What Does a Qualified Lead Look Like?
With the plethora of online platforms and consumer data now available to businesses, you’re likely seeing more leads stream into your CRM than ever before. It’s a delicate balance between building a relationship with each new potential customer and making them feel immediately welcomed, and overloading your sales staff with an unwieldy list of leads.
To separate the window shoppers from the serious buyers, it’s time to define which qualified leads your sales team should pursue first and put in place an automated lead nurturing process to take care of the rest until they’re closer to making a purchase.
How to Qualify Leads
The ability to qualify leads comes down to collecting quality lead data on your website and other online touchpoints. By adding AI-driven experiences to the website, your company can gather intel on where in the sales funnel each lead falls, when they expect to make a decision, and insightful details on exactly what they’re seeking and why.
“Bring in intelligent lead automation to capture more interested consumers on the website,” says Scott Hill, Co-Founder and CEO of PERQ. “When you dramatically increase the leads, you need to start qualifying the true opportunity of those leads. Are they worth your human capital for follow-up?”
If a lead engages with an online assessment or quiz, they’re likely still in the research phase trying to figure out what’s important to them. These marketing qualified leads need more time and information before making a purchase or signing a lease. They’re also not likely ready to speak to a salesperson just yet, so having an associate reach out too soon, may turn the consumer off.
On the other hand, prospective customers who engage with financing tools or pre-qualifying applications, and those who click on banners and buttons to view Special Offers or Request More Info, all show signs they’re ready to buy now. Make sure the most promising leads quickly receive your sales team’s utmost attention and don’t accidentally get overlooked. Assign these sales qualified leads within your CRM directly to a salesperson, so they can inject a human interaction at a critical moment in the consumer journey.
If you’re not screening website visitors already, find a way to ask them when they plan to move or make a purchase, or employ online experiences that leverage AI to gauge where they’re at in the buying process, while also providing prospects with the digital assistance they desire.
“Fit today’s consumer habits into the processes you have,” Hill says. “Introduce bottom-of-the-funnel engagement opportunities to capture consumers’ information and their attention. Once you have the data, you can qualify the leads.”
Use Customer Data to Personalize Automated Marketing, Lead Follow-Up
Your company can utilize online shopping data and consumer insights to not only prioritize leads, but also personalize the lead nurturing process regardless of how you plan to follow up.
An automated lead nurture solution tied to your CRM personalizes messaging and delivers relevant digital content to the consumer related to their interactions on the website. They receive an immediate acknowledgment of their first visit, then scheduled messages to keep your brand top of mind and help the shopper move closer to signing a lease or making a home furnishings purchase.
Time the drip campaigns based on how far along they are on the buying journey, and give incentives to drive them back to the website to engage further with the AI experiences until they’re ready to make their move.
Your digital sales team can also tap into the consumer data organized in your CRM, focusing first on leads flagged by AI technology as “likely to buy” based on historical and real-time data. With knowledge like the products they searched and personal preferences, an assigned team member can confidently approach a shopper more easily.
“Solve the gap from where the consumer is doing online research to where there’s actually in-person engagement that requires a team,” Hill says.