Lead Distribution: How to Optimize Your Lead Flow to Grow Conversions

Did you know that following up with leads within just 5 minutes can skyrocket conversions up to 9 times? Lead distribution software is your secret weapon to increase the likelihood of conversions – and the faster and more accurately you connect the acquired leads to your sales reps, the faster your bottom line grows.

The right suite of lead distribution software can step up your lead acquisition game, sending all your leads on the optimal conversion path – paved individually for every customer – while collecting marketable details down the road.

The right lead distribution software logic will allow you to convert more leads and increase your average check and customer lifetime value. They will buy more frequently, spend more, and return to your business over and over again – a marketer’s paradise!

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For this paradise to become true, you only need the right lead distribution software suite – and I’m going to help you with it, starting with the lead distribution basics and expanding into specific things like particular lead distribution models.

Lead Distribution Is a Must for Your Businesses

Have you ever tried handling hundreds of calls and contacts manually? It’s extremely ineffective. Even a few dozen calls may put you under pressure, robbing you of a clear picture of what lead belongs to what sales rep and what conversion strategy to apply. 

But not if you have the right lead distribution software suite up your sleeve:

Runs multiple campaigns	Whether you buy or sell leads, lead distribution software allows you to run multiple campaigns simultaneously without losing the matching or routing quality. As a result, you can get the leads you want and pave an optimal conversion path for them.
Routes leads optimally	With lead distribution software, you can route leads based on dozens of parameters, including their location, income level, and the performance of your sales representatives.
Automates lead acquisition and sales	Once you’ve designed a lead distribution route, lead acquisition becomes automated. The same applies to affiliates: they only have to set their minimum price and block unwanted advertisers to automate sales.
Reduces lead response time	The right lead distribution architecture allows advertisers to minimize the lead response time while connecting leads to the best-fitting business. And if the software suite includes an IVR system, the latter can solve simpler requests on its own.
Increases ROI and satisfaction rates	A well-thought-out call routing system increases your ROI and customer satisfaction rates. On the client’s side, everything runs smoothly: they are instantly contacted by a knowledgeable sales rep without any excessive steps or unnecessary disturbance.

Your revenue largely depends on the lead distribution parameters you use and which of them you prioritize over others. More often than not, both buyers and sellers use a mixed lead distribution system, when more important routing criteria override less important criteria.

Lead Distribution Logic Example

Step 1 ­— The Lead Arrives to the Lead Distribution Platform

I won’t elaborate on the lead generation and marketing that precedes the arrival of the lead to the market — just know that tons of work has already been done before the lead was submitted to the affiliate network or wherever this lead is sold. SEO, SMM, paid ads, or other marketing strategies were applied to generate the lead, a topic for a different article.

From here on, the software takes charge of the lead distribution process.

Step 2 ­ — Lead Distribution Software Checks Agent Availability

In most cases, you need an available agent to process a lead (unless you contact them via automated email or SMS campaigns). 

First, the system checks if any agents are available ­— for the sake of simplicity, let’s assume all agents can process any qualified calls — and:

• If agents are available, the distribution process continues
• If no agent is available, the lead is put in a queue

Step 3 ­ — Lead Distribution Software Evaluates Lead Urgency

Next, the system checks whether the lead requires immediate contact.

• If the lead is urgent, they are instantly connected to the best of the available sales reps
• If the lead isn’t urgent, the distribution process continues

Step 4 ­ — Lead Distribution Software Checks the Preferred Language

The next step is language evaluation:

• If the target language is found — for example, a Spanish-speaking agent is available — the lead connects to this agent
• If the target language is not found — there are no available Spanish-speaking agents — the lead is put in a queue

Step 5 ­— Lead Distribution Software Evaluates the Performance of Available Agents

If there is still more than one matching agent, the lead distribution software connects the lead to the best-performing agent to maximize the advertiser’s conversion potential.

Here’s how this 5-step lead distribution model looks:

Unfortunately, there’s no universal lead distribution system. The one presented in the image above maximizes immediate revenue at the cost of suboptimal experiences for lower-performance agents, who receive fewer leads. This can potentially result in prolonged learning for these agents and a revenue loss if the lead volume ramps up or your best-performing agents quit the job.

