As the economy returns to growth companies are once again investing in marketing and sales lead generation. But what if your sales team aren’t converting enough leads into customers?

One of the reasons might be the way you define leads. Take exhibitions for example. Any supplier who exhibits at a show knows that many ‘leads’ aren’t really leads at all. Scanning a visitor doesn’t make a lead, and post-show sales conversion rates can often be disappointing.

With the explosion of online marketing a similar pattern is emerging. Companies investing in internet marketing can receive a significant number of ‘leads’ – enquiries, downloads, information requests – which aren’t converting into new customers.

The answer is lead ranking where leads are assigned values depending on the stage of the buying cycle. An enquiry from a mailshot asking to see a rep is ranked higher than an internet lead requesting a brochure. You can then handle the leads differently – a high ranking lead can go straight to the sales team, where lower ranked leads are better handled internally and ‘nurtured’ until they are sales-ready.

Management can then really assess their sales performance, conversion rates and return-on-investment based on ‘real data’.

Salestracker, the online CRM platform from Insight Data, has two alternative ways of lead ranking. Users can opt for ‘pipeline’ where leads are passed through a ‘funnel’ or pipeline, from one stage to the next.

The second, and most popular, is assigning leads with a ‘chilli’ – from one green chilli (low-value lead), up to 4 red chilli’s (red hot). Marketing managers can then route leads depending on their ranking – internet brochure downloads may receive a direct mailer and internal sales follow up, while warm or hot leads may go direct to the sales team.

For a free demo of Salestracker, call Insight Data on 01934 808293 or send us an online message.