What's up, everybody?
I'm Brian Tong, your guide to all things Salesforce.
And this is Salesforce
Explained.
It's a series where we talk Salesforce and technology
without all the jargon or the buzzwords.
So make sure to subscribe to the Salesforce channel
and turn on those notifications so you never miss an episode.
Now today's topic is Lead Management.
This is a hugely important process for any growing business
and a critical part of customer relationship management.
So today we're diving into what lead management is
and how you can successfully manage leads with Salesforce.
So we'll cover the basics.
And, you know, because I love you and want you to succeed,
we're going to walk you through an example to tie it all together.
So pro tip Salesforce Easy will make jumping in even
dare I say... easier.
Yeah, that's because you can sign up for a free trial in just three clicks.
So check out the link in the video description to learn
more and keep an eye out for an upcoming episode
dedicated to all things Easy. Alright, let's do this.
And first up, what is lead management?
Okay, hold up.
Wait!
Now, before we get to that first, What's a lead?
Right?
A Lead is someone who is interested in what you're selling.
Simple enough.
And that person could be an individual or a representative
from another business depending on whether you sell B to C
and that means directly to consumers
or you're in a B to B, that's business to business.
In either case, each new lead represents a potential new source of revenue.
So it makes sense why they're so important.
Leads are the lifeblood of any business, and tracking
leads can help inform your overall sales projections as well.
Lead management is the process of capturing new prospective customers,
tracking them and managing them until they make a purchase.
And usually when the term lead management is used, it
implies the goal of moving leads down the sales funnel.
So check this out
the top of the funnel is the beginning full of potential customers,
while the bottom of the funnel
is the end of the journey where sales happen. Lead management helps
you move more of those top of the funnel folks down towards the bottom,
giving you a better chance of making sales. How?
Well, that's where our stages of lead management come in: lead generation,
lead tracking, lead qualification, lead routing and lead nurturing.
Now, if you look real close, there's a pattern here.
Can you figure it out?
Okay. Stage one.
Lead generation.
Lead generation, a.k.a.
lead gen or lead
capture is the process of going out and finding new potential customers.
In the past, sales reps with cold call customers
and potential customers to entice them with new products and services.
Of course, nowadays phones don't even make calls.
Okay. Of course they do. I'm kidding.
But that's what the app with that old phone handset icon is for, right?
Yeah.
But today's digital first customers that are much less receptive
to cold call pitches.
I mean, when is the last time that you answered a call from an unknown number?
Yeah, you probably haven't.
And most folks are more likely to be interested in learning about
brands and products online through a website or social media.
So that means most lead gen now happens when customers sign up for something
online, like an email list or webinar, which is great.
Why? Well, because when you register prospects through an online form,
bada bing, bada boom, that lead data goes straight to you and your CRM,
which we all know makes your teams lives so much easier.
Pause! Relevant Episode Plug!
Hey, because we can't cover everything in one video.
Remember, we have a whole series.
So if you're new to CRM, check out our "What is Salesforce?"
episode for a full breakdown. AND a hot topic around here:
Genie! We're going to have a whole episode coming out on that later in the series.
Just truly incredible stuff.
Okay.
And back to our regularly scheduled program
That takes us to stage two lead tracking.
Now, once you've captured a new lead,
you want to track their interactions with your brand across your website,
Social media and other channels like email.
Now, here's where that CRM,
Salesforce, yes, comes in ultra handy.
Salesforce manages the flow of all of those interactions, showing you
what emails your leads open, what part of your website they spend time on,
and generally building a complete 360 degree view of who they are.
Salesforce's lead tracking tools also constantly sift through your customer
data servicing insights for how to improve relationships with your prospects.
You might find out an extra tidbit on how their business works or
even something simple that could spark a fun conversation.
Now, tracking leads with Salesforce is like having extra hands!
no, extra brains.
Yeah.
Helping you better build relationships with more prospects than ever.
Yeah. Okay.
That brings us now to the third stage of lead management: lead qualification.
Determining whether or not someone is a fit
for what you're selling is called lead qualification.
And this is the stage where you figure out just how interested your lead
is in your product and the likelihood they'll actually become a paying customer
at some point in the future. Doing this early in the process, that's key.
So once you've qualified your leads, you can prioritize outreach to the ones
more likely to buy and not waste time on cold leads or dead ones.
The lead qualification process can look very different
at companies of different sizes and in various industries.
But good news, Salesforce's lead management
comes with qualification features like lead scoring and grading.
Now those can even be customized to meet the needs of any business.
Lead scoring is how interested the lead is in you, and then lead grading
is how interested you are in the lead. Salesforce
automatically scores
inbound leads based on how interested they are in your products or services
and grades leads based on a factor
like location, job title, industry and company size.
