What to Look for in a Lead Management System By Teresa Kitchens
In the simplest of terms, Lead Management is the ability to obtain, manage, analyze and distribute leads. Where leads are obtained from is part of a quality sales strategy, but should not be directly connected with a quality lead management system. Your lead management system should allow the agency to manage their agency their way. Nothing else will work effectively for your unique blend of agency. Look for some key elements in a lead management system that will make sure you can mange your agency your way. 1. Manage Your Leads, Your Way: A lead management system should allow your agency to obtain leads from any lead source. If your agency subscribes to online leads, if your website generates leads, if you purchase excel spreadsheets, or if you data enter local prospects from local advertising, a lead management system should make inputting these leads easy. Double check to see if the lead management system you are considering charges for how many leads are accepted per month. This can be a surprise increase in your monthly bill. Look for a system that has a working relationship with lead providers and can import leads directly into the system with no data entry. 2. Auto Responders and Auto Assignment are a Must: With auto importing of online leads or leads from a website, an immediate response is essential. Get to your prospects first. There are thousands of agencies who hire someone to provide responses and do most of the follow up for online leads. A system that will automatically assign leads to producers will create a totally hands off system for administrators. Find a system that will automate this process and save your agency the salary of an admin to perform these tasks. 3. Check out Data Storage Limits: To store quotes, emails, notes and documents, takes storage. Some systems will limit the storage for each file and limit the amount of functionality. Be clear if the system will charge for data storage over a certain limit. Ease of accessing this information is vital to the daily processes as well. 4. File Sharing and Producer Access Levels: Consider a system that allows you to let your agents share prospects, or be locked down to only leads that are assigned to them. Depending on your office structure and the location of your producers, make sure your lead management system allows for the producers to have access to the system based on your specifics. 5. Look at the overall cost of the system: Some systems have a monthly cost, other charge based on the level of usage. Some systems charge for each activity and functionality. Make sure to have a complete knowledge of the fees and are prepared for all the hidden costs. If there is a set up fee, verify that the fee is not
an annual fee. Check to see if there are any updates required to be paid for or if there are different sections of the application that will need to be subscribed to separately. Verify how many leads can be accepted every month and if there is a fee per lead source, lead, auto responder, or email sent. This can add up quickly. Lead management is a crucial aspect of any agency no matter how large or small. A good lead management system is the heartbeat of a growing and vital agency. Check them out and see what one can do for your agency.