It’s often said that failures are opportunities to learn.

The reason failure can be so instructive is because when all the pieces fall, and you’re left to sweep up the carnage of whatever enterprise that you tried so diligently to make succeed, you might only then, give your full attention to questions like: “What went wrong?” “What could have been done differently?” and “How can I do better next time?” Failure, it would seem, sharpens and focuses the mind around important questions of how and why we do what we do.

So, let’s examine the flipside of that phenomenon: Success. What if we’re all too busy high fiving each other after we close a deal that we don’t take time to ask the question; “What went right?” It’s a challenge for even the most dedicated sales rep to look back on successes to make an inventory of what was done right, and what could have been done better. It’s far too easy to store ones successes in the “I am great at my job” file and leave it at that. But choosing not to extract information from ones successes is nearly as negligent as not learning from ones failures.

What type of information, specifically, can be gleaned from ones successes? Most readily, there is a lot of quantifiable data that can be observed around your sales behaviors. What if you could look back at all of your past successes and get answers to questions like these “How quickly did I contact this person?” “How many times did I try to reach them and at what intervals?” “What time of day, and day of the week did I try to reach them?” and “How many emails did I send, and at what intervals?”

If you could observe trends in the data revealed by these questions you could maximize your advantage by adopting these best practices that led to successful sales. You could maximize your advantage if you knew for instance, that calling a lead as quickly as possible was the best way to ensure that you made the sale ahead of your competitors; and further if you knew that six call attempts was the optimal number, after which the chance of connecting with a lead diminishes to the point that it no longer justifies the effort. If you had access to all of this information, you could work in a way that would lead to even more success. And you could use tools that help you leverage the advantage that the analysis of all these successes had given you.

The good news is that you don’t have to go through all your past successes and failures to find a set of best practices. Lead management software is designed around insights garnered from the analysis of more than 20 million leads. It is built to help you be the first to contact a lead and to stay in contact until the lead closes. If you were too busy high-fiving to learn from your successes, don’t despair. Help is on the way. Lead management software has learned from millions of successes and built a solution around the findings.

Here’s a good article that delves into the problem of C-level executive fear when it comes to adopting CRM solutions. Many of the points in the article are applicable to lead management software, as well. The problem boils down to ROI paralysis, which can be understood as the unwillingness to invest in new projects that have fuzzy ROI projections. The article points out that as executives wait for their competitors to prove that CRM adoption has a measurably good effect on revenue, what they are in effect doing is giving their competition a head start in terms of developing best practices for success with these enterprise software solutions. If the C-level executives knew what their people on the front line already knew, is that these tools work. They are easy to adopt, and they yield results.

Here’s an example. A hypothetical case study of the types of best practices your competitors might be developing by using a lead management solution.

Speed to Contact

Using lead management software, your competitors could be structuring their workflow around doing everything within their power to be the first sales rep on the phone with a lead. By virtue of the LMS’s integrations with online lead providers, it is possible for Companies using this technology to have leads posted to their system within seconds of the lead filling out an online form. A good LMS also has robust distribution functionality that can route leads intelligently to the right rep based on configurable rules. The size of the opportunity, Any applicable licensure issues, geographical criteria, any of these factors can be used to customize your flow of leads to the reps most equipped to handle them. Finally, a lead management platform that has a built-in lead dialer can connect lead to rep by phone automatically faster than any other available method.

Standardized Sales Process

Using lead management software, your competitors are benefiting from standardized workflow that makes sure every lead is followed up on according to established best practices. Lead follow-up has been baked into LMS to ensure that each lead receives contact attempts in accordance with an optimized strategic pattern that has been proven to yield results.

Campaign Management

Using lead management software, your competitors can be using built in analytics to constantly monitor lead generation campaign ROI. Which of your lead sources is performing? At what rate to leads from your website convert? How about online leads from different vendors? It is possible to access this information in real time to see where your marketing spend is performing best.

Lead management software is a suite of tools that makes it easy to standardize your workflow, measure the results, and make adjustments as necessary; in other words, to establish best practices. You can leave this work to your competitors and try to duplicate their results, but duplicating their results will include using the tools their using. So if you’re in a business that works a lot of leads, your choice is really to buy lead management now, or to buy it later. The only real question is, how much market share will be left by the time you decide to buy a lead management solution?

