You Got a Lead- Respond Quickly.

When it Comes to Lead Generation, Response Time is Critical.

A potential client in your service area Googles a service that you offer. Your well optimized website shows atop the search results. They click, they read, they’re enticed, they submit a contact form on your site… Score one for your inbound digital marketing specialist!

Now what?

Red flashing lights and sirens go off at your headquarters. Everyone drops what they are doing. Salespeople dive for the phones as if your company’s life depended on it. Does that sound like the scene at your organization? If your lead response protocol is like most businesses, then the answer is probably no, and that’s a problem.

You’ve Got Five Minutes

Calling your web leads back within five minutes or less could be the difference between success and going out of business. That may sound a little dramatic, but let’s take a look at some stats.

Over a hundred thousand B2B and B2C web generated leads were analyzed in a study conducted at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwest University. The study found that the odds of successfully contacting a lead at the 5 minute mark were over 100 times greater than at the 30 minute mark. Apparently most companies didn’t get the memo, because another study two years later of over 2,000 B2B and B2C companies conducted by the Harvard Business Review found that the average lead response time was approximately 42 hours, and the average salesperson attempted to contact a lead only 1.3 times. It is plain to see how response time and a commitment to follow up can make or break your business. The good news for you is, the bar has been set pretty low.

Okay, Response Time is Important, But Why?

This question can best be answered in one word:

SQUIRREL!

If you are not familiar with the reference, it is from the Disney movie Up, in which a dog often gets distracted from what he is doing whenever a squirrel comes near. For your web visitors, that squirrel may be their children, it may be Candy Crush, it may be Facebook, or it may be any number of distractions following their form submission on your site. We do, after all, live in an era of 140 character attention spans.

When someone Googles a keyword phrase, they have decided that for a short period of time they are receptive to learning about the subject at hand. After all, they are the ones who asked about it in the first place. In the few minutes following their contact form submission, they are likely to still be on their device and in the mood to talk about what they were searching for. In fact, they might still be shopping around, exploring their options, and submitting the same type of form on another competitor’s site. You better be the first one to call them back. It’s pretty much game over if you are not.

Half an hour later, on the other hand, the mood has faded, call screening is back in full effect, House Hunters is on TV, and your lead doesn’t want to be bothered any more. Any attempt to get your lead’s attention from this point on requires barging in on their current state of mind.

Other Benefits of Quick Lead Response Time

You have an opportunity to make a great first impression. Try calling someone back in 3 minutes, and see if they don’t say “WOW, you guys are fast!” Imagine if all your prospects were awe struck from day one. How much easier would that make the entire sales process?

You can offer your services with fewer objections and at a more advantageous price. People choose to do business with people that they like and trust. The last thing any business owner wants is to get in a bidding war for the lowest price. A lead who is impressed from the very get go is not someone who is going to be raising all kinds of objections when you talk about price. You’ve already shown added value by being so responsive. You no longer have to compete with your rivals’ rock bottom bargains, because you are not in the same league.

Make Speed a Top Priority

Sometimes responding quickly can be a challenge. If you can’t feasibly call within five minutes, try a text that says “Hi, it’s (name) at (business). I’m with a client right now. Can I give you a call in 5 minutes?” You can even program keyboard shortcuts into your phone to compose quick canned responses like this with just a few characters like “CYB5”.

Whatever you need to do to decrease your lead response time, make it a priority and you’ll find a way. It’ll be well worth your time. If you want to get more website leads in the first place, our web design and internet marketing experts are here to help! Give us a call at 919-341-8901 or contact us online today.