January 28, 2008--Los Angeles, CA--James W. Obermayer, executive director of the Sales Lead Management Association, announced today that SLMA has declared the week of June 9-13, 2008 as National Sales Lead Management Week. Obermayer said, “Less than 25% of all inquiries are followed up and closed out by salespeople, which leaves both marketing people and the inquirer frustrated. Salespeople who have no inquiry management system, or have inferior systems, are also discouraged.”

Obermayer further stated, “In light of the millions of inquiries and leads which are the result of billions of marketing dollars spent each year on marketing activities, June 9-13 will be dedicated to the subject of properly managing sales leads.” 

SLMA Challenges Corporations and the Press

The Association challenges chief marketing and sales officers and the press to create events and articles around lead management to make marketing ROI a common practice rather than the exception. SLMA co-founder Mark L. Freidman encourages marketers to contemplate how they distribute sales leads, how inquiries are nurtured, and most importantly how marketing measures the return on investment for the inquiries they create.

Friedman added, “There are hundreds of CRM, marketing automation software firms, inquiry management providers and lead nurturing firms that have the expertise to speak up about inadequate sales lead management practices.  Marketing dollars are wasted because of a lack of sales lead follow-up or even the measurement of marketing’s ROI.  I challenge these companies to make the week of June 9-13 memorable as the beginning of a serious ROI measurement effort for their sales inquiries and leads.”

Support for Sales Lead Management Week

“Often, it is not that firms need more leads, it is that they need to be better at managing the leads they have and nurturing them. Small changes in lead management can yield big results in ROI,” said Mike Schultz, Publisher of RainToday.com  and President of Wellesley Hills Group. “In our effort to help firms become better at lead management, we will run a special issue of Rainmaker Report this week, including articles with tips and tools for better lead management.”  

Jim LaBelle, the president of LEADTRACK Software, an inquiry management software company said, “The emphasis this week should encourage marketing, sales and executive management to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing investments.  The common issue in corporations is the lack of a process to manage sales inquiries and measure investments in marketing programs. Without these tools it is impossible to measure how marketing contributes to sales success or how the combined effort contributes to the bottom line.”

Erik Madsen, AdTrack Corporation’s Director of Marketing and Strategic Planning, said, “We believe marketing ROI starts with properly managing sales inquiries, and that means shining a light on this subject which will help everyone be more productive.”

Co-founder Susan Campanale has asked those that will host events in this period, seminars (live or on-line), submit articles for publication, focus their newsletters and blogs on the subject, or create white papers are encouraged to publicize those events on-line at the SLMA by filling out the following form. These events will then be published in a calendar of events. Events do not necessarily have to occur during SLMA week (could occur the month before or after). This week is an open forum for thought leaders who will step up and be heard on this vital subject.

http://www.salesleadmgmtassn.com/Sales_Lead_Management_Week.htm