Challenges in Lead Tracking By James Hasson It is a sad statistic, but most companies lose track of between 40 and 80 percent of their leads at some point in the sales cycle. This fact shows that many companies face a wide variety of challenges in lead tracking. Finding a lead is viewed by some as the more difficult task, but in reality, most companies have more difficulty keeping and acting upon the lead. To begin with, lead capture is essential to lead tracking. There are specific business rules that should be followed when capturing a lead, and if those rules are not defined well in the beginning, it will be harder to hold onto the lead. If a business starts a relationship of with a consumer on a bad note, then that business is less likely to keep that consumer interested for a long period of time. Some companies simply lose track of their leads. Finding and implementing the right software can often be a challenge for a company interested in tracking and managing their leads. New systems are coming out that attempt to provide the company with end-to-end visibility. However, it is the responsibility of the company to stay with the most current (and efficient) lead tracking technology. After spending so much time and effort finding a lead, it is very foolish to allow that lead to be dropped because of bad software. The best programs have a very organized system of dealing with leads. Different types of leads are treated differently, as they should be. Spending the same amount of resources and devoting the same amount of time to different leads is very inefficient. Companies that have success attribute leads to a specific marketing investment; they also give different attention to hot, warm, and cool leads. High-priority leads go immediately to sales, and lower priority leads go to marketing for future attention. Companies that succeed have great systems for notifying management when a lead is not being attended to and gather more results for an accurate evaluation of market activities. It is easy to identity the challenges associated with lead tracking, but it is difficult for most companies to respond to those challenges. The best way to respond is to have a clearly defined, ethical business plan for dealing with leads. Additionally, having experienced employees who can deal with leads well is very helpful. However, better lead tracking can happen if highly skilled employees have access to the right tools. Thus top-tier lead management solutions offered by companies such as Leads360 can help companies become much more productive in this area.