Sales Lead Tracking becomes one of those projects that invariably occupies a great deal of time for any Sales Manager. There are literally hundreds of ways for tracking sales leads, and just as many software programs for doing it. Finding the best way to track your sales leads can be a daunting task, but there are a few things that can make the ever-evolving process easier.

What is a Sales Lead?

The first step in developing an effective Sales Lead Tracking process is to determine exactly what a Sales Lead is. This sounds simpler than it often is. You need to determine what a Sales Lead is for your purposes. Is it just a name? Is it a name and phone number? Is it a person you've had a first contact with? Or is it a person that you've spoken with that expresses interest in your product or service? Make the determination of what a Sales Lead is to you, define it, and make sure everyone on your sales team follows the same guideline.

Define stages for Sales Lead Tracking

Determining stages in your Sales Lead Tracking process will help you keep tabs on how well you are doing at moving them through the sales process and where you might improve. The number of stages you have in your Sales Lead Tracking process is up to you, but be sure you track the steps you need. Perhaps your process has only three stages; lead, prospect and customer. Perhaps you'll have several; lead, suspect, prospect, qualified, presented, quoted, and closed. No matter how many stages you have, be sure to define them well and make sure everyone on your team follows them.

About the Author

Many of today's most successful large and small businesses have chosen Avidian's CRM Software as their sales management and contact management software.