Sales LeadManagement SoftwareSolutions For YourSmall Business

So, you’ve built up a solid

based of inquiries. But

now that you’ve got your

leads, what are you

supposed to do with

them? Believe it or not,

this is a question that

plagues many small

business owners, time

and time again. Getting

prospects are important

to building your new

client list, but unless you

know what to do with

them, you’re doomed to

fail. To make it worse,

you could have

completely avoided it with

the right lead

management system in

place.

Lead Tracking and

Management may sound

tricky, but there are many

solutions available to help

your lead management

responsibilities move as

smoothly as possible.

Lead management

software is by far the

most effective solution

available, and it’s easy to

implement. And, the lead

management software

options for your small

business are astounding.

Knowing what you want

out of your lead

management software,

and knowing how to use

the technology you

purchase, will have a

huge impact on how well

the software system helps

your business perform.

Hosted Lead Management

Solutions

Software solutions are

now available as hosted

solutions and hence no

need to invest in server

hardware and special

software. These solutions

are also known as

subscription based

services or on-demand

solutions. You can

subscribe to lead

administration solutions,

accessible via internet for

as low as $50 a month.

You can start using the

software in a day or two,

if not in a few hours. The

learning curve is not as

steep as it used to be.

Your administrator and

sales personnel can

manage the leads centrally

and access it any time,

anywhere. The pricing

varies with the number of

users / sales persons

accessing the system and

volume of your inquiries

and drip / sequential

emails sent for nurturing

and follow-up.

Key Features

When choosing a

software system for

managing leads and

prospects, there are a few

key features to look for:

database management,

charting, and client

management options.

Database management

will allow you and your

employees to keep track

of new client leads,

manage current leads,

and keep status reports

for each track. Charting

will enable you to create

graphical depictions of

your leads, and show you

what areas are succeeding

and where your company

may need improvement.

Client management can

track individual leads, let

you and your employees

know if a client has an

outstanding question to

answered, and track

previous orders and

future interests.

These three aspects of the

software can boost your

company’s productivity.

You and your employees

can easily track and

manage many different

streams of leads, and

break each lead down to a

single entity to focus on

client relations. This is

imperative for one-on-one

client interaction, which

encourages new clients to

purchase from your

company and increases

repeat client business.

Components of the

Software

•Sales Leads can be

captured and aggregated

from multiple sources

such as web forms, third

party solutions via API,

and emails using an email

parser solution. The leads

can also be manually

entered manually so that

all leads can be managed

in one place.

•Software can

automatically distribute or

route sales leads to your

sales team based on

various criteria such as

geographical area, lead

profile, etc.

•The lead administrator

can qualify the prospects

and rank them (ex. hot,

warm and cold) based on

the conversion possibility.

This would help your

sales agents to focus on

top priority leads first.

•The prospects can be

nurtured using drip email

messages (or sequential

emails or autoresponders)

and future conversion.

Latest prospect

management solutions

incorporates in-built email

marketing solutions for

this purpose.

•The leads can be

followed up and tracked

using the email

management solution in

order to provide full

visibility to all concerned.

Lead management

software should also

allow you to effortlessly

import your existing data

and data from external

sources, and allow for

merging of other

important data along with

the information your

software stores. Reports

will be a breeze to create

with the right type of lead

management software,

which will both cut down

on time spent analyzing

your information and

allow you to see in real

time where your lead

management skills need

improvement. This is an

invaluable tool for your

client management

practices.

The Human Touch

When making the

decision to venture into

lead management

software solutions, keep

in mind that the software

solution is by no means a

replacement for your own

hard work. The solution is

meant to assist your

company in lead

management, and allow

you to handle more leads

with the time you can

save using it. The

software system is only

as worthwhile as the

people using it, so use it

wisely. Remember that

your leads want to deal

with a real person, not a

program, and don’t let

possible clients slip

through the cracks.

Prudent use of

subscription based lead

tracking and

administration systems

can help your business

increase conversions

manifold and improve the

bottom line.

Paddu Govindaraj

specializes in Email

Marketing, Autoresponder

and Lead Management

software tools and

resources for Small and

Medium Businesses to

embrace online

marketing. He provides

design, consulting,

customization and

implementation services

in Email Marketing and

Sales Lead Administration

areas. He blogs on Lead

Management Best

Practices, Web Analytics

and Email Marketing

subjects.

Please take a look at the

features of LeadPro by

visiting the LeadPro Lead

Tracking, Management

and Email Marketing

website. We will help you

in assessing your

business requirements

and configuring a solution

to suit your specific

business scenario.