Are Leads Managing us
or are we Managing Leads? Part 2 - The Syracuse
Solution
Sgt. 1st Class Jeffery Crane, USAREC, Commanding General's Initiative Group
Feb. 27, 2015
Fort Drum Company, Syracuse Recruiting Battalion has taken greatly refined leads to new heights.
The company’s NCOs use a self-developed cloud based lead management system, dropping the ALRL and bulk leads for Propensed Market Leads. They work off a database based on people who express interest in serving through interaction at local events, school visits, and other prospecting activities.
When two percent of prospects are propensed, the ALRL becomes the haystack, the propensed prospects the needle. Fort Drum Company drastically reduced the size of the haystack, making it easier to find the 2 percent.
Their NCOs no longer expend time and energy on those people whom have never expressed interest to serve, dedicating more time and energy to the people who have.
Although these names have expressed interest in joining, most of them do not make it completely through the funnel. Within their tool, they also integrate a way for third parties (prospects, applicants, Future Soldiers, etc.) to review the traditional ALRL and provide specific information about the people on it.
The data collected includes their hobbies, interests and physical characteristics. Fort Drum Company is a great example of innovation by a determined, empowered group of critical thinkers whom were tired of the status quo.
No one is advocating dropping the ALRL but that there are differences between a "contact record" and a "lead.”
Continuing to build and maintain a massive lead database is only beneficial if each entry is treated as a "Record for Life.” If someone is disqualified, qualified, or interacts with us 126 times between the ages of 17 and 35, USAREC would have a record of all the interactions. The record has a unique ID which never changes, no matter how many times they move or change phone numbers. A golden thread which would prevent lost time due to center jumpers and other applicant behavior.
The trick to merging the ALRL and the Record for Life into a system similar Fort Drum’s is finding the middle ground. One possibility is to track each time a person interacts with our accessions ecosystem and assign points for each interaction. School visits, national assets, advertising buys and the like may be weighted differently. Each record would be completely hidden from view, only accessible by system admins until they reach a certain score. Records that achieved this score would immediately appear on an NCO’s dashboard as a true propensed market lead ready for contact.
In some metro areas, there are centers with over 30,000 current "leads" in Recruiter Zone because current practice and technology allows the number to grow exponentially. This is simply not manageable.
As USAREC moves into the future adopting new systems and technologies, there is an enormous opportunity to study current practices and policies to make positive, meaningful and lasting changes.
Sgt. 1st Class Jeffery Crane, USAREC, Commanding General's Initiative Group
Feb. 27, 2015
Fort Drum Company, Syracuse Recruiting Battalion has taken greatly refined leads to new heights.
The company’s NCOs use a self-developed cloud based lead management system, dropping the ALRL and bulk leads for Propensed Market Leads. They work off a database based on people who express interest in serving through interaction at local events, school visits, and other prospecting activities.
When two percent of prospects are propensed, the ALRL becomes the haystack, the propensed prospects the needle. Fort Drum Company drastically reduced the size of the haystack, making it easier to find the 2 percent.
Their NCOs no longer expend time and energy on those people whom have never expressed interest to serve, dedicating more time and energy to the people who have.
Although these names have expressed interest in joining, most of them do not make it completely through the funnel. Within their tool, they also integrate a way for third parties (prospects, applicants, Future Soldiers, etc.) to review the traditional ALRL and provide specific information about the people on it.
The data collected includes their hobbies, interests and physical characteristics. Fort Drum Company is a great example of innovation by a determined, empowered group of critical thinkers whom were tired of the status quo.
No one is advocating dropping the ALRL but that there are differences between a "contact record" and a "lead.”
Continuing to build and maintain a massive lead database is only beneficial if each entry is treated as a "Record for Life.” If someone is disqualified, qualified, or interacts with us 126 times between the ages of 17 and 35, USAREC would have a record of all the interactions. The record has a unique ID which never changes, no matter how many times they move or change phone numbers. A golden thread which would prevent lost time due to center jumpers and other applicant behavior.
The trick to merging the ALRL and the Record for Life into a system similar Fort Drum’s is finding the middle ground. One possibility is to track each time a person interacts with our accessions ecosystem and assign points for each interaction. School visits, national assets, advertising buys and the like may be weighted differently. Each record would be completely hidden from view, only accessible by system admins until they reach a certain score. Records that achieved this score would immediately appear on an NCO’s dashboard as a true propensed market lead ready for contact.
In some metro areas, there are centers with over 30,000 current "leads" in Recruiter Zone because current practice and technology allows the number to grow exponentially. This is simply not manageable.
As USAREC moves into the future adopting new systems and technologies, there is an enormous opportunity to study current practices and policies to make positive, meaningful and lasting changes.