Factors to Set up Your Lead Distribution Flow as an Affiliate

Relevance	First, you should ensure your traffic is relevant to the advertisers and their qualification criteria. Some advertisers may not accept traffic from social media, or you may not want to sell your leads to specific businesses even though these leads pass their qualification filter.
Price	With bigger affiliate networks, you will likely have several competing advertisers for your traffic. If two or more advertisers fit, it usually makes sense to sell your leads to the higher bidder.
Lead response time	It’s paramount that your advertiser contacts leads quickly after the purchase, especially within the pay-per-sale payment model. Knowing the advertiser’s average lead response time may help you understand whether they stand against other buyers.

The right lead distribution logic is even more important for advertisers because they must close sales to make profits, while affiliates may get paid for the contacts or calls they sell regardless of whether these contacts converted into profits on the advertiser’s side.

Likewise, advertisers decide which agent handles the call in every situation, translating into an almost unlimited variability in the routing logic.

Factors to Set up Your Lead Distribution Flow as an Advertiser

Lead type	The type of lead you’re processing — where they come from, who they are, and the product they look for ­— is the primary routing factor that allows you to connect the lead to a matching sales rep, especially if your sales reps have different skills, experience, or performance.
Agent availability	The faster you contact the lead after the purchase, the higher the chance you convert them, which is why agent availability is a big routing factor. For some categories of clients, it makes sense to connect them to available sales reps even if there are more relevant agents that are currently busy.
Agent performance	It’s quite logical to assign high-ticket clients to your best-performing sales reps, or at least prioritize the latter in the routing logic, as long as you can balance the workload between your agents.
Potential profits	Similarly, you can prioritize profitable leads in routing and queues, trying to connect them as fast as possible to the best available sales rep.
Location & Time	Connecting the lead to a local sales agent or contacting them at the right time ­surely increases your sales potential. Therefore, your routing system should factor in both these parameters.

Phonexa vs. Other Lead Distribution Providers

	5 out of 5	4.6 out of 5
	4.9 out of 5	4.2 out of 5
Lead Qualification	✅	✅
Lead qualification shows how deeply and accurately the lead information is collected and the degree to which advertisers and affiliates can control their lead flow. Advanced lead distribution software qualifies leads by multiple parameters – location, age, gender, income, family status, and more – which makes it possible to assign the right lead to the right business. As a result, everyone is better off after the distribution.		5 out of 7 other software providers offer this feature, with an average quality score of 4 between these providers
Score	5 out of 5	4 out of 5
Advanced Filtering	✅	✅
Advanced filtering includes the ability of advertisers to block unwanted traffic – for example, block certain phone numbers – as well as the ability of affiliates to exclude certain advertisers from getting their offers. Additional filters increase the accuracy of lead distribution, saving resources for advertisers and affiliates.		6 out of 7 other software providers offer this feature, with an average quality score of 3.4 between these providers
Score	5 out of 5	4 out of 5
Performance Reporting	✅	✅
Performance reporting shows the availability and depth of lead distribution reports, which you can use to optimize your campaigns. Real-time and strategic reports allow advertisers and affiliates to adjust their campaigns conceptually and on the fly so they can sell or buy more leads at a lower price and route them accurately.		7 out of 7 other software providers offer this feature, with an average quality score of 4.7 between these providers
Score	5 out of 5	4.7 out of 5
Automated A/B testing	✅	✅
A/B testing functionality allows affiliates and advertisers to test two or more versions of their campaigns and pick the winners. Integrated lead distribution software suites like Phonexa also enable campaign simulations so that you can run tests on your PC at no risk.		3 out of 7 other software providers offer this feature, with an average quality score of 4.7 between these providers
Score	5 out of 5	4.7 out of 5
Multi-Channel Integration	✅	✅
The multi-channel integration score shows the number and depth of integration of lead distribution software into CRM systems, lead management systems, and other popular third-party software. The more integrations the software supports, the higher the score.		7 out of 7 other software providers offer this feature, with an average quality score of between these providers
Score	5 out of 5	4.6 out of 5
Value for price
Total Score	39.9 out of 40	34.8 out of 40

Ping Post Calls 2.0 – Five Lead Flows To Drive Your Leads Home

With most businesses buying both web leads and phone calls, it’s crucial to have an automated distribution system that supports customizable lead flows so you can configure how every category of leads moves to your sales rep and which of your sales reps handles a particular call.

