Lead routing

Lead routing is the rule that hands each new inquiry to a seller. It can be a simple rotation, a split by language or region, or a split by deal type. The point is that nobody has to decide by hand each time, so the inquiry does not wait.

In a CRM, routing is a setting or an automation that fills the lead owner field and creates the first task. In a team without automation it is a written rule and a person on duty who applies it. Either way, the rule is written down and the whole team can read it.

For example, inquiries in German go to the one German-speaking seller, and all others rotate among the rest of the team.

The head of sales checks routing once a week through two numbers. One is lead response time by owner, the other is open deals per seller. If one seller replies slowly because they are overloaded, routing is the place to fix it. Change the rule, not the people.

Routing decides who gets the best chances. Inquiries from referrals, large deals and inquiries in a rare language are worth routing on purpose. A seller with a high win rate in one segment can get more of those inquiries. Write down why each split exists, so you can test it later.

Lead routing sets the first lead owner and often follows the territory each seller holds. It starts the clock for lead response time. For inquiries outside working hours, the rule names who covers them: a backup, a duty seller or the morning shift.

• Routing by hand from a shared inbox. Inquiries wait while people decide who takes them, and the easy ones get picked first. Assign an owner automatically, then allow a swap through a handover.
• Sending inquiries to someone who is away. The rotation does not know about vacations, and the inquiry sits unanswered. Pause absent sellers in the rule, or route their share to a named backup.
• Adding a new split for every complaint. After a few months nobody can explain where an inquiry will go. Keep the rule short, and remove a split when it no longer changes results.
• Never checking whether the rule is fair. Example (invented numbers): one seller gets 40 inquiries a month and another gets 15, because the rotation skips busy people. Compare counts per seller every month and adjust.

By Friday, the head of sales writes the current routing rule in five lines and shares it with the team. Then filter last month's inquiries by owner and compare the counts. Check one case by hand: an inquiry arriving at night. If the rule does not say who answers it, add that line now.

CRM rules the team follows and a forecast review you can run every week.