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Everything we know about the lead business from everyone at the Leads360 family. From online lead providers like LowerMyBills.com to Mortgage Lead Management best practices. We'll tell you what we know and what we've learned.  

Getting the Right Lead to the Right Person

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Any sales manager will tell you about certain instances where specific members of their sales staff have seemed to “connect on a higher level” with a specific lead. The reason for the connection isn’t really something that can be readily explained, but the results of this connection are usually extremely favorable to converting a lead.

A recent study by Leads360 discusses an advanced distribution model called Skill Based Routing, or “SBR” that should revolutionize methods of lead routing to capitalize on these specific connections that can occur between a lead and a sales rep. The essential goal of SBR is quite simple: put leads in the hands of the salesperson most likely to close them.

There are a wide variety of different specialized “skills” that a salesperson can have that will help them sell more. Anything from being born in the same region as the lead to a specialized knowledge of specific products can give certain sales agents a predisposition to convert a certain type of lead. SBR takes the approach to lead routing that dictates that the most important aspect of the process is finding the right sales rep for each lead. SBR is reliant on data collected on every lead coming through your organization to isolate what “skills” your sales staff may have, then use the trends highlighted in this data to automatically route leads to the right sales person, maximizing your ROI and ensuring that every lead be given the best possible chance to close.

The benefits of SBR are immediately clear, particularly for those accustomed to more traditional methods of sales routing. There are different reasons for different methods of lead routing. Round Robin, where leads are evenly distributed amongst the reps in order to create equity in lead volume, is designed to balance the number of leads going to each rep. While Round Robin routing is excellent for promoting equality and fairness, it isn’t necessarily the best method for closing leads. Selective Routing addressing this by moving leads based on organizational structure and balance. It’s a method more suited to closing more leads by taking advantage of your team’s organizational structure, but it still doesn’t focus on routing leads based specifically on the characteristics that will contribute to closing the most leads. SBR, however, is a routing method with the specific and sole goal of ensuring that sales agents can convert more deals. SBR is driven purely by efforts to maximize ROI and ensure that every lead is given the best possible chance to close. In this way it’s superior to previous methods of lead routing when it comes to closing the most leads possible, and the data confirms this.

The newly released Leads360 research initiative reveals that, after the implementation of SBR, “skilled” reps saw a 111 percent increase in lead conversion over the previous year, and a 36 percent improvement over the previous 45 days. Quite interestingly, those reps that didn’t have a specific “skill” isolated also saw improvement in their numbers, with a 14 percent improvement over the previous year and a 17 percent increase over the previous 45 days. This means that, overall, sales staffs saw a 53 percent improvement over the previous year and a 37 percent improvement over the previous 45 days.

In summary, SBR benefits all of a team’s sales reps which translate to more conversions. Converting a high volume of leads isn’t easy, and sales reps need every advantage they can get to ensure that each and every lead is given its best chance to close possible. Implementing an SBR approach is an excellent tool for sales managers looking to find ways to squeeze that extra value out of their marketing buy.

Pass the Beans!

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