Choosing the right lead routing tool can feel like navigating a minefield. With so many options available, it can be overwhelming to select the best tool to enhance your lead routing system.
The key is to understand that not all tools are created equal. The right tool for your business depends greatly on the specific needs and circumstances of your organization.
In this blog, we cover the factors to consider when choosing a lead routing tool, and how to select one that fits your go-to-market (GTM) motion, enabling your marketing, sales and customer success teams.
Let’s start with the basics.
What is lead routing? Why is it important?
Lead routing is an essential aspect of your GTM motion. It ensures that incoming leads are quickly and effectively directed to the right team member, increasing the chances of closing deals faster, resolving customer issues quickly, and more to improve the customer experience with your brand.
From a GTM perspective—the more well-oiled your qualification, routing and meeting scheduling process, higher the quality of meetings, and with the right people. And that translates to higher pipeline and account expansion opportunities.
However, if not done correctly, it can lead to lost opportunities, wasted resources, frustrated buyers, customers, and employees too.
Let’s look at some of the ways you can route leads to optimize your resource allocation process and ensure no opportunity slips through the cracks.
Territory-based routing
Territory-based routing is about the setting up of your lead routing based on the geographic location or territory of your prospect or customer. This method works excellently in handling large volumes of inquiries and ensuring that each one is directed to the appropriate person. It allows companies to cater to their customer’s' needs more effectively by considering their local time zones, dialects, and customs.
It is usually used by organizations with presence in multiple time zones. Additionally, this kind of routing promotes accountability among team members. Every sales representative or support agent is responsible for a designated territory and the customer satisfaction levels within it. Through this, the company can easily identify and assess the performance of each representative or agent based on their territory's outcomes.
Use case-based routing
Use case-based routing is an advanced decision-making approach in customer success and support. The idea is to route customer queries and issues based on the specific use case or the nature of the problem.
The purpose is to connect the customer to the most qualified agent capable of resolving their issue or answering their query. This method can significantly improve the efficiency of customer support teams and enhance customer satisfaction. It drives faster resolution times as inquiries or issues are immediately directed to the agent with the right skills or knowledge.
Since customers are connected with the most qualified agent, they can get the right solution on their first contact, reducing the need for repeat calls or follow-ups.
It also promotes continuous learning within the team as agents can focus on specific use cases, allowing them to develop expertise in certain fields. As agents become experts in their assigned use cases, they can provide more accurate and efficient solutions.
Lead routing by opportunity size
Lead routing by opportunity size is a strategy typically used by sales teams to prioritize and distribute leads based on their potential deal size or value. This method ensures that the most valuable leads are assigned to the right sales agents.
The strategy involves classifying leads into different tiers according to their estimated deal value. High-value leads are usually directed to senior account executives or the ones with a track record of closing big deals. On the other hand, lower-value leads can be assigned to junior sales representatives or those still gaining experience.
This method can optimize the sales process as it allows teams to focus on high-value leads that could bring in significant revenue. It ensures that these leads get the best possible service, thereby increasing the likelihood of closing the deal.
Furthermore, this way of routing leads can also be a great way to manage resources efficiently. It can help prevent senior salespeople from spending too much time on smaller deals when they could be working on larger ones. It also provides a learning opportunity for junior representatives, allowing them to gain experience and improve their skills.
So, this leads us to the fact that choosing a reliable lead routing tool is crucial in automating and optimizing the lead routing process.
Why is it difficult to choose the right routing tool?
The challenge is that there's no one-size-fits-all. What works for one company may not work for another. Numerous factors come into play, such as your company size, the structure of your sales team, your industry, and your particular business model.
That's where the need for careful evaluation comes in. Let’s look at a few evaluation factors:
Ease of use
Ease of use is an often underrated factor until you feel the real pain.
More often than not, a lot of sales teams often find themselves saddled with needlessly complicated lead routing systems. They might want to configure a basic lead routing workflow but most routing systems make it hard.
With most tools it not only takes hours of painstaking effort to set up simple routing conditions, but implementing even the tiniest change to existing routing workflows can turn into an operational nightmare.
The last thing you want is to feel this way about your routing system 👇
And in that mean time, you could be losing out on precious pipeline opportunities, or worse frustrating your buyers with a poor experience.
Integration with existing systems
One of the most common issues with lead routing tools is poor integration with existing systems or doesn’t work as expected upon integration.
For example, if your lead routing tool is not well-integrated with your CRM system, it can create a host of problems. Leads may not be effectively tracked and monitored, lead data may not be accurately captured, and valuable insights may be overlooked.
