Why Sales Engagement Defeats a Salesperson’s Failure to Follow-up Leads: Sales Lead Management Association

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Why Sales Engagement Defeats a Salesperson’s Failure to Follow-up Leads

James Obermayer | Articles > From the section: Sales Engagement

August, 31, 2020 |

As long as there has been someone in marketing creating leads for salespeople, there has been the justified complaint that salespeople fail to follow-up 75% of the leads, and therefore sales are lost. A salesperson’s failure has long-tail repercussions for their company, and sales management has been complicit in the crime.

“A salesperson’s failure to follow-up sales leads has long-tail repercussions for their company, and sales management has been complicit in the crime.”

This was the case until the advent of sales engagement software that controls a salesperson’s activities, so that personal bias is much less of a factor in sales lead follow-up and conversion. As a sales consultant for 20-plus years for Sales Leakage Consulting, I knew that in 90% of my engagement I could dramatically increase sales within 90-120 days if I introduced the policy of 100% sales lead follow-up. The downside consequences for lack of 100% follow-up would be termination.

Yes, of course, the database of record for leads and customers must be the CRM system, but CRM is a backward-looking view of the customer, of prospects and of the salesperson’s activities. Of course, CRM systems with marketing automation built in or even managed separately helped lead follow-up, but it was still marketing activities rather than salespeople making contact and closing the sale in a predictable manner. Enter the Sales Engagement Platform (SEP).

Why it Matters:

“If you want your company to sell more than your competitors, install a sales engagement platform. Skip retraining, don’t hire the sales consultant yet, and go directly to the tool that makes every salesperson more persistent than your competitors.”

With the last ten years, companies that employed marketing automation could point to an increase in sales. The marketing automation system that delivered content based on prospects’ identified needs helped close sales. The most valuable addition, however, to the marketing stack is really a Sales Engagement Platform. The SEP controls and aids the salesperson’s scheduled activities so that their prejudice against leads from some sources, companies, geographical locations, and even some products, are virtually eliminated.

I say virtually eliminated because if a salesperson using the SEP ignores it, sales faulter and he or she often fail to make quota and their job is at risk. The SEP runs alongside the CRM database program, without prejudice, to present activities the salesperson must follow based on logic, urgency, artificial intelligence, and lead scoring.

A Sales Engagement program addresses the number one skill a salesperson needs to succeed - - persistence. When followed correctly, by automating next steps and a cadence around data from leads, the SEP ensures that all leads are followed up 100%, leaving nothing on the table.

“Of course, salespeople may fail if they don’t have good sales skills, but even a mediocre salesperson can succeed on average using a Sales Engagement Platform over a good salesperson not using it.”

About the Author

James W. Obermayer founded the Sales Lead Management Association and is the host of SLMA Radio/Podcast. He is also the founder of the Funnel Media Group, a podcast production agency, and the Funnel Radio Channel. Linkiedin

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