Lead routing, also referred to as ‘lead assignment,’ defines the process of pairing incoming sales leads with available sales representatives. The process has become largely automated within the past decade and makes use of either incredibly simple or more complex algorithms to determine an ideal rep-client match.

What do we mean by this?

A robot that leads planes down the correct route.

Enterprise organizations will always want to take a multifaceted approach to B2B sales interactions. Especially if your service or product caters to clients across a variety of industries and use cases, your sales team should be populated with different pros who have specific competencies that you can leverage to cultivate more effective client relationships.

So which sales rep takes what incoming lead becomes the next big question. And how you choose to make this decision will greatly depend on your organization’s  size, structure and home industry. But in all cases this will typically engage a lead routing strategy to optimize sales performance potential.

What is Lead Routing?

Lead routing, also referred to as ‘lead assignment,’ defines the process of pairing incoming sales leads with available sales representatives. The process has become largely automated within the past decade and makes use of either incredibly simple or more complex algorithms to determine an ideal rep-client match.

In many cases, companies organize their sales reps into a singular list, by name, geographic location, etc., and simply pass an incoming lead to the next representative in order on that list. However companies with a larger scope of practice and more varietous client base may choose to route according to a number of factors such as geographic location, client business type, client business size, representative success record, even cultural literacy, among others.

Why Lead Routing is Important for Your Sales Team

Once your organization reaches a certain client volume, employing a strategic lead routing process can help to make B2B sales interactions more efficient, effective and long-term. Here are some of the benefits.

Leads allow sales to do their job. Generating qualified leads in the first place gives your reps their best chance of making a sale. And matching your qualified lead to the right representative allows you to cultivate a mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationship between your organization and your new client.

Each lead is a potential revenue source for your company. Even unqualified leads represent potential financial influx if you know how best to go about reeling in an uncertain prospect. This is where better lead routing practices will have the most impact, as an experienced rep with the right cultural understanding and industry-specific expertise for your target can be the difference between a loss and a conversion.

Lead routing allows you to gather valuable data. Categorical distribution of leads allows you to track critical metrics both for specific businesses as well as their industry overall. Spending habits, rep engagement, and other interactions can give you insight into both qualified and unqualified leads which will allow you to:

• Forecast industry trends and plan your lead generation and routing accordingly.
• Perform future planning based on seasonal habits and industry reaction to global changes.
• Personalize your marketing efforts to more effectively reach potential leads within specific industries.
• And more.

Automated Lead Routing vs. Conventional Lead Routing

Manual lead routing has long been an effective methodology for assigning potential clients to sales reps within your organization. And for many smaller businesses with manageable portfolios, this continues to be the case. But for enterprise organizations, assigning leads by hand without the assistance of a digital solution is inefficient and unreasonably prone to human error.

Manual routing for an enterprise business in the digital era is the equivalent of a single traffic control officer attempting to guide vehicle flow at the Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Japan using only a handheld stop sign. It may work, but it will be slow, confusing, and cars may get directed onto the wrong trajectory. For a complex intersection with heavy traffic, a series of automated stoplights is a much better option.

Automatic lead routing allows for fast client distribution that ensures all accounts are tracked, well documented, and equitably and appropriately distributed among your representative base with a minimal error margin and optimized conversion potential.

Why automated lead routing is the future

As lead routing tech becomes more streamlined and sophisticated, automation will become the best option for even small-scale organizations. Here’s why.

1. Round robin lead assignment. Automatic distribution can incorporate both complex lead matching factors AND fair routing that ensures all sales reps have the right amount of leads in their folder.
   
2. Quick custom notifications. Automated lead routing will never let a lead go unnoticed and can deliver customized messaging when a new potential client becomes available to your reps.
3. Account/team based lead routing. Your lead assignment strategy doesn’t have to be based on individual performance or competency but can instead be distributed to specific teams within your representative base, or to like accounts being handled by reps with the right know-how for that potential client.
   
4. Streamlined complex workflows. Automated lead routing ensures that client information lands in the right spot the first time, meaning it will be quickly and efficiently followed up with so you can handle a higher client volume without creating any traffic.
5. Assigned priority. You can set priority terms so that your high-potential leads are given the right-of-way over colder or less lucrative clients, ensuring that your best leads are always at the front of the line.
6. Teammate equity. Automated lead assignment mitigates the potential for unconscious bias on the part of a manual lead distributor and prevents unhealthy sales competition by routing leads as fairly as is technologically possible. This in turn fosters an improved workplace culture by inspiring a team-oriented attitude.

Intricately lead generation tools

Automated lead routing means that your potential clients will be given to the right sales representative and given a better chance of converting into a long-lasting customer. Understanding your client is the first step in this journey, and Intricately can help you take it. Our sales intelligence tools gather critical client data which, when integrated with Salesforce, will get your client profile to the right reps to make the final conversion.

Learn more about qualifying leads in our other insight.