It’s not news to you or your sales team that this time of year is abundant with leads. But what happens when you have too many leads without a quality check? More is not always better, and that’s especially true when managing your team’s time while sourcing for the best – and most profitable – leads. Here’s a checklist to determine how well your team is prepared for the busy season. 

#1) Is your sales team following up on your highest quality leads? 

When there is an influx of leads this time of year, it’s understandable that your sales team might get underwater – fast. In a recent study, 57% of salespeople surveyed reported that their workload “was beyond their capacity to successfully accomplish.” This results in both burn out of your employees as well as missed opportunities. Your team may call back each lead once, twice – or even five times. But when time is limited, and the leads are plenty, your team might not chase every lead as diligently as they do when leads are more scarce. 

Solution: Weed out the “weaker” leads earlier with more intensive qualifying questions during your first call with the prospect. Establishing this mindset within your call center salespeople focuses their attention on what’s most important and keeps them from spinning their wheels elsewhere. 

#2) Is your marketing/sales process beginning to break down? 

Another hurdle with having too many leads in the funnel is that processes that worked well during slower times of the year are now failing. It’s important that every spoke in the wheel of your business continues to operate at the same level. Often, sales teams might cut corners when qualifying leads because there are so many to get through. This is also a perfect storm for the classic “sales vs. marketing” debate. Who’s to blame for not getting more business? Sales or marketing? When teams are overwhelmed, they can often go into finger-pointing mode. 

Solution: Keep roles clear, especially as you become busier. There may be a lot going on, but every team member should maintain their lane. And as you look for outside support, especially from a marketing vendor, make sure they are clear on their role within your system. A good vendor should know their role (providing leads, not sales) which will allow for a more seamless fit with your team and keep everyone focused on the collective end goal. 

#3) Is your customer acquisition cost going up? 

It may seem natural that with an influx of work, the cost to do business will follow that upward trend. But that doesn’t have to be the case. When your sales team is overwhelmed with leads, they cannot reasonably chase each one with the same diligence. Rather than fully execute the sales sequence for each lead, they’ll be tempted to look for “low-hanging fruit” and skip to the next lead if they don’t get an immediate win. Therefore, some high-quality leads may be left on the table and more leads get burned for each sale opportunity. The cost of each sale just went up – when it didn’t have to. Your salesperson may not meet their goal and the business loses margin. Nobody is happy. 

Solution: Provide your sales team with high-quality leads first and supply leads at a pace the sales team can handle effectively, so they can remain in the right sales mindset without burnout. 

#4) Are you organizing your current leads into a sales funnel for the future? 

Ah, the one sales strategy that many business owners let slip once they are flooded with work – keeping their sales pipeline full, especially after the busy season. Not only do you want to work on highly profitable projects this time of year, but you also want to keep in touch with the leads that will be a better fit in the future. 

Solution: Establishing which leads are high-quality – and therefore a priority – will allow you to segment any other leads into a sales funnel for the future. You can add them to your email nurture list, or plan to reach out via phone in the future. 

If you found yourself nodding to any of the above questions – it may be time to make some adjustments. If you’re looking for a leads partner that will work diligently alongside your sales team and provide exclusive high-quality leads, let us know. Schedule a discovery call with Home Appointments today. We understand what your team is facing this time of year, and we’re here to help. 

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