2015 is Half Over. Do You Know Where Your Leads Are?
August 9, 2015
We’re often asked how to measure the success of individual marketing efforts, either traditional or online. It seems to be a simple enough question, and the simplest answer can be to track the number of leads generated by the campaign. If the end game of your marketing campaign is to generate a large number of leads, that might be the end of the story. But, the ultimate objective of a marketing campaign isn’t just generating leads it’s increasing sales.
And that’s where the tracking question gets more complex. “Extracting the greatest value from each lead requires sophisticated tools for tracking digital marketing leads based on the funnel and desired outcome,” said Chris Ramaglia, EVP of BroadBased. “We believe that best way to track and close Web-generated leads is by understanding and exploiting the capabilities of an effective customer relationship management (CRM) tool.”
But what if you don’t have a CRM or don’t fully understand the capability of the one that you use?
“Our clients realize that the online environment is extremely competitive, and every lead we’re able to generate through their website is a piece of gold,” said Ramaglia. “If a client doesn’t have an existing CRM, we recommend one that’s a good fit for how they do business and help them make sure that every lead is accounted for and has the best chance of closing.”
CRM systems come in all shapes and sizes, but the good ones have three main components in common:
- Easy-to-use dashboard-style view of all leads and their statuses.
- Automated follow-up tasks and reminders.
- Website analytics integration.
Ever since social media has changed the way we use the Internet, people have come to expect extremely user-friendly interfaces. The same is true for CRM systems. Speed is crucial for sales reps who need to quickly find and efficiently manage key sales data. Like just about every modern interface, leading CRM tools offer smart device and tablet displays, so deals stay hot no matter how they’re being viewed.
A good CRM tool is a salesperson’s best assistant. By enabling the salesperson to set up advanced reminders, create automated follow-ups, document every phone call and email on any lead in the system — and much more — the CRM can be a highly cost-effective part of your team’s sales efforts.
These powerful automation features don’t just help your reps, they also make your managers’ and executives’ jobs easier. All members of the organization can have their own permission levels to instantly access real-time snapshots of all leads in the system. They can also filter the leads by any criterion that are important to their role in the business.
Think of your website as a highway and your leads as the vehicles travelling down it. All the vehicles need to be registered, and they need to stay in their lanes to keep the traffic flowing. Similarly, your leads need to be cataloged and stored securely to give you the best chance to close them. Now, suppose you were able to know something about why each vehicle was on the road and where it was heading. That brings us to the next level of capability for extracting the full value of your leads — analytics integration.
It wasn’t long ago that the only lead-generation tools on a website were a contact number and a form that could be filled out by the prospect and emailed to the sales team. Now, form leads are deposited into a secure database and every move the prospect makes on your website and throughout the Web can be tracked using cookies and other advanced mechanisms, giving you valuable insight into what each lead is looking for and why.
To further support your efforts, Google now offers unique phone numbers that can be applied to specific online marketing efforts, such as Adwords, and email marketing campaigns. Everything is seamlessly tracked within your CRM, effectively “closing the loop” from a prospect’s first interaction with your website right up until the moment they sign your contract.
As the technology that powers digital marketing evolves, your company’s Web presence needs to evolve with it or risk being left behind by more innovative competitors. The digital marketing team at BroadBased can help you hand-pick a CRM solution that’s a perfect fit for your business to start growing your sales funnel. Email Chris Ramaglia to start the conversation.
