For every sales and marketing plan you develop, we strongly recommend you project the ROI of the plan itself as a validation step before implementation (we have a Return on Investment Calculator Template and an article on Calculating your Marketing Plan ROI to help).

But, that's not enough. Once implemented, you also need ways to actually track and prove ROI. We just read James Obermayer's book, Managing Sales Leads. It is a great book with a lot of sound advice for sales and marketing professionals who are responsible for lead generation and management.

Specifically, one of the areas we wanted to share with you is Obermayer's six ways to prove the ROI for sales inquiries:

1. Sales Reports: the best way
With this method, sales people must enter a source code into the CRM or contact management system for every proposal/order they place. This should be a required field. The rep cannot place the order without determining the source of the lead first.

2. Compare Invoices to Inquiries: the most accurate method
This approach is especially useful for B2B sales. Compare the name of companies you've invoiced with the the list of inquiries acquired. If the sale is made after the initial inquiry was made, you can safely assume a connection between the sale and the source.

3, 4, 5. Did You Buy Studies: a significant snapshot method
These three techniques are especially useful when you generate leads for a channel you don't have individual sales visibility into or the first two methods are difficult to reconcile due to your internal systems. Contact all of your sales inquiries by one of the three methods below to determine...Did They Buy?

By Telephone:
What makes this method so strong is that a person actually speaks to your end-user to get first hand information. Did they buy? If so, what prompted the inquiry? If not, why? This and the following methods can give you valid samples of statistical information from which you can draw some conclusions.

By Mail
For every inquiry that comes into the company, send a self-mailer survey that also acts as a return mailer. Ask the same type of questions you would in the telephone method.

By Email
An email survey to all sales inquiries can also yield good ROI information. This method is especially quick and relatively inexpensive. Still, with spam filters and deliverability challenges, you may want to combine with phone and mail.

6. Compare Warranty Cards to Inquiries: a reliable method
For those products with warranty or registration cards, this method can be a very reliable way to gather ROI data. If the date of purchase is after the initial inquiry, credit the source with the sale.

You will want to employ a combination of the methods above, as no one technique will give you the complete picture.

Proving ROI is just one of the many topics the author covers in Managing Sales Leads. We highly recommend you order one for EVERY sales and marketing professional on your team!

About the Author
James Obermayer is a principal in Sales Leakage Consulting, a West Coast-based sales and marketing strategy consulting company.

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