Who owns which lead
Every lead has one owner at every moment. Decide how leads are assigned, what happens when the owner is away and when a lead moves to someone else, then make the CRM show the owner.
Where it goes wrong
A promising inquiry came in on a Friday. Two sellers saw it in the shared inbox. Each assumed the other would take it. On Monday the customer wrote again, politely, and a third seller answered, not knowing that the first two had both opened the thread. The customer had already booked with a competitor.
Each of them acted reasonably. The team had a shared inbox and no rule about who owns what lands in it.
One owner at a time
Shared ownership means nobody replies. Write the rule: a lead belongs to the person the assignment rule gave it to, until the rule moves it. The word “until” matters, because a lead that has no way to leave an owner stays with a person who has stopped working it.
The rule should be short enough to say in one breath. If it needs a table, the team will not remember it when it is busy.
Choose the assignment rule
By channel, by region, by turn or by deal size. Pick the simplest rule that matches how inquiries arrive and change it only when it fails. A rule that is a little unfair but clear beats one that is perfectly fair and needs a daily discussion.
Say how a seller can pass a lead on, and how a manager can take one back. Both should leave a note, so that the history explains itself later.
Plan for the gaps
Who covers during leave, sick days and weekends. By the time the owner is back, a lead that waited for them is usually gone. Name the backup for each seller by name, and make the backup see the leads before the owner leaves, not after.
The gaps are also the best test of the rule. Ask: “What happens on a Friday evening if the owner is ill?” If nobody can answer, the rule is not finished.
Let the CRM show it
The owner field is required, the owner changes only with a note, and a weekly list shows leads with no owner or with no contact for a week. The list is the control: you read it for five minutes and you know where the rule is leaking.
CRM and forecast has the rules and a policy template for this. Adapt them to the size of your team.
See CRM and forecastDo this week
- Write the assignment rule in one sentence.
- Name a backup for each seller.
- Make the owner field required and run the list of leads with no owner.
CRM rules the team follows and a forecast review you can run every week.