In medieval chivalric romance literature a Knight-errant was a wandering or roving adventurer … forever-seeking to prove himself on the field of battle.

I’ll bet you have a CRM program chock full of software development sales leads that you are forever hoping will prove themselves too.

Inactive Software Development Lead Questions

• What should you do with software development sales leads that become inactive or are dead?
• Should you run occasional drip campaigns to see if they can be resurrected?
• Is it worth the time to organize and re-visit each one to maintain contact?
• Can dead software development leads ever actually become active again … and even if this is true is it worth the time and effort?
• In unerringly chasing these errant sales leads … is your sales department doing nothing more than “tilting at windmills”? (You follow the whole “Don Quixote” reference … right)

Missed Software Development Opportunities

• Do you know why you didn’t land the client?
• Is there anything you could have done to change the outcome?
• Have you ever tried to define “alternative” outcomes (see below)?

When sales leads come in, not only do they need to be strong, they also need to be appropriate for your specific offering at this exact moment.

Aligning Software Development Leads with your Offering

• Is your salesperson readily available and able to land the project?
• Is your development staff available to handle the project?
• Is the project large enough to warrant your attention?
• Is the client willing to pay your hourly rate?
• Does the skill set match your companies services
• Are the client’s expectations reasonable?
• Will the project cause distraction from other more viable opportunities?

So in some cases not taking the software development projects is more desirable than actually taking the project

Back to the Sales Lead

• What are the parameters of “good” lead?
• How do you get your software sales department to filter out the less-than-desirable leads?
• How should any lead be treated after a reasonable sales effort has not resulted in the sale?

Conceptualizing Software Development Lead Value

• Potential Software Client found you online; therefore, there is a genuine measure of interest.
• They have a software development need; and they think you may have the skill to handle it.
• This “inquiry” through your “Contact Us” page has value … if not to you, then to someone else.
• If the project is not valuable for you (all jobs have their electives) … there may be opportunities to re-value the inquiry through referrals.

Only Pursue Solid Software Development Opportunities

• Not all projects are ideal … learn to identify the key elements of what is ideal for you and focus your sales efforts on inquiries that point in that direction.
• All incoming sale inquiries have value … if not to you, then to another vendor.
• Although you might elect to pass on a given project/inquiry … consider using trades and/or referral networks.
• The value of any sales inquiry lies in its inherent immediacy. Your efforts to achieve sales quotas are better spent on inquiries that fit your specific offerings.