[QUICK START] How do I manage my lead flow in Cloze?
Leads may come into Cloze in a variety of ways:
- An inbound email or call
- A manually created person
- A scanned business card
- Imported via a CSV spreadsheet
- Via Zapier - from a lead form like Wufoo or MailChimp
Stages
Once in Cloze we provide five Stages to help you track the progress of your relationships:
- Lead (formerly Not Yet Qualified)
- Potential
- Active
- Inactive
- Lost
Segments
Stages are used in combination with a relationship Segment. By default we include:
- Customers - People you sell to or deliver services to
- Partners - People that help you sell, deliver services, or run your organization
- Suppliers - Companies that you buy from
- Investors - People that invest in you or your organization
- Advisers - People that advise, counsel or mentor you
- Competitors - People that you compete against
- Coworkers - People that work in your organization
- Custom - Custom type of relationship
Together with Stage, an existing customer would be marked as "Active Customer" or a prospect would be a "Potential Customer".
Leads flow to Deals and Projects
Within Cloze we recommend you track your lead life cycle in this manner:
- Relationship Stage: Lead Person → Person Potential →
- Project Stage: Create Project (or Deal) → Potential Project (Deal) → Active Project (or Deal) → Done (or Lost) Project (or Deal)
Note: For both People and Projects (or Deals) you can also Add Next Steps to help you keep track of what you've done and what you have left to do. Think of Next Steps as repeatable check lists that you can write once and reuse. In sales you may refer to the combination of Stages and Next Steps as your "pipeline" or "sales funnel".
We recommend adding Next Steps to track your workflow and to assign responsibility if you using Cloze Business.
Leads can be marked with the Lead Stage.
If disqualified, you can mark them as Lost.
Once qualified, you can then mark them as Potential.
And then create a Project (or Deal) to automatically keep track of all the communications, notes, and to-dos in one place.
When you convert a person or company to Potential you have the option to automatically create a Project (or Deal). You can enable this option in Settings.
Keeping Track of your Progress with Analytics
You can then track the flow of your leads in the Analytics section with the Lead Qualification Report, Pipeline Engagement Analytics, and Forecast Analytics
Lead Analytics
- Lead Engagement – Are some of your leads getting lost in the shuffle? Lead Analytics highlight leads that are advancing and those that are going stale. Reports show untouched Leads, Lead source, their age, last contact and Next Steps all in a single view.
Learn more Lead Engagement Analytics.
Pipeline Analytics
- Pipeline Engagement – Looking for an objective view of your pipeline? Wondering where you can help your team? Engagement Analytics highlight the Deals and Projects that are truly on track with strong participation from the clients involved—and those that are fading and need attention.
Learn more about Pipeline Engagement Analytics.
- Forecast – Derived from your Potential Deals and Projects the forecast report shows your cumulative value, timing and top deals. See how your forecast has changed over time and what’s flowing in the right direction.
Learn more about Forecast Reporting.
