1. The document discusses managing leads in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, including the lead lifecycle from generation to qualification. 2. It describes various ways that leads can be created, such as through web forms, social networks, imports, and marketing campaigns. 3. functionality for working leads is outlined, including activities, views, queues, workflows, and reports to ensure leads receive proper follow-up. The document also provides examples of how to automate aspects of lead management.

1. MARKETING AUTOMATION
PART 1
Microsoft Dynamics CRM - 2016

3. Managing
Leads
Lead records represent a person or company that you may be
interested in doing business with.
In some cases, a lead may not even yet know about you and
your company. Leads have a specific lifetime.
They start life when you initially learn of the lead through
your Web site, acquiring a list, by referral, or any other
channel.
They reach the end of their life when you determine that they
are (or are not) qualified to do business with you and you
qualify them.
The duration of a lead’s lifetime varies greatly for different
organizations.
In all cases, the objective is to minimize the time between
generating a lead and (dis)qualifying it.

4. Creating
Leads
Organizations typically use a broad range of tools to generate leads. For this
reason, there are usually a variety of different ways that new leads can enter your
system:
Data entry: Sales reps may enter the contact information of people that
they met through networking into Dynamics CRM as individual leads.
Web-to-Lead: Many businesses generate a large volume of leads through
theirWeb site.YourWeb site can be set up to automatically convert
information entered into aWeb form into a Dynamics CRM lead. Having this
process automated reduces data entry time, improves quality, and can ensure
a rapid follow-up.
Social Networking Accelerator: Social networks are becoming just as
important in generating leads as are corporateWeb sites. Microsoft offers a
free add-in (on codeplex.com) to convert social network contacts into leads.

5. Import: Leads can be imported into Dynamics CRM in bulk.This may include purchased
lists, conference attendees, or scanned business cards.
Marketing campaigns: Marketing campaigns can result in the generation of new
leads that are added to Dynamics CRM. See the next chapter for more information on
marketing campaigns.

6. Working
Leads
A variety of functionality can be applied against leads to ensure that they
receive appropriate follow up.
 Activities: Schedule activities for your leads to ensure that none of them
slip through the cracks.
 Views: You can use views to see which leads have been added to your list
of leads recently.
 Queues: Assign leads to queues to be certain that the first available
person can follow up with each lead.
 Workflows: Use workflows to automate the usage of the above items.
 Dialogs: Use Dialogs to ensure that your lead qualification team is
gathering consistent information and is following a consistent process to
qualify leads.
 Reports: Use the neglected leads report.

7. Lead
Automation
Lead management is an area of the sales process that often lends itself to
automation to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and consistency of
the process. Here are ideas to consider implementing to speed your lead
management process:
Web-to-Lead: In many businesses, Web leads often sit in an e-mail
inbox until someone can determine who to forward them to, at which
point they sit in another inbox until they’re worked. Worse still, there
is no way to see which leads have been worked and which have been
dropped. Invest the time to connect your Web site to Dynamics CRM
to automatically convert Web contacts to leads and use the other
items recommended here to streamline follow-up.
Auto-Assign Leads: Use workflows to automatically assign leads to
the appropriate person, team, or queue. Workflows will allow you to
assign leads based on location, product interest, or any other field. You
can also have leads temporarily assigned to marketing who can then
manually assign them to the right person for follow-up.

8. New Lead Alert: Whenever a new lead is assigned to an individual, use a workflow to send them an e-
mail with the phone number and the e-mail address of the lead. Also assign a phone call follow-up task
to the person. This helps to ensure the reps can follow up with their leads right away — even when
they’re out of the office. The follow-up phone activity enables you to track how quickly the leads have
been followed up.
Lead Auto-Responder: In some cases (Web leads in particular), you can set up an auto-response rule
to e-mail the lead after the record has been created. Ideally, do this after the lead has been assigned to
someone so you can send them a personalized e-mail This creates a personal link between the lead and
their representative within minutes of the time that they have hit your Web site.
Unworked Lead Escalation: Chances are, you’ve made a pretty big marketing investment in
generating leads and you don’t want that investment to go to waste. Using workflow, escalate leads to a
manager or to a queue if they are not followed up promptly.
Reporting: Set up reports so you can determine which programs and which individuals are doing the
best job of generating leads and converting them into new business.

9. Qualifying
Leads
When you make contact with a lead, your purpose will be to determine if
they are qualified (your organization would like to establish a relationship
with them) or unqualified.
1. In many organizations there is a disconnect between the Sales and Marketing functions.
2. Sales ask for better leads, and Marketing complains that the leads they provide are never
worked.
3. Marketing asks for feedback on their campaigns from Sales, but Sales doesn’t have the
tools to quantify the results.
4. The marketing functionality available in Dynamics CRM not only closes the gap between Sales
and Marketing but can also bring new efficiency to the marketing function.

10. Using
Dynamics
CRM,
marketers
can
1. Build and manage dynamic marketing lists
2. Execute complex multistep and event-driven
campaigns
3. Generate and qualify business leads, assign them to
sales, and monitor follow-up
4. Deliver sales literature to reps in a format that is
easy to pass along to prospects
5. Track marketing projects and analyse the bottom-
line impact