Phonexa uses one of the most advanced ping post lead distribution software solutions — Ping Post Calls 2.0, which supports lead flows and gives affiliates and advertisers equal freedom in customizing their lead flows.

Here are the five lead flows Ping Post Calls 2.0 supports:

Lead Flow #1 – Data Collected by IVR

Phonexa’s IVR software – part of our all-encompassing performance marketing software suite – is a win-win for both affiliates and advertisers: the former can smoothly qualify their leads, while the latter receive pre-qualified leads that always match their target buyer’s profile.

Here’s how IVR-driven lead distribution works in a nutshell:

➥  The IVR accepts the call and asks a series of qualifying questions, which allows the system to choose the winning bid and provide the winner with caller details like zip code, income level, age, gender, and more. Based on this information, the advertisers accept or decline the lead. If the lead is declined, it passes to the next best buyer.

With Phonexa’s IVR, you can block unwanted phone numbers so they don’t bother you:

Lead Flow #2 – Data Is Pinged before the Call with the Caller’s Phone Number

While the IVR-driven lead distribution is built around real-time information collection, there’s also a practice of qualifying callers before they make a call. In this lead distribution model, the advertiser receives some of the caller’s data – for example, their number and location – and then decides whether they accept or decline the lead.

Lead Flow #3 – Data Is Pinged before the Call without the Caller’s Phone Number

It might not always make sense to share the client’s phone number. 

• First, in regulated industries like healthcare and finance, disclosing the caller’s phone number before the call might be considered invasive. With ever more people getting concerned about the improper use of personal data, keeping the caller’s phone number private is a good practice.
• Second, revealing the caller’s number before the purchase gives the advertiser a chance to contact the caller independently while not paying for them – and there’s no real way to detect this type of behavior.

In most cases, relieving the caller’s phone number to the advertiser is unnecessary because it doesn’t contain marketable information. Alternatively, the advertiser may only be shown the caller’s zip code.

Lead Flow #4 – Call with Applications and no Bidding

“Call with Application and no Bidding –” assigning callers by the predetermined criteria – is the advertisers’ safest lead distribution model because they face no competition and can cherry-pick the needed leads.

Here’s how it works:

➥  Phonexa collects the application data – for example, the insurance coverage the lead wants – and displays a part of this data to the best-matching advertiser determined by the previously placed bids. If this advertiser accepts the call, they are instantly connected to the caller. If they reject the call, it goes to the next best buyer.

The pre-bidding lead distribution model is a win-win for advertisers and affiliates: the former are offered pre-screened leads with no competition, while the latter receive the highest market price for their leads.

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Lead Flow #5 – Pinging Based on Agent Availability

Availability-based lead distribution does what its name suggests, routing customers to the highest bidder among the immediately available advertisers. In practice, this means that advertisers with lower bids can win the bidding if their sales reps are ready to handle the call.

Here’s how availability-based bidding works:

➥  Once the lead’s information is collected (for example, through an IVR system), part of it is sent to the winning advertiser – the highest bidder among currently available advertisers. If the advertiser declines the lead, the call is re-routed to the next best-matching business, and so on.

It’s worth noting that re-routing doesn’t affect the caller. On the client’s side, it’s all silky smooth – the routing process is fast, so they connect to the product they’ve requested within seconds.

Lead Distribution Flows for Affiliates and Advertisers

The good news is that within advanced lead marketplaces like Phonexa, you can switch between different lead distribution models depending on the goals of your campaign, budget, or the skills of your sales reps. And if you’re an affiliate, you can install the IVR system to pre-qualify your leads before selling them to advertisers.

