Introduction to LeanData Follow
Contents:
Overview
LeanData helps companies automate their business processes in Salesforce. The LeanData platform is native to Salesforce and is available on the Salesforce AppExchange. Because LeanData is native to Salesforce, your data is secure in the environment you already use. In this basic introduction, we will discuss the LeanData View, Matching, Tagging, and Routing.
LeanData View
The LeanData View product gives immediate contextual insights by connecting Leads and Accounts within Salesforce in real time. All of this is done within the same Salesforce records layouts you use today. There are three different views that come with this product: Lead View, Contact View, and Account View.
The View product is a Visualforce layout which sits on your Lead, Contact, and Account layouts and uses LeanData’s best in class, fuzzy logic matching to present you with an overview of Matched Accounts, Duplicate Leads, Duplicate Contacts, and Related Leads. Related leads are Lead records in Salesforce that potentially match with other Leads in your Organization.
The View product:
- Displays lists of matched accounts (from the same company), duplicate leads and contacts, related leads (from the same company)
- Allows you to merge duplicate leads, contacts, and accounts
- Allows you to Convert leads into a matched account
- Has customizable information columns
- Gives you the ability to create a new account and mass convert Related Leads when leads don’t have a matched account (must have the appropriate Salesforce permission to perform this action)
Lead View Description and Legend
Below is a screenshot of the LeanData view product on a lead record.
- Duplicates: Easily view duplicate leads and contacts at a glance to understand existing activity on your leads
- Merge with duplicate leads
- View complete list of duplicates
- Matched Accounts: Quickly view the accounts a lead matches into to get full context. Is this an existing customer or target lead that should be worked by someone else? Does the account have existing opportunities you can leverage to expand the relationship?
- Convert leads into matched account
- View a complete list of matched accounts
- Related Leads: Easily identify leads from the same company
- Preview Related Leads: View related leads together with a consolidated view of activity history – for leads that don’t have a matched account, there is an option to create a new account and mass convert Related Leads below (must have the appropriate Salesforce permission to perform this action)
Preview Related Leads
The View product gives you the ability to see related information in your Salesforce Organization. Related Leads are lead records that have been identified by our matching algorithm, to be associated with the current record. As you can see in the screenshot above, we have found several leads associated with Uber. By having access to the related leads you can better plan your sales strategy and identify the best messaging for your leads. With View you can:
- Choose the right lead to convert to a contact
- Choose the owner, contact role, and converted Lead Status upon conversion
- Choose to create (or not create) an opportunity under account upon conversion
- Choose to receive (or not receive) an email upon the successful conversion of your Related Leads
- Your system admin can edit these columns to show the Lead info that’s most relevant to you
- Create a new account upon conversion of your Related Leads
Contact View: Contact and Lead Duplicates
The View product on the Contact record displays contact and lead records that have been identified by our matching algorithm as a possible duplicate of the current contact. From this view you can merge any duplicate contact into the current contact.
Account View: Lead Matches and Account Duplicates
The View product on the Account record displays leads that have been matched to the current account and possible duplicate account records. In this view, you can:
- Merge duplicate accounts
- View leads matched to the current account
- Convert leads individually or en masse
Being able to view all the leads matched to this account gives you full context on the activity on this account. Does this account have matched leads you can leverage to expand the relationship? Who else on the sales team is calling into your leads?
LeanData Matching
At the heart of the LeanData Revenue Operations platform is our best in class matching algorithm used to relate records in your Salesforce Organization. Salesforce does not link Leads to Accounts. This means your reps do not have a complete view of your accounts. This can lead to reps working from poor quality leads and reps doing duplicate work reaching out to leads that are related but not identified. Our algorithm is native to Salesforce. This means all the processing on your records happens within Salesforce, keeping your data safe. The matching algorithm comes with a full set of matching logic to help you find related records and duplicate information. You are also able to customize the algorithm to suit your unique situation.
LeanData Matching has built in rules to find your related and duplicate records. Specifically, Matching will consider multiple fields together to create data points to match records together. Matching includes the following field mapping:
- Lead Company name will be checked against the Account name
- Lead Email/Website domain will be checked against the Account’s email and website domain
- All the contact emails will be scanned to determine the email domains that should be matched to the Lead email domains
- Lead phone number is checked against the Account phone number
- The Lead address will be compared with the Account’s Billing Address
Matching will check all the information it can find to form a match. One field such as domain name is not typically enough to form a match unless you configure the system to behave this way. The only exception is if there is an exact match between company name on the lead and the account name. This will create a match in LeanData. Generally, a close name match and the phone number or address will be enough for a potential match. Possible matches include:
- Close Company + domain match
- Close Company + phone
- Close company + address match
Please Note: Matching will not match based on free/public email domains like Gmail and Hotmail.
Company Names
The LeanData algorithm has some special characteristics that help with company names. LeanData will normalize company names such as removing things like Inc and LLC. We also provide tokenization of many popular company names like recognizing ChevronTexaco as Chevron. Common acronyms are also considered in matching like IBM for International Business Machines. LeanData will also ignore placeholder values in the company name field like Not Provided, NA, Test, and Unknown. Finally, LeanData’s developers have coded the Matching algorithm to recognize some global company synonyms like Disney for The Walt Disney Company and parent/subsidiary relationships like Disney being the parent for Marvel Entertainment, ESPN, ABC, etc. This algorithm is regularly updated with new information.
