Bad Software Leads Destroy Good Sales Routines

Around a week ago, I stumbled on this really informative blog post on about forming habits. It spoke of dividing writing routines around certain devices (articles on PC, opinions on laptop etc). It was just what I needed as a reference for my own blog. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it because I just found it on my Twitter feed (yeah, good luck searching through that mess).

I spent a good hour and a half thinking up of the right keyword combination and timeframe but it just didn’t work. I couldn’t find it and good part of my morning routine got thrown off track.

Any of this sounds familiar? Something goes missing? Habits fall apart, followed by a productive routine? See that’s exactly what happens when you send over bad software leads even to successful sales reps.

There is a keystone element to habit formation. This is something good salespeople apply (even subconsciously). There’s always a protocol, a routine, or a series of steps they follow on a daily basis. And if your software leads are anything less than complete, the lack of data is going to throw them off. You stand a good chance of them behaving just like me, wasting a good hour and a half searching for a missing piece of information. The structure of the routine starts falling apart.

Some might argue that this makes out sales reps as the Clock Kings (and Queens) of the office. Sure, it might be unreasonable to think they can’t go a day without a certain step in their routine. What you’re still ignoring however is the keystone element.

Here’s another analogy. Remember the Death Star? Being incomplete didn’t stop it from being fully operational. Blast it at the core and BOOM! A bad software lead can still be a like a proton torpedo to the core of your sales reps routine. That’s why if you’re really in a rush to qualify your software leads, make sure to at least:

• Prioritize at least one piece of information – Ask your salespeople if there is but one thing they can’t close a sale without. Make that your highest priority when generating software leads. It might give them a tough time but tough is a lot better than the impossible.

• Prioritize a certain point of time – Timing is critical in both B2B marketing and sales. That means that if you’re going to delay some of your software leads, you need to limit only to a certain point. Anything beyond that stands a huge risk of ruining sales productivity.

• Understand the extent of the damage – If the worst already happened, have a back-up plan and understand the extent of the damage. Has your sales rep fallen behind for the whole day or is he just sidetracked by a couple hours? Find ways to make up for lost time!

If habits have a strong link to customer satisfaction, how is it any different when it come to the work satisfaction of your sales reps? Their habits and routines are important to them and the last thing they need is poor quality information throwing it off track.

Bad Software Leads Destroy Good Sales Routines