Whether you are a broker trying to sell insurance or a salesperson trying to sell a product or service, your aims are essentially to find potential customers or leads, convince those leads to buy your product and then try to encourage your customers to remain loyal to you or your company. This involves two things: lead generation and lead management. Lead generation is what is covered in most marketing material. To generate leads, you may be given a list of people to call or you may be advised to network, sell door to door, or place ads - whatever your company or business has found to be most effective for putting you in direct contact with those who want to buy. When it comes to converting those leads into customers, though, you may be on your own - especially if your company or employer does not have an automatic lead management process in place

Lead Management and Lead Conversion

Luckily, taking potential customers and creating long-term loyal customers is a learnable skill. All it takes is some effort, a good system, some talent (or some learned techniques) and persistence. When thinking about lead management, it may be useful for you to think in terms of lead conversion. Whether you are selling products or insurance policies, consider the successful sales you have made. Were there any common factors? Did you do something differently with leads that became happy customers? What about yourself? You have likely been approached by a salesperson or broker - what made you decide to buy from a specific individual? What qualities turned you from a potential to a paying customer? Was it professionalism or a willingness to personalize services? Was it the fact that a salesperson tried to customize a product or offer just for you? Working with pen and paper, come up with as many items as you can to describe what makes someone buy from someone else. Some of these items will be things you have limited control over - such as a customer's mood when approached. Other things - such as the professionalism of the salesperson - you can control to a large degree. If you are having trouble with your list, consider modeling. Find someone in your company or department - or even at another company - who is able to sell as if by magic. Take a hard look at what that person does and consider whether you can do some of those same things yourself.

Lead Management Tips from the Pros

If you have your list, you likely have many ideas already about how to generate more actual sales. However, you may want to peek at what experts and marketers say about lead conversion and management. Studies have suggested that many customers today go online when making decisions about what to buy. The Internet, then, can be a good way to communicate with potential leads. Technology such as customized programs that pair customers with specific brokers or salespeople can be very helpful in pairing Internet users with actual people who can follow up. Video demonstrations and other interactive technology can ensure that customers can learn about a product or service at their own pace and contact sales agents or brokers when they are closer to buying. Some businesses find that IM or online chat functions allow customers to be paired with brokers or salespeople virtually. This allows customers to be more comfortable with asking questions, as the online medium creates a buffer of anonymity.