An earlier post this week began explaining why the new Leads360 dialer product earned the name Dial-IQ, the Intelligent Dialer Suite. The short answer is that Dial-IQ leverages all of the research and established best practices around which Leads360 is designed. This is perhaps nowhere more evident in the feature called IntelliDial. IntelliDial is part of the PowerPlus feature set. PowerPlus is the list dialer, meaning it is designed to optimize results when calling lists of leads, as opposed to individual leads. IntelliDial calls a list of leads that are queued up by the Lead Prioritization feature. To really fully appreciate how IntelliDial can improve close rates, it is necessary to review first what Lead Prioritization does.  Lead Prioritization is a feature that leverages all of our research based on the ongoing analysis of over 20 million leads.

Our findings have been that speed is the single most crucial component to closing a deal. Being the first one to get a lead on the phone is the difference between the deal closing and disappearing. With that in mind, any lead that is new to the system will be thrust to the top of your prioritized queue. You may have 500 leads in various stages of the sales cycle assigned to you, but when a new lead enters the system, it is the single most important lead you have. That’s why it’s at the top of your queue. Leads360 research has also found that a six call strategy is the most effective for reaching leads the first time. There is an optimal call response strategy that is built into the Lead Prioritization feature so that leads receive contact attempts at prescribed intervals after entering the system.

IntelliDial places helps you quickly place calls to your leads in order of their priority. When users create a prioritized call queue, it is re-prioritized in real time. So when a new lead comes in, it lands at the top of the queue. When a lead receives a call attempt, it drops off of the call queue until it is due another call attempt as determined by the prioritization rules. IntelliDial can be summed up like this: It quickly places calls to your leads in order of their importance. Nearly every aspect of Leads360 is fully configurable, so it is possible to sort and filter your leads to find opportunities based on whatever information or hunch you have. But for when you want a plug and play solution that will have your users connecting quickly to the ripest opportunities, you have IntelliDial.

And Dial-IQ has a feature for when you do want to take control of the group leads you are working at a given moment. It is called Speed Dial. If you wanted to target all your leads that had a certain common characteristic, you would use Speed Dial. Let’s say there has been a regulatory change in a certain state that may incentivize leads in that state to buy what you sell. You can filter and sort your leads to return only the desired leads. Then create a call queue that will enable you to call through them quickly and accurately.

IntelliDial and Speed Dial are two features that are part of Dial-IQ, the Intelligent Dialer Suite. Dialer’s are quick. That’s the main reason why they give so much value to companies that use them. But being quick and smart is a challenge that can only be met by a dialer that is fully integrated with a lead management solution that is built around proven best practices. Dial-IQ is such a dialer.

Leads360 is proud to announce that we are the proud recipient of multiple LeadsCouncil LEADER awards. The awards include:Best Lead Management in the Lending category, Tech MVP is the Lending category, and Tech MVP in the Technology category.

Presented by LeadCouncil, the program is designed to showcase the leading companies involved with the online lead generation space. The LEADER awards were awarded in three categories — lending, education, and lead gen technology partners.

“The main goal of the LeadsCouncil is to establish industry benchmarks and to make it easier for our members to find trusted partners,” said Dave Wengel, co-founder, LeadsCouncil. “We spent several months conducting surveys of lead buyers and lead sellers to determine the LEADER award winners — the best partners in the lead gen industry as selected by their peers, colleagues, clients, and partners.”

Click here to read the full press release.

Leads360 has just released Dial-IQ, the Intelligent Dialer Suite. Dialers are not new, and Dial-IQ contains some features and functions that are similar to existing dialer options. The reason why Dial-IQ is called the Intelligent Dialer Suite is mostly because it is integrated with the industry leading lead management solution, Leads360. Dial-IQ leverages all of Leads360’s distribution, follow-up, and reporting capabilities to work with the new dialer functionality. Leads360 is built on best practices developed from ongoing research and analysis of over 20 million leads. Leveraging this research and best practices, Dial-IQ is inherently smart, even if it only contained features familiar to other dialer products, but in fact, Dial-IQ has a couple of brand new features that make it the fastest way to get in touch with new leads. The benefits of having a dialer built within an intelligent lead management platform are many. This article is one of many that will delve into the challenges faced by sales reps and managers and how they are solved by Dial-IQ.

