What Is Lead Management?

Lead management is what happens between a lead arriving and that lead converting or being lost. Done well, it means no lead is forgotten and every one has a clear owner and a next step.

The stages of lead management

1. Capture — the lead enters your system with its source recorded
2. Qualify — you decide whether and how to pursue it
3. Assign — a specific person becomes responsible for it
4. Follow up — you work it through a series of contacts
5. Convert — it becomes a customer, or is marked lost with a reason
6. Review — you look at the numbers and improve the process

Why leads fall through the cracks

• The lead lands in an inbox and is never logged
• No one is clearly responsible for it
• The follow-up depends on someone remembering
• There is no view of what is overdue

What good lead management looks like

Every lead is on one record with a source, a status and an owner. The next follow-up is scheduled, not remembered. Anyone can see what is overdue. And the monthly numbers tell you which channels and which steps need work.