Distributing new leads to your team members swiftly and efficiently can be the difference between closing more deals or losing them. While a CRM is commonly used to automate this process, you can still set up your own lead distribution system if you haven’t subscribed to a CRM or want to keep costs low.
If you’re generating leads from multiple sources but struggling to distribute them to your team members effectively, we’re here to help.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to set up an automated lead distribution system to streamline the process of sending new leads to your team members. We’ll also cover how to collect and distribute leads using WordPress plugins and explore how Privyr simplifies lead distribution for maximum efficiency.
Why do you need an automated lead distribution system?
Managing leads becomes increasingly challenging when they come from diverse sources like social media ads, search engine ads, website forms, and phone calls. Tracking, exporting, and manually sending the details of new prospects to your sales team is time-consuming and labor-intensive. By the time you’ve distributed the leads, they may have gone cold, lost interest, or gone to your competitors, leading to missed opportunities.
It’s universally known that reaching out to new leads immediately is a universally accepted best practice for maximizing conversion rates.
An automated lead distribution system not only saves you time and effort but also ensures your team can respond promptly, or even as soon as a new prospect comes in. For small businesses with limited resources, this can significantly boost efficiency and improve results.
An automated lead distribution system can help you:
- Save time: With automated lead distribution systems, you won’t need to manually assign tasks or email leads. No manually forwarding emails, exporting CSV’s, or copy-and-pasting contacts from one place to another.
- Distribute leads fairly: You can distribute leads evenly among team members. For example, you can set up a round-robin system to ensure each team member gets an equal share of leads, preventing work overload on one person.
- Have visibility over the distribution: You can use systems to easily keep track of who is responsible for each lead. Knowing exactly which team member is handling which prospect avoids confusion and missed opportunities.
How to manually set up automated lead distribution
You can create a simple system using spreadsheets to collect and assign leads. The system will store all your leads in one place and automatically email new leads to your team members in an orderly manner. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Collect your leads in a spreadsheet
The first step is to gather all your leads in one place. You can use a spreadsheet to keep track of every lead that comes in. Here’s the process:
Create a new spreadsheet:
Open Google Sheets or Excel and set up columns for the following:
- Name
- Phone number
- Inquiry type (e.g., product interest, service needed)
- Notes
- Assigned team member
You may add more columns with more data as needed, but it will be easier to update and review if you keep it simple.
Add new leads
Each time you receive a new lead (via email, a website form, or a phone call), add their information to the spreadsheet, filling out all the columns you created above. You’ll have to perform this step manually in most cases.
If you’re generating leads through Google Forms, you can automate the process of receiving leads to your sheets. You do this by connecting your form to a spreadsheet by clicking on the “Responses” tab on the Google Form you’re using to generate leads, and selecting the green spreadsheet icon. Google Forms will automatically create a linked Google Sheet where all submissions are stored. The linked spreadsheet will update in real-time as responses come in. You can use this sheet to track and manage your leads.
You can also set up a system to automatically receive leads generated through your forms in your inbox. Here’s an article explaining how to get instant notifications for Google Form submissions.
Step 2: Define rules for assigning leads
Once you’ve set up your spreadsheet, it’s time to define how you want to distribute leads among your team. For example, you may want to:
- Assign leads based on location (e.g., “Leads from New York go to Sarah”).
- Distribute leads equally in round-robin mode (e.g., each new lead goes to the next person on the list).
- Route specific inquiries to specialists (e.g., “Leads about Product A go to Alex”).
Write these rules down to make the process clear.
Step 3: Use formulas and filters in your spreadsheet
The next step is to use formulas and filers to implement the lead distribution rules you defined. Use filters to sort leads by location or inquiry type and add formulas to set up an automatic lead distribution.
Here are some example formulas to add to the column where you want to assign leads to your team members:
- Round-Robin Formula:
Assign leads in a rotating system, factoring in location and product type
=IF(A2=”Location1″, INDEX({“Alice”,”Bob”,”Charlie”}, MOD(ROW()-2, 3)+1), IF(A2=”Location2″, INDEX({“Diana”,”Eve”,”Frank”}, MOD(ROW()-2, 3)+1), “Unassigned”))
- Replace Location1 and Location2 with actual locations.
- Replace “Alice”,”Bob”,”Charlie” with team members responsible for Location1, and similarly for Location2.
- Adjust ROW()-2 if your data starts on a different row.
- Equal Distribution Formula:
Distribute leads evenly across team members
=INDEX({“Alice”,”Bob”,”Charlie”}, MOD(ROW()-2, 3)+1)
- This simple formula rotates assignments equally among “Alice”,”Bob”,”Charlie” without considering additional criteria.
- Routing Specific Inquiries:
Assign leads based on specific product types
=IF(C2=”Product A”, “Alex”, IF(C2=”Product B”, “Jordan”, IF(C2=”Product C”, “Taylor”, “Unassigned”)))
- Replace “Product A”, “Product B”, and “Product C” with your actual product types.
- Assign specific team members (e.g., “Alex”, “Jordan”, “Taylor”) to handle inquiries related to each product.
Step 4: Automate email notifications
Once you ensure the leads are assigned in the spreadsheet, the next step is to build an automatic notification system via email. You can either write a custom script by on Extensions > Apps Script to set up an automatic email or do it through an Add-on. Add-ons provide a much easier way to do this step. Here’s how to set up automatic notifications with an Add-on:
- Install the Add-On:
- In Google Sheets, go to Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons.