Dial-IQ is a dialer solution that offers many features. Some of the features are twists on existing dialer functionalities such as progressive dialing. But one feature that Dial-IQ has that is new is called Shotgun Connect. It takes it’s name from the practice of ‘calling shotgun’ when to claim the front seat of a car. And makes contacting new leads quicker than ever. The way it works is when a new lead enters the system that is eligible to be distributed by the Shotgun Connect method, all eligible users are notified in real time. The first one to either pick up the phone, or click an on-screen alert will claim the lead, and be connected by Dial-IQ. This approach leverages the competitive dynamic on your sales team to quickly distribute new leads and connect them to sales reps.

Control Connect is a method of distributing leads to sales reps that leverages the Leads360 distribution engine. Use reports to see which of your reps are skilled at closing certain types of leads, and use control connect to rep to lead. Call reports complete the picture of how quickly and how regularly leads are being called by members of your sales team. This feature gives you control of how leads move onto your sales floor and visibility into how well they are being worked. Having every Dial-IQ call recorded gives you unprecedented visibility into how your reps are working the phones.

The two features described above are only two of many more features available as part of the Dial-IQ suite. These two features, as well as Demand Connect comprise the IntelliConnect feature set. IntelliConnect features are designed to improve results when calling individual leads, as opposed to lists of leads. That’s why the IntelliConnect feature set is referred to as “The Intelligent Lead Dialer.” Another feature set, PowerPlus, is designed to optimize calling list of leads.

Internet leads have become an essential element of doing business for insurance companies in this day and age.  However, despite working hard and spending considerable amounts of money on marketing to pull in these leads, most insurance companies don’t do enough of the basic legwork to ensure that they close as many of these leads as possible.  Leads360 recently commissioned a secret shopper study where they tested ten different insurance companies on how their sales teams responded to leads in four Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs.  The results showed that even the best of these companies were failing to follow optimal practices while many were simply letting money slip away through shoddy sales techniques.

The study commissioned by Leads360 collected data on the consumer response strategies of ten different insurance companies via secret shoppers.  Based on this data, the study graded each of these companies on how their responses compared to established best practices in four KPIs: speed-to-contact call, speed-to-contact e-mail, number of call attempts, and the sending of nurturing e-mails.  The results were surprising.  Only one company managed an overall grade higher than a B, six received an overall grade of C+ or lower, and all ten companies got a grade of C or lower on at least one of the four KPIs.  Simply put, even the best of these ten companies is leaving money on the table by failing to adhere to best practices with their consumer response while the worst performers are letting business slip away because of their sales practices.

The primary focus of this study was to examine the response strategy of companies during the pre-contact period between when a lead makes an online inquiry and when they are contacted.  Leads360’s data shows that this is a critical period for closing any lead and strong sales teams know not to lose a moment in jumping into action.  Leads360’s data has demonstrated that contacting a lead in the first minute after receiving a lead improves conversion rates by 391%, so there are few better ways to maximize ROI on a lead.  Despite this simple way to get a jump on the competition and stand out in the mind of a potential customer, many companies spent hours and even days before making any attempt to contact their potential lead.

The number of contact attempts is also crucial to closing leads.  Leads360’s data indicates that calling a lead 6 times improves the chances of contact to 93% and that between two and four nurturing e-mails garners a 350% improvement in lead conversion rates.  However, despite all this compelling data, most of the ten companies surveyed in the study weren’t following best practices.  Once again, the secret shoppers revealed that none of these industry leaders was averaging five call attempts, let alone the optimal six, and the majority of them only sent a single e-mail.

It’s very clear that simply putting in a more focused, more meticulous effort from a sales perspective can bring in more business and ensure that your company is getting the most out of its marketing dollar.  Leads close at a much faster rate for companies that contact leads sooner and make sure that they’re keeping after a lead until they make contact.  However, despite all this, every single one of the ten companies in this study failed to meet best practices in at least one category with many companies failing in all four KPIs.  Simply put, these companies are throwing money away.  When it comes to sales, no one, no matter how big, can afford to be doing too-little-too-late.  Is your company doing enough to close its leads? Based on this study, it’s clear that most of the industry has at least one major area where they could significantly improve and see immediate results in their lead conversion rate and ROI.

Click here to download the free study!

I found an article on a Marketing Automation blog asking the question “What Is Lead Management?” It is a question that is eagerly addressed week after week in this blog and elsewhere. This question is great to see in print because it is an excuse to write about Lead Management and Leads360. But the reason this particular article inspired an entry here is because this article appears on the blog of a marketing automation firm. It is always encouraging to see specialists in marketing automation educating their readers about lead management.