Another potential issue with poor integration is that it can lead to inefficiencies and lost opportunities. Consider this scenario: a high-quality lead comes in, but because of a lack of integration between your lead routing tool and your CRM system, the lead gets lost in the shuffle, or it takes too long to get to the right sales representative.
Here’s a common complaint we hear:
This delay results in a lost opportunity, and lead moves to a competitor because of the gap caused in speed to execution.
Lack of real-time lead distribution
Leads can become cold very quickly. If a lead is not followed up immediately, the chances of conversion reduce drastically. Therefore, real-time lead distribution is a critical feature that your lead routing tool should possess.
Some lead routing tools do not offer real-time lead distribution, which can result in significant delays in getting leads to the right sales reps. This delay can prove costly, as it can result in lost sales and missed opportunities. Therefore, a lead routing tool that offers real-time lead distribution can significantly increase your chances of successfully converting leads into customers.
Lack of a basic check for existing customer account
It is quite common that more than one person from the same organization could be evaluating your product. The tech stack that powers your sales funnel i.e, your marketing form-lead routing solution-CRM integration should possess the intelligence to NOT create multiple leads.
A lot of lead routing tools miss this fundamental hygiene!
Why is this important? It is not practical for your sales team to have parallel conversations with the same organization. And more importantly, your existing leads/customers should not have to start from scratch because they were routed to a new salesperson!
Choosing the right lead routing tool
Now that we’ve examined the common routing rules and issues associated with lead routing tools, the next step is to understand how to select the right tool for your business. Remember, the perfect lead routing tool for your business should align with your specific needs, your sales structure, and your business model. Below we will guide you through the process of making the best choice.
Evaluating available options
Start by researching the options available in the market and list down the tools that you consider appropriate for your business. Compare the features each tool offers with the business needs you've previously outlined. Look for features like seamless integration with your existing systems, real-time lead distribution, accurate lead scoring, customization options, and automation.
Also, check for reviews and ratings of the tools you've listed down. This will give you insights into the effectiveness of each tool from the end-users perspective. Ask for recommendations from other businesses operating in your industry. Personal experiences from your peers can provide invaluable insights in deciding which tool to go with.
Cost and ease of implementation and evolution
Consider the ease of implementation of the tool. Does the provider offer support during implementation? What about post-implementation? The best tools are those that are easy to set up and offer decent customer support.
Additionally, consider how easy it will be for your team to learn and use the tool.
A proper lead routing tool should be user-friendly and require minimum training. The simpler the tool is for your team to use, the quicker you’ll start reaping the benefits of improved lead management.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
It's also essential to perform a cost-benefit analysis. Determine your budget for a lead routing tool, and assess what returns you can expect from the tool relative to its cost. The best tool should provide a good return on investment (ROI).
Make sure to consider both the short-term and long-term benefits.
However, remember that while cost is an essential factor, it should not be your sole determinant. If a more expensive tool offers more value and aligns more with your business needs, it may be a more worthy investment in the long run.
How Avoma Lead Router simplifies lead routing and scheduling
With Lead Router for Avoma Scheduler, you can set up your entire lead routing workflow from scratch in a matter of minutes. Avoma's intuitively designed UI makes it easy to define your routing rules, so you can accurately qualify your buyers, and route them to the right salesperson.
All it takes is just a few clicks!
Your buyers will be booking meetings with the right salesperson in no time. And when your sales and marketing teams decide to create a new routing workflow, or modify an existing one (who doesn't like to experiment with and optimize their sales funnel, right?) you don't need to suffer sleepless nights anymore. Avoma makes it really easy to tweak your lead routing workflows.
You shouldn't need a PhD in astrophysics to set up and manage lead routing!
Here's how Avoma has simplified lead routing:
Also thanks to our robust integration with HubSpot, Lead Router for Avoma Scheduler lets you check if a lead exists in your database and routes them to their existing account owner.
That way you can make sure both your leads and your salespeople always have the right context for every conversation.
And with Router Reports, you can monitor how leads are assigned to salespeople in real time. This allows you to tweak your routing rules based on routing outcomes, and ensure salespeople get an optimum number of meetings.
Router Reports give you complete visibility into the entire funnel, right from form submission to scheduled meetings.
Summing up…
A lead routing tool is essential for managing your leads effectively. However, not all tools are created equal. To choose the right tool, you must first define your business needs, understand the common pitfalls, and evaluate the available options based on integration, customization, accurate lead scoring, real-time lead distribution, and automation.
Cost, ease of implementation, and training also play a critical role in selecting the best tool. Once implemented, continually measure the tool's performance and adjust as necessary to keep pace with your evolving business needs.
With the right lead routing tool in place, you can streamline your lead management, improve your conversion rates, and increase your sales success.
