10 THINGS ASYSTEM CAN DO FOR YOULEAD MANAGEMENT

A Study by

Table of ContentsProblem……..………………………….……... Solution………………………….……………..

● Capture and Organize……….……...● Enrich and Rank…………..….……….● Distribute and Notify……….……….● Streamline Workflows…...………….● Respond First…………………………● Make Contact……………...………….● Nurture Over Time………..………….● Track Everything………..…………….● Measure and Report………………...● Manage Your Pipeline……………….

Summary……………………………………….Case Study #1…………………………………Case Study #2………………....……………...

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AuthorJordan Muela

As a seasoned marketer and CEO of LeadSimple, Jordan brings a wealth of knowledge on the topics of sales, marketing and process improvement. Jordan has been working in the lead generation and property management space since founding Manage My Property, LLC in 2008. Contact him on twitter at @jordanmuela

Simplifying the science of sales

Is it different than a customer relationship manager (CRM)?

Yes.

A lead management system specializes in improving your sales process with prospects, whereas a CRM is focused on tracking communications with existing customers.

What is a Lead Management System (LMS)?

It’s a tool that helps manage sales and improve your close rate.

Everything from distributing leads to tracking how people are following up with them.

3 4 10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

Introduction

The SolutionComprehensive lead management from call to close.

Lead management refers to a set of processes that ensure every lead is properly captured and fully pursued.

It’s an end to end process that leaves nothing to chance, including:

● How leads are captured and distributed to agents

● When and how followup takes place● Tracking all sales activities

The ProblemGrowth suffers when leads fall through the cracks

Most small to mid sized business suffer from lack of focus. Each employee wears more than one hat, so some areas get neglected.

And when you're operating in hair on fire mode, it’s easy to neglect leads and miss opportunities without anyone noticing.

Do you have the answers to important questions like:

● How quickly are we responding to new leads?

● Where in the sales cycle are deals falling through?

● How well is each agent performing?

3 4 10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

Sales Cycle Conversion Rate

Lead Cost Sales Revenue$%

Top 10 Uses Of a LMS

Above: Leads can be imported manually or automatically either by routing new

lead emails to a special dedicated email from the lead management system or by

using a special feed that posts leads via an API.

#1 - Capture and OrganizeThe first step of any sales process is organizing leads and sales

activities into one central system. While many companies are still

using everything from spreadsheets to scraps of paper to manage

leads, software-based solutions have some significant advantages.

Leads can be captured and imported in real time along with agent

sales activities so that managers can view lead or agent

performance at any time.

Most lead management systems offer a bulk upload feature that

will allow you to import a .csv or .xls file of your past leads which

you may already have or can obtain from any vendors you

purchase leads from.

After leads are in the lead management system, you can easily

filter them based on specific criteria like lead assignee, lead status,

lead score or date range. This allows you to drill deeper into your

data to find trends and patterns.

5 6

Referrals Radio Mailers

OFFLINEONLINE

USPostal

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

LMS

#2 - Enrich and RankDo you know which are your best leads? A good lead management

system can help you find out.

No one enjoys chasing bad leads, so when you want to motivate

agents to follow up, context is king. Here are some ways that a

lead management system can help:

1. Automated lead enrichment services can find and add

helpful information to your leads based on the prospect’s

contact information or address.

2. Leads can also be ranked to determine the order in which

they should be pursued. A hot, warm, cold, or 1-3 star

ranking system is common. Some lead management

systems allow for more advanced lead scoring.

Above: A new lead notification email from LeadSimple that contains enriched

information about the lead and their property. Notice it contains additional

information about the property and person that wasn’t originally included when

the lead was submitted. All this information is fetched in real time.

7 8

Priority:Urgency:

Right: Priority refers to the value or readiness of the lead, while urgency refers to how recently they’ve shown interest (e.g. last day, week, month).

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

#3 - Distribute and NotifyThe way a company chooses to distribute their leads to agents can

have a significant impact on overall contact and close rates.

