How do I create a good set of lead stauses?

In our experience with our customers we generally break down the lead qualification process into three phases:

1. The initial attempt phase
2. The "progress" phase
3. The outcome

Within each of those 3 phases we generally create a series of lead statuses. You can take our suggestions or modify them, the real idea is that they should make sense to your users, and (more importantly) should make sense when you look at a lead status report.

A general set of statuses are as follows:

Initial attempt phase

1. New--Pretty obvious, this is a new, untouched lead. Leads should remain in this status as short an amount of time as absolutely possible.

2. Open--Denotes that the rep has made at least one contact attempt, but has not spoken to the correct decision maker. May have spoken to the secretary,

Progress Phase

3. Contacted--I've finally reached the decision maker, he or she knows who I am and what we're about, but we haven't held an appointment or gotten into a thorough discussion. This status usually goes along with the assumption, "I need to call these people back."

4. In Progress--Denotes that I've had my initial contact, and now I'm getting into the nitty-gritty details with them. Most leads will stay in this status longer than any other.

5. Set Appointment--You may not need this, but for some organizations this denotes that you have set a specific appointment with them to do a demonstration, or have an in-depth phone conversation with them.

6. Appointment Held--I held the appointment, but I haven't fully qualified them yet (otherwise I'd have marked them as Qualified).

7. Follow-up/Action Req--If they miss their appointment, or if there is something else that needs to happen before I can reasonably assume they are qualified, I mark them in this status.

Outcome Phase

Qualified--This is the best possible outcome. We've reached them, they are interested, and they are a good fit for our products and services. We've got a very good shot and closing them. Once marked as Qualified, in almost all cases you'll want to immediately convert the lead to an account.

As a side note, some people ask if they HAVE to mark a lead as qualified before they convert the lead. The answer is technically "No," but I highly recommend it, because there are a number of historical lead and contact reports that are based on them being marked as Qualified before they are converted.

Not Interested--Well, we did our best, but they just aren't interested in what we have to offer. Nothing to stress about, mark them to not interested, and move on.

Recycle--I'll use this to mark if a lead says they are not interested now, but may be interested in the future. You may decide you need more than one "Recycle" status depending on how long you should wait before calling them again (3 months, 6 months, a year, etc.).

Bad / Dead Lead--I use this if I get a lead with a disconnected phone number, and I have no other realistic option of getting a hold of the person. I will also use this status if I have made a reasonable number of contact attempts (you can decide what that is, most organizations will use anywhere from 7 to 20 contact attempts) and have never gotten a response. Track these leads often, because if you're getting a lot of bad or dead leads, you're probably getting leads from a poor lead source.

Unqualified--This is probably the worst outcome of all, for a couple of reasons: A. It likely took you some time to determine they were not qualified, and B. You probably paid good money to get a lead that had no realistic chance of ever working with you. In both cases, you've wasted valuable time and money. Track these like a hawk, particularly if you are buying leads from a lead provider. If you have a more than 20 percent unqualified and dead lead rate, ditch that lead provider. They're selling you junk, and you're wasting time and money.