Inside Sales Blog » Lead Response Management

February 29, 2008

The Secret of Calling Leads Back Immediately

Filed under: Lead Response Management, MIT study — andersli @ 2:51 pm

Now, lean in real close because I don’t want to say this too loudly: you will be 100 times more likely to reach your web-captured leads if you call them back in the first 5 minutes than you will after just 30 minutes! Oops, I got a little excited there and it looks like everyone probably heard that but I couldn’t help it–it truly is something to shout about. I mean, consider the possibility of having a power dialer with integrated CRM–a CRM chock full of power tools for automating and streamlining the processes that bog down your B2B sales force! If you are capturing leads from web forms, did you know that you are literally throwing half of them out the (figurative) window by letting them sit in a database or inbox for a day or more?

In 2007, MIT researchers found a link between amount of time til callback and success in a. reaching the lead, and b. qualifying that lead. As I said, 100 times more likely to reach the person in the first 5 minutes, but an astounding 21 times more likely to qualify that lead if they are called in 5 rather than 30 minutes! I must apologize for all the exclamation points, it’s terribly unprofessional, but I’m a little excited. Efficiency of both time and money are two of my very most favorite things and this concept just reeks of both of them: you are saving money with every lead you don’t waste, and saving time by only having to call them once (most of the time).

If you want to read the complete report of the MIT Study you can go here, because there are a lot more things to learn. They were able to figure out the best day and time for reaching people, as well as the statistics on reaching a lead on repeated attempts (I’ll give you a hint: the more you nag the less responsive they are…).

I hope you’re as excited about this news as I am, and please feel free to leave comments. (Unless you’re a can of spam, cuz I have enough of that already.)

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February 26, 2008

How Nurturing Leads Keeps Them Healthy

Filed under: Lead Nurturing, Lead Response Management, MIT study — andersli @ 10:29 am

Leads are the lifeblood of many sales-driven businesses, and yet they neglect to properly nurture their leads, letting many possible sales wither away—or worse, end up in the hands of a competitor. There is a 5-part strategy to respond to leads with efficiency and care and will effortlessly keep you in contact with leads for as long as it takes to resolve their need.

Immediate Response is the first and arguably most important aspect of this strategy. Yes, I said, “immediate”. Does this sound impossible? Well, it’s not. If you’re using a web form to capture contact information there is an easy way to make it work and it could vastly increase your sales. A recent MIT study proved that the sooner a lead is contacted, the higher the success rate. In 2007, Dr. James Oldroyd sought to find the best time to call leads, and the best day. The results were shocking: the odds of contacting leads called back within the first 5 minutes were 100 times higher than at 30 minutes, and the odds of qualifying that lead were 21 times higher for the same time frame! So, yes—respond immediately and you are well on your way to making that sale! Optimal Response is another part of the strategy. This is an action-oriented method of keeping on top of your leads and plays more of a supporting role in the Lead Response Drama—it is used for balancing all requests for information. The idea behind it is that not every call in the sales process must be made immediately, just that first one. The imperative is to respond wisely: if it is not an urgent matter and you call immediately, you appear over-eager, or if it’s a question they’ll need answered within a certain time frame you’ll respond accordingly.Continual Response is the third piece of the puzzle. It is the process of managing an unanswered first call over a period of two weeks. During that time, this tool juggles the time of day and day of week to make a perfect blend of when to call. The average salesman calls a lead 4-5 times, and then gives up. With this system he is nearly twice as likely to make contact before running out of attempts. Some leads are up to $50 each, and only 45% of them are contacted but with this system we see a remarkable 87% contact rate!Consistent Response is for contacts that are interested but not ready to purchase or who simply need more time. In these cases it is vital to stay in touch with them over a period of up to two years. This portion of the Response Management strategy includes logic: the software will use various media sources to communicate with the lead including fax, email, and phone calls. It is fully interactive and is designed in such a way that it will adjust its attempts based on the reaction of the lead.Presence Response is the segment of the response process that is responsible for managing trigger events. This is linked back to the first step, Immediate Response: in this case, you call immediately after they fill out the form as well, with the intent of taking full advantage of the presence in their mind of the problem they’re trying to solve and the “top of mind awareness”. If you have sought a solution to a problem or information about a product or service on the internet, then you have probably filled out a web form. Imagine how you would react if you received a call with an answer to your question or a solution to your problem within the hour? It would be so much more relevant and so much more useful. With this system, leads are constantly being managed at the proper level of attention.

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