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January 28, 2008--Los
Angeles,
CA -
James W. Obermayer,
executive director of the Sales Lead Management Association,
announced today that SLMA has declared the week of June 9-13, 2008
as
National Sales Lead Management Week. Obermayer said, “Less than
25% of all inquiries are followed up and closed out by salespeople,
which leaves both marketing people and the inquirer frustrated.
Salespeople who have no inquiry management system, or have inferior
systems, are also discouraged.”
Obermayer further stated, “In light of the millions of inquiries and
leads which are the result of billions of marketing dollars spent
each year on marketing activities, June 9-13 will be dedicated to
the subject of properly managing sales leads.”
SLMA Challenges Corporations and the Press
The
Association challenges chief marketing and sales officers and the
press to create events and articles around lead management to make
marketing ROI a common practice rather than the exception. SLMA
co-founder Mark L. Freidman encourages marketers to contemplate how
they distribute sales leads, how inquiries are nurtured, and most
importantly how marketing measures the return on investment for the
inquiries they create.
Friedman added, “There are hundreds of CRM, marketing automation
software firms, inquiry management providers and lead nurturing
firms that have the expertise to speak up about inadequate sales
lead management practices. Marketing dollars are wasted because of
a lack of sales lead follow-up or even the measurement of
marketing’s ROI. I challenge these companies to make the week of
June 9-13 memorable as the beginning of a serious ROI measurement
effort for their sales inquiries and leads.”
Support for Sales Lead Management Week
“Often, it is not that firms need more leads, it is that they need
to be better at managing the leads they have and nurturing them.
Small changes in lead management can yield big results in ROI,” said
Mike Schultz, Publisher of
RainToday.com and President of
Wellesley Hills Group. “In our effort to help firms become
better at lead management, we will run a special issue of Rainmaker
Report this week, including articles with tips and tools for better
lead management.”
Jim
LaBelle, the president of
LEADTRACK
Software, an inquiry management software company said, “The
emphasis this week should encourage marketing, sales and executive
management to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing
investments. The common issue in corporations is the lack of a
process to manage sales inquiries and measure investments in
marketing programs. Without these tools it is impossible to measure
how marketing contributes to sales success or how the combined
effort contributes to the bottom line.”
Erik
Madsen,
AdTrack Corporation’s Director of Marketing and Strategic
Planning, said, “We believe marketing ROI starts with properly
managing sales inquiries, and that means shining a light on this
subject which will help everyone be more productive.”
Event Registration
SLMA
Co-founder Susan Campanale asks that those who intend to participate
with articles, conferences, on-line seminars, etc., register their
event or articles with the SLMA’s
Sales Lead Management Week page. Anyone who would like to attend
special sessions on the subject can visit the site for information.
For articles on proper management of inquiries visit the SLMA site.
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