Sending each lead to the right individual or group improves lead

response times and overall follow up.

Many companies still distribute leads manually which wastes time

and slows down initial follow up. Aggressive sales teams frequently

employ automated lead distribution in order to drive improved

response times, contact rates and close rates.

Some lead management systems enable companies to build

custom lead routing methods based on different criteria such a

time, location or lead type.

The best advice is to test and optimize your lead distribution

process on a regular basis. Changes in personnel, lead type, season

and marketing methods may impact which distribution method

works best for your company.

Lead Distribution Approaches

Automatic distribution can raise conversion rates by

87% over manual methods. (Source: Leads360)87%Auto distribution methods improve the percent

of leads called in less than five minutes by 91%.(Source: Leads360) 91%

9 10

Push Pull Hybrid

First to CallFirst to ClaimBlind PullCherry PickTerritoryTop ProducerRound Robin Evenly distributes leads to reps in order.

Assigns leads based on agent performance.

Assigns based on location of the lead / agent.

Agents view leads and claim ones they want.

Agents claim leads without seeing details first.

Multiple agents called, first to call lead wins.

Multiple agents called, first to call lead wins.

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

#4 - Streamline WorkflowsAre you taking advantage of the repetition and sameness within

your sales process? From the initial phone call to getting the deal

signed, the milestones are largely the same. Documenting and

refining these steps can pay huge dividends.

Think about the sales process as links in a chain. Every step should

be connected to the one that preceded it and the one that follows.

If there are any breaks in the chain, leads will be lost.

Many companies leave it up to agents to determine what sales

process works best. This lack of direction and oversight almost

always leads to inconsistent, sub par results.

The first step toward a killer sales process is to map out the the

various steps and stages leads go through. The second is to define

the timing and sequence of agent follow up attempts. The last is to

automate and streamline each step.

After this, the business can manage a higher volume of leads AND

maintain a higher close ratio. No more lost opportunities.

1 3CONTACT SCHEDULE 5 9

2nd 1 min

30 min

15 min

Above: Scheduling a series of calls and emails for each lead in LeadSimple.

Above: Scheduling action in advance helps ensure

that each lead is touched at the right time in the

right way.

Day Day Day Day

1211

1st

Email Template

1st 3rd 4th

2nd

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

#5 - Respond FirstResearch shows that calling new leads within five minutes of their

initial inquiry can increase contact rates by 900%. (Source: 2007

Kellogg/MIT Study) Each minute that goes by represents lowered

odds of making contact and eventually closing the lead.

Why immediate response matters:

● Presence - They are likely available at that moment

● Highest Interest - They are at their peak point of interest

● Wow Effect - It’s a great way to impress & build rapport

● Be first - You set the tone before competitors

Some lead management systems can call one or all of your team

members simultaneously to connect them to new leads.

How it works: The CallConnector feature in LeadSimple sends

new leads to multiple agents via a phone call that

allows them to connect with prospects instantly.66%64%

64% of buyers and 66% of sellers work with the agent they talk to first.(Source: Nat. Assoc. of Realtors)

BUYERS SELLERS

1413

Call Connector:

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

1

#6 - Make ContactThe sales funnel progresses from initial contact all the way to

closing the sale. The further along a prospect is, the more likely

they are to convert. What many companies don't realize is how

many leads are won or lost at the top of the funnel.

Companies that have a higher contact rate with their leads will

inevitably have a higher overall close rate as well. The key is both

responsiveness AND persistence.

How many contact attempts do you make before giving up?

By using automated tasks and reminders and tracking how many

times each lead has been called and emailed, you can ensure every

lead is getting the number of touches it deserves.

Above: Probability of contacting a lead based on the number of call attempts.

(Source: Velocify)

Improvement in contact rate versus calling once.

(Source: Velocify) .

Improvement Over Calling Once

2 6

78% 138%

1715

Below: View the # of emails and calls made to each lead within LeadSimple.

