Sometimes, your salespeople have to pull their weight. Sometimes, you have to push the envelope. And in a perfect world, you can do both. A push/pull lead distribution strategy is a system that, quite simply, combines the pushing and pulling lead distribution systems. But what are these, how do they work, and what benefit is there to combining them? Well...
What is push?
When pushing leads out to agents, you are automatically assigning them to individuals based on your own custom business rules. It’s simply, it’s predictable, and it works immediately to give an agent a sale to pursue. However, controlling the pace of the leads is much more difficult, so agents may not be ready to immediately pursue a lead, leading to slow response rates. In addition, it rarely breeds a sense of competition in your associates, which can be very healthy for energy on the sales floor.
What is pull?
Using a pull lead distribution strategy puts any new leads into a pool, which allows agents to take a lead when they’re ready. This means that agents will work when they feel prepared, and this gives them more control over the process. Pull distribution can still be limited or controlled on a system level, though, so it’s highly flexible. However, pull distribution doesn’t foster a sense of urgency on the sales floor and largely promotes agents to work at their own pace. It also means that leads are often contacted much more slowly, and some can even be left completely unclaimed. It’s not a perfect system.
How do you combine the two?
A push-pull lead distribution strategy means that you’re pushing leads towards a small number of agents by putting them into a limited pool. Whereas pull distribution has one pool for everyone, push-pull works with a series of small pools that are assigned to teams of just a handful of agents. This limits supply of leads per team, meaning agents will need to have a sense of urgency towards their leads.
What are the benefits?
A push-pull system fosters competition, improving response time, and no lead will go untouched with the limited supply. The system is still as flexible and customizable as a pull system, but with the added benefit of setting each pool to specifically fit the needs of each time. Your leads benefit from this, as their sales reps will be more prepared to sell and more organized.