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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.  

Hammering Nails with Screwdrivers

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Using CRM to manage leads is using the wrong tool for the job. Companies using CRM to manage leads are finding out more and more what this misstep is costing them. Put simply, what it is costing them is a chance to introduce themselves.  CRM is a great tool, but it’s important for the small business owner or sales manager to remember what it is, and what it is for.  CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and what it is does best is Manage Customer Relationships. While this is obvious and widely known it’s worth repeating.  It’s worth explicitly stating the mission of CRM because it is so easy and so common for companies to get swept up in all of the possibilities that CRM promises. Before too long, getting deeper into the demos of a CRM, it’s tempting to conclude that a CRM “can do anything.”

But remember that CRM is about Managing Customer Relationships. A prospect is a different entity than a customer and should be treated as such. Successfully dealing with a customer involves executing a certain set of behaviors and actions. Are those actions and behaviors exactly the same for dealing successfully with prospects? They are not. CRM does not have the suite of tools that are designed around being the first on the phone with a prospect. In today’s hyper-competitive environment, with more and more companies leveraging technology, being first to contact; and contacting consistently are critical ingredients for managing your leads successfully. Lead Management Software, not CRM, is the solution that offers these tools.

To be successful, it’s necessary to use the right tool for the job. You can hammer a nail with the back end of a screwdriver but the results will be sub-otpimal. If you are managing leads with a CRM your hammering nails with screwdrivers.

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