Creating and Managing Leads

Important Note: NorthBoundary is now SalesManager. SalesManager retains all of the customer relationship management and proposal automation benefits of its predecessor, allowing you to create proposals, manage your sales funnel, win and retain top customers. To read more about this exciting change, click here.

In SalesManager, formerly known as NorthBoundary, Leads are your prospects that have not committed to your company. They are a combination of account and contact information that can easily be converted into Customers and Contacts once your prospect commits.

This article will cover creating and managing Leads in SalesManager.

To navigate to the Lead Management Page, on the Navigation Bar, click Leads Mgmt.

Searching for Leads

The Lead Management page has a Search Bar at the top. This allows you to search for your customers.

1. Select and/or enter info into the search fields.
2. Click the search button.
   • This will display a List View of your leads. Click the Map button to view a Map View of your leads.
     
3. Click the blue link company name to view a Lead's page.

Edit List View Columns

You can add or remove what information displays in columns for your leads.

1. Click the Edit Columns button.
2. Click to select an Available Field and click the right arrow to move it to the Selected Fields. *repeat as many times as necessary
3. Click to select a Selected Field and click the left arrow to move it to the Available Fields. *repeat as many times as necessary
4. Click to select a Selected Field and click the up and down arrows to set the arrangement order. *repeat as many times as necessary
5. Click Save when done.
   • Note: Click Default Selection to reset the Selected Fields to their default order.

Printing Lead Lists

1. To print a lead list first, Search for Leads
2. Then Edit List View Columns to include all information you want to print.
3. Click the down arrow drop-down button on the search bar, and click Print.
   
4. Click Print on the Preview Menu.

Creating Leads

1. On the Navigation Bar, click Lead Mgmt.
2. On the top right, click the New button. This will open the Add Contact Menu.
3. Enter a Company Name.
4. All other fields are optional. Below are some details about what these fields are for:
   • Status/ Last Results - Select the status of the prospect.
   • Lead Owner - Select the SalesManager user you want to associate with the contact.
   • Category - Select between Lead, Not qualified, Prospect, or Suspect.
     • Click here to learn more about Suspect vs Prospect vs Lead
5. When done, click Save.

Editing Leads

1. On the Navigation Bar, click Contact Mgmt.
2. Use the Search Bar at the top of the page to find the Lead you want to edit.
3. Click the Lead's Company Name to navigate to the Lead's page.
4. Make changes to the menu below.
5. When done, click Save.

Deleting Leads

1. Search for the Lead.
2. Click the drop-down arrow on the leads's row.
3. Click Delete.
   
4. Click OK.

Note: You can also check to select the lead and click the trashcan icon on the search bar to delete a lead.

Transfer the Lead Owner

You can quickly transfer contacts owner's from the Contact Management Menu.

1. Check to select the lead(s) you want to transfer owners for.
2. Click the Transfer button.
   
3. Click the Lead Transfer To drop-down menu.
4. Select the SalesManager User you want to make the lead(s) owner.
5. Click Transfer.

Convert Lead

Once your Lead has committed, you can convert a lead into a Customer and Contact.

1. Check to select the lead you want to convert.
2. Click the drop-down arrow on the lead's row.
3. Click Convert Lead. To open the Lead Convert Menu.
   
4. For Customer, select whether you want to Create New or Choose Existing customers.
   
   • Create New - Will default to the lead's company name. You can change it in the text field below.
   • Choose Existing  - Will search for existing customers with the same name as the lead's company name. You can select from the list.
5. For Contact, select whether you want to Create New or Choose Existing customers.
   
   • Create New - Will default to the lead's First and Last Name. You can change it in the text field below.
   • Choose Existing  - Will search for existing contacts with the same name as the lead's contact name. You can select from the list.
6. Select a Record Owner. This will default to the Lead's owner. You can select other users from the drop-down menu.
   • This will make the selected user the Customer and Contact Owner.
7. Click Convert.

Activity Menu

The Activity Menu allows you to view your Lead's Activity Timeline. You can also Log Calls and Add Reminders.

The Activity Timeline

The Activity Timeline list any Calls or Reminders for this contact organized in a most recent timeline view.

You can click the drop-down arrow next to any entities to edit or delete them.

