A recent research shows that 96% of website visitors aren’t ready to buy. This seems like a big number but marketers know that the intent of every visitor isn’t to buy. A lot of people tend to visit a website for getting information and this is how marketing works.

While 96% of the visitors aren’t ready to buy, this leaves only 4% visitors which can be your potential customers. In view of this, the importance of lead management further increases. It is because you do not want to miss out on any potential buyer or customer while not managing the lead properly.

This guide is for all the marketers out there who want to learn more about lead management. I have been in this field for the past 12 years and I’ve seen trends shifting and new ways replacing the older strategies. Here are top 6 tips that can help you manage leads in a more effective manner.

6 Lead Management tips to not miss out on any potential customer

1. Track and understand the source

Knowing where your leads come from is key. Did they find you online? Hear about you from a friend? See your ad? Understanding the source helps you double down on what’s working to get more similar leads. It also lets you ditch the duds that aren’t paying off. Plus, you can tweak your approach for each lead source to boost conversions.

In short, track those sources and you’ll generate more quality leads. For example if you are using freelance marketing websites (which are a great way to find talented digital marketing professionals on a budget as well as to generate leads), you can create a profile that highlights your skills and experience in a way that will attract potential clients.

You can also showcase your portfolio of work on these platforms to give potential clients a better idea of the type of projects you have completed in the past. Here are some popular ways from where leads usually come from:

• PPC (Pay Per Click)
• Blogs – When you share informative content
• Website – When you optimize your website for visitors
• Search – When your website appears when people searches for services
• Events – When you contribute in other activities
• Referrals – When people or websites suggest you
• Media coverage – When you pay or organically get media’s attention
• Email marketing – When you run email campaigns to target users
• Social media – When you engage audience on different social medias

Social media platforms are a goldmine for micro SaaS businesses to find quality prospects as compared to going towards PPC which is a direct way of bringing in visitors. Oftentimes, those visitors can’t convert the way you want them to be. So try to maximize the potential benefits of social media platforms and the audience you can target there.

While social media platforms hold the key, sometimes it is difficult for new businesses to use and get more out of these platforms. It is majorly because new startups tend to work with a very little team and budget and with this, it is difficult to maximize benefits from social media platforms.

But still you can use it wisely as there are some popular social media management softwares that can help you streamline your processes and effortlessly manage all of your accounts.

2. Do not consider every lead as the same

You can’t treat every lead the same – that’s a recipe for wasted time and effort. Lead scoring lets you sort the good from the bad and focus your energy on the hottest prospects. By ranking leads based on their behaviors and info, you can quickly identify your best bets.

Then you can work smarter, giving top-tier leads the white-glove treatment while letting lower-scorers simmer on the back burner. No more spinning your wheels on lousy leads – just concentrated pursuit of the fattest fish. Here are some main things to consider:

• Demographic information – See from which location lead is coming from
• Company information – See the company and their standards 
• Online behavior – See what’s the online behavior behind that lead is
• Email engagement – See how much engagement you’re getting with your different email template
• Social engagement – See how much engagement you’re getting on social media
• Spam detection – See if your lead is legit or is there spam associated with it

Pro Tip: Design system of your campaigns in a way that you can hit target leads more effectively. Design has to be engaging and properly targeted so that you can ensure that you are not going to give anything away.

3. Your first priority is to target clean & serious leads

Scoring leads is great, but it’s only as good as the data you’re scoring. Garbage in, garbage out – if your lead data is a mess, your scoring will be too. That’s why you gotta prioritize clean data. Comb through and scrub out those duplicate entries, fix the misspelled fields, get everything squared away.

With a nice tidy database, your scoring system can do its job properly. Separating the prime leads from the duds gets way easier when your data doesn’t look like a kindergartner’s fingerpainting.

4. Nurture your leads

Nurturing leads is all about building relationships. You can’t just make one pitch and expect folks to buy right away. Send personalized emails, give helpful content, and stay top of mind.

But don’t be a pesky stalker – space it out and make it valuable. When a lead is ready to purchase, you’ll be the natural choice since you took the time to nurture that connection. It’s like dating for sales – invest upfront and the payoff could be huge.

5. Keep an eye on your lead management process

Reviewing your lead management process is crucial for staying ahead of the pack. Things change – new tools, new tactics, new best practices. If you just keep plodding along without self-assessment, you’ll get left in the dust.

Smart companies constantly analyze their lead flows, pipelines, and conversions to pinpoint bottlenecks and areas for improvement. Maybe you need better lead scoring, more nurturing, slicker handoffs between teams. Or perhaps you’re knocking it out of the park already. Either way, that critical review keeps you operating at peak lead-wrangling efficiency.

Pro Tip: AI has made it easier to keep an eye on your lead management process. There are a lot of Voice AI agents or chatbots which you can use right away. You can go towards having your own system, chatbots or agents as well but it can increase your time and split efforts. The best way is to leverage what already exists and integrate it as per your requirements and needs.

6. Prove your expertise to your prospects

You gotta show your prospects you know your stuff – that’s how you build trust and stand out. Don’t just tell ’em you’re an expert, prove it! Share advice through blog posts, videos, or podcasts. Give free consultations to demonstrate your skills. Speak at industry events. Become a thought leader people look up to in your niche.

When prospects see your expertise on full display, they’ll be way more likely to take you seriously. Miss out on showcasing your smarts and you’re just another generic salesperson nobody’s gonna listen to.

Conclusion

Marketing industry is revolutionizing and there is a lot of competition in every field these days. Meanwhile, AI is also helping in making things difficult for those who are not doing lead management properly. As a running or a new business prospect, you need to be very disciplined when it comes to lead management.

You treat your leads the right way, you help your business in the long run. I hope this article helped you in learning more about lead management and some tips that can be ice breaking for you. Cheers!