Last week I had the pleasure of talking with Salim Notta, President and General Manager of eMaximation, a company that has my attention because they are a top developer of innovative, web-based software tools that work. I was so intrigued by our conversation, I immediately knew I had to share his insights with you to get you thinking about your own lead generation, what you need to do for 2014, and the new technology available to you. (Look for more Q&A formats in my blog in 2014 as I share helpful information with you from some of the industry’s leading players.)
David: Tell me a little bit about your company.
Salim: Sure. At eMaximation we work to make franchise leads more valuable through our innovative sales and marketing web-based automation software tools we’ve developed. Using our technologies, our clients are better equipped to more effectively and efficiently manage leads and their development teams.
David: I know you have an impressive list of clients.
Salim: Yes, we’re proud of our service to over 400 franchise brands.
David: What are some of the key features of your system?
Salim: Well, there are two I think I should mention. First is our ability to lead capture from any lead gen sources, third-party portals, or websites. Currently, we’re integrated with 1,500 different sources. Second is our capacity to offer advanced lead customization of segmentation. This segmentation information is sent to the sales person, eliminating timely and inconvenient manual work and ensuring consistent lead assignments and e-mail communication. Our lead routings are based on demographics, financials, round robins, or just about anything the client wants.
David: Anything new you’re working on?
Salim: We recently rolled out critical automated lead prioritization that helps sales quickly and easily identify the hottest prospects – automatically prioritizing the marketing campaign and follow-up tasks. No one in franchising has this lead component in place.
David: Very impressive. Can you explain how it works?
Salim: It’s based on a simple algorithm. If you have already scheduled a task, like “call prospect tomorrow” – this would be the first tier. The second tier would be the new leads coming in. The third tier is activity by the prospect, like they opened the campaign, or clicked on the link, or filled out the advanced form, things like that. The fourth tier is much more generalized. The beauty is we can change prioritization based on client needs and business requirements. Some want all new leads first or those who clicked on the campaign, etc. We want to make it as easy as possible for the sales person. This system helps the sales person know whom to contact next based on behavior or response to keep those who are active at top of mind. Thru our system we can send out real-time sales and activity lead notifications via e-mail so the sales person can see instantly when an action has been taken, and the system automatically bumps the candidate up in the prioritization.
David: What do you think is the biggest challenge for lead generation and data management?
Salim: Now more than ever, the customer is in control. Businesses have to adapt and have the processes in place to react. The investment in lead management is vital to revenue growth, and sales and marketing efforts must be aligned with a proper feedback process. Lead performance has to be tracked throughout the entire lead lifecycle and should be automated. Business intelligence reports are important because they allow you to mine lead data to provide insight as to why leads are or are not closing and what lead gen sources are pulling strongest. Everyone involved has to understand the lead lifecycle process. If something’s not working, make changes to the marketing campaign, the landing page, etc. You can’t just produce leads and not have any feedback and reasons for the results. We stress to our clients that they have to train their sales staff and hold them accountable. Marketing automation helps align sales and marketing. Our system helps further score, nurture, and prioritize a lead within the sales cycle so sales can be alerted to hot leads that are ready for the close. People research before they buy; that’s applicable to all industries, especially those looking to buy a business. eMaximation is like a 24/7 sales person. A lot of research happens after hours, engagement is automatically in place and prioritized thanks to automation. You can start to nurture the prospect right away. Also, most people don’t think of it, but revive campaigns work well for your leads you thought were dead.
We’ll be publishing part two of our interview with eMaximation President Salim Notta next week. In the meantime, to learn more about eMaximation, log on to their website at http://www.emaximation.com.
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