No matter if your company is small and home-based or if it is a large corporation cost of acquiring a lead will always be compared with conversion rates. Today there are various marketing methods of acquiring a lead which includes advertising both print and online, email campaigns, telemarketing and hardcopy letter campaigns, tradeshows and events. Every medium has a cost attached to it therefore it becomes imperative to measure the ROI of each against conversion rates to measure the success of each method. This helps the organization to calculate the effectiveness of each method thus assisting the company to take a decision on investing further in a particular marketing channel.

Lead management module in a CRM application can aid your staff, whether large or small, in building relationships with customers and nurturing those relationships as you go through the sales processes. Using lead management software gives you a way to organize your leads and your contacts and can improve the quality of your leads and the quantity, and thus the lead management software will lead to greater company profit. Many companies have been led astray by thinking that more leads is better; however it is the quality of the leads which will lead to sales and lead management software can help you increase the quality of your sales leads

The lead management module in a CRM application is one of its critical components. It is this module where all the leads are centralized, marketing campaigns are launched and the action taken like follow-ups, communications and lead progress is tracked until it becomes a salable opportunity.

Robust lead management capabilities help you efficiently perform the complex task of importing and processing leads—ensuring that hot leads are quickly routed to the appropriate person or team! The marketing teams can easily import leads from trade shows or purchased lists; perform lead de-duplication; and qualify leads so only clean, viable leads are captured. Leads can be automatically distributed to your sales teams through lead management software so they’re acted on as soon as possible.

You can even assign activities with leads, such as scheduling a meeting, phone call, or a to-do task; record notes; perform mass actions; and more to ensure the appropriate action is taken, driving the lead closer to an opportunity or sale. And, whether a lead, contact, or account has responded to a campaign, clicked on your Web page, requested literature, or discussed a product or service with an employee, every instance of an expressed interest can be captured and pursued for future campaign and sales activities.

Key Benefits of a Lead Management Software:

* Segment your customer and prospect data for effective targeting

* Deliver high-impact marketing communications that bring in new leads and sales

* Increase lead conversion rates by qualifying based on your criteria

* Automate lead distribution so hot sales opportunities are not missed

* Enhance marketing efficiencies using sophisticated lead management tools

A good lead management tool helps a company to measure the ROI each marketing channel used. An organization can build and launch campaigns once launched; you can easily gather the data you need to make strategic decisions. View budget information, response data, and cost metrics to help you understand the effectiveness of current plans and better plan the logistics of your next campaign. Integrated, flexible reports enable your marketing team to analyze key marketing campaign metrics such as budget variance, win rate, sales potential, and more—and filter by product, time period, or lead source

Today the way you manage your leads has become more important then the way you generate leads. The idea is to identify the right marketing sources, measure their ROI and track leads once generated, properly through a mechanism ensuring that “they don’t fall through the cracks” and become qualified salable opportunities.

When we talk about lead management or sales management software by various companies. Choosing a right lead management application also depends on your organizational needs and size. Companies like Sage are having lead management software ACT! for SME and SMBs. You can visit http://www.sagesoftware.co.in/ActBySagePremium.aspx?SubProductId=17 to know more about features of their software. to know more on lead management do visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_management