Lead Management Software is designed around the task of turning prospects into customers. It is built around three fundamental drivers of lead conversion; speed, process, and persistence. Intelligent lead distribution puts the right lead in the hands of the right sales person right away. Performance metrics and ROI reporting let you course correct when lead sources or sales agents are underperforming. Good Lead Management software even has some marketing automation features that take the guesswork out of staying engaged with prospects until they convert into customers. Ultimately it is differs from Marketing Automation and CRM by virtue of the task that that it undertakes to accomplish, i.e., turning prospects into customers.

Here’s the difference.

• Marketing Automation generates leads
• Lead Management Software turns leads into customers
• Customer Relationship Management Software manages customer relationships

If a company were using all three of these types of software, Lead Management would sit in the middle. It holds all the real estate between Marketing Automation and CRM, equipping companies to navigate the delicate transition between prospect and customer. Without LMS, MA and CRM are missing the piece that turns prospects into customers; and that is the task upon which the whole enterprise depends.

The aim of each of these software types are as follows:
Marketing Automation core strengths – Marketing Automation turns strangers into prospects, i.e., it generates leads.

Lead Management core strengths – Lead Management Software turns leads into customers. Quick, Configurable lead distribution turbo charges speed to contact rates; being the first on the phone with a lead is critical. Automated lead follow up ensures that leads never fall through the cracks and each is followed up with according to configurable best practices. Performance Metrics and ROI reporting give companies data that illustrates which of their marketing efforts are working and which are underperforming.

Customer Relationship Management core strengths – Keep complete records of all interactions with existing customers, i.e., it retains customers.

If your goal is to grow your business by acquiring new customers, and you have to bet on only one, Lead Management will give you the best results. But if you bet the trifecta, choose Lead Management to win, Marketing Automation to place, and CRM to show.

Here’s an interesting article that makes the argument that revenue is a trailing indicator. This  quote from the article that best sums up the author’s point of view, “Not only does revenue not capture or highlight … critical business metrics, in many cases it masks them driving companies to falsely assume they are doing well. If revenues are up, customers MUST be happy. If revenue is up we MUST have strong market positioning. If revenues are up we MUST be gaining new customers. When revenue is up, the only thing you know is . . . revenue is up.”

This value of this insight cannot be overstated. It is probably human nature not to ask too many questions when things are going well. This tendency to “leave well
enough alone”; and to “not fix what ain’t broke” is as widespread as these hackneyed phrases espousing it as a virtue. But another point made in that blog post is that by the time revenues drop it may very well be too late to do anything about it.

It is for this reason that it is important to look not just at the bottom line, but other metrics as well that are indicators of the health of your company at a much more granular level. How, exactly, are your marketing efforts paying off? Can you measure this, comparing the performance of your individual campaigns? If so then you’re able to see where your efforts are paying off and where they are not. This kind of information enables you to focus your efforts where they yield real results.

Are you distributing leads intelligently among your salespeople? Being able to put the lead in the hands of the agent most equipped to handle it within seconds of receiving the lead is easy when using a lead management system. Get the biggest fish to the best salespeople; make sure agents only get leads they are licensed to close. Whatever your business rules, time is of the essence: Getting the right lead to the right salesperson right away means that they are more likely to be the first one to get the lead on the phone.

Another key advantage to using a Lead Management System is that it doesn’t just let you make decisions about accumulated data, it also makes it easy to tweak your sales process. So when you find something that works for one team, or one campaign, roll it out in the others and see in hard numbers if the solution can scale to benefit the whole company. Using Lead Management you can find what works, and make it the new standard.

There are so many metrics to learn from, and it’s easier than ever to accumulate data from your company’s sales and marketing effort. The overvaluing of revenue as the pre-eminent performance metric is a holdover from a time when companies did not have the access to technology that characterizes the current landscape. In a simpler time, the fact that you were above water was a good indicator that you were doing ok. These days, there is so much data being collected and so many tools to make sense of it, it just isn’t good business to ignore it.

Congratulations to Leads360 President & CEO, Dan Morefield, and Leads360 Founder and Chief Evangelist, Jeff Solomon for being recognized as two of the most influential individuals in the Sales Lead Manaagement Industry. Click here to read the announcement!