Leadhantering

Leadhantering, or lead management, is the systematic process of capturing, nurturing, and converting potential customers (leads) into paying customers. It sits at the intersection of marketing and sales, emphasizing what happens to leads after initial awareness. The goal is to improve both the quality and speed of conversion while aligning marketing activities with sales priorities.

Core elements include lead generation across channels (content, email, social media, events), lead capture, qualification, scoring, and routing. Qualification typically distinguishes marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) from sales-qualified leads (SQLs). Scoring assigns points based on engagement and fit to prioritize follow-up. Nurturing uses targeted content and automated workflows to move leads through the funnel when readiness increases.

Technology plays a central role. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems store lead data and track interactions; marketing automation platforms automate email campaigns, scoring, and routing. Data quality, governance, and privacy compliance (for example GDPR) are essential, as is a clear service level agreement (SLA) between marketing and sales on timelines and hand-off criteria.

Key metrics include lead velocity, conversion rate, cost per lead, win rate, and pipeline contribution. Common challenges are data fragmentation, duplicate records, attribution, and maintaining consistent messaging across channels. Effective lead management requires defined buyer personas, documented processes, regular data cleansing, and continuous optimization based on performance data.