Log a Call

You can log your lead interactions to know what you discussed with a contact and when.

1. On the Activity Menu, click the Log a Call tab.
2. Enter details about the call in the Recap your call. field.
3. Select an option from the Status / Last Results drop-down.
4. Click Add.

Adding a Reminder

You can add reminders to follow up on something related to this lead. You can also send yourself a calendar invite (via an .ics file) for this reminder.

1. On the Activity Menu, click the Add Reminder tab.
2. Enter a Subject.
3. Select a Due Date and Time.
4. The reminder will be automatically assigned to you, but you can select another user on the Assigned To drop-down.
5. *optional Enter a Comment.
6. If it's a new reminder, the Status should be 'Open.'
7. Click the Priority drop-down menu to select the priority level.
8. *optional Check the Send to Schedule box to have a calendar reminder (.ics file) emailed to the assigned user.
9. Click Save when done.

Note: If you select Send to Schedule, the calender reminder will be emailed to the assigned user's email address. This email will be from esign@nbesign.com. The calendar .ics file will be attached to the email. If you do not receive the email, check your spam folder and your allowlist settings.

Adding an Event

You can add events for you and your leads. This will send a calendar invite (via an .ics file) for this event to all selected attendees.

1. On the Activity Menu, click the Add Event tab.
2. Enter a Subject.
3. *optional Enter a Note
4. Select a Start/End Date and Time.
5. *optional Enter a Location.
6. Select from the Reminder drop-down an amount of time before the event you would like to be reminded of this event.
7. On the Attendees menu, enter anyone's email you would like to be invited to the event and click Add. Repeat as many times as necessary to invite all attendees.
8. Click Save when done.

Note: If you select Send to Schedule, the calender reminder will be emailed to the attendees' email addresses. This email will be from esign@nbesign.com. The calendar .ics file will be attached to the email. If you or your customers do not receive the email, check your spam folder and your allowlist settings.

Suspect vs Prospect vs Lead Category

Suspect

A suspect can be anyone or any organization that could buy your product or service.

Prospect

A prospect is an individual or organization that is a possible customer to buy your product or service and has undergone a qualification process.

While suspects are the wider universe of potential customers, prospects have shown interest in buying your product or service. They are willing to share personal information, such as their calling cards.

Lead

Prospects go to the final level, becoming capable lead. Leads are prospects that satisfy your criteria. They need your product or service and have the budget to buy it and the right to expend the budget and make the purchase. A prospect turns into a lead when you have recognized a potential need.

This is a typical scenario:

There is a trade show exhibition happening in the city. Around 50 vendors are participating, and there are around 5000 visitors.

• Suspects: All the visitors are suspects. So there are 5000 Suspects. Let's say 700 people visited your booth. They picked up the brochure, and around 500 people gave you their visiting cards.
• Prospects: The 500 people who gave you their visiting cards can be considered prospects. Now you enter or import all the prospects in SalesManager (or another CRM system.) You attempt to contact them and give them additional information about your business. Let's assume you contacted 80 prospects, and they expressed interest and gave further details about themselves or their business.
• Leads: We have 80 leads in the system. These are against the prospects that have shown interest and given further details. You then work on filtering the leads. It will be divided into Qualified / Unqualified Leads based on fit, interest levels, etc. If they are not fit, then they can be disqualified if the prospect does not fit the criteria for having your product or service. So let's say 30 got disqualified, and 50 are qualified leads. The Qualified Leads can then again be filtered into Hot, Warm, or Cold Leads based on their level of interest.
• Opportunity: The 50 qualified leads can be considered opportunities. You will call them, meet in person and give more detailed information about your products or service one-on-one. This is the place where the deals make or break. Out of 50, 20 are ready and give their consent and required documentation to buy your product or service.
• Customers: 20 are the customers created in your system.

Exporting Leads

SalesManager allows you to export your lead lists as .csv files.

1. To export a lead list, first Search for Leads
2. Then Edit List View Columns to add or remove fields.
3. Click the down arrow drop-down button on the search bar, and click Export CSV Files.
   
4. This will download a .csv file of your searched lead list and will include all column information.

Importing Leads

Click the following link to learn more about importing Leads. Bulk Importing in SalesManager