It is common sense that letting leads sit for a few days is not a good practice and that the faster you follow up with a lead, the more likely you are to retain the prospect’s interest. If you can catch them within a day or two of opting in, they should probably still remember why they were interested in your product/solution in the first place. But what if you could preserve the enthusiasm that the prospect had when they first filled out your lead form or made an inquiry into your product?
While the practice of not letting leads go cold is widespread, increasing the speed at which the leads are contacted after they first appear may be more crucial than is currently perceived by the majority of sales and marketing individuals. A new study by Leads360 shows that there is a direct correlation between the time it takes to contact a lead and conversion rate. According to the study, 88% of all leads that eventually convert were called within the first 24 hours. Even more astonishing is this figure: “sales leads called within 60 seconds of being first generated online showed a fourfold (391%) advantage over average conversion rates”. While it may be a bit of a pipedream to think that you can always get to your leads within a minute of them popping up, this stat still shows the importance of getting to your leads quickly. The faster you can get to the leads, the more likely they are to still have your product top of mind, and the easier it will be to convert them into an opportunity.
That being said, don’t sacrifice speed for quality here. Don’t call the prospect if you aren’t fully prepared (for instance if you haven’t done any research into the prospects needs and how to position your solution to them appropriately). The fact that you called them within ten minutes of them opting in doesn’t mean squat if you have no idea who they are and why they might need your product. Take a few minutes to figure out who you’re talking to and what their needs are, and then make the call.
Great post but it is hard to get on top of leads fast enough to be able to prepare yourself and then contact them even within a few hours of them popping up. But have you seen the iSell product by OneSource? It is a trigger based product that works by organizing your prospects into lists and sending custom alerts based on your criteria. I have been using it for the past week and it can accomplish exactly what this article calls for: contacting leads as fast as possible by receiving alerts as soon as a lead appears in an area you have defined as a hot prospect. It has also saved me countless hours of research already; you’ve got to see it.