New Leads Object - Pros and Cons for using for Sales/SDR sourced contacts from admin and end users

[EricDeinoff]

We are currently using the new Lead object and Lead automation for Marketing Sourced Contacts (i.e. triggered when the lifecycle stage becomes a MQL). 

The sales team is finally getting on board with the new processes associated with the leads object for Marketing leads. 

Now we are considering expanding its use. I am looking to gather crowdsourced ideas for a list of pros and cons for or against expanding the use of the lead object for Sales sourced and SDR sourced contacts and how it will affect Admins and end users (the sales reps)

[benesch_e · Accepted solution]

Hi @EricDeinoff 

My sales team loves using the lead object for their own leads in adition to the ones that marketing provides. By allowing the team to add their own leads as a lead object they can work in one space with a similar workflow for all leads which makes their lives easier. This also helps with adoption, the sales person doesn't have to be working their leads differently than the marketing ones. It also allows their managers to see what they are working on, help coach them better and cover for them if they are on holiday,

If you are wanting to see which leads are coming from, marketing vs sales, I would look into using the Lead Type property to catagorize they leads. In your workflows for marketing you can set the property to whatever you need it to be. For the sales leads (since if your sales team is a bit lazy like mine and don't lable their deals, leads, ect) you would create a workflow with the triggers of lead created in the last 24hr, and owned by your favorite team, and lead type is unknown >  add Lead Type property. Once you have Lead Type set up you can start using reporting to analyze what your team is doing, who is more successful at finding viable leads, marketing or sales, ect.

Hope this helps!

[JLandis · Accepted solution]

We scaled back our use of leads significantly for several reasons. Namely, when a lead is Qualified it doesn't carry over any information, forcing you to set everything manually. I've built a few workflows that will identify a specific type of lead, mark it as qualified, and create the new deal with all the information we know we want. When leads provide this functionality natively, we will consider expanding their use again.

For now, we've gone back to opening up deals in the "prospecting" stage for our biz dev outreach. Leads are still used to create automated data for inbound inquiries and cancelled subscribers for us to try and win back, but they are not robust enough for us to use them in enterprise sales prospecting yet.

[Aakar · Accepted solution]

Hi @EricDeinoff 

As an admin, I believe the Lead object is a remarkable tool for both the SDR and sales teams. If the process is effective for marketing-sourced contacts, I see no reason not to implement the same process for sales-sourced contacts. However, as an admin, you need to setup the process on how to import contacts & how sales sourced contact becomes MQL.

Thanks.

[JLandis · Accepted solution]

We scaled back our use of leads significantly for several reasons. Namely, when a lead is Qualified it doesn't carry over any information, forcing you to set everything manually. I've built a few workflows that will identify a specific type of lead, mark it as qualified, and create the new deal with all the information we know we want. When leads provide this functionality natively, we will consider expanding their use again.

For now, we've gone back to opening up deals in the "prospecting" stage for our biz dev outreach. Leads are still used to create automated data for inbound inquiries and cancelled subscribers for us to try and win back, but they are not robust enough for us to use them in enterprise sales prospecting yet.

[JBarmer]

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@JLandis wrote:

when a lead is Qualified it doesn't carry over any information, forcing you to set everything manually.

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Wait, what?  I have been reading up on how Hubspot handles leads and just came across your comment here.  Why in the world would anyone use leads if you just have to manually recreate them upon qualification??  Maybe this has changed since you posted this, but if not then I'm glad I ran into this because I wouldn't want to start using Leads without that crucial capability.

[Aakar]

@JBarmer  I didn't get the scenario on why you have to manually recreate it.
HubSpot Leads (pipeline), will be created from contacts based on your rule. A contact can have multiple leads or can be re-created leads multiple times. I'd suggest watching this video if you've not already. 

[benesch_e · Accepted solution]

Hi @EricDeinoff 

My sales team loves using the lead object for their own leads in adition to the ones that marketing provides. By allowing the team to add their own leads as a lead object they can work in one space with a similar workflow for all leads which makes their lives easier. This also helps with adoption, the sales person doesn't have to be working their leads differently than the marketing ones. It also allows their managers to see what they are working on, help coach them better and cover for them if they are on holiday,

If you are wanting to see which leads are coming from, marketing vs sales, I would look into using the Lead Type property to catagorize they leads. In your workflows for marketing you can set the property to whatever you need it to be. For the sales leads (since if your sales team is a bit lazy like mine and don't lable their deals, leads, ect) you would create a workflow with the triggers of lead created in the last 24hr, and owned by your favorite team, and lead type is unknown >  add Lead Type property. Once you have Lead Type set up you can start using reporting to analyze what your team is doing, who is more successful at finding viable leads, marketing or sales, ect.

Hope this helps!

[BérangèreL]

Hi @EricDeinoff,

Thank you for your post, that's exactly what the Community is about!

Great to hear that your team is starting to use it!

I'd be happy to put you in touch with some of our Top Experts and Community Members: Hi @DannyHS, @JAnderson5, @magda_kas, @MaltheOARadiant, @TKilpelänaho, @Stig, @LCLaukkanen, @Jnix284, @JLandis, @benesch_e, @Aakar and @danmoyle do you have feedback to help @EricDeinoff, please?

Also, if anybody else has anything to add and/or share, please feel free to join in the conversation 🙂

Thanks a lot and have a great day!

Best,
Bérangère