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

#7 - Nurture Over Time Not all leads are created equal. Some are ready to buy now, others

a few months from now, others will never buy. As a rule of thumb,

45% of all leads will end up buying from someone.

Unfortunately most companies treat all but the ripest of leads as

worthless, which is a huge lost opportunity. By using a lead

management system to keep track of and follow up with long term

prospects, it's possible to dramatically improve the ratio of long

term leads closed.

Below: Email templates make it easy to send quick personalized emails.

50%

of sales happen

(Source: InsideSales.com)

50%

the 5thtouch

Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales at 33% lower cost.(Source: Forrester Research)

50%LEADS

33% COSTS

AFTERof leads are QUALIFIED BUT NOT YET READY to buy. (Source: Gleanster Research)

1817 10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

Above: The best way to record sales activities accurately is to

document them while they are happening in real time. By using a

lead management system that offers tracked contact info for each

lead you can capture every phone call and email your agents make.

#8 - Track EverythingTop performing companies don't operate off guesswork. Asking

agents to report from memory about their sales activities is like

playing a game of telephone. You get generally worthless

information that masquerades as useful data.

Yet companies that do require agents to record their sales activity

still struggle with compliance issues. People are simply too busy to

go back after the fact and record what happened.

● Problem: Getting agents to record activities is hard.

● Solution: Passive activity tracking.

By using tracked contact info for leads, you can capture every

phone call and email agents make as they happen without

requiring them to go back and record what happened.

Passive Tracking

Original Tracked(919) 413-1727 (919) 939-3535 ext. 203

meg@mail.co meg97C4@tracked.com

2019

“People respect what you inspect.” - Chet Holmes

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

#9 - Report and MeasureA simple litmus test of a company's commitment to growth is

actually tracking those outcomes at a basic level.

Truth be told, not tracking your sales performance is the same

thing as not caring about your sales.

You wouldn't fly on a plane where the pilot refused to look at his

instrument panel because he prefers to "wing it", and no top

performer wants to be on that kind of a sales team either.

Making the investment to measure and report on what's really

going on in sales and marketing means having accurate answers to

questions like:

● How much am I paying per lead / per contract from each

lead source?

● How quickly are we responding to new leads?

● What percent of leads do we meet with? What percent of

those convert?

2221

"What gets measured, gets managed." - Peter Drucker

Right: The LeadSimple dashboard.shows stats for people and lead sources.

Responding in

22 minutesMedian Resp. Time

Trying

3 timesMedian # of Touches

Contacting

90%Of Leads Received

Converting

24%Of Leads Received

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

#10 - Manage Your PipelineYour sales pipeline is the universe of leads you’ve interacted with

at any stage of the sales cycle. Whether a lead just contacted you,

just met with you or asked you to call them back in two months,

they all fall somewhere in your pipeline.

The more leads in your pipeline, the bigger they are, the higher

percentage of them you close and the less time it takes you to

close them, the bigger your revenue and profit.

Seeing where all of your leads are and how they are moving down

your pipeline gives much greater clarity on what you need to do

drive more sales.

Managing your sales pipeline means ensuring that each step of

your sales process is well thought out and properly executed.

As you refine your sales process you can customize your sales

funnel based on specific steps and actions that move prospects

from stage to stage.

Right, top: A historical sales funnel view tracking conversion progress.

Right, bottom: A current sales pipeline report within LeadSimple.

Won

100%

Customers

Current Sales Pipeline

Leads

Committed

60%

New

18%

50%

82%

Actually Met

Historical Sales Pipeline

2423

38%

Contacted Meeting

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

SummaryMake the most of the leads you work so hard to generate.

By supporting your sales process and giving you visibility into

what's happening, lead management systems act as a critical

business asset enabling you to:

Better lead management means higher sales, lower costs and a

better bottom line.

Above: The bulk of leads will always flow towards the companies

that are most efficient at converting them. This makes for either a

vicious or virtuous cycle depending on which end of it you’re on.

