In the first post in this series we discussed how to define a lead qualification process. In this post we'll discuss how to map that process to Salesforce.

Now a few of you may think I've skipped a few steps. Many other people would probably say you need to setup your lead qualification criteria or define your goals first. But if you're like most companies, you're already getting leads from somewhere and doing something with them, so it's important that you get your basic process in place before moving to an advanced lead qualification process. So let's take it one step at a time.

 Step 1 - Setup your Lead Statuses

Take the Statuses that you defined in stage 1, or the ones you already have, and put them into the Lead Status field in Salesforce. If you have Leads in existing statuses, use the Replace function in Salesforce to update the values.

 Step 2 - Setup your Contact or Account Statuses

Out of the box, Salesforce doesn't come with Contact or Account Statuses. However, we've found that all of our clients have at least some Contacts that are not currently part of an Opportunity. So the Contacts that they know most about were not being tracked as part of their Lead pipeline. Now unfortunately Salesforce doesn't have a way to convert Contacts back to Leads, but it is possible to track them separately.

To do this, create a custom field on either the Contact or the Account called Status. If you use the Account it will be easier to figure out how many prospects you have, but harder to figure out which person you are actually working with. If you do it at the Contact it will be harder to keep all the Contacts up to date, but much easier to tell who your point of contact is.

In your new Status field, use the same values as you have for the Lead. You may need to add a status or two, such as Active Opportunity or Customer, to track what happens after it's qualified.

Step 3 (Optional) - Map Lead Status to Account/Contact Status

If you want your Lead Status field to map to the Account or Contact Status, then you'll have to use some Salesforce trickery. Salesforce doesn't let you map a standard field to a custom field, so you'll have to create a Custom Lead Field called Status for Conversion (or whatever you want to call it). The new field is a Text Formula Field where the formula is simply 'TEXT(Status)'.

Then go to Map Lead Fields from the Setup > Customize > Lead > Fields page and map the new Status for Conversion field to the Account or Contact Status.

Step 4 - Create Lead and Account/Contact Pipeline Reports

Before you go through and update all of your data, setup some reports to see where everything is in the pipeline. To create a Lead and Account/Contact Pipeline Report:

1. Go to the Reports Tab
2. Click Create New Custom Report
3. Choose Leads from the drop-down. Click Next
4.  Choose Matrix Report. Click Next
5. Group by Lead Owner on the left and Lead Status on the top. Click Next twice
6. Choose whatever fields you want to show, then Click Next and order them. Click Next again
7. On the Criteria, choose All Leads, and remove any dates in the date range. In the first filter row put Converted Equals False.
8. Uncheck Show Report Details
9. Click Run Report
10. Verify that it looks like the screenshot below, then Save it to your folder. You can also add it to a dashboard, or just send a link to your sales reps to look at.
11. Repeat these steps for the Contact or Account Pipeline, although you won't have any data in it yet.

Example Lead Pipeline

Step 5 - Mass Update your data

The last step in getting your process in Salesforce is to make sure all your Leads and Accounts are in the right Statuses. Depending on how much your Statuses changed, this could be a large work effort.The goal in this step is to update the Leads and Accounts in your database so that they are in the right status. How you figure that out is up to you. Sometimes you may have to manually review each record. Sometimes you can use easy to setup rules like if the Last Activity field is blank, then they're probably in the Targeted status since nothing has been done.

Mass updating data, especially when you're updating a large number of records, can often be much easier with the right tools. There are several ways to do this, and here's a short list of the techniques and which one is appropriate depending on the number of records:

1. Salesforce Views (<500 records). Using Salesforce Views (found on the object tabs) you can create a view for the right data. For example: Create a view called Leads with no activity, and set the filter criteria to Last Activity equals ___. Then use the Change Status link at the top to change the Lead Status. For Contacts and Accounts you can simply select the records you want to change and double click on the Status column (for this to work you have to have enhanced lists and inline editing enabled for your organization). Salesforce Views only allow you to modify 100 records at a time, so this can take a while if you have more than 500 records.
2. Salesforce Reports and Data Loader (1-5,000 records). The Apex Data Loader is a free tool from Salesforce that will allow you to upsert records that you have modified. So create Salesforce reports using whatever criteria you'd like, then update all the Statuses in Excel, before upserting those values into Salesforce.
3. Partner Tools (1,000+ records). My favorite data management tool by far is DemandTools from CRMfusion. If you have thousands of records then you probably need some data cleanup. DemandTools MassChange can help you get your Statuses up to date. Their Lead and Contact de-duping tools can also help clean up your database.

Good luck getting your process setup in Salesforce. Next week we'll dive a little deeper into some advanced Lead Qualification options for Salesforce.

If you have any questions or comments, post them in the comments section below.

Go to 3. Prioritizing your calls