In the sales industry, work flow-automation technologies are some of the most important timesaving strategies for salespeople and managers.

Customer relationship management (CRM) applications, for example, have changed the way sales leads are managed. With a CRM system, sales leads generated through telemarketing, response cards, trade shows, Web forms and other sources are entered into a central database and automatically routed to the correct salesperson.

Managing these leads once they've been routed to your virtual in-box can be daunting, but adopting some of the following practices will help you stay on top of your sales leads:

• Don't let leads pile up in your in-box; tackle them as soon as possible.
• Sequence leads so you can cycle through them in order, whether you tackle the hot leads first or save the best for last.
• Allow ample time to move through an entire batch of leads without interruption.
• Once you connect with a lead and set the groundwork for a sale, upgrade the lead to a contact and start maintaining the record in a database.
• Update your records regularly as you develop a history with a client.
• Dial in from the field to update your data at least once a day. If you wait two or more days, the updates will pile up and will take longer to download.

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