage potential buyers from acquiring your product simply because of their dislike for prerecorded messages.
This just not make voice broadcasting worthless, however. It can be especially effective from within Lead response Management software for a few different purposes that can actually improve the customers impression of your organization.
First of all, it can be used to send out reminders of events. I have known doctor’s offices to use voice broadcasting to send out reminders about doctor’s appointments, for example. In this way, you can please your customers by providing a courtesy service that can improve their overall customer experience, which in turn leads to more sales.
The second thing it can be used for has to do with delinquent accounts. If a company does not pay for a service or product that has been provided, an automated call may help notify them of their delinquent status and thus help to make their account current.
Both of these methods help save time and are effective. Just don’t forget to mention the opt-out on the calls for legal purposes.

LRM Best Practices IX – Faxing

Many of the concepts that I mentioned in my last post about direct mail apply to using faxing in your mixed media campaign. Faxing it a useful tool in your lead nurturing process but should not be a primary means of nurturing your leads. In a mixed media campaign, faxing can also be a very effective way of building rapport with your leads and eventually converting more of them. Fax does have limitations, however, not every person has a fax. For this reason, it is a type of media used almost exclusively in the B2B (Business to Business) setting. One of the nice things about faxes is that they often can help you bypass the “gatekeeper” (secretary) who handles all incoming calls. This can make your efforts at contacting decision makers within a company more successful.
Faxes can also be more convenient than direct mail because they can be facilitated over the internet. Lead Response Management software has the ability to generate faxes directly from email templates stored in the system simply by the click of a button. From a management standpoint, there is not difference in setting up faxing or email because both are generated from email templates. From a user standpoint, you just click a different button. in that way, faxing directly from your system is very convenient.
As an added benefit, faxing from the LRM suite gives management the powerful reporting and automation tool available to any of the other integrated parts of the system. The faxing call even be used as part of complex nurturing campaigns.
For example, any time a lead is dropped into the system, the sending of a message by fax can be triggered that explains a little bit about your company and notifies the lead that you will be attempting to call them half an hour from the time the fax was sent. Half an hour later, a call can be automatically triggered from your dialer to that lead and a prerecorded voice message can be delivered if the lead does not pick up the phone. The voice message can then notify the of an email that you will be sending to them. This is just one example. From my experience, however, faxing can be a very successful addition to you lead management plan. Go ahead, try it and see is you notice a difference. Let me know it you do; I’d be interested in hearing your stories.

LRM: Best Practices VIII – Direct Mail

We live in an age where direct mail marketing has limited success. With the advent of the internet, there are less and less people who actually pay attention to junk mail they receive in a physical mailbox. At least that is the way I feel. More and more people are turning to the internet for the goods they purchase. Oftentimes people who do bother reading junk direct mail will look and see if the company has a website, because that makes the company seem more “legit”. Whether this is true or not is not the question at hand. The real question is whether it is even worth any company’s time sending out direct mail to leads. I would say it is.
By itself, direct mail is very ineffective in most cases. There are very few markets in which it is the main way to nurture a lead. In most markets, however, it can be an tool in the nurturing process. When direct mail is used in conjunction with both emailing and dialers, it can be a very effective tool in building rapport and ultimately converting more leads.
The idea is simple, mixed media campaigns build a greater interest in leads because it is easier for them to remember that you are a potential source for a product that they will eventually buy. “Top of mind awareness” is not the only important result of mixed media campaigns. Different people are receptive to different kinds of media. Some people may like direct mail more than emails or calls because they feel it is less intrusive. That being said, it is possible that they may be more receptive to an email campaign after you have sent them your “non-intrusive” direct mail piece.
As far as Lead Response Management software goes, direct mail can be facilitated in a couple of different ways. If you do not plan on using direct mail enough to warrant the services of a company that does your direct mailing for you, these ways can be especially useful. First of all, let us suppose that you want to send out a direct mail piece to clients that meet specific criteria. The automated tools within LRM software can trigger email reminders and create tasks for a company secretary to make sure that the direct mail piece goes out. Also, Using the email templates built into the system, you can also generate the letters on your company printers. These ways obviously do not work for someone sending out mass amounts of direct mail, but like I said direct mail should not be your primary means of contact or lead nurturing.

