In the past, the ability to track the cause and effect of marketing campaigns has been elusive, so demonstrating true ROI for marketing initiatives has been hit-and-miss. The new reality, however, is that marketers are now judged by the same criteria as other line-of-business managers and executives. Not only has lead quantity come under scrutiny, so has lead quality. lead management technology—one of the key ways to demonstrate the value of well-planned marketing campaigns—is now widely available. In fact, the value of this technology is becoming irresistible for marketing professionals in many mid-sized and smaller businesses today.

1. A r t i c l e
Successful Lead Management
In Five Distinct Stages
in today’s financial services industry, marketing teams face increasing pressure
to draw a direct line between their activities and the bottom line. expectations are
rising—give us more leads, make sure they are quality leads, and get them to us
quicker—while budgets and headcounts continue to shrink.
In the past, the ability to track the cause and effect of marketing campaigns has been elusive, so
demonstrating true ROI for marketing initiatives has been hit-and-miss. The new reality, however,
is that marketers are now judged by the same criteria as other line-of-business managers and
executives. Not only has lead quantity come under scrutiny, so has lead quality.
As a marketing professional, your goal, and the goal of your department, is to generate qualified
leads for sales representatives, who then convert these leads into customers. However, leading
market research studies suggest that up to 70% of sales leads are never acted upon because they
don’t reach the right person at the right time. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that lead management technology—one of the key ways to demonstrate the value
of well-planned marketing campaigns—is now widely available. In fact, the value of this technology is
becoming irresistible for marketing professionals in many mid-sized and smaller businesses today.
Although lead management technology can give you the answers you need to track and evaluate
lead quality, the technology itself won’t be effective unless you plan for it properly. Before
implementing any strategy or technology to manage leads, it’s important to think first about lead
management as an overall process comprised of five distinct stages as follows:
1. Planning and Generating — determining lists, developing messages, selecting the medium,
setting the timing, planning the marketing project, and specifying lead qualification and distribution
mechanisms with the sales team.
For example, if a campaign were being planned to offer a new line of flexible rate mortgages, in
determining the target for the campaign, a list of customers and prospects could be pulled that
looked at people who had at some point indicated that they were going to be purchasing a new
home in the future as well as customers and prospects who are nearing their renewal dates on
existing mortgages.
2. Qualifying — scoring, ranking, and processing leads according to pre-determined criteria, such
as qualification questions or net worth, and processes, distribution rules, defining A, B, and C-level
leads, components and duration of the sales cycle, and how to deal with atypical leads.
All leads that come in from a particular campaign are not created equally—criteria is needed to
determine the order in which leads are handled so that a prospect who is looking to purchase
a home immediately is processed and contacted before someone who is still a year away.
3. Distributing — ensuring that leads reach the right people at the right time. Leads can be distributed
by parameters such as territory, product, lead source, level of urgency, or new versus existing
customers. A lead can be escalated if, for example, the timeframe for making a purchase decision
is short, a budget is already approved, or a particular urgency or a high value is associated with it.
CDC MarketFirst | Article

2. Successful lead Management in Five Distinct Stages
Using the mortgage example again, determination would Through thorough planning at the start of the campaign,
be made as to what happens to leads that respond to by the end, it should be very clear how much additional
the campaign—are they distributed directly to branch business was gained—not only from new mortgage
offices, sent to the call centers for further qualification business, but also additional accounts, loans and
or sent directly to an individual mortgage broker. assets that were transferred into the institution.
“
In combining these stages for a lead management
Leading market research studies suggest that up to system, your ultimate goal is to increase the likelihood
70% of sales leads are never acted upon because they of converting a lead to a qualified opportunity and then
to a new, satisfied customer. Sales success and the
”
don’t reach the right person at the right time. ability to demonstrate ROI is directly impacted by how
effective your marketing team is at each step of the lead
4. Nurturing — remaining in touch with longer term management process.
leads until they are ready to be advanced into the sales
cycle. This step of moving a lead from an ‘unqualified’ By planning your lead management strategy according
to a ‘qualified’ state worthy of marketing resources is to these stages and taking advantage of available
often neglected during lead management. technologies to automate the process, your organization
can reduce the cost of marketing, fill the sales pipeline
There are many reasons that someone who received an faster with better quality leads, and grow revenue.
offer does not respond—often it is just that they do not Ultimately, a lead management system can help you
need the product or service yet. Perhaps someone who do more with less while quantifiably contributing to the
received the mortgage offer from above has a greater bottom line.
need for a debt consolidation loan before they can look
at purchasing a home. Or maybe they have just started
their career and are a couple years away from needing a
mortgage. In either of these cases, by nurturing the lead
through several campaigns, there is a predisposition to
a particular institution when the decision is made to take
a mortgage or use another service.
5. Measuring and evaluating — analyzing a
completed campaign and reporting on it is critical
for demonstrating success or identifying areas for
improvement. When the ROI and cost per lead from
each campaign is accurately reported, patterns can be
identified to help marketing teams repeat the activities
that were proven to work well.
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