Get Them While They’re Hot!

Experienced outside salespeople know that contacting prospects promptly builds conversions to purchase. “The Ultimate Contact Strategy,” a report from lead management firm Leads360, dramatizes the power of this promptness. In their analysis of almost 3.5 million year 2012 leads from more than 400 companies, speed-to-initial-contact was the single largest determinant of prospect conversion. Telephoning an interested prospect within one hour of an inquiry improved lead conversion rates about 36%. Businesses making the initial telephone contact within one minute of an inquiry improved lead conversion rates almost 400%.
     It’s not that one phone call makes the sale. You might not even reach the prospect on the first attempt. Leads360 recommends telephoning up to six times. Half of all prospects that eventually convert are reached sometime after the first call attempt. Consistent with the other findings on promptness, the less the delay between a first and second call, the better the results.
     Adding an email to the mix also helps. The report recommends sending up to five emails during the first month after the prospect’s inquiry, when interleaved with telephone contacts.
     Researchers at lead management supplier InsideSales.com, Harvard University, and Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University have also seen the significant advantages of responding quickly to consumer inquiries. They looked at internet contacts that could turn into leads for B2C (business-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-business) sales.
     These researchers reported results from an audit of 2,241 U.S. companies. About 35% of the companies responded to consumer inquiries, on average, within one hour, but more than 45% took more than 24 hours to reply. The average response time to online inquiries was 42 hours. That’s understandable when you consider the likely reasons behind the finding:

• Availability of internet inquiries at any time, but lack of knowledgeable staff around the clock and calendar 
• The time consumed in referring the inquiry to the right person in the business to reply 
• Allowance of time for the consumer to look over materials they’ve already received and for the retailer to prepare a knowledgeable reply 

     It’s understandable, but the effect is a striking loss of potential for profitability. U.S. firms that responded to inquiries within one hour were about sixty times as likely to move clearly toward a sale than those waiting 24 hours or longer.
     Respond to internet inquiries with immediate acknowledgements which include a commitment of when you will be back with a substantive answer. Then keep to the commitment.

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Tell Questioners Now When You’ll Answer