In order to maximize the results, the more stages of lead management are automated, the faster you will get to the qualified lead , ready to be passed on to the sales team to close the sale.
This is a process that involves both the marketing team and the sales team , who must, it is worth repeating, collaborate closely in each of the phases of their respective competence: the siloed working method, still present in many companies, really risks nullifying any lead management action.
Lead Qualification
Transforming a user - who entered the funnel thanks to an interesting content that provided him with an initial, partial answer to a problem - into a real and effective commercial opportunity is, in short, the objective of the entire process.
The first step takes place in the marketing field, where, with the acquisition of new leads in the database, there is an immediate need to qualify them , to understand how to transform them into prospects and when they will be ready to be passed on to the sales team.
This is a real filtering of contacts according to precise automated parameters (the qualification information), and it is a very important and delicate step in lead management , because it determines which leads are still to be considered cold and which ones can be worked on to move on to sales.
Lead Stages
Cold leads are “immature” contacts who, being at a stage too high in the funnel, have not yet shown actual interest in content (or any information) coming from the company.
These contacts, who are the last to be passed on to
the sales team, will be treated by marketing with specific nurturing flows , aimed at understanding their needs, purchasing orientations, and possible requirements.Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), unlike cold leads, have taken an action to approach the company (e.g. a request for information) that qualifies them as interested, even if they are not yet ready to purchase.
The marketing team manages them with specific nurturing flows, aimed at pushing them even deeper into the funnel, until they become mature enough to be passed on to the sales team and therefore become Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs).
Lead Management and Sales Automation
Once qualified leads are passed to the sales team, the lead management process focuses on automating all those tasks that sales still manages “by hand” , and which can instead be included in a sales automation process.
Automating means saving the seller precious time , who can focus on more important aspects, such as managing customer relations and any up-selling and cross-selling.
So, what are the repetitive and routine activities of the sales phase that can be fully or partially automated? Let's see the ones that are most frequently requested.
