Sales leads are full of promise and potential–but not all sales leads pan out. When you’re faced with an abundance of sales leads, how do you organize them in the most productive and efficient manner?

Here are steps you can take to prioritize your sales leads.

Take a FIFO Approach to Sales Leads

FIFO, or “first in, first out,” is a longstanding way to handle inventory. It can also be a powerful way to respond to sales leads.

When you receive a contact from a potential lead, reach out to them as quickly as possible. Prospects are more likely to respond when a sales rep’s connection with them comes as they’re already dwelling on a problem they face – for instance, as they fill out a web form asking for more information.

Don’t Quit on Your Leads Too Soon

It’s common for salespeople to call a potential customer only once or twice before moving to the next one. Reaching out to leads who pick up the phone and talk to you feels more productive than leaving voicemails.

Statistically, however, it takes more than a single phone call to connect with most sales leads. Leaving that third or fourth voicemail may be necessary to spur a potential customer to take the next step.

Invest Your Efforts in the Right Places

Sales and marketing teams have access to a wealth of data to analyze where leads come from and which sources provide the most conversions. To prioritize sales leads, focus on those that come from the highest lead-to-conversion ratios.

This advice may seem obvious, but it is sometimes challenging to execute in practice. For instance, imagine a medical device sales team that discovers the lead-to-conversion rate from their website is 30 percent, but from trade shows it’s only 5 percent. Yet trade shows feel more productive, engaging and fun for the sales staff, making them hard to give up – even though the sales team would produce better results from staying home and calling the folks who fill out web forms.

Resist the urge to do what feels productive. Instead, do what is supported by the numbers.

At SMR Group, our recruiters specialize in helping sales and marketing talent launch or build careers in medical sales. If you’re looking for a great new job in pharmaceutical, medical device or biotech sales, contact us today.