Managing Sales Leads with a CRM System

In the sales industry, work flow-automation technologies are some of the most important time-saving strategies for salespeople and managers.

Customer relationship management (CRM) applications, for example, have changed the way sales leads are managed. With a CRM system, sales leads generated through telemarketing, response cards, trade shows, Web forms, and other sources are entered into a central database and automatically routed to the correct salesperson.

Managing these leads once they've been routed to your virtual in-box can be daunting, but adopting some of the following practices will help you stay on top of your sales leads:

• Don't let leads pile up in your in-box; tackle them as soon as possible.
• Sequence leads to cycle through them in order, whether you tackle the hot leads first or save the best for last.
• Allow ample time to move through an entire batch of leads without interruption.
• Once you connect with a lead and establish a groundwork for sale, upgrade the lead to a contact and maintain the record in a database.
• Update your records regularly as you develop a history with a client.
• Dial in from the field to update your data at least once a day. If you wait two or more days, the updates will pile up and take longer to download.