Lead Distribution Groups

Note:
This feature is available in Aprimo Marketing Studio 9.1 only.

Distribution groups are used in the assignment of leads. Lead processes use these objects to determine how incoming leads are assigned:

Territory categories
Territories
Distribution groups
Participants

The relationship among these components is hierarchical: a territory category contains territories; a territory contains distribution groups; a distribution group contains participants.

Example:
For examples of how distribution groups are used in lead processes, see Design Considerations in Territories.

Details

Field	Description
Status	Select whether the distribution group is available for use. Change the status to Inactive if you no longer want to assign leads to the distribution group. Example: You require your distribution companies to be certified annually to sell your products. A distributor has not taken the certification exam for this year. Until the company passes the exam, you do not want to assign leads to it. Therefore, you change its distribution group's status to Inactive.
Distribution Method	Select how leads are assigned to the participants in this distribution group. For more information, see Distribution Method Options.

Field

Description

Status

Select whether the distribution group is available for use.

Change the status to Inactive if you no longer want to assign leads to the distribution group.

Example:
You require your distribution companies to be certified annually to sell your products. A distributor has not taken the certification exam for this year. Until the company passes the exam, you do not want to assign leads to it. Therefore, you change its distribution group's status to Inactive.

Distribution Method

Select how leads are assigned to the participants in this distribution group. For more information, see Distribution Method Options.

Distribution Method Options

Option	Description
Even	Leads are distributed evenly among all participants. Example: You have 10 salespeople. They each receive 10% of the leads assigned to this distribution group.
Weighted	Leads are distributed based on the percentages set for each member of the distribution group. Percentages must total 100%. Example: You can use fractions of a percentage. For example, you have 5 salespeople. You want your best salesperson to receive 25% of the leads assigned to this distribution group. The 4 remaining salespeople should divide the remaining 75% of leads equally. Thus, the other salespeople each receive 18.75% of the leads.

Option

Description

Even

Leads are distributed evenly among all participants.

Example:
You have 10 salespeople. They each receive 10% of the leads assigned to this distribution group.

Weighted

Leads are distributed based on the percentages set for each member of the distribution group. Percentages must total 100%.

Example:
You can use fractions of a percentage. For example, you have 5 salespeople. You want your best salesperson to receive 25% of the leads assigned to this distribution group. The 4 remaining salespeople should divide the remaining 75% of leads equally. Thus, the other salespeople each receive 18.75% of the leads.

Members

Use this section to select the distribution group's participants.

Field	Description
Member	A member of a distribution group is a participant. You can select any active participant.
Weighted Percentage	If the distribution method is weighted, you must specify the percentage of leads to be assigned to each participant. For more information, see Distribution Method Options.

Escalation Contacts

You can select any active participant to be an escalation contact. You can select one or more escalation contacts for each distribution group.

A notify territory step sends a notification to the salesperson assigned to a lead. The notify territory step can also send a notification to a distribution group's escalation contacts.

An escalate territory step enables you to inform someone other than the salesperson when a lead is not contacted in a timely manner. If the escalate territory step processes a lead that has been assigned to the current distribution group, the escalation contacts will receive a notification.

Proximity Information

Use this section to determine if proximity support is enabled for the distribution group.

Field	Description
Proximity Support	Select Yes to distribute leads to distribution groups based on proximity or product associations. Note: Proximity support is available only for distribution groups in the United States and Canada. For information on distributing leads based on proximity, see Using the Proximity Distribution Method. For information on distributing leads based on product associations, see Using the By Product Distribution Method. You must purchase and install the proximity data to distribute leads using these methods.
Country	Select whether to use Canadian postal codes or United States zip codes to calculate this distribution group's proximity. For information on distributing leads based on proximity, see Using the Proximity Distribution Method. For information on distributing leads based on product associations, see Using the By Product Distribution Method.
Postal Code	Type the distribution group's postal code. For information on distributing leads based on proximity, see Using the Proximity Distribution Method. For information on distributing leads based on product associations, see Using the By Product Distribution Method.
Factor	Type a numeric value to be used under these conditions: The distribution group belongs to a territory that distributes leads based on proximity. The distribution group belongs to a territory that uses the radius proximity distribution method. The radius rule for the territory is Factored Least Gets It. The application assigns more leads to the distribution group with the higher value, enabling you to give preferential treatment to a distribution group.

Additional Fields, Sections, and Tabs

Your system administrator can create additional fields for some objects and make them available for certain system types. Additional fields appear on the Details tab in the Additional Details section or in other sections or on other tabs that the system administrator creates.

For more information about an additional field, section, or tab, contact your system administrator. For more information about additional fields in general, see Additional Fields.

Products

If your organization distributes leads according to the products sold by each distribution group, you must associate each distribution group with one or more products or product categories.

Field	Description
Product	Select the product sold by the distribution group.
Radius	Select the range in miles within which a distribution group sells the given product. The radius is based on the distribution group's postal code, entered in the proximity information fields.
Priority	Type a number to determine which distribution group receives a lead when multiple distribution groups qualify for it. A lower number receives higher priority.
Status	Select whether the product association is currently valid. If the product association has a status of Inactive, leads containing the specified product are not assigned to this distribution group.

Field	Description
Category	Select the family of products sold by the distribution group.
Radius	Select the range in miles within which a distribution group sells the given product. The radius is based on the distribution group's postal code, entered in the proximity information fields.
Priority	Type a number to determine which distribution group receives a lead when multiple distribution groups qualify for it. A lower number receives higher priority.
Status	Select whether the product association is currently valid. If the product association has a status of Inactive, leads containing the specified product are not assigned to this distribution group.

Statistics

The Statistics tab displays how many leads have been assigned to the distribution group.

Field	Description
Title	This field displays the names of the lead processes that use the distribution group.
Production Leads Distributed	This field indicates the number of production leads assigned to this distribution group for the specified lead process.
Draft Leads Distributed	This field indicates the number of draft leads assigned to this distribution group for the specified lead process.