LeadManager Application

Introduction

The LeadManager application allows you to enter, import, and track sales leads separately from your AccountManager Contacts.  You can assign leads in bulk to your sales team, track updates, and report on the results.  Additionally, you can manage various campaigns or sets of lead data simultaneously.  Copy only the qualified leads over to AccountManager, and leave the rest behind!  Access your LeadManager database by going to File > Open > IBM Notes Application.  You should see LeadManager listed amongst the other applications in the dialog box that displays next.  Select LeadManager and click Open.

Prerequisites

1. Basic working knowledge and understanding of AccountManager Contacts and Opportunities.
2. Your organization must specify the security preferences for the LeadManager database as the defaults when installed are minimal.  Administrators can contact support@empoweringsystems.com for assistance.
3. Please review the Help documentation inside LeadManager.

Uses for LeadManager

• Importing and qualifying spreadsheets of leads provided by principals.
• Importing distributor First Time Buy reports (see more info here:  http://support.empoweringsystems.com/web/ESI/support/library.nsf/pages/LM-FTB-Imports)
• Managing multiple marketing campaigns simultaneously.
• Following up, and reporting on leads

Ways to Create and Enter Leads

Please refer to the LeadManager “Help” documentation for step-by-step instructions to:

• • Import a spreadsheet of multiple leads
  • Manually enter individual leads

Security Options

Administrators can specify the following levels of access for their users (from lowest to highest access):

1. User cannot access Lead Manager at all.
2. User can see and edit only the leads that are assigned to them.
3. User can see and edit all leads, regardless of whom they are assigned to.
4. User can create, see and edit all leads, as well as assign/re-assign them to others.
5. User is a system administrator (able to manage all areas of the system.  Recommend only a few users are set up this way).

Configuration Options

1. Dropdown choices in LeadManager are actually populated in the AccountManager Configuration Profile, on the “LeadManager”tab (see your administrator).
2. Leads may contain “part number”information (the default setting is NOT to display these fields).

Best Practices & Tips

1. Decide ahead of time how your firm will use LeadManager. Will everyone work leads, or only Inside Sales? Will anyone be able to enter leads that they uncover, or will you restrict that to only one or two lead coordinators?  Etc…
2. Consider having some internal discussion to decide choices for the various dropdown menus, and/or make sure your team understands the options you’ve set up.  Those various fields are the most powerful when it comes to analyzing and managing your leads.
3. Before importing a new spreadsheet of leads, consider what you’ll use (if anything) for “Campaign”, “Source”, etc.  You might want to add new options to the Configuration Profile first, and/or add columns for those to your spreadsheet before importing (saves time, so your users don’t have to update the leads as they go, especially if the source or campaign is the same for every lead on that spreadsheet).  You might also add a column for “Lead Status” and make every row say “Needs Contact” or some choice like that, that helps users identify which ones they haven’t worked yet.  
4. When importing leads, make sure the spreadsheet does not have blank rows within the data.  The import will “stop”when it reaches a blank row.Use the “Email Lead”button to send the lead’s information to someone outside your organization.
5. Once you determine a lead has some actual potential, consider promoting it to AccountManager right away, and moving foward from there.  The result will be an AccountManager “Contact”that you need to “link”to an account.That Contact is now available for use in all typical scenarios (Opportunities, Samples, Quotes, etc).  Consider copying/pasting your “Results History”or any other pertinent information from LM to AM as needed.
6. Make good use of the “Status”field (Open, On Hold, Closed), to eliminate “clutter”in your frequently used views.

• • Change Status to “Closed”if there is no response, no interest, etc.  This removes the lead from most views, but is still available in “All by Status”
  • Consider changing Status to “Closed”after promoting a Lead to AccountManager.  After all, you’ll be working that contact through the normal channels now (quotes, samples, opptys, etc), just like any other contact.
  • Best Practice suggestion:  Only Leads that are still “in the works”should be “Open”(i.e. still qualifying, unsure of potential, etc).  Once a lead either becomes “viable”or “not”, take the appropriate action (Promote to AM or Close).

7. Create Configurable Exports for a variety of reporting needs, internal and external.  You can create export profiles that can be saved and “reused”as needed.  (Same concept as “Configurable Exports”in AccountManager).

8. Enable the Lead Notification Agent (administrator only).  The agent checks for new leads once an hour, and only notifies those who have been assigned new leads, since the last notification went out.  The notification email is merely a tool to let you know there are new leads for you in LeadManager.  There are no doclinks to click on.  (Example below.  “EOM”means End of Message, so you don’t have to bother opening the email, there is no text inside)