As any good salesperson knows, it is not enough to keep a steady stream of sales leads in your pipeline. It is also very important to track your progress with each lead. Otherwise you may miss significant opportunities to move a sales lead forward to prospect status and finally close the deal and have a new customer. Fortunately, it has never been easier to maintain and update a listing of the leads you currently have in the hopper. Here are some suggestions on ways you can effectively track the status of your sales leads.
- If you are a low-tech person, falling back on an older system that employs index cards may work very well for you. This type of a system is very easy to maintain. For each sales lead, you will record pertinent information on an index card. The basic information should include the name of your contact, his or her position, the company name, physical and mailing addresses, phone and fax numbers, email address, and a short description of what the company does. On the back of the card, keep track of your interactions with this person, including when your next contact is planned. Keep all your index cards in a file that is divided into several categories: a general leads section, followed by a section for contacts to make and then a section on action items to do. Using this system, you can check every morning to see what you have planned in the way of sales opportunities.
- For those who want to use some electronic means, but still want to keep it relatively simple, you can use some of the features that come with your computer. Chances are your basic programs include an address book and calendar of some sort. Record all leads in your address book and use your calendar to schedule phone calls, site visits, product demonstrations, etc. Make sure to schedule reminders for each of the activities you place on your calendar. This will allow you the option of checking scheduled activities for the day at a glance, as well as having something flash up and remind you that you have a phone call to make or some sort of activity to perform on behalf of a lead. Also, note that if you do not like the calendar that came on your basic software, you can always take advantage of an online calendar for free, such as with Yahoo.
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Author: Malcolm Tatum