How to create leads manually, update lead statuses, and handle lead duplication

Table of Contents

1. Creating Leads
2. Updating Lead Statuses
3. Cold vs. Warm Leads
4. Best Practices for Managing Lead Workflows
5. Handling Lead Duplication
6. Deleting Leads

1. Creating Leads

Leads can be manually created when a new potential prospect is identified. These leads can originate from various sources such as email campaigns, phone calls, website forms, social media, or sales activities.

Steps to Manually Create a Lead:

1. Navigate to the Lead Management System:
   • Open the CRM platform .
   • Go to the Leads section.
2. Click on "Create Lead" or "Add New Lead":
   1. Usually, there is a button for adding a new lead or creating a lead from scratch.
3. Enter Lead Details:
   1. Lead Name: Full name of the lead or company.
   2. Contact Information: Include email, phone number, address, and other relevant contact details.
   3. Lead Source: Identify how the lead was acquired (e.g., referral, social media, website form, trade show, etc.).
   4. Job Title: For B2B leads, include the contact's job title.
   5. Status: Select the lead's current status (e.g., New, Contacted, Qualified, Disqualified).
   6. Lead Type: refers to the categorization or classification of a lead (e.g., Cold Lead,Warm Lead)
   7. Notes: Include any relevant background information, such as why they are a lead, pain points, or specific interests.
4. Assign to Sales Representative:
   1. Assign the lead to a specific sales rep or team member responsible for follow-up.
5. Save the Lead:
   • Once all the information is entered, save the lead in the system.

Tips for Creating High-Quality Leads

• Ensure that all fields with asterisk are filled out accurately.
• Include any relevant segmentation data (e.g., budget, region, territory) to assist in lead qualification.
• Use consistent naming conventions to avoid confusion.

2. Updating Lead Statuses

As leads progress through the sales funnel, it is important to regularly update their status. Lead status updates help track where the lead is in the sales cycle and inform the sales team on the next steps.

Common Lead Statuses

1. New: The lead has just been created and has not been contacted yet.
2. Contacted: Initial contact has been made, but further qualification is needed.
3. Qualified: The lead meets specific criteria, such as budget, need, timeline, and authority.
4. Proposal Sent: A proposal or quote has been sent to the lead.
5. Negotiation: The lead is considering a purchase, and the sales team is negotiating terms.
6. Closed – Won: The lead has been successfully converted into a customer.
7. Closed – Lost: The lead is no longer pursuing the offer (e.g., due to budget issues or lack of interest).

How to Update Lead Statuses

1. Access the more action of the Lead:
   • Locate the lead record in the CRM.
2. Select the Appropriate Status:
   1. Use a dropdown or status field to update the lead’s current stage (e.g., from "Contacted" to "Qualified").
3. Save Changes:
   1. Once the status is updated, save the record to ensure the change is captured.

3. Cold vs. Warm Leads

Understanding the difference between cold and warm leads is crucial for prioritizing outreach efforts and managing the sales pipeline effectively.

Cold Leads

Cold leads are individuals or companies who have shown little to no interest in your product or service. They may not yet have had any direct interaction with your company or have not responded to previous contact attempts.

Characteristics:

• Have not engaged with your content, emails, or marketing.
• Likely have little to no awareness of your company.
• May be unresponsive to follow-ups.

Action:

• Nurture: Engage them through educational content, general outreach, or retargeting ads to warm them up over time.
• Targeting: Focus on building trust and brand awareness before making direct sales attempts.

Warm Leads

Warm leads have expressed some level of interest in your product or service, either through direct engagement or showing intent. These leads are more likely to convert into customers.

Characteristics:

• Have interacted with your content (e.g., downloaded a whitepaper, visited your pricing page, signed up for a demo).
• Respond positively to follow-up communications.
• Are likely to have a need that your product can address.

Action:

• Immediate Follow-up: Focus on moving them further down the sales funnel with personalized follow-ups and targeted offers.
• Prioritize: Give warm leads higher priority as they are closer to making a purchasing decision.

4. Best Practices for Managing Lead Workflows

Lead Workflow Management

Efficient lead workflow management ensures that no lead is left behind and that each lead receives the appropriate attention at the right time.

Key Best Practices:

1. Automated Lead Assignment: Use rules and criteria for automatic assignment of leads to specific sales reps based on territory, product interest, or lead score.
2. Regular Reporting and Tracking: Monitor lead status and workflow progress to ensure targets are met. Use CRM dashboards for visual insights into lead performance.

5. Handling Lead Duplication

Duplication of leads in the CRM can lead to inefficiency, confusion, and inaccurate reporting. Ensuring data integrity is essential for a streamlined lead management process.

Preventing Duplicate Leads

1. Use Built-in Duplicate Detection: CRM system offers duplicate detection tool. Enable these features to automatically flag duplicate leads based on key attributes (e.g., name, email, phone number).
2. Search Before Creation: Before adding a new lead, search for existing leads with similar names, emails, or phone numbers to prevent duplicates.

Merging Duplicates

Locate Duplicate Leads: Search for leads with the same information or use the CRM’s duplicate detection tool.

6. Deleting Leads

While deleting leads is sometimes necessary (e.g., incorrect data, privacy concerns), it should be done with caution.

When to Delete Leads

1. Incorrect or Incomplete Information: If the lead contains incorrect or incomplete data that cannot be fixed.
2. Spam or Low-Quality Leads: Leads that are clearly irrelevant, spammy, or from fake email addresses.

Steps to Delete a Lead

1. Locate the Lead: Search for the lead record in the CRM.
2. Review the Lead Information: Ensure that the lead meets the criteria for deletion and confirm it is not associated with important historical data.
3. Delete the Lead: Use the delete option in the CRM.

(Select lead> More action>delete lead)

Recover Deleted Leads

• Deleted lead: You will find all deleted leads and a button on the right with restore

Conclusion

Effective lead management involves more than just adding and tracking leads—it requires thoughtful organization, timely updates, and consistent data practices. By following the outlined processes for creating leads, updating lead statuses, distinguishing between cold and warm leads, managing workflows, preventing duplication, and handling deletions, sales teams can ensure smoother operations and a higher conversion rate. Consistent best practices also promote data accuracy, efficiency, and alignment across the