Lead Generation and Lead Distribution
Lead Generation is one of the most widely used search terms in search engines. If you take a look at Google Keyword research tool, you may see at least a few million searches a month for the term Lead Generation. Most marketers and small business owners use the terms lead generation and lead distribution to mean the same, although these two activities are totally different. The reason could be that lead distribution follows the demand generation step.
Lead Assignment Vs Distribution
Distributing leads is a relatively small but critical process of the marketing cycle. Once the prospect information is obtained (in whatever fashion), it needs to be passed on to some individual within the organization to carry forward the sales process further. The person could be an inside sales rep, lead administrator, a field sales executive or even a channel team member (such as a dealer or distributor). As discussed in earlier posts, when the prospect information is distributed within the organization, it is generally referred as Lead Assignment.
However, this takes a different connotation if you are a lead generation company or lead provider. The acquired leads need to be sold to one or more external parties (or organization) using certain rules. This process is known as Lead Distribution as the leads are distributed to one or more external entities.
Lead Generation
We receive a quite a few inquiries through our product website on a daily basis inquiring about lead generation software and if our LeadPro tool can be used as a lead generation software. In fact, there is no such thing as a Lead Generation Software. A plethora of tools and web 2.0 strategies can be used for online Sales Lead Generation. For example, this blog is a tool for online lead generation. The following are the most commonly used tools for lead generation. Note that the traditional demand generation sources are fast losing relevance and online lead generation methods are gaining ground.
- Websites (with landing pages or sign-up forms)
- Blogs
- Forums
- Pay Per Click Advertising
- Cost Per Action (CPA) Advertising
- Email Marketing
- Social Marketing Media (such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
- Call Centers (traditional)
- Direct Mail (traditional)
- Print / TV / Radio Advertising
Lead Distribution Software
There are several software tools in the market place for distributing leads. Some include both internal lead assignment and external lead distribution and some include one or the other function.
Internal Lead Assignment (or routing) software will generally include the following features:
- Sales Organization Maintenance
- Sales Territory Definition
- Manual review / qualification
- Lead entry / import / interface
- Assignment Engine with criteria such as:
- Geography (State, County, Zip / Postal code, Telephone Area Code, etc.)
- Lead Source
- Lead Profile parameters (such as Product / Service, Budget, Authority, Time frame, etc.)
- Lead Score / Lead Rank / Class (based on Qualification process)
- Manual Assignment of Leads (individually or in batch)
- Reassignment of Leads (individually or in batch)
- Definition of Sales Followup Stages
- Lead Tracking Activities Logging
- Analysis Reports
External Lead Distribution software will have an entirely different set of features, though the above feature might also be included for internal management.
Typical features included in an online lead distribution sofware will be:
- Lead Capture from multiple sources
- Lead Capture forms (can be used with Landing Pages)
- Integration with leading Lead Vendors
- Custom Interfaces to various lead generation systems
- Lead Aggregation in a central database
- Lead Buyers / Clients setup and maintenance
- Support for multiple verticals and industry segments such as:
- Insurance leads (health, life, LTC, auto, home, mortgage protection, annuities, etc.)
- Mortgage leads (New purchase, refinance, home equity loan, line of credit)
- Real Estate leads (home buyers, sellers)
- Loan Modification leads
- Debt Consolidation leads
- Credit Card leads
- Auto leads
- Warranty leads
- Higher Education leads
- Student Loan leads
- Satellite TV leads
- Identity Protection leads
- Other Consumer product leads
- Comprehensive Lead Distribution Engine
- Real Time Distribution of leads
- Aged Leads distribution in bulk / batches
- Lead management tool for buyers (as a value addition)
- Credit Request and Approval process (for invalid leads)
- Order processing (for real time and bulk leads)
- Online Credit Card Payment processing with multiple gateways
- Lead sales statistics
- Profitability Analysis and metrics
Thus lead marketers can look for and use a suitable lead distribution software solution to manage their distribution and delivery processes. However, there is no single piece of software or solution to generate leads. A combination of strategies including web sites, blogs, email marketing, PPC, and SEO can be used to generate internet leads. And there are several tools and solutions to execute these strategies.
Sales Lead Distribution takes various connotations with various constituents. If you are completely new to the Lead Management domain, I would suggest that you take a look at the Wikipedia page on Lead Management. Once you have some basics in mind, you will come up with more questions!
If you are in business or a marketing professionals, then you know how various terms and definitions are used. There is no one ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ usage. Hence understanding the variations will help you doing research on the Internet, discussing with your peers in networking events or talking to your lead management software supplier.
Also, the experts use “Sales Lead” instead of using just “Lead” in order to minimize the confusion and increase the clarity. Some marketers also use terms such as “inquiry” and “opportunity”. Again, these terms might be interpreted differently. However, internet marketers generally use the term “lead”. Another term used is “prospect”.
Hence the following phrases may represent the same; or differ slightly depending on who you talk to! I will be using these terms without any major differentiation.
- Lead Management
- Prospect Management
- Inquiry Management
- Opportunity Management
However Contact Management is different from the above. You may use software applications such as Outlook, ACT or Goldmine for Contact Management.
Lead Management is also much wider in scope when compared with Lead Distribution. Since businesses and marketers use these two terms in a similar fashion, we will also expand the scope of the Lead Distribution i.e. the scope of this web site.
Again, several terms such as Lead Routing and Lead Assignment are widely used to refer to Lead Distribution. Let us explore the subtle differences in the terminology in future posts.
Lead Distribution can be defined as the process of assigning responsibility to a specific sales entity for the purpose of following up with the prospect and convert the lead to a customer by completing the sale of a product or service. The process may involve the application of simple or complex business rules based on the nature and complexity of the business.
The sales lead distribution can be carried out manually (as was done traditionally by small business professionals) or automated using a lead distribution software solution. If you are using internet for generating and capturing leads (directly or indirectly), it may not be feasible to carry out the process manually. In other words, you may not be really leveraging the advantages of the internet leads.
As mentioned earlier, depending on the nature of your business operations, you will be looking at the functions and requirements of the lead distribution software differently. Let us look at the various permutations and combinations of lead distribution on these pages in future.
