The Lead Warming Department

May 22, 2008 | by Clate Mask

Every business has a sales department.  And every business has a marketing department.  Sometimes those departments are one in the same.  And sometimes those departments are one person wearing (at least) two different hats.  But the point is, we all recognize there are two hats.

Well, a recent article on InsideCRM suggests there ought to be a third hat: the lead warming department.  Why?  Because so many leads die in between the marketing department and the sales department.  As pointed out in the InsideCRM article, we recently ran a survey and found that follow-up failure is the biggest challenge business owners and entrepreneurs face in their marketing efforts.

Most of the CRM software solutions out there will help business owners get organized in their marketing efforts.  And that’s a step in the right direction.  But what business owners really need is a software solution that not only organizes the marketing, but automatically executes it for them… which is why I love what we do at Infusionsoft.  ;)

 

Posted In: Marketing Automation

 
  • http://wealthnetcoaching.com Cliff Jones

    Good point regarding the distinction between sales and marketing hats. At WealthNet Business Coaching, LLC we work exclusively with hard core entrepreneurs who thrive on business development. In fact, new business is their number one priority in almost every case. My experience is that most organizations don’t implement disciplined systems for managing the sales team, pipeline, and results. And even when an entrepreneur wears both hats, I often seen breakdowns between the marketing and sales execution. This is usually because the business lacks systems and discipline. This becomes problematic way beyond leads falling through the cracks. Yes, it hurts to lose money because the follow up isn’t there. The other issues include lack of accountability, inability to forecast sales, and inability to understand the key ratios that would indicate if a marketing campaign or sales person is cost effective. Although I am personally new to Infusionsoft, what makes the difference for me and my clients so far is you focus completely on the entrepreneur who seeks to integrate the many disciplines and systems of sales and marketing. I also want to say you’ve got a great team of people working with you based on my early experiences. Thanks for being a champion for entrepreneurs!

  • http://www.infusionsoft.com Clate

    Thanks, Cliff. I appreciate the compliments about our people and our approach to helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses. I love what we do.

    I also totally agree with you that discipline, systems and accountability are at the root of the gap between Marketing and Sales functions. Our software definitely helps bridge the gap, but if the entrepreneur doesn’t have a system or process to put in place, we can’t help nearly as much. That reminds me of a quote by Bill Gates. He said something to the effect of, “I can’t automate something that doesn’t have a process.”

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