Whether you’re working to grow a startup or a mature business, you’re always looking for the edge that will put you ahead of the competition and boost the company’s return on investment. While it may not sound exciting, your edge could be in better, faster lead routing.
We all know that responding quickly to a prospect’s inquiry is critical. It’s estimated that half of the sales go to the vendor that responds first. But the quality of that response is just as important. That’s where lead routing comes into play.
And here’s the shocking statistic: 25% of marketing-generated leads may be assigned to the wrong sales rep. Lead routing can help send leads in the right direction.
Lead Routing for Competitive Advantage
At its simplest, lead routing is a strategy for assigning inbound leads to salespeople based on designated criteria. For a competitive edge, you need to focus on the buyer’s needs and what will make the customer experience more satisfying. For that, you need to factor in criteria such as:
Geographical location – For a prospect’s convenience, you may want to assign a sales rep in the area, making it easier for them to meet as needed.
Value of a deal – Depending on the potential value of a deal, you can determine whether a prospect will need extensive assistance or may be best served by a quick and easy online transaction.  If it’s a simple purchase, a field sales rep may be a waste of resources and seen as unduly intrusive by the buyer.
The complexity of a deal – Deals can range from a simple transaction of a single, one-time purchase to a complex, multi-year, multi-product deal that may involve a team of decision makers. Your ability to assess the nature of the inquiry will allow you to handle it through e-commerce or assign it to an inside salesperson, field rep or even a sales team.
Area of expertise – If someone has specific questions regarding industry, use-case, specific features or solutions, you can assign the rep best equipped to answer the questions and help the prospect make an educated buying decision.
Product/service in question – If you have a wide range of products or services available, you may have reps dedicated to them. In which case, when a prospect asks about a specific product or service, you should route the lead accordingly.
Target accounts – If you have specific reps assigned to key accounts, then the lead will be routed to the appropriate rep when someone from a target account inquires.
Since your objective with lead routing is to get the right leads to the right reps as quickly and efficiently as possible, you will need to evaluate inbound inquiries for multiple criteria. And as you scale your process, you’ll want to automate as much as possible.
Lead Routing by Lead Score
Lead scoring is a process for assigning a value to each lead based on assessing the inquiry, the prospect and the likelihood to close the sale. Many of the same criteria used for lead routing apply to lead scoring. The difference is you are helping your sales reps understand and prioritize a lead.
Lead scoring helps reps know how much of their time to assign to a prospect. They can better estimate their pipeline, where the prospect is in the buying cycle and when a lead is most likely to become an opportunity.
Similarly, lead scoring benefits the prospective customer. For example, if a lead is deemed to be early in the process, the prospect should receive the appropriate nurturing to help further a sound buying decision without undue pressure. After all, just the right amount of care and feeding of a lead enhances the customer experience.
Marketing Automation Tools Help Lead Routing to Scale
While the manual aspect of lead routing is the first important step, ultimately, as lead generation grows, you’ll want to automate as much as possible to ensure quick, accurate responses. You have several options open to you; in every case, workflow and integration are critical.
Look for a CRM system with lead-assignment functionality, which will give you the advantage of keeping your lead routing better integrated with your system of record. A simple rules-based system allows you to code your manual routing assignment process.
Several lead routing point solutions dedicated to lead assignment are also available. Look for solutions that can manage lead scoring and integrate easily into the marketing/sales stack.
Most leading general marketing automation platforms, such as Hubspot, Pardot, and Marketo, have a lead management feature that includes lead scoring and lead routing. The advantage is you can build both lead scoring and lead routing directly into an automated workflow.
Steps to Develop a Lead Routing Strategy
Here are six steps to help you start building a winning lead routing strategy:
- Define in writing your routing criteria (e.g., value, territory, product, specialization).
- Set a maximum time for reps to follow up and a policy for lead reassignment when expectations are not met.
- Qualify and score all leads quickly.
- Run the process manually initially to make sure you are capturing the correct information and the process fits into your workflow.
- Automate for scale when you feel the process is stable.
- Continually assess the system; monitor and analyze key metrics and make improvements as needed.
Lead routing is a critical component of your lead management strategy. It makes lead handling within your organization efficient and effective, and it improves the customer experience, providing for a more educated buying decision. Lead routing may be the competitive advantage you’ve been overlooking.
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