Companies focus on marketing, automation, content, and SEO often overlooks response times.
Harvard Business Review reports that only 37% of businesses respond to prospects within the first hour.
Hence, it is safe to assume several leads become stone-cold, buried in the CRM platform.
Improving response practices can help marketing and sales because the leads generated will not slip through the fingers.
What are the vital elements for a fast response?
- Urgency – Lead Response Management Study indicates that an inbound lead has a 21 times better chance to qualify if attended within 5 minutes rather than 30 minutes. A faster response shows your commitment to your work ethic. It reflects how the business values its customer’s time and effort. A satisfied prospect is more likely to become a customer.
- Persistence – Anyone in sales recognizes it is not a single-day closure. The first meeting may be promising, yet it does not guarantee a connection. Most customers are bound to a busy schedule, and sales reps have to make repeated calls to reach them. Do not give up on your inbound leads too soon. 80% of conversions require at least five follow-ups before reaching an agreement.
Building the Right System
While your sales team’s time and dedication make up one aspect of conversion rates, you also need the right system and procedure.
- If your business generates multiple leads in a day, you need the workforce to handle the load. If fewer representatives attend each call at a time, it slows down the process. The throughput gets affected, and ultimately, response times go up.
Automation and integration ensure the system reminds the sales team regarding reminders and leads.
You can automate workflows and automatically trigger actions using CRM platforms or similar software.
Moreover, each professional can attend to multiple calls at the same time.
- Marketing needs a robust strategy. You need to invest in advertising and campaigns, but only after estimating your return on investment. AI VoiceBots can link your campaigns to leads on the CRM platform. The sales team can receive insights regarding the issues prospects face and the lead conversion stage.
- Redundancy can also slow down the lead conversion process. Agents often answer repetitive questions frequently asked by each customer. VoiceBots and ChatBots can handle these FAQs and knowledge-based questions. Based on the customer’s feedback, you can engage an agent to attend to their specific needs.
