Page 22 - AeM_Nov_2017

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

Modern lead management must pay

heed to new benchmarks

By now it is clear as day that digitization creates a pre- nities here, especially when neglecting the explosion of
informed customer who has altered requests on assis- possible contact points that came into play in recent
tance and support. This demands a new lead manage- years.
ment, whose role is to capture, qualify, and guide po-
tential customers who have shown their interest in the Sales and customer acquisition face new
brand, before they are handed over to sales as a hot challenges
lead or bow out of the buying process. Besides sys-
tematics, this has a lot to do with communication, as Many companies still have their own reasons for doing
you can imagine.
that: Often it's simply an insufficient coordination be-
tween marketing and sales, organizational problems,
Since the emergence of standardized lead manage- inadequate IT structures, system breaks, unclear pro-
ment in the early 2000s, the communications world cesses, lack of transparency, motivation, and incen-
has changed dynamically. The massive acceptance of tives, slack result controls or just lack of instruction and
social media, as well as the associated dialogue pat- qualification of employees.
terns, have sustainably changed the expectations of
the customers when approached. Especially in the face of this knowledge, many compa-
nies are working on differentiating the process further
However, at first glance, the requirements for the sale, by expanding their media mix, optimizing landing pages
and with it the importance of lead management, re- or refining their lead scoring. Of course, digitization is
main fundamentally the same as they were fifteen part of the process. For instance, BMW reported that
years ago. Businesses need customers, and the easi- the launch of the so-called "product genius" could im-
est customers to win are those who have already prove the conversion rate sustainably. Here, the sales
bought or "expressed" their interest in the brand or process is complemented by an information specialist,
product/service. Sale people risk giving away opportu- that manages with the help of a mobile device and an
22 November 2017 - Email Marketing & Lead Management