| Many marketers know they need, and desperately | | | | some immediate value without consuming the entire |
| want, lead management systems and processes, but | | | | marketing department or missing current targets |
| are worried about their ability to implement them. | | | | campaigns. This primarily depends on what you are |
| Marketers are all resource-constrained, so the question | | | | currently doing and what you can facilitate moving |
| is, "How can they start down the path of improved | | | | forward. |
| lead management without overhauling their entire | | | | Some companies might start by segmenting and |
| operations in a lengthy three to six-month | | | | targeting their prospects with e-newsletters, whereas |
| implementation?" | | | | others might implement an approach to track and |
| The good news is that lead management can really be | | | | nurture in-bound leads from their AdWords campaigns. |
| taken in steps. Yes, for maximum return you need to | | | | It's important to keep it simple and focus on the |
| implement all components and processes, from | | | | benefits you can realistically and quickly achieve. |
| website to close of sale. But you don't need to take | | | | Lead-to-sales process considerations. How do you |
| advantage of all the features right at the beginning of | | | | want leads to pass to your sales team? Some |
| implementation. | | | | companies choose to keep their process the same, |
| Start out small, improving on what you are doing today. | | | | such as moving all leads to sales. Others might choose |
| And be sure to lay out a well-designed and realistic | | | | to implement basic scoring and move only those leads |
| path of steps to start reaping incremental | | | | to sales that meet a basic set of criteria. The |
| lead-management benefits, while also understanding | | | | important factor is to start simple, measure and adjust. |
| how to grow your systems and processes over time. | | | | Metrics now and later. After the basics are |
| Here are some guideposts along the way: | | | | accomplished, it's time to upgrade your thinking about |
| Set realistic goals. The first step is to define your goals | | | | analytics and your understanding of what's working |
| in the short-, mid- and long-term. By doing this, you can | | | | and what's not. Here, you'll want to go beyond tracking |
| measure progress as you go and see the results | | | | just opens and clicks, and consider ongoing behavior |
| you've made along the way. Short-term goals can be | | | | and marketing effectiveness. You could perhaps start |
| as simple as increasing click-throughs or conversions | | | | by tracking the increase in conversions by campaign. |
| of e-mail marketing programs, or implementing a | | | | Later, you could track the number of sales-ready leads |
| nurturing component within existing campaigns and | | | | generated by campaign, and revenue by campaign. |
| seeing what effect it has on quality of outbound calls. | | | | You'll need to test, measure and refine. |
| Get sales buy-in. Working with sales is one of your | | | | It's imperative to drive value with your |
| first steps when implementing a lead-management | | | | lead-management system, both initially and in the |
| system. Think of your mid-to-long-term goals in | | | | future, based on your company's resources, budget |
| particular, and how to evaluate the marketing-to-sales | | | | and needs. By doing this, and by taking the small steps |
| process by defining what a sales-ready lead really is | | | | outlined above, you can ain some immediate ROI as |
| within your organization. | | | | well as the visibility to increase your marketing |
| Identify initial campaigns and steps. It's important to | | | | effectiveness. |
| evaluate where to start-namely, where you can get | | | | |