To a lay person, the two solutions are similar. But for a marketing/sales manager, these are two are different worlds altogether. Below is a brief..
The essential difference is the difference between a “prospect” and a “customer”.
A prospect is one who hasn’t yet taken your product/service.
Customer is one who has already taken your product/service.
Now its natural that managing these two entities would be very different.
Some of the prime differences are:
1. With a prospect, you’d require much smoother followups.
2. A prospect requires more frequent interactions.
3. The ways in which you reach a prospect is much more than how you reach a customer.
4. A professional face is extremely important to a prospect, since mostly it would be the first impression that would be defining the outcome.
A complete CRM solution, helps you work with your customers. Though converting “prospects” to “customers” needs special attention and a tailor-made solution.
A Lead Management System should
1. help one to keep a track of ones leads for now and future
2. assign them to right people & help you follow-up at the right time
3. classify leads into hot/cold
4. measure how prospective is a lead
5. offer statistical reports to improve the decision making process for investment decision for lead generation
In an effort to cater to this need, we at Quads have come up with a solution called Lead Simplified
Its a simple to use and neat solution, tailored for Indian Market.
Well.. Every business knows that prospects come first.
I definitely prefer a lead management system since it can work with any types of leads, including insurance leads. However, there are actually tools that combine the principles of CRM and lead management. You can scour for one
By: Perry on November 21, 2008
at 7:52 am
You got the layman wrong. Which idiot would not know the difference between a prospect and the customer? Don’t tell me layman doesn’t know. I guess even idiots would know. But what do call those who don’t know that even idiots know the difference between a prospect and a customer? Kalyaan?
By: layman on November 25, 2008
at 7:57 pm
Because of the complexity and the long list of responsibilities when you are implementing a lead management system, it is just wise to have your own program that will make it easier for you to manage your leads more effectively. I know of some that can actually work through all levels of lead management, such as lead scoring, distribution, and prioritization, to name a few.
By: Perry on December 5, 2008
at 5:36 am