What is a CRM software? - Part 2

So now you are in meditation. Meditation on your business processes and workflows. Since we are now focusing on CRM,I will consider on of the most common workflows almost every business owner has to chart out : lead followup workflow. I would suggest using a drawing tool as Draw.io ( https://www.draw.io/ or https://www.samepage.io/ ). It forces you to get into the finer details of the workflow. Also you can connect draw.io with other storage systems like Google drive, Dropbox, and few others so you can maintain versions of your workflows and also easily share with others. So let's get to it. Here are the things you might want to think about deeply and chart out a workflow. I will share a template for this workflow next week. Meanwhile, it's useful to try this exercise yourself. Feel free to write to me if you have questions or feel stuck.

1. Lead Source

Do you have different sources from which you get leads? How do these sources differ in:

a. The quality of leads they bring in

b. What is the probability of conversion of leads from each of these sources, given your past experience or guess?

c. What is the potential revenue from the lead based on the source from which you get it? From what you know of the source and from your experience, can you arrive at a ballpark number/range for each source?

Based on the above factors, try to come up with a weighting based formula to calculate the lead's importance.

2. Crucial parameters in lead's data

What is the information about the lead (try naming the top two or three) that makes a considerable difference to your business? For example, say the age group of the lead? Or maybe the gender, if you are in the fitness business? Think of these deeply, and again, try to come up with a weighting for each such factor so you can better prioritize your leads.

3. Decision making authority of the lead

How much power does this lead have in making the purchase decision for your product/service? You may want to give more importance to those leads who are the decision making authorities themselves. Add a weighting factor for this too. 

Categorize your Leads

Based on the above factors, you would have arrived at certain ‘Score’ for the Leads ; let’s call it the ‘Lead Success Score’. Let’s say you have a Fitness Business. Then if the Lead Source was a Health ECommerce Shop, and if the Lead is a young guy in his late twenties, or early thirties, then probably you put him in the Platinum Category (say, his calculated (based on the weightages you assigned at each stage above) ‘Lead Success Score’ range is between 8-10). But, if say, the Lead was from a Clothing Commerce Retailer, and he is in his late fifties, then maybe his Lead Success Score is lower (say, in the range 6-8) and so you put him in the Gold Category, since he is not as much probable as the Platinum Category Leads to buy your product/service.

Mull over the above points and try to come up with a formula & profile your leads based on the ‘Lead Success Score’. Let’s get to the workflow in the next post early next week.

Till then, enjoy your weekend!