- December 21, 2018
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How to: Manage Leads In Your Machines4U Dashboard
Members of Machines4U have exclusive access to some great lead management tools in our Machines4U dashboard.
(Not a member yet? Take a look at our affordable membership options and start listing your machines online. There’s a machine sold every 6 minutes!)
These tools give you great insight into how your ads are performing, the methods buyers are choosing to contact you, and (of course) a database of leads.
In this article, we will cover:
- Different ‘Lead Buckets’ and why it’s important to check them
- Understanding your lead list
- Understanding ‘lead bleed’
- Some tips to get the most from your Machines4U leads
Check out our helpful guide to understand your buyers using the data in your dashboard.
Note: you will require ‘Lead Admin’ status to update lead preferences and other actions discussed in this article. Chat with your account manager if you’re unsure what access you have.
Understanding Lead Buckets
When you login to Machines4U, you can click ‘Stats Leads’ to get to your leads management tool. If you’re already logged in, hover over your name and click ‘My Leads’ for faster access to this view panel.
Here you will see an overview of all the sales leads that have come through during a certain time period. You can narrow down your lead list by choosing the equipment condition (your ads for New/Used/Hire), choose a date range, and/or select a particular user (if you have more than one registered user). You can also choose to show leads you’ve received in certain categories i.e. Tractors, Zero-Turn Mowers, Excavators, etc.).
Once you’ve narrowed your search, scroll down and click the LEADS tab.
Once you click into the ‘LEADS’ tab, you will notice 3 boxes (lead buckets). When leads come in, our system automatically sorts them into these buckets.
Let’s go through what each of these buckets mean and why they are important.
Sales Leads
The Sales Leads bucket is where all your sales leads sit that are not spam or merged leads. This is the most important leads list to check consistently, as most of your ad enquiries will be logged here.
Spam Leads
If you click on Spam Leads, you will be shown a list of people who have made enquiries on your ad that have been flagged by our system as spam. This helps protect you from wasting time following up on insincere or unsuitable enquiries.
Our system automatically filters enquiries to spam when a buyer:
- Attempts to spam multiple sellers
- Has previously been identified as a spammer
- Has made too many enquiries within a short timeframe
- Is submitting an enquiry outside of Australia (unless you have opted in to receive international enquiries… more on this below)
Merged Leads
A merged lead is one buyer who has submitted multiple enquiries or performed more than one lead action on your ad.
For instance, if someone is interested in buying a forklift, they might find your ad where they download your product PDF 3 times.
Our system identifies these as new leads by the same person, made on the same day, for the same piece of kit. Instead of adding 3 new leads to your Sales Leads page, we add 1 new lead in your Merged Leads page.
It’s important to note that if a buyer makes different lead actions (like downloads a PDf, sends an email, then calls), these won’t be merged by our system and will appear as 3 separate leads.
Now we’ve established these lead buckets, let’s discuss some neat features you can use to better manage your leads.
Quick Tips For Managing Your Leads
- Check your lead buckets often
- Be sure to add your lead’s details to your own database
- Tweak your preferences to get the most from your Machines4U account
Managing Your Leads
When you choose your lead bucket (for this example we are using the general Sales Leads bucket), you will see your leads laid out in front of you. Almost like a spreadsheet. You can sort these leads by any of the top-row particulars:
Simply click on the variable you want to sort your list by, and it will immediately update to show your leads in that order (such as date received, name, lead status, etc.).
Here’s a very quick rundown on what each of these particulars mean:
| Particular | Description |
| Received | Sorts your leads list by Date Received. You can sort by oldest->newest or vice versa. |
| Equipment | Sorts by your piece of equipment/machinery. It groups your leads by the ads they enquired on. |
| Price | Sorts your leads by your ad price. Handy if you want to find leads on your most expensive pieces of kit quickly. |
| Prospect Name | Sorts your leads alphabetically by your prospect’s first name. |
| Phone | Sorts your list by private and full phone number details. Leads from private numbers will not show a phone number as the user has opted not to provide their details. Machines4U does not have access to private number details as this is withheld by telcos for legal reasons. |
| Sort to show all email enquiries first. | |
| Type | This is the Lead Type (i.e. how your lead enquired or made contact). |
| Status | There are 5 statuses that show up in this column: In Progress (still actively working on selling to this lead), Won (you sold the buyer something), Lost (the buyer purchased from a competitor), Merged (a duplicate enquiry), Deferred (they buyer wasn’t ready or is still in the research phase). You or your sales team manually update this. Doing so lets you see conversion rates from your sales team. Sort by status to quickly find leads that need follow up. |
| Opportunity | This column helps you identify the approximate lead value, for instance they may enquire on your $250K machine, but are really only after a $2000 part for the machine. You would manually update this column with ‘$2000’ to reflect the lead’s true value. This column auto-populates with your ad price, or if you have used POA, it will reflect the average price in your ad’s chosen category. |
| Edited | Sort your lead list by the last ad edit date. |
Updating Lead Preferences
There are a couple of little tricks you can use to fine-tune the types of leads you get.
International Leads
If you are a business that deals with overseas customers, then this option is for you. As a default, this option is turned off (to minimise spam requests). However this is easily switched on to allow international buyers to contact you via Machines4U.
Simply login to your Machines4U account. Then on the sidepanel, click ‘Account’ then ‘Preferences’. Where it says ‘Receive International Enquiries’, tick the corresponding box.
Make sure you scroll down and click ‘Save’ once you’re done.
Targeting Lead Types
Some sellers find it difficult to respond to some lead types quickly (such as email or phone calls) this is because they are busy running a farm, or servicing machines, etc. So, we introduced a nifty feature that allows you to ‘opt out’ of certain enquiry types.
Your dedicated account manager can help you target specific lead types. Just give us a call and let us know which leads you want to capture.
What Is Lead Bleed?
When someone is searching for a piece of equipment, and recognises your business, they’re not going to use our platform to contact you. They will find your number on their phone (or look up that last email chain) and get in touch directly.
Or suppose…
They’re searching for a new piece of equipment and find your Machines4U ad. Most likely, they want to visit a showroom and see the new machine first-hand. They hit the ‘print’ or ‘map’ button so they can find you. These leads are very valuable and are especially important when you’re selling new pieces of equipment.
This is what we call ‘lead bleed’.
That’s because the lead found your ad on our site, but skipped our enquiry platform. Technically we helped provide the lead, but it doesn’t show up in your lead data.
We don’t mind lead bleed, just as long as our sellers understand our platform is still working in their favour.
We’re happy you get the sale, no matter how you get it!
If you have any questions, we are always here to help. Check out our help centre, take a look at our knowledge base, or give us a call on 1300 092 545.
