Sales Lead Management Today

Buy Online! Who, Me?

At a recent industry conference one of the presenters expressed his views on the new way we shop.  According to him we no longer walk into a store to speak with a salesperson, rather we investigate, research, and finally buy everything from refrigerators to televisions to cars…online.  His pronouncement was rewarded with general agreement from the audience.

Now, I’m no Luddite, at least I hope not, but I was reminded of this most certain declaration over the recent holiday weekend.  There were ads for cars, appliances, flat screen TVs and any number of other items.  And all of them were from ‘brick and mortar’ retailers.  Sure, they may just be trying to direct you to their web sites to buy online but, if that is the case, why were there articles about car dealerships spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, in some cases millions, to upgrade their facilities, build new ones and in every case make the customer experience more convivial?

Life is simpler when you plough around the stump!

The problem is the stump is still there.   Maybe you can avoid it for a while, but sooner or later you have to figure out how to take the stump out.  The biggest stump most marketing managers have is the lack of follow-up of the sales inquiries and leads by the salespeople.  In most organizations it is a pretty big obstacle.  Let me tell you a story.

It starts with a sales manager who isn’t a team player, except within his own team and a marketing manager who isn’t strong enough to do what’s right in the face of  institutional laziness or fear of upsetting the salespeople. 

Are your salespeople spending unproductive time generating their own leads?

 

No one waits around the elevator to get leads, at least we hope they don’t, but how many other actions do your salepeople take to get their own leads which are unproductive?  I know salespeople aren’t literally waiting at the elevator to get leads and yet some people say cold calling by knocking on doors is dead.   However, I know medical device salespeople who are successful at it and are not