The modern era of tech-driven sales has been defined by - ‘leads’. A ‘Lead’ is your possible sales contact. Businesses that usually fall short in generating high-quality leads are deprived of their bottom line. Brands in order to drive sales and boost conversions have resorted to the like lead nurturing to improve.

The lead nurturing process involves developing and managing relationships with the customer at every level of their sales journey, usually through good marketing and communication strategies.

To ensure high-quality lead nurturing, brands use different processes. Lead routing is one of the key ways to do this. About 25% of all the qualified lead contacts are directed to the wrong sales representative, resulting in bad lead conversion.

‍Do you understand what is lead routing?

‍Like a well-oiled engine keeps your vehicle in same, likewise, Lead Routing is a best-in-class method to manage your leads. It helps brands to simplify their sales process with their channel partners. Simultaneously, making them more efficient in the process. Lead routing varies based on the lead collection procedure and how brands route them. Despite differences, the goal is about the same, i.e., to respond to more leads at a faster rate with the best representative answering.

An efficient Lead Routing process efficiently traverses the lead through the entire sales cycle through various automation techniques such as sales cadence, lead prioritization, and automatic sales agent assignment.  .

How lead routing improves lead nurturing?

1. Significant improvement in response time
In the age of the internet and short attention spans, customers seek quick responses and easy access. Contacting your leads within a two-hour window after the initial request will give you a higher chance of converting the lead. Otherwise, they will turn to your first competitor.

A well-designed lead routing system seamlessly allocates and reallocates the lead across agents; with prior consideration on grounds of expertise, specialization, and lead scores. As the leads get delivered to channels with the expertise, brands will see a significant increase in closure rates. Organizations can set rules and set up a rule-based lead distribution system that will assign or re-route the leads as per the availability of brand channels to minimize the response time to establish a communication channel instantly.

2. Access to better and accurate data
Sales representatives are always working at full occupancy, and it is not a very good idea to ask them to collect and evaluate lead data to make better decisions. It is not advisable to let sales personnel handle the lead information through physical means such as Excel spreadsheets. Even if you consider a scenario where sales reps have time, it leaves huge scope for human error.

A high-quality Lead Management System will eliminate any chances of mistakes and misjudgements. Smart Lead Routing Systems, ensure that a lead is analyzed properly before final assigning to the right channel partner. Such automated systems improve - lead collection, analysis process, sales intelligence, lead route spotting, and better forecasting.

3. Easy distribution of leads
Lead routing requires organization, categorization, and distribution of leads. Well-designed routing systems sort leads based on customer requirements stated at the time of approaching. The system automatically assigns the leads to the right sales rep at the channel partner level, who is proficient and established in the concerned demands. It results in better delivery of information, lesser dead calls, and more closed deals with leads for your channel partners.
Additionally, the Lead Routing System also tracks the performance of the sales agents in the closure process based on different attributes such as time taken, behavioral analysis, etc.

Take the example mentioned above again, and reconsider the person is now looking to purchase a car but with specified categories in mind. They are interested in purchasing hatchbacks, sedans, or an SUV.
In this case, the LMS will redirect the person to a proficient sales representative who can help with the queries in these fields. Such an approach keeps the sales cycle short and the shoppers well informed. This can result in conversions of leads by up to 20%.

4. A satisfied customer is the best business strategy
‍Creating and maintaining stable and reliable communication with the leads is a time-taking process. Having the best agent from the channel partner to answer any customer issues on the first call leaves a good impression. But constant engagement and monitoring through the sales pipeline help turn even a cold prospect into a customer.
Lead Routing systems connect channel partners with leads who need a follow-up or an additional nudge to finalize their decision to purchase. It also helps in identifying what kind of approach is required.
Is the lead getting cold? Need a follow-up? What kind of follow-up? Lead routing systems help in sorting such queries.

For instance, a prospect has gotten cold for the lack of communication. A sales agent can easily get a view of all the cold prospects in their LMS and route them to their sales to initiate communication once again and turn them into a customer.

In the nutshell of lead routing
‍Brands and their channel partners need a well-built lead routing solution to nurture their leads in multiple ways. Routing systems identify the inquiry from the lead and assign it to the best possible personnel and channel. It boosts engagement by managing lead distribution for channel partners based on availability, competence, and expertise. From organization to distribution to improvement of leads, a lead management solution takes care of all.