Sales Lead Management Week Oct 10-16: Educating on Best Practices
Core sales and marketing processes—lead generation, lead qualification, lead nurturing and ROI measurement—combine under the general heading, “lead management.”
When lead management functions at peak efficiency, good things happen: new business, greater ROI and more revenue. But too often lead management processes are broken or, at best, ignored. Qualified, sales-ready buyers fall into lead purgatory. High-value, long-term prospects are lost in the shuffle. Lead feedback and ROI measurement are MIA. Sales and marketing teams are not held accountable for not executing on business rules.
With the goal of focusing attention on best-practice lead management processes, the Sales Lead Management Association has named October 10 to 16 as Sales Lead Management Week.
As a sponsor and avid supporter of SLMA, we’re excited to get behind this effort. As my friend, James W. Obermayer, executive director of the Sales Lead Management Association, said in the Sales Lead Management Week press release, “By having a week dedicated to the management of leads, we encourage industry leaders to challenge themselves and their employees to move toward increased marketing and sales accountability through proper lead management.”
I encourage you to visit the SLMA site to see a list of over 30 creative ideas you can apply to increase aware of best-practice lead management processes. Think action items for ways you can educate and increase awareness: discussions, webinars, blogs, podcasts, speeches, seminars, articles and white papers. Some of the ideas suggested include the following:
- Make lead management a topic for sales meetings.
- Write a blog on nurturing newly qualified leads.
- Measure the ROI of your marketing programs.
- Review business rules related to lead follow-up and ROI reporting
These ideas are for both sales and marketing executives as well as for executives at sales force automation, marketing automation and teleservices companies.
I invite you to accept the SLMA challenge and join me in supporting Sales Lead Management Week by engaging in activities that increase awareness of and deepen our commitment to best-practice lead management processes.
