In marketing, a lead refers to a prospective buyer interested in a company's product or service. They become a lead after starting communication with the brand or an organization. Generating leads can be a non-intrusive way for brands to get new customers.
However, converting new leads to paying customers can still be challenging for many businesses. The system can be complicated as it involves several crucial stages, such as lead distribution. Fortunately for marketers today, there are lead distribution tools they can use to streamline this process.
What Marketers Need To Know About Lead Distribution
Before discussing lead distribution, let’s examine how companies use leads to boost profits. Before routing leads, marketers first need to generate and capture incoming leads. Here’s a closer look at the relevant sales processes involved.
Lead generation
You can use inbound lead generation tactics to lead strangers to your company website. These visitors will read your articles, view your landing pages, watch your videos, and have access to other valuable content you produce.
Lead capture
The site visitors will become leads if they fill out lead capture forms or talk to a chatbot. These are examples of lead-capturing methods designed to generate valuable lead information. You can get data like name, email address, general geographic location, and company size through these strategies. You can store this data on a customer relationship management (CRM) platform.
Lead qualification
At this stage, you will filter leads you think can become potential customers based on your collected information. You can also contact these leads to ask more qualifying questions about their needs and budget. You can even ask if they are looking to buy a solution.
Lead distribution
After analyzing the leads using the information you collected from the lead capture methods and the validation process, you must distribute the leads to sales representatives.
There are two ways to distribute leads: manual or pull-based distribution and automatic or push-based distribution.
Manual or pull-based lead distribution
Manual lead distribution allows sales representatives to choose the leads they want to work with rather than getting assigned leads. The process involves sales reps accessing a CRM, spreadsheet, or other database and selecting leads based on their own criteria.
This method can be ideal for the sales representatives of a marketing team. It is a selective lead distribution process that allows salespeople to choose the leads they feel they can convert into paying customers.
The ideal scheduling platform for businesses that aim to automate the entire process of scheduling meetings with leads is one that is particularly useful for those who wish to distribute leads to specific team members based on targeted conversations. This type of software is highly recommended for businesses that intend to maximize the value of their leads through the use of automation, straight from the point where their lead form is placed or their landing page builder.
However, manual lead distribution can limit the number of leads sales agents can handle. This disadvantage can result in lost opportunities for revenue.
Two common manual lead distribution strategies include cherry-picking and the shark tank approach.
The cherry-picking approach means sales reps choose the leads they want to handle. Although this approach can be the easiest for salespeople, it has significant disadvantages.
Because no one assigns the leads, sales reps can choose leads based on their discretion and availability. If they are not converting enough leads to match the volume of new leads, it can lead to a slow lead response time. The slow lead response also means deals are less likely to close.
Meanwhile, a shark tank method means every salesperson gets the right lead once it becomes available. While this method increases competition amongst sales reps, it can also discourage agents who miss out on available leads. It can also cause faster sales reps to take on more leads than they can handle.
Automatic or push-based lead distribution
The automated lead distribution process uses software to assign leads to sales reps. It uses forms and relies on rules-based distribution to route leads automatically to representatives.
A round-robin distribution refers to routing leads to salespeople on a rotation basis. For example, if you have six sales representatives, they will receive a lead based on their place in the queue. After the cycle is complete, the software automatically assigns leads in the same order.
In this approach, all representatives get the same number of leads. However, this tactic ignores other crucial factors, such as availability and expertise, which can reduce your sales team’s effectiveness.
To optimize this approach, some teams implement assignment rules. Rather than assigning leads in a rotation, you can add specific routing rules defining which leads to transfer to a sales rep.
Top 5 Lead Distribution Software
Today, there are several lead distribution solutions to make the process easier for businesses. This section outlines five software that your organization can use.
1. Chili Piper
Chili Piper is a scheduling app and inbound lead conversion platform with routing capabilities. Users can use web forms to collect lead information and instantly send them to the right salesperson in real-time.
Users can use this platform for the segmentation of leads based on the company size, region, or other criteria. Users can also automatically sync activities with the company’s CRM.
Key features:
One-tap meeting booking through email
Automated meeting notifications, reminders, and rescheduling
Automatic lead distribution with specific rules
Supports integrations to Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo
Pricing:
Instant booker - $15 per user per month
Distro - $20 per user per month
Handoff - $25 per user per month
Form concierge - $30 per user per month
2. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a CRM solution with lead distribution features. With this platform, users can capture, store, and manage all their leads in a single platform.
It also comes with marketing and social media management features that allow users to interact with leads and customers.
Key features:
Intelligent routing ensures leads match the right managers
Pre-built telephony
Automatic rerouting if a sales representative is unavailable
Conversation channels and sales rep transfer
Pricing:
Free CRM software with basic collaboration features
Basic - $49 for 5 users per month
Standard - $99 for 50 users per month
Professional - $199 for 100 users per month
3. Lead Assign
Lead Assign is a dedicated lead distribution platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI). The solution learns patterns to match leads to suitable sales agents over time. Providers designed the platform for large enterprises with massive, distributed sales teams.
The platform has a unique feature that encourages quick responses from sales reps. It automatically routes the lead to others if they fail to accept the assignment within a certain amount of time.
Key features:
Feedback-based lead distribution
Automated lead workflow
Lead preview feature so sales reps can check lead information before accepting it
Pricing:
Lead Assign has three pricing options: starter, business, and enterprise. Interested buyers can contact the company’s sales team for pricing details.
4. LeanData
A native Salesforce app, LeanData is a solution with lead distribution features. This platform helps users scale and automate inbound lead qualification. It has a drag-and-drop interface that managers can use to create routing scenarios.
It can help organize and update business data easier. When teams get new leads, this solution can check if users already stored the same info in their CRM. If they did, it automatically updates the information in the account.
Key features:
Rule-based lead routing
Valuable account engagement insights
Integration with Outreach and Zoom Info
Real-time reporting
Pricing:
Standard - $39 per user license monthly
Advanced - $49 per user license monthly
Premium - $59 per user license monthly
Enterprise - Prices for enterprise accounts are available upon request
5. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is a well-known brand that offers various advertising solutions for a wide range of uses, including email and performance marketing. It offers a CRM solution that comes with user-friendly lead management software. The premium version of the solution provides lead distribution and workflow features, including custom lead scoring criteria and automated lead rotation.
The starter plan comes with intelligent routing features for emails and inbound calls. This advantage helps the sales reps to make phone calls and reply faster to queries or follow-ups.
Key features:
Lead management system
Lead scoring approach based on custom criteria and historical data
Round-robin lead distribution system
More than 500 app integrations
Pricing:
CRM suite, professional - $1,781 per month
CRM suite, enterprise - $5,000 month
Use the Best Lead Distribution Software in Your E-commerce Business
Regardless of the type of lead you are handling, you will need the right routing software for a streamlined process. With the right solution, you will get value from different lead sources, including social media, SMS, or email marketing campaigns.
To succeed, advertisers must take full advantage of emerging technologies that can automate manual processes. Today’s marketing automation solutions can help businesses manage leads easier and convert them into paying customers. With the right tools, getting value from lead generation can be easier than ever.