By Craig Dewolf
As one of many tools available to channel marketers, lead management is categorized under the broader umbrella of opportunity management programs (along with deal registration, referral management, and special pricing). Within the context of channel marketing, lead management is intended to send leads down from the vendor to the designated partner(s) to assist in or complete the sales transactions. Its cousin, referral management, acts as the mirror image by allowing third parties to send leads up to the sponsoring vendor (although effective referral programs are designed to accept leads from a number of sources including customers, employees, and affiliate organizations, in addition to just channel partners). Combine characteristics of each of these into a single program and the result may be labeled as a bi-directional lead management program. I spent the last couple of days helping one of our clients craft such a program and that process yielded some interesting observations and insights, which are the subject of this entry.
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Every channel marketer has a toolbox filled with proven programs, process short cuts, favorable contacts, go-to resources, and the know-how to use them and when. But all tools dull after use and taking just two minutes to sharpen and refine them can turn a great channel marketer into a channel champion. 
