crm - Better Closer

Developing Leads for Your Sales Pipeline

March 8, 2010 by Bill Rice

Bettercloser.com - Developing Sales Leads for Your Pipeline

I came across one of the classic deadly myths of sales. It was in the form of a question on LinkedIn Answers. Let’s see if you can spot it:

What do you find works the best for developing leads? I am currently researching other ways to develop leads and eventually fill up my sales pipeline. I currently use the following: Jigsaw, LinkedIn, NetProspex

If you said, “names and numbers don’t equal leads or viable sales pipeline.” I would agree with you.

All passionate and energetic sales people fight this tendency. And with the glut of data available openly on the Web it can be a very hard battle to win.

We know in our gut that much of hitting our monthly goal has to do with large numbers. So, we are constantly hunting and gathering names and squirreling them away in our contact database or CRM. But, at some point you have to determine, enough is enough. It’s time to stop collecting and start processing.

The only way to avoid the idle list gathering trap is to understand that generating sales leads is much more than just collecting names.

The danger with simply seeking lots of venues to supply you with unsuspecting victims leads is that you forget the objective. A sales pipeline is not a list of names and numbers. It is a queue of leads–people and organizations that have potential need for your products and services. Determining who those folks are takes some effort, a lead generation process.

My guess is that most of you don’t need more names and numbers—especially unqualified ones. Most of your lists are already sufficient. In addition, your sales organization is probably filled with prospects, many of which have inquired or were already qualified in some manner.

Now dig into those names and learn who they are and why they might need your help.

Then figure out how to turn them into leads. This simple process gets you ready to take that list and turn it into an engagement plan–social media, conferences, trade shows, webinars, email, phone–this is lead generation.

The real beauty of processing those lists is that this effort will continue dumping new leads into your pipeline.

Bettercloser.com - Sales Leads

Filed Under: Featured, Lead Generation Tagged With: crm, Lead Generation, leads, social selling

Kaleidico Sales Manager, Google Comparison Ads Work Together

January 19, 2010 by Bill Rice

Wow! Fresh into the New Year and Kaleidico is already accelerating through 2010. Today is a very exciting day for me…

Kaleidico Named Fully Compatible with Google AdWords Comparison Ads

Kaleidico has always been very selective in collaborating with others, never wanting to get distracted with shiny objects that would distract us or our customers from success. But a strategic relationship with Google to develop their new Comparison Ads feature was certainly an exception.

We had heard the buzz about Google launching a mortgage lead generation service and soon thereafter the controversy between LendingTree and MorTech. I wanted in.

Why Help with Google Comparison Ads?

I have long-ago sworn off attending one more conference that droned on about lead quality or one more debate over long versus short form Internet leads. The Internet lead generation space was growing stale. What’s more most of the players were fighting for survival, not innovating better customer experiences.

That’s what excited me about Google–a new player, consistently innovative, with the resources to make a difference.

Kaledico’s Sales Manager Improves Sales Discipline

The key to Google Comparison Ads being an explosive success (IMHO) is going to be the customer experience. Consumers expect elegant simplicity and responsiveness. Just recall Google’s start–one simple text box and blazing fast returning search results. This is the experience I wanted to help create with Google Comparison Ads.

And, that’s what we did.

Kaleidico’s Sales Manager is a direct integration for the advertiser to the Comparison Ads marketplace. Once Google notifies us of a user’s request to be connected to a lender via an anonymized phone number, every customer inquiry is immediately delivered to your sales team, distributed based on your rules, and immediate follow-up is enforced by you.

Sales Manager gives you all the tools to be the fastest response on the Web. Here are just a few of the ways Sales Manager gives you the edge in impressing your Google customers:

New lead alerts via email, SMS, and dashboard
Automated distribution to the sales people
Enforced follow-up rules, set by you
Automated email follow-up campaigns
Click-to-dial VOIP integration

If you’re a Google Comparison Ads advertiser don’t neglect getting your lead management edge with Kaleidico’s Sales Manager.

Filed Under: Lead Management Tagged With: AdWords, comparison ads, crm, Google, Lead Management

Free Lead Management Software

October 26, 2009 by Bill Rice

: Image via Wikipedia

Looking for free lead management software? It is possible. The basic principles of lead management can be cobbled together with free tools. Depending on your sales goals and quotas, these just might do the trick.

