Lead Distribution Mistakes That Are Costing You Sales

Struggle with lead distribution? Not only does it derail your working routine, but it also repels a good chunk of sales leads while they’re waiting for the capable specialist, which leaks your sales pipeline.

This article highlights common lead distribution mistakes and the must-have lead distribution software to streamline and scale your lead flow.

Let’s begin!

Why Distributing Leads Matters

To effectively bridge publishers and advertisers, affiliate networks must focus on lead distribution – the process of assigning leads to the right salesperson.

Thoughtful lead distribution strategy delivers:

Solving the Most Common Lead Distribution Mistakes

Lead distribution has significant room for error, from poor tracking to ineffective software – let’s break those down.

Overlooking Lead Distribution Software

The best lead distribution software comes in two types: for web leads and callers. The first is often a multifunctional dashboard that oversees your entire lead journey from capture to sales:

1. Lead arrival: Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) submit forms and hit the dashboard.
2. Agent processing: To operate correctly, lead distribution software requires agents to assess lead parameters and assign them to relevant representatives.
3. Selling lead: If a representative matches with a lead, the publisher receives an initial payment, while you earn a commission.

Lead management systems often include an auction feature to resell declined leads to alternative advertisers. As you put leads up for auction, advertisers who find their parameters, such as age, region, and income, satisfactory bid to win the prospects over.

And when you’re trying to keep track of your actual sales leads, project management software gives your team a centralized space to log leads, assign follow-ups, and track progress through every stage of the funnel. While often used across departments, it’s especially useful in sales for keeping everyone aligned and accountable.

Software To Route Callers

Speaking of callers, routing them requires a separate performance marketing tool. Although commonly integrated with web lead software, it can operate independently to track and distribute inbound callers.

Call tracking software also handles attributions by generating tracking numbers for publishers, revealing who brings specific leads into the system.

Some call distribution solutions also come with interactive voice response (IVR), a system that manages your calls with the help of AI call agents, whose features are:

• Call recording: Listen to AI-powered conversations to detect and address weak spots in the calling journeys
• Custom caller journeys: Program agents to be more engaging on the line, maximizing lead conversions
• Call interception: Pass AI-driven calls to human representatives to increase the likelihood of securing sales-qualified leads (SQL)

If these features seem overwhelming, the software support team is available, at the very least, during working hours to adjust your system to reach your business goals.

You Gather Insufficient Data

You must enrich leads within your network with attributes that facilitate their distribution. If not or doing that insufficiently, you won’t know which advertiser matches a lead, resulting in incorrect assignments and declines.

Here’s the data required for correct lead assignments:

• Place of residence
• Name
• Email address
• Age
• Income range
• Employment status
• Credit score

You should also collect behavioral insights, page views, time on site, and click paths to shorten the sales cycle and generate higher revenue.

Not Developing Your Promotional Content

Publishers don’t know your offers and ideal customer profiles (ICPs) as well as you do, which is why it’s best to develop content yourself or delegate it to professional marketers.

Their teams comprise copywriters, designers, and strategists whose cohesive work provides you with banners, CTAs, and ad campaigns that drive leads more effectively.

It’s also important to refresh your promotional content regularly in line with your network updates. For example, when you add insurance programs to your network, it’s useful to mention them in banners or ads for relevant audiences.

Avoid Selling Duplicate Leads

Advertisers are interested in buying fresh leads with strong purchase intent. Whenever your network promotes or, even worse, sells duplicate leads, the trust between you and your partners erodes, damaging your reputation and profit.

You can avoid selling duplicate leads through real-time validation available in customer relationship management (CRM) and lead distribution tools. It filters leads by phone numbers, IPs, or user IDs, immediately alerting upon detecting duplicate information.

Untrained Call Agents

The success of call-reliant affiliate networks depends on the professionalism of their call agents. Proper training with a focus on the following areas is a must to ensure strong results:

Once call agents hit the real line, measure their sales conversion rates, lead quality scores, and other important metrics to guide agents further or offer them respective coaching.

Not Prioritizing Hot Leads

Purchase-ready leads – those who are just a push away from paying you – demand strategic nurturing. To provide it, you must identify hot leads by looking at:

• Behavior: Demo requests, repeated website visits, examining the pricing page
• Demographics: Industry, revenue, job title, age
• Source: Partner leads, webinars, events, paid search

As you merge these parameters and identify hot leads, you want to route them to your best closers – agents with vast experience and top results. Their knowledge ensures optimal lead nurturing and, consequently, a closed deal.

Conclusion

Intense industry competition demands fine-tuned networks and marketing automation to gain an edge over your rivals. With the assistance of software and smart strategies covered above, you’re on the right track to maximize your conversion rates, enhance ROI, and, ultimately, become a leader on the affiliate marketing board.

FAQs

Q1. Do I need third-party software to distribute my leads?

Yes, you do need a lead distribution system in the face of third-party software. It provides managers with key parameters at a glance, facilitating lead routing and significantly increasing the likelihood of generating new customers.

Q2. Can I handle inbound calls without specialized software?

Of course, you can handle callers through the regular calling system. Still, this approach entails poor lead scoring, as agents must manually create Excel tables or indicate lead parameters elsewhere. With specialized software, all the data is gathered within a single automated dashboard.

Q3. How can I set up software for distributing leads?

First and foremost, you must find software that meets your specific needs. When done, contact a sales representative and place an order, tailoring the software suite if possible. Since then, the customer support team will help you tailor the solution to your business needs from top to bottom.

Q4. Are call agents imperative for optimal lead distribution?

Surely, they’re not. Call agents are required only for businesses that generate callers instead of web leads. If your network utilizes banners, ad campaigns, links, and other similar methods, you qualify leads based on the information provided during form submissions.

Q5. Why do advertisers decline my leads?

Advertisers set a list of preferences within an affiliate network, according to which they’re buying leads. Whenever you sell leads that don’t meet one’s preferences, they’re likely to get rejected. The solution to that lies in reducing your leads’ prices or using a lead auction that sells your organically declined leads.