Lead Distribution Example

Lead distribution with Phonexa factors in multiple parameters to ensure the optimal routing for every customer while finding the right balance between the affiliate’s ask and the advertiser’s bid. For high-ticket niches like finance, insurance, home services, or solar, the lead distribution algorithm can be very complex, comprising dozens of factors.

Here’s an example of a lead distribution logic used in financial services:

The lead distribution logic for web and call leads might differ, but it’s no problem for Phonexa users because we cover it all. Our LMS Sync product handles web leads, whereas its call-focused version – Call Logic – handles phone calls.

How To Fine-Tune a Lead Distribution Process

After figuring out which lead distribution strategy fits your business, it’s crucial to understand how to optimize and streamline your lead distribution process.

Here are five actionable tips that will help you achieve the mission:

1. Implement Marketing Automation Tools

The cooperation and transition of leads between sales and marketing departments must be smooth. Businesses can automate their lead capture process with the right marketing automation solution.

When a lead signs up for a trial, messages you on social media, or fills out a web form, you can capture their information, track their behavior, and direct them to specific sales professionals through the CRM system integrated with the lead distribution tool.

2. Automate Lead Qualification Process

Businesses need to define the factors that impact their lead qualification process. It can be a geographic location, business size, company’s budget, issues the organization is experiencing, etc.

That will help you filter your inbound leads based on specific predetermined factors. As a result, only high-intent leads will be routed to your sales representatives.

3. Set Lead Distribution Rules

After lead qualification and prioritization, businesses must assign them to suitable sales professionals. It means establishing specific lead distribution rules. Here are some common factors companies consider when setting lead distribution rules:

Experience and skill set: Many brands assign high-priority leads only to experienced sales reps who can ensure top-level performance and maintain high conversion rates.

Geographic location: In some cases, assigning leads to company representatives from the same area can be an excellent approach.

Representative’s availability: One standard method is assigning leads based on the sales rep’s availability.

Regardless of your chosen criterion, it’s crucial to ensure that the company representatives have enough resources to engage with leads properly.

4. Capitalize on Measurable Outcomes

Tracking and measuring the results of the implemented lead distribution strategy is as important as evaluating the performance of every stage of your sales funnel. Here are some of the essential metrics businesses typically track:

• Duration of calls
• Lead response time
• Conversion rate
• Close rate

5. Leverage Tech Stack Integration

Before utilizing a lead distribution system, brands must ensure that their lead generation, call tracking, lead management, lead distribution tools, and CRM can integrate and work seamlessly. This way, companies can reduce lead response time and ensure an efficient sales process while remaining transparent with sales and marketing teams.

Lead Distribution Software Use Cases Across Industries

Let’s look at how companies can use lead distribution software across four industries.

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Financial Services

It’s common for financial companies to use technical terminology to describe specific processes and products. That makes it challenging for prospective customers to understand the offerings. Besides, it complicates the purchasing decisions.

Since prospective clients often have many questions, they call financial advisors to clarify doubts and make educated decisions.

Here’s how financial institutions can benefit from implementing lead distribution software:

• Automate business processes, including lead distribution, to engage with the inbound leads as soon as possible.
• Utilize lead distribution to direct leads to suitable financial advisors and improve first-call resolution.
• Capture customer feedback and evaluate advisors’ performance.

Home Services

The home services and improvement industry has numerous niche offerings, including solar power solutions, remodeling, and roofing.

When home service providers get most inbound leads from performance marketing companies or a network of affiliates, the leads are distributed simultaneously to multiple contractors. In other words, the same lead can be sold to several contractors in a specific area, which means speed-to-contact is crucial.

Implementing lead distribution software can help contractors achieve the following goals:

• Reduce lead response time
• Increase conversion rate and boost sales
• Build effective lead generation campaigns
• Distribute more leads in less time
• Gather and capitalize on lead data

Insurance

The name of the game for insurance professionals and providers is “jockeying for position” in a highly competitive market. Therefore, it is paramount to implement tech tools and solutions to improve customer engagement, increase retention, bring in more quality insurance leads, and distribute them effectively.