Let’s build a free lead management system.

Lead Capture: Email, Contacts, and Spreadsheets

Most sales leads are coming from business cards, website contact forms, or phone calls. These are easily captured in email, contact databases, or spreadsheets. The key is centralizing that process. Consistently use one method or the other. Lost or misplaced leads are one of the top reasons for poor conversion rates or low sales numbers.

Most lead management software automates the lead capture process. Typically the automation will capture lead data directly or allow for simple imports–quickly and efficiently adding leads to a central database.

Lead Distribution: Email or Spreadsheet

Getting leads out to others on your sales team can be as simple as emailing or forwarding a spreadsheet. The challenge becomes syncing these various leads with associated actions or annotating updates and notes.

Popular lead management software often simplifies this process by allowing leads to be transferred or routed within the database. There is little change for loss and all of the past history and notes travel with the lead–important bonus.

Lead Tracking: Folders or Labels

Any good sales person will attribute their long-term success to their database. That means never losing track of a lead. This can be difficult for most. We (sale people) are an easily distracted bunch. Each new shiny object that pops in attracts our full attention, while more productive leads spoil.

Tracking these maturing sales can be as simple as using some of the most basic filing techniques. Remember folders and labels?

I am not necessarily advocating your investment in filing cabinets, manila folders, sticky labels, and a good Sharpie. I am telling you to get organized so you can find and tune into these valuable leads on a regular basis. Whether you are using email or some file system on your computer, get a filing system.

This can be as simple as breaking your sales process into statuses and stages. Move your leads from one folder to the next. Label each lead with a priority or probability of success. This gives you easy retrieval and a simple count of items in these folders and of these labels will easily give you feedback on progress.

Sales Pipeline: Calendar and Alerts

Pipeline management is a critical skill for squeezing more out of your leads and accurately forecasting sales revenue. Your sales quota depends on you mastering this process. Doing it with a free system can be challenging, but it is possible.

Get a good electronic calendar–one that can alert you on your computer and your phone. Good pipeline management means forward motion. That means you need to schedule forward and attend promptly to what is ready to be attended to.

I like Google Calendar, but your organization may use Outlook or other enterprise calendaring system. Whatever it is get your sales process integrated into it. This will give you a realistic sales pipeline. One that accounts for those miscellaneous sales meetings and reporting requirements. It also ensure real sales get equal or more priority than simple (but necessary) administration and reporting.

Task Management: TODO List

With your leads tracked and sales pipeline under control it is time to get down to work. This is the job of your TODO list. Lucky for you there is no shortage of free task lists. The trick is finding one that you will use.

My suggestion is a good legal pad and pen. Something about scribbling out tasks and striking them off the list motivates productivity. However, there are a lot of great electronic solutions as well–Remember The Milk (RTM) and TaskPaper are a few of my favorites.

In my experience the closer you keep this solution to your email the better. This is especially true for free lead management as most of your tasks are invariably generated from and maybe moved forward by email.

Lead Nurturing: Email and Calendar

Finally, you need to manage those leads that aren’t quite ready to convert, but may given time and contact. Again, your email and calendar are the right tools to keep up the appropriate touch points and frequency of contact.

Set-up triggers and integrate them into your regular calls and email correspondence. These prospects will be impressed you remembered them and you will be glad you did. Lead nurturing is probably one of the most effective ways to build a healthy and consistent sales pipeline.

There you go, free lead management. A bit more work and less functionality than proper lead management software, but for a single sales person it can get you by. The calculation you need to do is what will a small investment in integrated sales lead management do for your business?

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Filed Under: Lead Management Tagged With: crm, Google Calendar, Lead Management, Remember the Milk, Social Selling, Time management

Effectively Following Up On Sales Leads

June 18, 2009 by Nick Martini

The old adage that the sale is in the follow-up has never been more accurate in today’s marketplace. Businesses are suffering and finding new customers can be an expensive chore. However, by working on your pipeline management techniques and finding new ways to create leads, you can stay on top of this economy and start to see some definite results.

