As businesspeople, we work so hard to develop qualified leads, so you’d think that we would respond to them quickly. However, a study published in Forbes and previously in the Harvard Business Review shows that %71 of qualified leads are never followed up with.

These statistics are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the loss of potential business.

How long is your Response Time?

Response time is critical for both B2C and B2B businesses. The biggest reason businesses are losing these leads is because they are taking too long to respond. Forbes goes on to report that companies take over 46 hours to respond to leads.

The same Harvard Business Review study even reported that companies that get back to leads within one hour of receiving an inquiry are 7 times more likely to have critical interactions with that potential customer. Meaning, that if you can streamline the time it takes to respond to leads, you will get a significant increase in qualified leads with the same number of salespeople. Ultimately, growing your sales.

How to Respond

You probably know that it’s likely impossible to respond to every single lead within 30 minutes of the inquiry. Yes, you can streamline your lead response system, but you may not be able to get back to prospects that quickly. If that’s the case, you need to be able to prioritize leads and respond to the best prospects first.

Also keep in mind that you are more likely to reach your potential customers via the same method they originally contacted you. If you do so, their frame of mind will still be in the same place, and they will be able to respond to your questions readily. This makes it easier to prioritize them and then determine how to nurture them.

Measure and Improve

The way to get the most effective improvement out of your company’s response metrics is to start measuring them! Without measuring how well you are doing now; you won’t be able to compare it to how you’re doing later. Not only that, but later down the line you won’t know what could need improvement.

Contact ebs/Growth Today!

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to contacting your potential customers. However, the resources are out there and with some work, ebs/Growth can help you come up with a phone script and a plan. Find out how we can help you today by submitting our contact us form.