Inside Sales Lead Management Featured Article

 

  By Rory J. Thompson, Web Editor

 

Sales people know the truth better than anyone: Not every lead will turn into a sale. Still, it’s that hope and belief that any lead has the potential to be a sale, that keeps sales people going at it, day after day.

But it takes more than hope and faith; it takes guidance and patience as well. And that was the message in a recent blog post by John Belle, vice president of North America Inside Sales at Symantec (News - Alert). Belle shared his thoughts with The VAR Guy, and offered his insights on some steps that any sales department can take to turn a lead into a deal.

“Our strategy shows that we’re thinking differently about the way we work with the channel, incentivize the channel and deliver value to our partners and customers,” Belle wrote. “At the heart of the strategy is the belief that partners who differentiate themselves for our mutual customers should be worked with most closely.”

To that end, Belle spelled out some ways that his group is driving sales up for Symantec, keep everyone focused and on track.

“Our Inside Sales organization drives opportunities to partners in several ways,” Belle noted. “We create opportunity through our prospecting conversations with customers, which average several thousand of outbound calls every day. We also identify leads when customers call our inbound telesales line or online chat teams. In addition, Symantec’s marketing engine generates thousands of inquiries from customers every month who download whitepapers or attend webinars. Our Demand Generation team qualifies these inquiries and sends leads or appointments to our top partners.”

It’s obvious the team is on to something, as witnessed by Symantec’s ongoing success. But Belle also what he calls his “Top Three Partner Tips” for managing leads:

Act fast on the leads you receive: “Even if that means telling us ‘No thanks. Time kills leads.”

Ask for help: “It’s perfectly fine to receive an opportunity from Symantec and be really excited to engage, but lack clarity on how to move it from one stage to the next,” Belle says. “Our account team is here to help you do that.”

When a sale closes, celebrate with us: “Let’s make sure that the people on our collective teams see and understand that a passed lead has become a deal, and that deal has closed, as that will breed confidence on both sides.”


Edited by Rory J. Thompson