Sales Leads Process

Whenever you’re dealing with sales leads, you’ll need to have an effective sales process in order to manage them properly. If you do not have a sales manager, it is even more important to take the time to develop a process that is going to take you from start to finish in the easiest means possible.

You have enough to do without having to worry about what’s going on with your leads and your sales team and taking the time to handle pipeline management now will free you up in the future to handle the day to day needs of your business, while your sales are moving smoothly.

Utilizing a leads CRM system can help this process go even more smoothly, especially if you are dealing with numerous sales leads. By having a software application that can assign priority, send reminders for customer follow-ups and help you manage your sales team more effectively, you can guarantee that your sales department will function more smoothly.

Setting up a System That Works

Each company is different and you’re going to have different needs when it comes to organizing your team. The important thing to focus on is what works for your company, not necessarily what may work for another. There will be a time where you will need to test different strategies to see which ones work the best for your organization.

Pipeline management is most effective when you have a dedicated team that knows what they are doing. Do your best to make sure that the learning curve of how you handle leads is easy to understand and make your expectations clear. This will help your sales process immeasurably.

Customer Follow Up Schedules

Whether you decide to use a CRM system to schedule follow-ups or you are doing it the old fashioned way, figuring out which team members will be assigned to these tasks is an important step. You’ll want to put your best and most persuasive sales members on these calls. Don’t make the mistake of handing this off to an inexperienced sales person.

Scheduling the frequency of follow-ups is another important step to ensure your success. You don’t want them to forget about you, but you don’t want to be a nuisance either. Since some industries are more competitive than others, you’ll need to test what length of time works best for your specific organization.

Putting it Together

Your company can only be successful if you keep adding new clients and prospecting for sales. Having the right pipeline and the right lead management techniques is a vital part of this system and should never be overlooked.

Filed Under: Sales Management Tagged With: crm, Lead Management, pipeline management, sales force, sales leads

Social Selling, Classic Belly to Belly Sales 2.0

April 27, 2009 by Bill Rice

: Image by Howard N2GOT via Flickr

It is funny how things change, but stay the same. Nothing demonstrates that like sales. I am going to jump on the Sales 2.0 bandwagon here, but I am going to present it retro-style.

Belly-to-Belly Sales Works

No sales techniques is as effective as sitting belly-to-belly, chatting, and liking who you are hanging out with. Think for a second… Have you ever created a long-term, highly profitable client via email? No. And, you never will.

The Internet is a great marketplace, a fabulous marketplace for connecting intent and offers. However, it rarely sells and it never creates a customer relationship.

What About Amazon.com?

But, what about Amazon.com? Perfect case study. Amazon.com probably thinks we have a fabulous relationship–thousands of dollars later. I got an incentive offer to buy online at Barnes and Nobles, another to purchase at a Borders bookstore. The result? Hundreds of dollars in lost sales revenue to Amazon.com. And, I would do it again.

I am not suggesting that Amazon.com get belly-to-belly with me. I am suggesting that if you are selling mortgages, real estate, or enterprise software that little “competitive opportunity” in your client relationship management will cost you thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions.

I am also not suggesting that you suddenly visit every prospect in your sales pipeline. Here is what I am suggesting:

Get Social Online

I am a big believer in Internet marketing, but typically it is poorly executed. Many companies and individual hide behind the anonymity of the Web. This is the best way to reduce sales opportunities. People don’t want to buy from “anonymous.” They want to buy from people–people like themselves.

Social media has made this process easy. The variety of social networking sites have given you simple platforms to design your social selling strategy. No need for advanced knowledge of the Internet, web programming, SEO, or other technical barrier. Simply sign-up and give us a little introduction to who you are, what you do, and how you can help people.

Make Connecting Easy

Now you have a social presence–LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter (it doesn’t matter). And, I like what I see. How do I contact you?

This is the biggest mistake I see continually repeated. Remember, no one buys from “anonymous” or @HotRealEstateDeals or whizzy345@hotmail.com. Don’t obscure or anonymize your contact information. Make contacting you easy.

Even more important, if they contact you–answer the email or phone call. Talk to everyone. Talk to anyone. It will make you more profitable.

Play, Have Fun

Don’t make everything so stiff. Learn to play a little. Let prospective clients see you play a little bit. Post pictures, videos, places you are visiting, books you are reading, movies you liked, ideas you are thinking about, dreams you are dreaming.

