The two most common methods of assigning salespeople to leads are top-to-top and random distribution. With top-to-top, companies give their highest-scored prospects to their top-performing salespeople, and random distribution is exactly what it sounds like. These methods seem fair and don’t create extra work for the manager responsible for assigning leads.
However, neither does justice to the salesperson or the customer. Matching salespeople is more than just assigning a task, it is pairing two people together, and anyone who has been on a blind date knows that shouldn’t be done randomly. Here are some crucial factors that deserve consideration:
1. Approach
Some prospects base their decisions on trust, and will convert if they feel like the salesperson has their interests in mind. Others are more focused on hearing the minute details of the product or loan. For these prospects, it is essential that the salesperson can speak in an authoritative tone about the product. This is another form of trust building, but one that comes from the opposite direction as the first approach. In short, some prospects want the experience of being wooed and sold to, others see this as a red flag. Salespeople naturally gravitate toward one approach or another, and assigning them appropriate leads will set them up for success and feed their confidence.
2. Mannerisms
We naturally feel comfortable around people with similar mannerisms to ourselves. Some salespeople seek to imitate the mannerisms of their prospects — this can work but it can also backfire. It’s much more effective to pair people who are likely to resonate with little effort. This is very difficult for a manager to do, especially at scale, but artificial intelligence is advanced enough to do so automatically.
3. Timing
We often act like people will be equally effective at all parts of the day, but the reality is that everyone has times when they are more productive and upbeat. By leveraging this data, we can help our salespeople maximize on their potential. Additionally, some salespeople need to be at the top of their game when they are closing, but have an easier time with intro calls (or vice versa). Scheduling to fit people’s strengths is a win for everyone.
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Most managers would love to have the time and information required to make optimal matches, but that’s rarely feasible. Machine learning can combine research and processing power to match leads and salespeople at scale.
