Creating a Filing System for Your Leads

Creating a Filing System for Your Lead

Now that you've developed the leads to sustain your marketing program. What exactly do I do with the leads? How do I keep track of them? Organization and consistency is the key. Your leads should be separated according to the likelihood of a sale/appointment, as well as timeframe, level of interest etc. Here are some tips to creating folders for keeping track of your leads.

Call Nows

These are the leads that you will call first when you start telemarketing. These are the hottest leads. Let's say that you've talked to a prospect looking to use a service like yours and wants a call from your firm in a month to set up an appointment. This is someone who wants to possibly do business with your firm so it's imperative that you file these leads away correctly.

Jan- Dec

Setting up a 12 month filing system is always a good idea because over time you will develop a program that keeps you current at all times. I always call about a month before the prospect asks me to just in case they are looking make a purchase sooner rather than later. There´s nothing worse than calling a prospect 1 month too late.

Send Lits/Send Fax/Send E Mail

Once you've spoken with a prospect(or in many cases haven´t spoken with them)you may make the decision to give them a bit more info about yourself and your company, in which case sending printed materials, a fax or e-mail is applicable. If you find that you've left several messages on voice mail this is also an excellent way to get to the decision maker. Be sure to keep all of these leads in one file.

Always have the information on the prospect on hand. There is nothing worse than having opportunity knock on your door and you're still not sure which door to open.

Long shots

These are the leads that are disconnected numbers, wrong numbers and people that are unlikely to buy your product or service. Let's say that you make a call to a prospect and they tell you that the decision to work with new vendors is handled out of the corporate office in Germany. Unless you're willing to make several overseas calls or e-mails or faxes, chances are you probably won't get too far with this lead. However, don't loose faith, my rule of thumb, is don't throw this lead out. File it away as a long shot and simply follow-up every six months or so. Things change. Companies relocate. And phone numbers are reconnected with a new business name. This file will also gauge how good this list is, because if you have over 50% of your leads in the long hot file, chances are you don't have a good list.

Databases

If you don´t want to leave a paper trail and want to keep your leads in a database, there are some great alternatives. You don´t need to spend a lot of money on a database if you first determine what you want to use it for. For example, If you´re like me you´ll want something simple and efficient. Preferably, a system I can use to create labels, send e-mails etc. My favorites are"?¦

ACT

I´ve used ACT for many years and can do everything from updating notes to creating and sending literature. It´s simple to use and very cost effective.

Goldmine

Goldmine is another great system and I think better suited to larger campaigns with multiple cold callers. Still very cost effective.

Excel

Yep, Excel makes for a pretty decent lead tracking system although I´m not crazy about the lack of column space available despite the fact that you can customize the cells. However, if you need to simply keep track, this spreadsheet works pretty well.

Microsoft Word

Surprisingly, I use Word more than I use ACT. I really like the fact that I can keep track of notes, hours, print labels etc. And you probably have it on your computer already

Whichever system you use. Just be sure to keep track of all of your leads and follow up with each and every one of them. And don´t forget prioritize the leads before you call.

Tony Wilkins is the owner of Telemarketing Consulting Services and author of "Telemarketing Success for Small and Mid-sized Firms´ available in most bookstores and online at www.amazon.com and www.xlibris.com you may also find out about his workshops and services at

https://stores.ebay.com/telemarketing-success via e: mail at awil267487@aol.com or phone 415-267-4872 .If you´d like to be notified of a new posting for this column, please contact Tony Wilkins at awil267487@aol.com