How to choose a sales lead tracking software for your small business
Choosing a right Sales Lead Tracking Software is a critical decision, as you would be using it as a primary sales conversion tool on a day to day basis. With the increased volume of leads from internet and need for immediate response to the prospects, a suitable solution matching your specific business needs should be selected.
Software Selection Criteria
The following factors can be considered while making a buying decision:
- Should be available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) or Software on Demand. This makes the software available from anywhere if you have access to the Internet. You don’t need to buy any hardware or do any software installation. In other words, you don’t need an IT (information technology) specialist in your organization to handle the installation, database backup, updates and maintenance.
- No need for upfront investment. Most of the modern sales tracking solutions such LeadPro247, do not require any upfront investment. This gives you the best value for money, as money need be locked down by upfront payments. The payments (known as subscription fees) can be made on a monthly basis based on the subscription plan you select.
- No long term contract or commitment. Though you would like to use the selected software service for a long time, there may be a need to switch to another service provider in future. Also your business requirements may change considerably in future, and the software may not suit your needs. In such a case, you can quickly choose another software provider. Note that you would have invested considerable time and efforts in learning the tool and hence there is no incentive for you to switch without any specific reason. Software providers understand this logic and hence provide long term commitment free services.
- Should include all key features required for sales lead tracking and management, even if you don’t use all features initially. Once you are comfortable with the basics, you can quickly start leveraging other advanced features in order to maximize the lead conversion.
- Good service and support options from the service vendor. Assuming that you will be going with the basic, n0-frill service initially, make sure that the software vendor have options to provide full service, operations support and configuration / customization services when required. Every hour saved in operating / maintaining the software can be valued multiple times in terms of your business improvement and taking care of the prospects in terms of phone calls, follow-up, demos, etc. As a small business owner / marketer, your time is much more valuable than a technical specialist, if you consider the business development potential.
- Reasonable pricing for the software subscription plan and additional service options. You don’t need to look for the cheapest prices in the market; on the other hand, you don’t need to pay hefty fees just because the service provider is a well known or large organization. With the adoption of on-demand software service delivery model, the fees are considerably cheap when compared with traditional software prices.
- Should be an integrated platform with key lead management services built into the software. Make sure that the selected lead tracking software platform includes sales capture, distribution / routing, follow-up tracking, drip email marketing (for lead nurturing and engagement), and online surveys (for prospect feedback). Selecting piece-meal solutions and using multiple tools will be highly error prone and results in multiple lists / databases; this would no better than using multiple spreadsheets to manage the leads! An integrated lead tracking software such as Leadpro247 will save ton of your time and provide great conversion results, by automating every step of the process with a centralized database.
Selection Process
Spend some time and research various products, services and tools available in the market for sales lead tracking and management. Use Google (or any other search engine) and research the lead tracking services and vendors. There are several resources on the web such as this blog. You can also take a look at the tutorials / training sections of the individual service providers.
Request service vendors to walk you through the software application, so that you can understand the software features and how these fit your business requirements. The time spent for a walkthrough using an online webinar software such as GoToMeeting or Webex will help you to uncover a lot of concepts and features which you may not even aware of!
You may also request a discussion with implementation specialists of select vendors. If the service provider’s implementation specialists cannot understand your business, then probably you got to look for another provider.
After reviewing 2 or 3 service providers, you would be in a better position to understand the software features. Make a comparison of lead tracking software service features between various plans and products and then make a final decision.
