What Is Lead Tracking?
Lead tracking is the process of defining the source of leads, actively monitoring where leads are in the sales and marketing funnel, and pursuing the necessary actions to move the lead to the next stage and close the sale.
A lead tracking system is a highly effective method to skyrocket customer satisfaction. It makes a huge difference in a company’s ability to more effectively maintain all their accounts. It also helps companies plan resources ahead by providing a clear view of the future with respect to their sales forecast.
Difference Between A Lead, Customer & Prospect
To understand lead tracking one must first have a clear understanding of what a lead is. Not to be confused with a customer or prospect, a lead is someone who is in your target demographic and is looking for information about your product or service.
A customer, on the other hand, is one that has already purchased your services. While a prospect is someone who is in your target demographic but may not know about your product or services.
To change prospects into leads and leads into customers, some systems have been created to help.
These systems are vital to any successful marketing activities. To ensure that a prospect becomes a customer it takes tracking leads through the sales process.
The days when a sales rep would have to physically collect leads are gone. Nowadays, there are better, more efficient ways of monitoring and collecting leads. From the first interaction, you can begin tracking your potential client through each step of the sales funnel.
Allowing a business to see how their customers interact with each step helps in the planning process.
Lead targeting and tracking is not a process that happens overnight. In fact, it requires time and effort. But with the right understanding, you can use lead tracking to help grow your customer base.
Importance Of Lead Tracking
1 – Lead tracking is important to contact center teams whose job it is to follow up leads
It can help them determine which leads are:
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- Hot and have a high potential to become a sale
- Weak and shouldn’t be prioritized
- A lead is about to go cold, so action should be taken quickly
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2 – A lead tracking strategy helps to understand the status of a lead and forecast sales
In fact, a lead tracking strategy also determines where leads are in the sales funnel. By using one you can know things like:
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- Which leads are strongest and weakest
- Where leads have come from and when
- How leads might prefer to be contacted
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With this information, your staff can do their jobs more efficiently, which helps to improve team productivity. They can also follow up leads in the most effective way to increase conversion and boost sales.
Benefits Of Lead Tracking
Using tools and software to track your sales leads has many benefits:
1 – It helps with efficiency
When your staff has the right information they need to help them follow up a lead successfully and close a sale, they are able to work more efficiently.
Meanwhile, management has clear visibility on vital information such as the status of a lead, how long it’s been in the pipeline, and who in the team is working on what.
2 – It helps with customization
Through lead tracking, salespeople can have a complete picture of each potential customer and become more aware of their needs, such as what they might be thinking or feeling. This can help them provide a more tailored service when following up on each lead.
3 – It builds teamwork
When each member of a sales team has access to the same information about leads, they are on the same page when following them up.
This means that it’s not only easier for staff to collaborate but they can also easily pick up conversations with leads at different stages.
4 – It helps with organization
Having access to the right information about your leads and the stage they’re at in the sales process can help your team to provide good customer service and expedite the time spent on closing deals.
Notably, there are many benefits to lead tracking, and organization is in the top five! There is never a single point by which all your data will culminate. If this is how you’ve been monitoring your leads, then chances are you are missing a big part of the picture.
By being able to identify which page has the most views, where your visitors are coming from, and which call to action is providing the best results you can then tailor your funnels towards what is proven to work.
5 – There are many ways you can organize your funnel results.
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- Source
- Sales Cycle Stage
- Qualification
- Interactions
- Buyer Persona
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Use the elements below in your lead tracking to guarantee accuracy and to set your business up for success:
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- UTM tags: Adding UTM Tags to your URLs allows your system to know at exactly what point your prospect accomplished an action. This process helps you to be able to understand which methods work for your target audience and which ones don’t.
- A full-funnel review: Just like any other system or process the funnel review allows your team to know precisely how everything works. This step is crucial as it helps ensure that you are not trying to close the sale too quickly or wait too long.
- Flow charts: Some things are better understood when they are visible, that is where flow charts come in. These charts are your map to the finishing point of closing a sale.
- Marketing Automation Software: This is a must for maintaining the accuracy of any campaign. No one person can have eyes on all campaigns all the time at all hours of the day.
- CRM: Please do not use sticky notes and spreadsheets to manage your customers’ information. Not only can it get lost in the shuffle but CRM software is more efficient and way less wasteful than paper.
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Consistency Is Key
There is nothing better for any marketing campaign than having access to real-time data right when you need it or delivering it to your team with high-quality, easy to read charts and graphs.
Companies that know how to effectively track their leads from start to finish are the ones that get out ahead of the trends and get an edge compared to their competitors.
Approaching the sale with facts and accurate information is one of the best ways to do business in the digital age. These businesses are the ones that cross the finish line and close the sale.
