Are tired of watching active leads leak out of your sales funnel? Do your sales reps spend most of their time manually tracking and engaging with leads? Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to automatically qualify leads and schedule appointments before passing them on to your sales team?
If you’re a business owner, chances are you’ve nodded your head in agreement to all the above questions. You’ve likely also been evaluating popular lead management options, such as Conversica. While Conversica has been the go-to lead management tool for many companies, it comes with a few drawbacks and higher costs.
Chances are you’ve checked out a Conversica alternatives review or two to find out whether there are more affordable yet feature-packed lead management options. Perhaps you’ve also looked for alternatives to Conversica that offer better customization and AI-powered engagement.
But the sheer variety of lead management platforms available in the market will confuse and overwhelm you. Nevertheless, finding the right lead management software is crucial for the success of your sales pipeline. The wrong platform could further burden your sales reps instead of simplifying their job.
In this post, we’ve outlined key questions you should ask while evaluating various lead management options for your company. Let’s take a look.
1. Why Do I Need a Lead Management Platform?
Before you go around looking for lead management options and analyzing different Conversica alternatives, you should identify your reasons for doing so.
Do you need a conversational AI platform that’ll help you automate the process of engaging leads via different channels, including SMS, email, and website chat? Or do you want a lead management tool that’ll gather useful visitor intelligence to help sales reps personalize their communications?
Would you like the software to qualify leads and schedule appointments for sales reps? Your answers to these questions will determine the type of lead management options you should consider.
Also, it’ll help you define the must-have features for your lead management software.
Talk to your marketing and sales teams to identify the challenges they face in terms of lead scoring, qualification, and nurturing. Also, list your business goals and needs before you start scouring the internet for suitable lead management options.
2. Cloud-Based vs. On-Premise: What Should I Choose?
It’s one of the most common dilemmas you’ll face when selecting a lead management platform for your business. A proprietary on-premise lead management tool offers excellent customizability. Also, you get complete control over its implementation.
But such applications involve a high upfront investment. Apart from the cost of software development, you also have to invest in the right hardware for deploying the software. Moreover, you’ll have to hire consultants to help with the implementation. The costs will further escalate when you decide to add new features in the future.
On the other hand, cloud-based lead management options, including various alternatives to Conversica, can be set up in minutes. The software provider is responsible for rolling out updates and introducing new features. It’s more secure and cost-effective in the long run too.
Also, your team members can access the software from any device of their choice, even if they’re not in the office.
While Conversica lacks customizability, most new-age Conversica alternatives let you tailor their platforms based on your needs. If you’re looking for a more cost-effective lead management solution, a cloud-based AI-powered application would be the right choice.
3. How Well Does It Integrate?
If you’re running a company in 2021, you’re already using a plethora of tools to optimize business operations. Your toolbox will include various applications, including marketing automation tools, e-commerce platforms, accounting software, CRM platform, etc.
If the lead management software doesn’t integrate well with these applications, it could complicate the job of your marketers and sales reps.
It is, therefore, necessary to identify the tools that need to be linked to your lead management software. If a given platform doesn’t offer APIs to support the required integrations, it isn’t worth your money and time.
4. What About the Learning Curve?
Even the most feature-packed lead management platform will fail to yield the desired results if your team members struggle to use it. Lack of a simple user interface is one of the key reasons why business owners and sales managers often opt for alternatives to Conversica.
Ideally, you should look for an intuitive and user-friendly platform that’s also customizable. Also, find out what kind of training support and documentation the software provider offers for users. Don’t forget to test various customer support channels to assess the speed and quality of service.
Empower Your Team With a Robust Lead Management Platform
Choosing the right platform from the available lead management options isn’t rocket science. But you must have a deep understanding of your team’s challenges and needs, and choose a platform with the right features. It’ll help you determine the type of lead management platform you should use.
For instance, if your team needs a conversational AI platform to engage and nurture leads, checking out various alternatives to Conversica is a good idea. Also, you should refer to a detailed Conversica alternatives review from 2021, and make an informed decision.
Irrespective of the software you select, make sure it’s easy to deploy and use. Also, it must support integrations with your existing marketing and sales tools.