- Search for Yet Another Mail Merge (YAMM) or a similar tool.
- Install the Add-on.
- Prepare your spreadsheet:
- Ensure your spreadsheet contains a column for the team member’s email address (e.g., “Assigned Team Member”).
- Add columns for other details like lead name, email, and phone number that will be used to personalise each automatic email.
- Draft your email template:
- In Gmail, create a new email draft.
- Use placeholders (e.g., {{Lead Name}}, {{Email}}, {{Phone}}) that match the column headers in your spreadsheet.
- Use YAMM to send emails:
- Go back to your Google Sheet.
- Click on Extensions > Yet Another Mail Merge > Start Mail Merge.
- Select the Gmail draft you created as the email template.
- Map the placeholders in your email template to the corresponding columns in your spreadsheet.
- Click Send Emails.
- Track email notifications:
- YAMM allows you to track who received the emails and whether they opened them.
Your new leads will now be automatically emailed to your team team members based on the criteria you set.
How to use WordPress plugins for automatic lead distribution
If you’re generating (or planning to generate) leads from your WordPress website, plugins can help you automate lead distribution. Tools like UpiCRM, LeadTrail, Jetpack CRM, and the HubSpot WordPress plugin enable you to collect leads from your website and distribute them to your team members.
Most of these plugins are compatible with popular form builders like Contact Form 7, Elementor Forms, and Gravity Forms. Simply install and activate the plugin, then connect it to your form to get started.
How to automatically automate lead distribution with Privyr
While an automated lead distribution system via spreadsheets is highly efficient, it may not always be the optimal solution for distributing leads to your team members. Some steps still require heavy manual intervention or technical expertise, instant lead alerts from all sources may not be possible, and the system might not work seamlessly with every lead source. As a result, there’s still a risk of quality leads slipping through the cracks.
Luckily, Privyr provides you with an excellent option for automated lead distribution that’s extremely easy to set up! Privyr is a mobile-first CRM that allows you to run your sales process from your mobile phone (and laptop). It integrates directly with major lead sources and automatically imports, stores, and distributes your new leads among your team members any way you want.
Here’s how to set up your automated lead distribution system with Privyr:
Step 1. Create a Privyr account and download the app
Go to www.privyr.com, click Sign Up and create your free account. Then, install the Privyr app on your mobile. It’s available on both the App Store and Google Play Store.
Step 2. Connect your lead sources
In the app, tap on Account and select Integrations.
Under the Lead Sources tab, you’ll find a list of lead sources that you can connect with Privyr to automatically receive instant mobile alerts for new leads. Select your lead source and tap on Configure/connect.
This will redirect you to the lead source’s app or website. Click on Continue. This will integrate Privyr with your lead source. Repeat the same process for other lead sources if you have more.
The process of integrating a lead source may differ depending on the platform. Select the lead source to view the instructions.
Step 3. Set up lead distribution
With Privyr, you can distribute your leads to external partners and people within your team. Based on what you prefer, there are two different ways to do it. The first method is ideal for automatically distributing leads to clients, partners, or team members when you don’t need to monitor the subsequent sales process. The second method allows you to assign leads to your team members based on specific rules while also monitoring their sales progress.
Here’s an article explaining Privyr’s lead assignment and lead distribution features.
First intent: Distribute leads to your clients and partners or your team members without the need to monitor the sales process
In other words, you just want to forward them a copy of the new lead. You can set up a lead distribution system on both Privyr’s desktop and mobile app. Here’s how to do it on mobile:
Go to Integrations and tap on “SET UP LEAD DISTRIBUTION”
You’ll be redirected to the lead distribution rules page where you can invite lead recipients via their email addresses. You can set up a new lead distribution rule by clicking on the “+” button. You can also edit the distribution rules for all leads by clicking on the three dot button next to the “For All Leads button.
In the next step, add new recipients by clicking on Add new recipient. You can invite your recipients via their email addresses.
Once your recipients accept your invite, you can choose how to distribute your leads. For instance, if you’re generating leads from different Facebook pages, you can choose to automatically forward a copy of those leads to different recipients based on specific pages.
You can also set up custom criteria for lead distribution the way you want. Once you’ve set this up, new leads will be automatically distributed to your recipients based on your rules. You can also populate existing leads if you’re yet to distribute them.
If you want to know more about the process, here’s a detailed article on setting up the system from your desktop.
Second intent: Send and assign new leads within your team while monitoring their progress with each lead
This option is ideal for businesses looking for an efficient way to assign leads to their team members quickly while having immediate insight into their salespeople’s activities and progress with each lead. You can use a round-robin setup to assign leads more democratically, or customise a setup based on your team’s unique needs.
Once you’ve created your account and integrated lead sources, go to the Team tab and tap on INVITE TEAM. It will allow you to invite your team members via their email addresses.
Once your team members accept your invite, you can set up lead assignment rules as explained earlier and automatically assign leads to your team members within a few taps.
Check out this article to learn more about Lead Distribution and Lead Assignment in Privyr.
Conclusion
Creating an automated lead distribution system using spreadsheets or WordPress plugins is a great starting point. However, as your business grows and lead volume increases, you may not be able to scale with this approach. At some point, adopting a CRM will be essential to streamline your process without significantly increasing costs. If you’re already struggling to manage your sales effectively, it’s a good idea to start researching the right CRM for your needs
If you’re looking for a powerful mobile CRM that helps you and your salespeople do more, even while on the go, look no further than Privyr. It’s super easy to use, works on all your devices, and doesn’t break your bank.
