Inside Sales Lead Management Featured Article

The way consumers make buying choices has changed, thanks to the endless amount of information at their fingertips. The sales team no longer serves as the primary point of contact when it comes to gathering the facts. While it may shorten the learning curve, it can also cause churn if you’re not part of the conversation. Inside sales lead management should be focused on changing the course or cutting back on the number of sales positions on the team.

Information available via the Internet started this wave, yet social media has added a whole new, and more complex layer. If your inside sales team is still only learning how to embrace the Internet as a tool to drive sales, they’re missing out on key opportunities in the social media world. Continuing to be absent from this space will eventually hurt your sales numbers if it hasn’t already.

Let’s consider what the buying process looks like today, whether you’re selling in a business to business or business to consumer environment:

Need is identified – You know the problem you want to solve.

Solution is researched – You may or may not know what solution best solves this problem, so you take to the Internet to start your research. The sites with the best keyword-rich content around your problem will populate your search results first. You might also take this to your friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter (News - Alert), LinkedIn or other platforms you use to stay connected.

Solution identified – Through this research, you identify one or more solutions that will solve your problem.

Providers researched – You get back into search mode to see who offers the solution you need (you gained some insight on this in your first search if providers had good content and presence). While gathering information online, you trust the communities. Your social media connections and valued forums provide the most trusted information and feedback.

Companies contacted – You make a few phone calls or send a few emails to the companies you want to consider and ask them for a bid/price.

Selection made – The winning company gets to provide you with the solution to your problem.

Opinions posted – You go back to the same platforms you used to complete your research to share your satisfaction – or dissatisfaction – with the selected provider.

Given this new process, inside sales lead management needs to not only develop and push out quality content via the Internet that supports solving customer problems; the sales team also needs to be in the conversation via social media. It’s the only way you still get to have some control in the buying process.