Nurturing Your Customers

Oftentimes we focus so much on our lead nurturing that we forget to nurture our customers. I recently read a blog post by a gentleman named Tim Miller on this exact topic and I think he is dead on. He compares the importance of nurturing customers to nurturing a marriage relationship, much like nurturing a lead is like nurturing a dating relationship. This is a very great analogy and one that is a very essential and basic part of Lead Response Management. I would like to add to what Mr. Miller had to say.
Although we always talk about relationships as mysterious and magical, the fact is they are not. Relationships with leads and customers, like all other relationships, are very basic. They take hard work consistent upkeep. When a lead is converted into an account or customer (whatever you call it), your relationship with that individual or business does not magically change. There is only an increase in commitment and expectations from both parties in the agreement. Once this idea is understood, one realizes that the nurturing process obviously has to continue. The good news is that it does not change very much. What worked when they were a lead usually works when they are a customer. There are exceptions to this and so it is important to understand your leads and your customers to know whether your nurturing process has to change, but overall, they are still the same people you were working with originally.
The beauty of Lead Response Management strategies is that they apply when the lead is newly acquired all the way through the length of time in which they are your customer. The features available to contact and nurture your leads are also available to contact and nurture your customers. The work flow is the same, the only thing that changes is your focus. Once the lead is converted into a customer, you now focus on retaining the customer. This is the whole reason support and account management departments exist. Sales specializes in converting leads and support and account management specialize in retaining them, keeping them happy if you will. Nurturing is the way to do exactly that. As soon a a customer feels forgotten or under appreciated, the chances that they will convert over to a competitor that they believe has better customer support dramatically increases. So here’s a tip: Don’t forget your customers.

LRM: Best Practices VII – Reporting

Do you know the weak points in your sales pipeline, the the places where leads consistently slip into oblivion? Are you unsure about the weak points in your sales pipeline or customer retention efforts? If not, what your sales and management process might be missing is good reporting.
Reporting is essential for various reasons. First of all, reporting identifies weaknesses in your lead management process. Detailed reporting can pinpoint exactly where in the process you are losing leads or even customers. This is so important because solutions cannot be found to problems you do not even know your business model has.
The second reason for employing good reporting is that the simple fact that you start evaluating your goals and measuring them inherently improves your success. I have always found this to be true. Even if you are not taking large strides to improve, simply knowing what you are doing wrong will naturally increase your success. No sales team is bad at what they do on purpose.
The key is isolating your weak points. Find out where you are losing the most leads. Is it after they are sold and are in the implementation process? Maybe it is right after your product demo. If you can find exactly where they are being lost, you will know what to fix. Oftentimes the key to an increase in revenue is not in generating or buying more leads. It is making the most of the leads you already have and converting as many of them as possible. Improving your sales funnel is usually better and cheaper than increasing the size of your sales funnel.
Many people also know that they should be doing reporting but do not feel they have the time to do so. This is exactly one of the things that makes Lead Response Management Software so powerful. Since the software has just about everything in your sales model built into it (dialer, emailing, crm, web forms, etc.), detailed reporting engines which are also built into the software allow it to evaluate sales from the very beginning of lead generation all the way through continuing customers. Only a complete LRM suite will allow you to achieve this kind of reporting without a great deal of data entry into a report engine to produce the same data. Having such a system also eliminates much of the user error associated with data entry into a third party reporting software.

The Power of Video

Lead nurturing starts as soon as you have a lead. Some may argue it starts even before a person becomes a lead, in the generation process. For this reason I thought I would throw out a tip about SEO. There are many forms or strategies to improve SEO and generate leads available now. Just like most things in life, not are strategies are created equal. Some are much more effective than others and using your options correctly can really make a difference in how successful you are at generating leads. Among the common methods used currently, you will find blogs, web articles, video, social networking, and others. Ultimately, each does have its value. Currently, however, video far outweighs anything else.

Videos get posted by Google faster than anything else and they can generate significant page rankings very quickly if used right. The best part about videos is that they do not have to be high quality. Thanks to all of the videos site in existence as well as the Blair witch project, the standard for video quality is very low.

So what does this mean for you? It means that just about anyone can create a video and put it out on the web to generate traffic. you do not even need sophisticated editing programs. I have recently been using free programs such Windows Movie Maker to edit my movies. Although I’d love to be editing videos on Premier and making something really worth watching, I don’t have the money or the time. That doesn’t matter though, because I don’t need money or time. Free programs allow you to do just enough editing to make your videos ready to be posted on the web and start generating the SEO that you want. I have posted videos on the web that have ranked on the first page of my targeted key words with not too much effort. In fact, they were just videos of a Powerpoint slide with recorded audio, that’s it!

The key is to select unique keywords and upload your video to multiple video sites. Once the video and your keywords are ready, point the video back to the landing page on you website. There are also tools out on the web that can help automate the video upload process to multiple video hosting sites if you are willing to invest money in them. I have personally found these to be very useful when evaluating free trials, simply because they can save you a lot of time.

I hope this tip helps those trying to increase their sales pipeline. After all, in you do not have a sales pipeline, how can you ever do any lead nurturing or lead management?