LeanData Tagging
The LeanData Revenue Operations platform includes LeanData Tagging, a product for updating fields on a matched lead record with data from the Account record. Tagging is similar to the LeanData View in that, it connects Leads and Accounts using our configurable matching algorithm. Tagging will go one step further and update fields on the Lead record. LeanData use a field called the Reporting Matched Account as a Lookup field that links the Lead and Account records. By default, this is the only field that is updated but this feature is fully customizable and you can add other fields (standard and custom fields). Tagging will enable better reporting in Salesforce because you will be able to filter on previously unavailable criteria. You will also be able to report on all leads related to a specific account.
Example: The account record includes custom information such as Industry, Account Type, and number of opportunities. Using Tagging, the LeanData user can add custom fields to the lead and map them using LeanData Tagging. Tagging will up continuously update these tagged fields. Tagging will even untag the lead if the lead changes and no longer matches to the account.
Tagging will continuously monitor the Lead and account records. If something changes on the account record, tagging will update the lead. If the lead changes its email for example (job change), LeanData will re-evaluate the match and look for a better match. If the lead no longer matches to the account, LeanData will un-tag any formerly tagged fields. If LeanData finds a match again in the future, the lead will be tagged again with the information from the newly matched Account record.
Tie-Breakers
LeanData has a built-in feature to deal with situations where a Lead may have multiple account matches. LeanData will evaluate all of the potential matches with a prioritized set of customizable rules (tie-breakers) and pick the best match. LeanData provides a set of default tie-breakers that you can customize by adding, deleting, editing, or re-ordering the rules.
LeanData Router
Using our Router feature will give you the ability to automate lead assignments in Salesforce. Router uses our matching algorithm to route leads to account owners, account teams, or to round robin pools of reps. Router can also merge duplicates, convert leads to contacts, and create accounts and opportunities, using a visual flow you can design and easily maintain.
Why Do You Need Routing?
Most companies have valuable leads lost in their database because leads go unassigned or are incorrectly assigned. Salesforce has some assignment rules you can use but these are often best suited to simple lead assignment such as by territory, segment, lead source, or industry. Salesforce also does not account for assigning contacts, accounts, or opportunities. All of this can lead to a poor buying experience for customers such as:
- Calls from different reps
- Different Marketing messages
- Contacts not appropriate for their stage of the buying cycle
- Qualifying calls when they are in negotiations to buy
- Inconsistent messaging from multiple reps to multiple people involved in the buying process
Salesforce Assignment Rules vs LeanData Routing
Salesforce does include assignment rules for leads that works well for small teams with straightforward assignment needs. Unfortunately, these rules can get very complex with rules sitting on top of other rules, or rules that overlap. There are no tools for validation or even understanding the rules. If the Salesforce admin leaves, there is typically no one in house that can interpret the logic of the assignment rules. Salesforce also does not have support for complex routing like round robins, owner mapping, and account teams. Salesforce also lacks support for assigning Contacts, Accounts, or Opportunities.
LeanData Router gives you a visual interface for designing and implementing complex, powerful routing flows. You can easily see and understand how your records are being routed and assigned. Router also gives you access to matched account information such as being able to filter on Lead fields or find leads that do not match to existing accounts. The automation tools include merging duplicates, converting leads into contacts, creating accounts and opportunities, sending notifications, and even routing to integrated tools like Outreach or Salesloft.
Additionally, LeanData Router gives you the ability to use the same Lead routing tools to route/assign accounts, contacts and opportunities. Router helps you align your sales team around account based marketing instead of just focusing on leads alone. Most companies start with territory based lead assignment.
Example: Your marketing team get 3 leads for Starbucks Coffee from different sources. Because the leads are located in 3 separate territories, they are routed to different sales reps. Each of the reps may reach out to start a sales cycle and end up duplicating effort. With Router, these leads could have been automatically routed to the Account Owner who has the context of the account as a whole. This leads to more coordination of effort and less duplication. Account based Marketing and LeanData Router will accelerate your sales with expedited sales follow-up, automatically adapting workflows and better prospect and customer experiences with less friction in the buyer journey.
Not only do you get powerful tools for automation with LeanData’s Router, you also get advanced troubleshooting tools like audit logs and visual debugging features. With these tools you can quickly and easily:
- Add metrics to your visual flow
- Determine if there are bottlenecks with your router flow
- Confirm that your data is getting routed as intended
- Drill into elements to view their logic
- Trace the path the record took through the flow
- See why the record was assigned as it was
Summary
Matching is the heart of LeanData’s platform, using its best in class fuzzy logic to find and match Leads, Contacts, and Accounts to reduce effort and increase productivity for your teams.
Tagging helps automate updating records that have been matched to accounts with data found on the Account record. This gives you the ability to run reports based on account information on the Lead records.
LeanData’s Router is a powerful tool for automating assigning of many different objects in Salesforce. Routing includes advanced features like merging duplicates, converting leads into Contacts, creating Accounts and Opportunities, and sending notifications, among other features.