The Lead Management Myth

An aspiring angler visited his local dealer and asked for the best fishing boat money could buy. He outfitted it with the biggest and fastest engine available. Of course he selected the most sophisticated fish-finding and navigational electronics. He picked up the most advanced rods, reels, and tackle on the market. At the end of his shopping spree, our angler was virtually equipped to start his own seafood company!

A year later, the angler returned to the dealership asking for his money back.

“What seems to be the problem?” asked the dealership manager.

“This boat doesn’t work; I’ve had it for a year and have yet to catch a fish!” the angler explained.

“Where did you go to try and catch the fish?” asked the manager.

“I haven’t gone anywhere,” answered the angler.

“You never launched the boat? Never got out on the lake? Never cast a line?” asked the manager.

“Nope, the boat has never been off the trailer. I’m telling you, it doesn’t work, it simply doesn’t catch fish!”

This story may seem silly to most but the expectations of the angler are not that far of a cry from most executives when it comes to CRM or lead management.

Depending on which statistics you choose to believe, up to 75% of lead management initiatives fail to produce the expected results or desired return on investment.

Many experts have given many explanations for the high failure rate of lead management initiatives. We believe however that it is much simpler than the “experts” make it out to be. Ready? Here it is…

YOU CANNOT BUY LEAD MANAGEMENT!

In spite of the marketing hype and what the software companies want you to believe, managing prospects and customer relationships is not a technology issue; it is a combination of business culture, well-defined processes, measurable objectives, and an ability to recognize and efficiently adapt to the changing customer demands for your products and services.

Lead management technology must be selected based on: your culture, your re-engineered lead management processes, your objectives, and your customer requirements. The most frequent mistake I see is when companies give no consideration to the lead management process and assume the technology will simply provide the desired results.