No one likes to talk business all of the time–especially your customers.

Here is another secret: Those personal insights and playful posts attract people like you, people that will like you. And, people buy from people they like.

Take it Offline

You’re goal in your Sales 2.0 strategy is to attract online and sell offline. Build trust and depth with your clients by getting belly-to-belly, just like the Old’n Days.

More agents using Facebook, Twitter to sell homes (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Google Me Takes On a New Meaning (ducttapemarketing.com)
For sale by tweet: Social networking to sell homes (seattlepi.com)

Filed Under: Social Selling Tagged With: crm, Customer relationship management, facebook, linkedin, real estate, Social network, Social network service

Free Lead Management, Managing Sales Leads with Google’s GMail

March 26, 2009 by Bill Rice

: Image via CrunchBase

Google has distinguished itself as an innovator in software. If you are looking to accomplish a personal productivity task chances are Google has or is working on a solution–Google’ GMail is prime example. GMail takes a very mature technology, like email and made us look at how we process, manage, and retrieve our electronic communications.

However, potentially one of the most powerful things about GMail is its versatility in creating custom management strategies or processing ques. This flexibility is what makes GMail an ideal platform to use as a personal contact management system or simple CRM.

Get Endless Blogging Ideas (Hint: It’s my secret. I’m a subscriber)

Why GMail for Contact Management?

Contact management is fundamentally a system that helps a sales person quickly identify new prospects, make contact, and manage follow-up.

Inherently you get the communications tool–email. Leveraging the power of Google’s search, labeling, and filters you get the management of those communications. Chances are if you are using a personal CRM, such as ACT! or Goldmine you are using a lot of email-like features, but are still required to leave that application to use email also.

Time is money so you don’t want to be wasting time bouncing between multiple applications. So, why not stay in your email application.

Importing and Managing Contacts

One of the fundamental roles of your CRM is to capture and manage your contacts. Your sales system needs to easily get your prospects and clients into the system, reference them quickly, and efficiently manage updates.

GMail does each of these tasks exceptionally well. Whether you are exporting contacts from Outlook, Apple Mail, or loading a spreadsheet of contacts GMail makes it easy. If you already have your contacts in a Web-based mail or social network system like Yahoo! Mail or LinkedIn it is even easier–login and click.

Creating a Sales Prospecting System

Now that you have all your contacts in GMail, Google’s search becomes a powerful prospecting tool. Are you looking for a person in a particular company? Do you need all the SVP or higher marketing executives? Do you need everyone that is in the health care sector? All of these types of prospecting questions are easily answered and your database segmented using GMail.

What is most important, using GMail as a contact management system puts all of these prospects at your fingertips and ready to contact.

Managing Real-time Internet Lead Generation

GMail also has great features for managing real-time Internet lead generation. Combining the power of filters, labels, and actions you can immediately prioritize and queue leads as you see fit.

Filters allow you to create complex rule sets for specific types of emails. This can allow you to:

Highlight (i.e., star) emails coming from lead sources
Label different lead sources
Filter them into specific groups for follow-up

You can take this contact management and prioritization system one step further by using GMail’s latest multi-inboxes to create sales pipelines and queues.

Prioritizing with GMail’s New Task List

Of course, no sales management system would be complete without a task list. GMail has a simple, but elegant task list. You can not only build your schedule of TODOs and you can turn emails and correspondence into task and follow-up reminders.

Also, don’t forget to use the Google calendar to schedule and track appointments.

Integrating Other Social Media Tools

Finally, sales is about engagement with people. Few technology concepts have helped sales to so directly engage customers as social media.

Using Google’s robust GoogleTalk, embedded in GMail you can bring in all of your social media streams as well as your email conversations. Again, turning all of this communication into a searchable prospecting database.

GMail is a lot more than an email application–it can be your personal Google contact management or CRM software.

Gmail productivity hack: Keep What Matters On Top (crystalsquest.com)
The Future of Twitter: Social CRM (web-strategist.com)

Filed Under: Lead Management, Sales Management, Social Media Tagged With: crm, Gmail, Google, google lead management, Google Talk, linkedin

Kaleidico Sales Manager, Google Comparison Ads Work Together