Here’s how insurance carriers and agencies can make the most of lead distribution software:

• Utilize automation with the ping tree and ping post technology to maximize the sales and profits driven by lead distribution efforts.
• Gain more insight and control over the generated inbound leads.
• Adjust and customize filters to bring in more insurance leads that meet specific criteria and boost conversion rate.
• Make the most of real-time reporting and discover lead data trends.

Travel & Hospitality

Consumers contact hotel chains and tour operators to inquire about travel packages and accommodations. Such communication usually happens via phone calls, email, or live chat.

Here’s how implementing lead distribution software can help travel and hospitality businesses achieve their sales and marketing goals:

• Ensure effective lead distribution by directing calls and web leads to knowledgeable agents and sales reps.
• Eliminate misunderstandings and language barriers by distributing leads to local sales professionals.
• Focus on closing more deals and streamlining sales processes by distributing leads to the right sales reps and issuing invoices before prospective clients contact rival companies.
• Fine-tune the customer journey, recapture lost inbound calls, and never miss another call by implementing a marketing automation suite that includes call tracking and lead distribution solutions.

The Powerful Combo of LMS Sync and Call Logic

Ensuring your leads connect to matching sales reps is important, just like it is important to track and analyze these leads so you can double down on the most profitable campaigns.

This is exactly what LMS Sync allows, giving you full control over your web acquisition campaigns. As an advertiser, you know where your leads come from, how they interact across touchpoints until conversion (or bounce), and how you can improve their journey.

 

Similar technology is available for phone calls. Call Logic – the LMS Sync of phone calls – ensures unprecedented depth of caller insights, including the IVR system that accompanies callers along their journey.

 

Cloud PBX – Dedicated Cloud Phone System for Customer Calls

LMS Sync and Call Logic might be enough on their own, but call-reliant businesses that handle a large volume of calls might want to take a step further, setting up a dedicated cloud-based call center so they can take full control of their calls and ensure 100% availability.

 

Cloud PBX comes with features like call scoring and outbound calling, so you can keep your agent productivity high and dial your web prospects while they are hot. Conversation-wise, you can track and score keywords to devise effective conversion strategies for live operators.

Predictive Modeling – Free Lead Acquisition Campaigns Simulation

One of the most impressive things about strategizing with Phonexa is that you don’t even have to spend a dime to test your campaigns – nor do you have to accept any risks. Predictive modeling software allows you to simulate campaign outcomes by changing variables like price or location before you achieve the desired result. Then, you simply implement what works best.

 

Your Complete Eight-in-One Lead Management Software Suite

Winning the bidding wars and sending these leads on their optimal conversion path can make a great impact on your business, but what about taking it to an entirely new level? You know what I’m talking about: Phonexa’s automated lead management software suite.

 

We at Phonexa have gone the extra mile to distill hundreds of lead generation, tracking, routing, conversion, and analytics tools into one comprehensive software suite. From perfect G2 and Capterra scores to dozens of pages of positive feedback given privately from satisfied clients, Phonexa has proven to be one of the most complete and comfortable-to-use marketing toolkits.

We provide what modern businesses desperately need: a synergy of heterogeneous marketing campaigns and an overreaching view of your business from a single dashboard.

Here are the eight proprietary solutions you get at a single price starting at $100 a month (online price calculator):

Get your all-in-one performance marketing software suite now, or book a demo to learn more about Phonexa.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is lead distribution?

Lead distribution is routing leads to your sales representatives based on the predetermined qualification criteria: location, intent, income, gender, sales rep’s performance, and more. The bigger the lead volume and the number of sales reps, the more essential the lead distribution is.

What is the best lead distribution strategy?

There’s no universal lead distribution strategy, so the best strategy is one that allows you to convert more leads while also making them happy with your services so they are likely to return. In practice, most businesses use a mixed lead distribution, factoring in lots of parameters.

What is the best automated lead distribution software?

In our opinion, the best lead distribution software is Phonexa. We provide what most software providers don’t – a robust lead management ecosystem that combines lead tracking, distribution and analytics for web and call leads while synergizing affiliate and traditional marketing. You get it all in one place, with no need to juggle between systems and reports.