Sales doesn’t run on hope. If you’re juggling a dozen spreadsheets, sticky notes, and half-remembered conversations, you’re losing leads—and deals. This guide is for anyone who wants to actually wrangle their sales pipeline, not just talk about it. If you’re using (or considering) Bettercontact, here’s how to track and follow up on leads in a way that’s effective and, honestly, pretty painless.
Why Bother With Lead Tracking?
Let’s be blunt: Most leads don’t close. But almost every closed deal started out as a lead someone actually followed up with. If you’re not tracking who’s in your pipeline, where they are, and when you last talked, you’re handing money to your competitors. Good tracking gives you:
- Fewer leads slipping through the cracks
- More predictable sales (and less panicked end-of-quarter scrambling)
- Less “Did I email them already?” second-guessing
Step 1: Get Your Leads Into Bettercontact
Before you can track anything, you need to get your leads into the system. Bettercontact offers a few ways to do this, but not all are equally useful.
- Manual entry: Fine for one-off leads. Just don’t make this your default—nobody wants more data entry.
- Import from CSV: If you’re coming from another CRM (or the land of spreadsheets), this is the fastest way to get set up. Clean your list first. Garbage in, garbage out.
- Web forms and integrations: Bettercontact can capture leads directly from your website or tools like Zapier. Set this up early, so new leads don’t get lost.
Pro tip: Don’t just dump every email you’ve ever collected. Focus on real prospects—people or companies you actually want to sell to.
Step 2: Organize Leads With Lists and Tags
Once your leads are in, you’ll want to make sense of them. Bettercontact lets you use lists and tags to organize:
- Lists: Think of these as broad buckets—like “Inbound,” “Outbound,” or “Trade Show 2024.”
- Tags: For extra details like “hot,” “follow up in June,” or “needs demo.” Tags are flexible, but don’t go overboard. If everything’s tagged, nothing’s actually sorted.
A good setup: - One list for each main source or campaign - Tags for deal stages (e.g., “new,” “qualified,” “proposal sent”) - Occasional tags for quirks (“big account,” “quick win,” etc.)
Avoid the temptation to recreate your old filing cabinet. The goal is to find leads and see where they are—not to catalog every trivial detail.
Step 3: Set Up Your Sales Pipeline
Bettercontact lets you build a visual pipeline (sometimes called a Kanban board). You get columns like “New Lead,” “Contacted,” “Qualified,” “Proposal Sent,” and “Closed.” Customize these stages to fit your actual process—not what some sales book says.
What works: - Keeping it simple. Five to seven stages is plenty. - Naming stages after real actions (“Demo Booked” beats “Stage 3”) - Moving leads across stages as soon as something real happens (not just when you feel like it)
What doesn’t: - Micromanaging every little change. If you’re spending more time updating stages than talking to leads, you’re doing it wrong. - Overcomplicating. If you need a key to understand your own pipeline, start over.
Step 4: Track Activity—Don’t Trust Your Memory
This is where most people slip up. You have to actually log your calls, emails, and meetings. Bettercontact lets you attach notes, schedule follow-ups, and log activity for each lead.
Here’s how to make this not suck: - After every call or email, jot a quick note. What happened? What’s next? - Use templates for common updates (“Left voicemail, will try again Thursday.”) - Set reminders for yourself—future you will thank you.
Ignore: The urge to document every single interaction in excruciating detail. You don’t need a novel, just enough so your future self (or your boss) isn’t lost.
Step 5: Schedule and Automate Follow-Ups
Manual follow-up is where deals are won or lost. In Bettercontact, you can set follow-up tasks, get reminders, and even set up simple automations.
- Task reminders: Attach a “Follow up next week” task to each lead before you move on.
- Automated emails: Bettercontact’s automation tools let you send scheduled follow-ups. Helpful, but don’t rely on them to do all the work—people can spot a canned message a mile away.
- Recurring reminders: For long sales cycles, set reminders to check in monthly or quarterly.
What works: Consistent, personalized follow-up. Most salespeople quit after one or two tries—don’t be most salespeople.
What doesn’t: Over-automating. If you set it and forget it, your follow-ups will sound robotic (because they are).
Step 6: Use Views and Filters To Focus
Your pipeline will get noisy. Bettercontact’s filters and saved views help you zero in on what actually matters:
- Filter by stage: See just the leads in “Qualified” or “Proposal Sent” so you know who needs attention.
- Filter by tags: Check which leads are tagged “needs demo” or “hot.”
- Saved views: Create quick-access dashboards for “Leads to follow up this week” or “Stalled deals.”
Don’t chase every lead equally—spend your time where it counts.
Step 7: Review, Adjust, and Don’t Get Lazy
The best pipeline in the world doesn’t work unless you work it. Block off time each week to review your leads:
- Move leads forward (or out) based on real activity
- Check for neglected leads—if you haven’t touched them in weeks, ask yourself why
- Add or remove tags as things change
Pro tip: Be honest with yourself. If a lead’s dead, mark it “lost” and move on. A bloated pipeline is just wishful thinking.
What To Ignore (Seriously)
- “AI-powered predictions”: Sounds fancy, but usually just tells you what you already know (“Leads you haven’t called in six months are unlikely to close.”)
- Overly granular reporting: Unless you’re managing a massive team, focus on actions, not charts.
- Custom fields for everything: The more fields you add, the more you’ll ignore them later.
Troubleshooting Common Pitfalls
- Too many leads, not enough follow-up? Prune your list. Focus on the top prospects.
- Losing track of next steps? Always set the next task before you leave a lead’s record.
- Team not using the system? Make it the default place for all sales notes and updates. If it’s not in Bettercontact, it didn’t happen.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Actually Use the System
You don’t need a perfect setup to start. The best CRM is the one you actually use. Start small, get your leads in, and build habits around tracking and follow-up. Review what’s working every few weeks. If something’s annoying, fix it or skip it.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of done. A simple, well-used pipeline beats a fancy, abandoned one every time.