Leads in Salesforce have two cool characteristics that make them very powerful for a Marketing team as well as a Non-Profit Organization (NPO):
1) Web-to-Lead, which allows you to easily embed a form into your website, so submissions are automatically routed into Salesforce. No more of this “Contact Us at info@mycompany.com” business, which results in more Inbox management.
2) Lead Conversion, which allows for a demarcation between your Leads and more viable Opportunities or Donations (that come with Accounts and Contacts). As lead information collects in your database, you will definitely want to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.
It’s key to use these features the right way, so that the data that’s collected can give you strategic insights into your organization. What’s the “right” way? We turn the spotlight back to you and your company.
The Salesforce Marketing Blog posts an informative article on key questions you should be able to answer to ensure that Sales and Marketing are on the same page:
What is a lead?
How many times will sales try to reach a marketing lead?
How will sales “pass back” a lead to marketing?
What is a qualified lead?
(If you’re an NPO, think about the various types of outreach you do to drive Donations, Pledges, or participation in various volunteer programs. There will be a similar behavior of a large amount of people coming to your site, or being contacted by you. Having general processes in place will minimize confusion and set expectations for all involved.)
Get your Sales management and your Marketing team working together to come to agreement on these answers, otherwise the tried and true finger pointing is going to occur, guaranteed. (You know, where Sales complains that there aren’t enough quality leads, and Marketing is griping that it’s providing a ton of leads but many are ignored….)