Now, the higher the score or better the grade, the better the lead.
Good leads are my love language.
With Salesforce, you
can automatically root qualified leads to the right reps on your team
so you can focus on the hottest leads right away.
Think of it like a really sophisticated game of hot potato,
but you want those potatoes!
And that brings us to stage four of lead management:
Lead routing.
Ever been to a party where a piñata gets busted open?
You know, everyone gets crazy. They dive onto the ground.
They're trying to scoop up the candy first. Right.
That's great fun at a party, but not a great way to manage a sales team.
Assuming you have more than one sales rep in your company
when the lead comes in, you're going to have to decide who gets it.
This is lead routing.
Lead routing is also known as lead assignment,
and it's the process of distributing incoming leads among sales reps.
It can be as simple as assigning new leads via round robin or something
more sophisticated
that uses factors like territory, industry or potential deal size.
With Salesforce,
you can easily create automated rules based routing to assign leads.
Plus, lead assignment rules are customizable,
so no more fighting over that candy, everybody gets a piece!
Now, last but certainly not least is... drum roll
please...
lead nurturing.
Lead nurturing is just that
nurturing your companies relationships with leads until they're ready to buy.
Like any relationship, customer relationships need attention
to grow stronger and lead
nurturing in the digital age usually happens through content
and email campaigns.
Now Salesforce has automated lead nurturing features.
They can send messages based on a schedule or customer behavior,
and Salesforce will also monitor replies and alert your team to customers
waiting for responses.
So no leads fall through the cracks.
And you know what else Salesforce does that's pretty awesome?
Well, Salesforce can take unqualified leads and automatically
nurture them until they're more ready to buy.
That's like searching for a hidden treasure
except you don't have to do the searching,
your CRM does it for you. And there you have it.
Five stages of lead management.
But what does it look like in practice right?
Well, hey, here's a quick example
just to bring it all home.
Here's Iman.
And Iman clicked on one of your company's LinkedIn posts,
which led them to your website.
That's lead gen.
Now from there, he filled out a form requesting more information,
and Salesforce created a new lead record for Iman.
That's lead capture.
And then before Iman even filled out the form, Salesforce
started tracking Iman's activity on your site and social channels.
If you said that's lead tracking, you're right! Now building a profile
that tracked his anonymous activity and paired it with information about him
and his interest in your products in the background, Salesforce graded and scored
Iman and determined
that he was a hot, hot lead worth routing to a sales rep for a follow up.
That's lead qualifying and routing.
Then the rep made contact and started Iman on an automated nurture campaign,
sending them content based on his profile to prime him to make a purchase.
You know, that sure sounds like lead nurturing to me.
And that's how with Salesforce,
you can turn those hot leads into paying customers.
Makes sense?
Yeah.
So you've learned about each stage of lead management.
And the obvious next question is,
how do you do all of this at your business?
Well, that's a great question.
And I'm going to tell you, first off, it is crucial to standardize
your sales process with lead management knowing and sticking to your process
makes it much easier to reflect on what works and
what doesn't and to improve your sales strategy moving forward.
You know, it's a lot harder to pinpoint what needs changing when you do things
a little bit differently every time.
So here's a five step method for getting started with a lead management plan.
One Document the steps that you take to guide leads through the funnel
from there,
first experience with your brand all the way to when they place in order
to work with your sales reps to refine those steps,
figure out what's missing, and then decide what you don't need.
Three: Implement a new management process based on those refined steps
for a measured performance and do reviews to look for areas that need improvement.
And five: repeat steps one through four.
One, two, three, four, five.
Again, one, two, three, four, five again.
Yeah, you get it.
Now, over time,
you can keep refining your lead management plan to offer the most value possible
to your prospects.
No matter what stage they're in
now, establishing a process that works for your business is absolutely key.
And I get it.
It can feel daunting if you're still learning
how your leads work and how they can be managed,
but that's exactly why you should give Salesforce
easy a try and help walk you through how to manage your leads in CRM.
So give, be productive and save on precious time right away.
Okay. Wow.
Talk about a information
packed episode like I'm legit surprised my mouth still works,
but lead management is an area where Salesforce can really help
you tighten up your sales processes and directly impact your bottom line.
And when it comes to learning about everything involved with lead management,
hey Trailhead right here is your best friend.
I'm a trailblazer, baby.
Well, other than me, of course, this is going to help you do it.
So check out the trailhead links in the video description below.
And don't forget to click the link to try out Salesforce Easy and as always,
be sure to like subscribe and turn on your notifications
so you never miss an episode of Salesforce
Explained. And do me a favor
Comment what you want to see in the next series, right down over here.
And after all, I'm doing this for you.
Okay, everybody, we'll see you next time.