Become a Salesforce Lead Management Superhero in 3 Easy Steps

Even if you work with the Salesforce lead management system on a daily basis, it’s easy to miss the simple solutions to launch your productivity and efficiency to the next level. We’ve worked with many clients who self-implemented successfully, but overlooked a few very simple, but clutch, native lead management tactics already included in their Salesforce license. Skip to the front of the line (and look like a total Salesforce boss) with these simple strategies.

#1: Automatic lead capture powers, activate!

Did you know that you have the power to capture key lead information from your website and have it magically appear as a new lead record in Salesforce? All you need is a little backend wizardry known as Salesforce web-to-lead. This is not only a great way to save time with less data entry, it also cuts down on any inadvertent errors that can happen in the transcription process. Plus, you can act on the information immediately. Here’s how to engage your web-to-lead powers: 

1. Decide which lead fields you want to collect (example: First Name, Last Name, Company, Email, Comments)
2. Edit the picklist Lead Source in the Lead Setup and add a new picklist value for the appropriate webpage (example: Lead Source = Contact Us)
3. Ask your web developer for the URL of the “thank you page” that you want visitors to land on after a form is filled out.
4. Go to Your Name > Setup >Customize > Leads > Web-to-Lead > Create Web-to-Lead Form
5. Add the fields you want to include and paste your thank you page URL and click GENERATE
6. Copy this text into a notepad.txt file (this strips out any potential html craziness)
7. Add <input type=hidden name="lead_source"value="Contact Us"> in this text file
8. Give the file/code to your web developer
9. After the code is added, test, test, test to be sure there are no errors in the system.

 #2: Assign leads with supernatural ease

After setting up automatic lead creation on your website, turn up your productivity volume to 11 with a simple lead assignment rule setup. Once you have this functionality in place, your leads will automatically zip to the appropriate team member. You’re just a few steps away from lead assignment Nirvana:

• Ensure your default owner is set to the appropriate user and decide if you want that user to be notified every time a lead comes in under Your Name > Setup > Customize > Leads > Settings
• To create a new assignment rule go to Your Name > Setup > Customize > Leads > Lead Assignment Rules
• Click NEW and name your rule (example: Contact Us = Geraldine Gray) and save it
• Click on the rule name
• Click NEW under Rule Entries
• Set the Sort Order to “1”
• Enter your rule parameters of Lead Source EQUALS Web
• Assign to user (example: Geraldine Gray)

Now when a lead is created from your website it will automatically be assigned to the right team member.

#3: Create an autoresponder and BAM consider customer expectations set

Start communications with your prospects immediately using autoresponders. Whether it’s a thank you landing page or a custom message, autoresponders can help you create momentum with your prospect and give them next steps. Autoresponder rules are an invaluable tool for success:

1. Go to Your Name > Setup > Customize Leads | Auto-Response Rules
2. Click NEW and name your rule “Contact Us” and check the button to “set this as the active Web-to-Lead Auto-Response rule”
3. To create a new auto-response rule click on the rule name
4. Click NEW under Rule Entries
5. Set the Sort Order to “1”
6. Enter your rule parameters of Lead Source EQUALS Contact Us
7. Assign to user “Geraldine Gray” and their email address (this is who the autoresponse email will derive from)
8. Select the email template you want to use (Salesforce has some samples set up you can clone)

Now when a prospect makes an inquiry from your website they will automatically receive a thank you email. Creating a custom email that is branded and designed to resonate with your prospect is always best. Don’t forget to test thoroughly after launch! 

Want more powerful tips and tricks? We can help!

Creating incredible lead management systems is what we do. We can help you enhance customer experience and create solutions that make your job a lot easier. Contact us today to learn more and get started on a project.