Once a lead has been obtained, regardless of whether it walked in, called in, or e-mailed in, the contact data is entered into a database of new prospects, recording:
- All contact information (name, company/organization/event, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone numbers, type of account, and other pertinent information. The type of account can be defined broadly (e.g., business, organization, schools, teams/leagues, government, etc.) or narrowly (e.g., business -retail, business -manufacturing, business -construction trades, etc.; school – pre-school/ kindergarten, school-elementary, school -middle, school – high school, school -vocational/technical, etc.). The categories and sub-categories will help you decide how detailed you want to make your choices. But keeping the data on the type of account will enable you to develop specific marketing and advertising agendas for the key categories
- What medium (or media) attracted the lead if it can be ascertained (as in, “By the way, how did you hear about us?” being a part of the company’s call-handling procedures) and identified (e-blast, trade show, county fair booth, radio., etc
- The type/nature of inquiry (price, rush order, availability, please send a rep, )
- Action taken -quoted price, sent a catalog, sent a rep to see them, added to mailing list,
- Account specifics -does the firm have an annual company picnic, exhibit at trade shows, require counter people and delivery people to wear embroidered golf shirts, ?
- Other helpful information -the caller owns an airplane, is the union steward, bead of the local AARP group, former paratrooper -miscellaneous information that can help a rep hit hot buttons, generate a conversation or find common interests, etc.
- Prior purchases – listed by date, quantity, item, order number, etc.
There’s a simple title for what you’re compiling here: A Lead Log. ”Lead” here is pronounced l-e-e-e-e-d. If you create a lead log but forget to use it or keep putting off entering your data, lead is pronounced ‘”led” -as in lead weight.
