Your sales firm may have had a humble beginning with just a few leads to follow up on. At that point, having a spreadsheet to maintain lead data was more than enough.
However, as the number of leads slowly increased to hundreds and thousands, are you feeling a bit overwhelmed? That's because, on the one hand, it's a good thing to have so many leads, but on the other hand, it has paved the way to a complete disorganization in your sales data.
As the number of leads continues to grow, there will come a point were using a spreadsheet to manage them all will no longer be feasible. a point where you cannot survive without a proper lead management system!
Have you reached that threshold? It's time to find out.

5 Major Signs (and more!) Indicating It’s Time to Upgrade from Spreadsheets

You team is losing important lead data every now and then

What is the life blood of any sales team? It is lead data. If this lead data is handled among multiple spreadsheets, the chance of losing the data through overwriting, accidental deletion, etc., is very high.
Similarly, when there are double record entries, causing the data to be repeated, it not only wastes your sales reps’ time but also complicates the situation. Automating lead management processes can help mitigate these issues, reducing chaos in an already crowded environment.

Cannot understand which lead is important

Certain leads are more important than others; this can be based on the lead's interest in your product or service, their VIP category, etc. In any case, the important leads need to be kept warm.
Your sales team might already know this, but they are helpless! Why? Because they do not have a sorted visual of the most important leads compared to others—there is no feature in the spreadsheet to create tags that differentiate and categorize leads. Effective customer data management is essential for identifying and prioritizing these valuable leads.

Your sales team is killing time by doing administrative work than their real job

The duty of a sales executive is not data entry; it is creating meaningful and long-lasting connections with leads. However, if the sales executive is given a spreadsheet filled with thousands of lead details, their immediate, yet unimportant, duty becomes sorting this information.
What happens when a lead provides them with a document that needs to be shared with the sales head or should be documented and saved? When there are not just one lead but thousands, managing these documents can quickly become a daunting task!
What if they have to shift from one app to another and one website to another to complete various sales-related tasks? For instance, making calls on one platform, recording calls in another, tracking GPS in yet another, managing emails separately, and setting reminders elsewhere—the real doomsday situation!
As a result, your sales team becomes burned out from performing these mundane tasks, leaving them with little energy to engage with clients, introduce your product or service, and persuade them to make a purchase.
Additionally, as a sales team head, your time may also be consumed by these repetitive tasks, such as creating sales reports on your own to decipher new sales strategies—an activity that can be highly unproductive.
Your team is currently like a gardener without tools—they know the potential of a thriving garden but are struggling to cultivate it. They haven’t yet experienced the benefits of a lead management system that can help them grow their connections effectively!

No Technique to assign tasks to salespeople

This is the era of technology working hand in hand with the human brain, and if you lack an automated method to assign tasks and follow up with your sales team, you might as well be in the Stone Age.
What if you have software that automatically assigns leads to salespeople based on their shift,availability, location (making client meetups easier), or even language proficiency for international clients. With such a system in place, half of your work is already done, right?
Now, consider the added benefit of having software that reminds your sales team to follow up with existing leads, ensuring they are properly nurtured and converted into loyal customers.
Such lead management software solutions do exist in the market! If you haven't purchased them and are relying on a spreadsheet as a substitute, you have definitely missed the bus!

Your sales cycle takes longer to complete & your leads are sometimes annoyed

The sales cycle includes many steps, but the typical stages are:

It can take anywhere from days to years to complete these steps, depending on the product and the customer. However, there should be an average time established by analyzing competitors and their closing times. If your team is struggling to consistently reach this average time, that's a significant issue.
Another closely related problem is the risk of irritating your valuable leads. It's crucial for your sales team to make leads feel comfortable and valued. But what if your sales team wants to do this but simply doesn't have the time? That presents a major challenge.
How to pay for these sales sins? It’s simple—implement good sales funnel management software.
Other than these five major signs, there are several additional indicators that highlight the urgency of your outdated lead management system using a spreadsheet.

How many of these signs are present in your sales team’s lead management? If you identify one or two, you may be in the early stages of struggling with lead management. However, if you recognize four or five signs, you are already in a troubled position. And if you also see the other signs mentioned earlier alongside your lead management, it has spread like cancer throughout your team! This is why you are consistently facing challenges now.

What is the solution?

The solution is simple and straightforward: migrate to a lead management solution that includes all the features necessary to address the symptoms mentioned above. There are many lead management tools available in the market, so choose one that offers easy content migration and best features.
For example, with Workpex, there is a dynamic import of data that allows you to easily integrate information from your spreadsheets into the Workpex lead management system without the hassle of manual copying and pasting!
Just add the data from your spreadsheet to Workpex (or any lead management software solution of your choice) and eliminate the headache of data mismanagement once and for all!
Whichever lead management tool you choose, be sure that it has all the features you need - from integrations to multiple sales pipeline management. This is ultimately the decision that can make or break your sales team!