Understanding & Choosing a New Lead Management Model

May 23, 2022 Stan

The lead management model an organization adopts is a central component to the overall lead management process design, but do we fully recognize its importance? The model you select can impact everything from data management to reporting & analytics. For most marketers we only think about lead models when initially building a CRM integration or when the current model no longer fits the needs of the business.

How do you determine which model is the right fit? A lot will depend on how a lead is defined for the organization, how the sales organization is structured, and how leads are managed within the CRM.

Using Oracle Eloqua as an example, there are three primary lead management model’s clients consider when designing their lead management process:

Unique Only: this is where a record in CRM can be a Lead OR a Contact, but not both
Point-of-Interest: this lead management model will allow a record to be a Lead, a Contact, or BOTH simultaneously
Multi-Point-of-Interest: this model is where a new Lead is created for reach inquiry AND a record can be a Contact

Taking those definitions a step further, here are a few examples and considerations for each lead management model.

Unique Only

A new lead record will only be created in CRM if a lead or a contact record does not already exist. This means the first inquiry, or qualifying activity, will create a lead record in CRM that can be converted into a contact. Any future qualifying activities will only update the existing lead or contact record in CRM.

Pros: This lead management model will help minimize the number of leads created in CRM and makes it easier to map information back into the Marketing Automation Platform (MAP) since there is a 1:1 relationship.

Cons: When there is an existing lead or contact record for an individual all subsequent activity is applied to that record which can be overlooked by sales resulting in delayed follow up, or no follow up.

The Unique Only lead model tends to work best for organizations where one sales team is responsible for the entire account and all products or solutions being sold. The account owner will be responsible for follow up to all inquiries or campaign responses.

Point-of-Interest

A person can be a lead and a contact record in CRM, but only one lead record per person can exist at a time. If there is a lead record for the person in CRM a new lead will not be created. Instead, the current lead will be updated. With this model, sales is expected to convert the lead into a contact after a lead has been engaged to allow for a future lead to be created.

Pros: This model also helps minimize lead duplication and provides cleaner mapping back to the MAP

Cons: If leads aren’t converted in a timely manner multiple campaign responses are associated to the same lead record which can complicate reporting.

Organizations that can work leads efficiently can benefit from this lead management model as it keeps duplication down while also creating a mechanism to measure lead conversion more easily. An inside sales team or lead qualification team are typically responsible for ensuring leads are actioned quickly.

Multi-Point-of-Interest

A new lead record will be created in CRM for each inquiry or qualifying activity regardless of any existing lead or contact records for that person. If an organization has multiple products or services, this model will allow a person to inquire multiple times.

Pros: Individual inquiries or responses are independent of each other allowing lead records to be routed and actioned according to business requirements.

Cons: This model will result in high lead duplication in the CRM and make it difficult to sync lead information back into the person’s record in MAP. Typically, the most recent lead information is updated on the MAP contact record and Custom Data Objects will be used to store additional lead information.

Organizations that need to differentiate between leads for specific products or solutions, or support multiple sales teams, prefer the flexibility of this lead management model. However, there are tradeoffs when it comes to the high volume of leads that could be generated in the CRM. Special attention is needed to ensure service level agreements are adhered to so leads are actioned appropriately.

As you see there is a lot to take into consideration when choosing a lead management model, but we are here to help! If you have questions about what lead model would be a good fit, or have thoughts on what works best for your organization, contact us at Relationship One, we’re here to help.

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