Capture and Organize

Enrich and Rank

Distribute and Notify

Streamline Workflows

Respond First Manage Your Pipeline

Measure and Report

Nurture Cold Leads

Virtuous Cycle of Conversion

Track Everything

Contact Every Lead

2625

Companies that automate lead management see a 10% or greater increase in revenue in 6-9 months. (Source: Gartner Research)

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

Real World Case Studies

Case Study - Sharper Management

Company Profile

● Founded in 2010

● Based in Minneapolis, MN

● Full time staff of 18 people

Problem

● Getting agents to record activity

● Needed responsiveness to be a priority and selling point

● Fostering data driven culture and eliminating guess work

Solution

● Instant call notifications connecting agents to new leads

● Calls / emails are automatically logged via tracking

The ResultAfter adopting LeadSimple as their lead management system

Sharper has seen faster responses and higher close rates:

"I have people that are obviously trying to get three different bids,

but every time they come back and say, 'well you were the first to

contact us, the first to get us information and the first to follow up

again later and ask us how are things going, and because you

followed up, we'd like you to come in'.”

Here’s how Joel views the ROI of investing in LeadSimple as his

companies lead management system:

“The ROI for is that I can look back and see that my average

response time is 21 minutes, I contact leads at least three times

each, I have a 89% contact rate and a 35% conversion rate.”

“I can see all that just by logging in. Where else can I get that?

Otherwise I'd have to put out report after report together to get

that and I’d have to record all that stuff manually. This all happens

automatically.”

READ FULL CASE STUDY

“Its all price, thats all we ever fight each other on, and if it’s just price they’re going to go with whoever responds first and gives them them better pitch; whoever gets in front of them.”

- Joel Starks, Head of Business Development

3029 10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com

Sharper is in a notoriously competitive rental market:

The ResultJeremy looked to LeadSimple to help implement a robust yet

simple lead management solution. Here’s what he found:

"Instead of me going around to my 2 or 3 property managers and

saying ‘Did you call this person back, did you call this person back’ I

just want to go online and see who’s following up or who logged in

last."

“Our staff have financial incentives tied to lead response times and

sales conversion rates. We wanted to be able to track exactly how

long it took to respond to a lead, etc. LeadSimple tracks every

communication with a prospective client and we feel confident

paying out bonuses based on the information in LeadSimple.”

Urbane can now maintain a bold claim: “Don’t settle for slow

response times and inattentive managers. Experience the

difference Urbane can make today!”

32

“I think the first guy to respond to them and or the most persistent guy

to respond to them are likely to get the deal and I think we lose out on

a lot of business that way. Right now it is pretty close to gut, or asking

people ‘where do you get most of your leads from’ - which is probably

somewhat accurate but is still just a guess.”

- Jeremy Boardman, Company Principal

10 Things A Lead Management System Can Do For You . www.leadsimple.com31

READ FULL CASE STUDY

Case Study #2- Urbane Results

Company Profile

● Founded in 2007

● Based in Washington, D.C.

● Manages rentals & COA’s

● Management only, no buy/sell

Company principal, Jeremy Boardman was totally

convinced that speed and thoroughness were a

critical part of winning new customers. Yet, he felt

that they were losing out on more opportunities due

their poor process.

About LeadSimple

LeadSimple is a cloud based lead management solution focused on

helping real estate companies drive sales and increase market

share.

Since 2008 we've generated tens of thousands of leads for

property management companies across the nation. We've been

in the trenches with our clients and know first hand about the

challenges of being a small business and wearing a lot of different

hats.

LeadSimple brings structure, accountability and automation to the

selling process so that you can connect to leads faster and close

more deals. We're committed to helping companies that want to

sell better and providing them with a simple product, outstanding

customer service and world class free resources on how to grow

their businesses faster.

www.leadsimple.com

(888) 626-3259

PO Box 1354

Brush Prairie, WA 98606

Start fine tuning your lead management process today.

Sign up for LeadSimple’s 14-day free trial.

Schedule a Demo

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Simplifying the science of sales