Is there a Captain of the Lead Management Ship?

In his recent (posthumously) published book, “When Breath Becomes Air”[i], neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, dying of terminal lung cancer, attempts to answer the question “What makes life worth living?” During his treatment, he reached a point when there were so many specialists with competing opinions and solutions working on him that the situation reached a state of WICOS, which means ‘who is the captain of the ship?’ In this instance, the captain turned out to be Dr. Kalanithi who, as much as he was able, took charge.

This is a great book and I highly recommend it, and it got me thinking. Is the captain of the sales lead management ship? This may seem trite compared to Dr. Kalanithi’s battle and passing, but the answer to this question of leadership affects marketing budgets, which are 2-20% of companies’ revenue and 10-15% (or more) of the sales costs. After all, marketing’s lead generation efforts can substantially contribute to revenue or be a waste and drag on profits and sales productivity. The sales lead management leadership issue is crucial for a company’s success.

THE WICOS LEAD MANAGEMENT ISSUE

Considering that sales leads, during their lifetime, can pass through a dozen departments, competing software applications, and numerous outside vendors, each with their own opinions, rules, timetables, and goals, it seems appropriate to ask the WICOS question.

As the above-mentioned author said, in the WICOS state there is a cacophony of voices and opinions, actions and reactions; not unlike those that try to ensure that 75-90% of marketing’s lead generation budget isn’t wasted (which it is in most cases). I think it is a disharmony of good intentions, but few results occur without a captain.

So who is in charge of sales lead management? As it turns out, most often it is no one, and that is the ultimate issue.

It isn’t the sales manager - - a very important job, but not responsible for the whole system.
It isn’t the website and the myriad of lead management forms.
It isn’t the software that governs all the steps, processes and reporting.
It isn’t the outside vendor in telemarketing or business intelligence applications.
It isn’t the brand, direct, or digital agencies.
It could be the marketing operations manager, but that position often doesn’t have the clout to demand an accounting from senior managers.
It’s supposed to be the sales lead manager, but that title is rare and often so low on the corporate hierarchy that pronouncements and demands don’t carry much weight.
It is often the marketing communications manager, but he or she faces the same issues as does the sales lead manager.

The answer is that it must be someone with a title or ranking high enough that vendors will pay attention, the sales manager will consider compliance, the salespeople won’t ignore, marketing managers and IT will follow, the CFO won’t interfere, and the company president will listen. It must be someone with the clout to bring the opinionated and warring parties together into one room and insist that there be harmony and adherence to the twin corporate goals: a measureable marketing ROI and 100% follow-up.

Why It’s Important:

"If you have a captain of the ship, marketing will have a measurable ROI, salespeople will be enormously more productive and the P&L pretax line will show a substantial jump."

Sales Lead Management Association

The only title I believe that can assume the ‘captain of the ship’ compliance is either the chief marketing officer or the vice president of marketing. Depending on company size, it might be the director of marketing. Regardless, it must be someone with clout and knowledge of the marketing and sales processes, the rules of sales lead management compliance, and the authority to question results and initiate change.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

Revenue is at stake. Look at this chart from last week’s blog entry Sales Management’s Biggest Opportunity for Failure. Solid leadership can increase follow-up to 100%. Lost revenue impacts the pretax line by a huge percentage because CFOs say any revenue increases without an increase in expense drops to the bottom line. When salespeople (or marketing automation) increase follow-up from 10-25% to 100%, they will talk to 75-90% more buyers (45% of all inquiries buy something within 12 months).

Wasted marketing dollars are at stake. Look at this blog entry, Abbott and Costello on Sales Lead Follow-up. While humorous, the message is tragic in understanding the lost return on investment from lead generation.

We know that a captain of the ship is needed to bring the people and functions together to obtain the revenue and ROI goals in managing sales leads. If you solve this single issue, marketing will have a measurable ROI (maybe for the first time), salespeople will be enormously more productive and the P&L pretax line will show a substantial jump (which everyone will take credit for).

So if someone asks “Who is the captain of the lead management ship?” please be sure that it is someone who can lead the entire team.

[i] From Amazon: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question “What makes a life worth living?”