Obviously, Lead Management Software (LMS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are two different tools. However, sometimes the distinction is not entirely intuitive because there are several overlapping features. In fact, both terms are used quite loosely and interchangeably to describe a system that manages the complete customer lifecycle. However, they each focus on different aspects of this cycle and coexist as distinct players operating at different points within a broader sales process.

The main distinction arises from their titles themselves.

In brief, Lead Management Software is a system that keeps all your prospects from all possible sources in one place while tracking their activities and interests. This allows marketing and sales teams to collaborate effectively and stay on top of leads, ensuring no interactions or touchpoints are missed.

On the other hand, Customer Relationship Management systems can essentially perform the same job, but they go beyond this mission. They are used not only to manage the entire customer lifecycle from capture to conversion but also to nurture customer loyalty and identify cross-selling opportunities wherever possible.

LMS or CRM: Which is Right for Your Business?

In practical terms, if your business model involves closing customer interaction at the point of sale, opting for a pure Lead Management System (LMS) may suffice without needing to delve into the rest of the customer lifecycle. However, for businesses that require ongoing customer relationships, a CRM system appears more sensible and cost-effective.

In the remainder of this article, we will delve deeper to dissect the uses, benefits, and differences of each of these two tools, CRM and LMS.

CRM – Customer Relationship Management

Over the past few years, CRMs have evolved significantly. They have become accessible, easier to learn, implement, and afford, transforming from three-letter monsters into ready-to-use software for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

CRM is a tool that tracks prospect and customer interactions across all channels, manages all your contacts, and aggregates this information to create profiles for everyone you engage with.

This centralized data management provides businesses with easy access to critical information to better understand customer behavior and improve customer experience, satisfaction, retention, and service. As a result, businesses of all sizes find themselves able to drive growth and profits.

CRM software is beneficial for several reasons, ultimately streamlining work and improving outcomes. Some of the key benefits of customer relationship management include:

 

Maintaining Better Customer Relationships

It goes without saying that customer trust depends on the quality of your services. By having access to a unified view of contact and customer information, you are better equipped to profile, create personas, and provide personalized and thoughtful service and support.

Receiving integrated application notifications for customer inquiries across multiple channels (social media, web forms, email, voice, etc.) reduces response time and enhances responsiveness. Automation tools work to route inquiries to the most relevant agents, while collaborative tools engage multiple team members to ensure more appropriate responses and faster issue resolution.

CRM systems significantly enhance the customer experience, helping you retain existing customers and convert prospects into new clients. Over time, you’ll be able to create distinct customer profiles, enabling you to better understand their values, preferences, and demographic and geographic information. You can identify loyal customers, assess churn risk, and gauge customer sentiment, allowing you to intervene promptly to strengthen relationships.

 

Benefiting from Cross-Selling Opportunities

Increasing sales is not limited to prospecting new customers but extends to selling new products to regular clients. CRM software provides detailed insights into a customer’s purchasing behavior and their position in the marketing funnel. By understanding their shopping cart composition, you can intelligently sell products and services related to their interests.

With proper planning and data, you can avoid major pitfalls of cross-selling, such as annoying customers with irrelevant or poorly timed suggestions. CRM data collection and marketing automation can progressively identify and offer higher-end products and services that customers may actively consider rather than dismiss outright.

 

LMS – Lead Management Software

Currently, lead management is essential to boost business productivity. Lead management can be defined as the process of lead generation, tracking their inclinations, analyzing their activities, personalizing content for them, and qualifying their potential to ultimately convert them into concrete actions.

An LMS offers numerous advantageous features necessary for managing a business. The use of such software is not limited to companies managing their leads directly but also extends to agencies managing leads for others. Imagine having to handle leads from 5 companies simultaneously and in real-time – it sounds like a nightmare! This is where Ohmylead comes in, offering all the benefits of an LMS but in white label. Let’s explore the benefits of opting for lead management software.

Monitoring Sales Processes

Once upon a time, customer information was scattered across Excel spreadsheets, often outdated and managed manually.

What could be better than consolidating and unifying all customer data into a single accessible place for all members of your organization?

Without any interruption, LMS runs automatically and does its job. It allows you to save valuable time by helping manage all data, capture leads, track their activity, etc., without any manual effort.

Moreover, businesses cannot afford to overlook potential sources of leads in today’s competitive markets. And you certainly don’t want to lose potential customers simply because you lack a way to capture all leads by automating the process. Additionally, complete transparency ensures no intermediary or third party between the software and prospects – no chance of misrepresentation.

 

Lead nurturing

Lead Nurturing is the process of developing leads from being “interested in the offer” to “ready to make a purchase”. This process focuses on engaging prospects by providing them with the most relevant content based on their profile (such as guides, e-books, webinars, etc.), usually through email. When executed effectively, lead nurturing can turn prospects into advocates for the brand even before they make a purchase.

You can provide a personalized approach based on where your prospects have interacted with your online presence, thereby enhancing their experience. Personalizing various touchpoints leads to a stronger and closer brand image, reinforcing the connections between the brand and the individual.

It’s also important to note that LMS verifies the accuracy of information received from leads and notifies you of any errors, such as invalid email addresses or phone numbers.

Qualifying and filtering leads

One of the most notable advantages of a lead management system is its ability to automatically score your prospects based on their journey. This means that as they progress through this process, you can immediately identify high-quality prospects. Lead nurturing assigns a predefined score based on the lead’s engagement, and each score is typically weighted according to each touchpoint.

These lead filtering and scoring processes ensure that leads entering internal or field sales processes are qualified. This usually means there is reason to believe the prospect is ready to become a customer, perhaps soon.

If a lead is strong, you may want a sales representative to handle it promptly, as soon as the opportunity arises. However, if the lead is still weak or if you have reason to believe the person is still in the discovery stage, initiating direct sales processes could be seen as intrusive. Pushing these leads towards sales clutters the process and prevents your teams from focusing on stronger, more promising leads.

 

Optimizing team management

Every company’s workflow structure varies greatly. Some businesses prefer assigning work to their sales representatives based on geographical areas, while others prefer task allocation based on their sales team’s skills and specialization. With a lead management software, you can automatically assign and route tasks to your sales team and notify them instantly. This helps keep everyone on your team informed about their assigned tasks, boosting overall productivity.

 

Analysis and Reporting

Some lead management software allows you to delve into your audience’s demographic data, where your prospects are coming from, and their behavior once they land on your pages. Are they engaging with specific content? Is your site hierarchy effectively funneling visitors to sales pages? A robust lead management software can provide valuable insights to inform decision-making. Understanding the customer journey and creating multiple dimensions for each stage of the buying process can continuously improve the customer experience for your prospects.

Ultimately, a successful business thrives on clear communication with its target audience and grows when enough leads convert from prospects to customers. Lead management software and CRM benefit businesses at every stage of growth by preparing them for success, enabling close monitoring of prospects at all times. This opportunity allows businesses to provide the best possible experience both before and after the purchase decision.