Studies show that phone calls are the most valuable type of lead, converting to revenue far more frequently than web and other leads. And it makes sense: inbound phone leads tend to come from people further along in the buying process. They have specific questions they need answered to make their decision and engaging with the right sales rep right away can make or break the sale.
But at the same time, not every call that comes in from your marketing should be sent to a sales agent. Many calls that originate from search engine inquiries and marketing campaigns aren’t qualified leads and should not be handled by your reps. But how do you separate the good from the bad?
First, if you haven’t already, you should meet with your sales team (or your client’s sales team, if you work for an agency) and agree on:
- The definition of a qualified phone lead: That definition may vary from campaign to campaign. Qualifying a lead may be as simple as asking callers if they wish to speak to a sales rep, or as complex as asking for additional information such as interest level, account details, or readiness to buy. But coming to a consensus on the type of lead sales wishes to handle directly will help you determine the questions to ask to qualify an incoming call.
- How leads get assigned: This may also vary from campaign to campaign and often depends on the nature of your business and how your sales team is structured. Do you have multiple stores or offices? Do your sales agents work in the office, at home, or in the field? Do leads get assigned differently if they are calling about certain products or from certain locations, or is it first come first serve? Are there some agents who should receive more calls than others? Knowing the answers can help you get callers to the right person right away.
Once you have this information, you can begin to implement a process for qualifying, routing, and scoring phone leads automatically as they come in with the end goal of helping sales close more deals (which ultimately improves your marketing ROI a win-win). Thinking of it as a step-by-step process is often helpful, beginning with call qualification and ultimately examining post-call data to understand how to optimize your marketing for what works.
Why You Need to Also Track Your Inbound Calls
If you can’t track phone leads back to their source to see what’s working, your marketing and sales will suffer. And being able to direct calls differently for different marketing sources first requires the use of a technology called call tracking. Call tracking enables you to pinpoint which ads, search keywords, content, and campaigns are generating phone calls, opportunities, and revenue, and which are not. Then you can work to optimize ROI.
Read the Marketer’s Guide to Qualifying, Routing, and Scoring Inbound Calls to Optimize Sales now to learn ways marketers have implemented processes to weed out the bad calls and route the good ones to the best sales reps to close them.
