Ladies and gentleman, it’s storytime. Today’s tale breaks our hearts. Get your tissues ready because if this doesn’t make you cry, nothing will:

Businesses fail to follow up on 71% of leads.

We don’t know if a place where sales people fail to follow-up on that many leads actually qualifies as a legitimate business, but it’s something alright.

Maybe a tragedy.

Why do sales teams go to the trouble of procuring leads if they refuse to follow-up on them? What kind of sick sales wormhole are we living in? And why do some co-workers not make a new pot of coffee after drinking the last cup of coffee?

Especially on a Monday. But we digress.

Intellibright understands what it takes to exceed the norm of these other wormholed saps. We give you qualified, exclusive leads because we want you to convert them and we understand how to help you do that.

We don’t give them to you out of the goodness of our hearts. We provide you with what amounts to a map that leads to the exact spots where your sales team must mine for gold. We develop lucrative mining methods for you. If you looked at the link above—go on, look at it!— then you know that we don’t get paid until you get paid.

Don’t be like most sales teams. Save money on tissues by following-up, and enjoy the profit adventure.

Best Times to Follow-Up

“Well, there’s really no specific time guidelines for following up with a lead. I mean, I’ve got their info now so I can email, call, or drop by anytime. Right?”

What do you mean, “Right?” That’s so wrong it hurts.

Strategizing follow-ups leads to success. A sales team must:

  • Avoid wasting time before making contact with a lead.
  • Implement the “5 vs 30 Rule”.
  • Call back if the first call fails.
  • Utilize different forms of contact.
  • Track your contact rate.

And you need to do all of this soon, so we can stop crying. Read on to find out how.

Contact via 5 vs. 30

When you get a lead, call right away. Right away means NOW. Even waiting an hour means you waited too long.

Look, our leads make money. But the longer it takes you to contact them, the more likely they are to make money for another company. Then you lose money.

That happens.

Also, maybe the lead didn’t come from us. Maybe it came from another source such as tracking website visitors or an email that Bob from accounting received. (Note: It’s amazing how many companies have Bobs. We’ve got one, too. Big shout out to all the Bobs!) Anyway, leads like this took the time to do research so they want help.

Keep the “5 vs. 30 Rule” in mind. This rule mandates that salespeople call five miutes after receiving a lead. When you call in the first five minutes of getting a lead, the contact rate blows away the 30 minute wait n’ dial.

In fact, the contact rate for a five minute dial is 100 times higher.

Stop crying and start dialing.

Persistence Pays

A significant number of salespeople give up too soon. You know it’s true because at some point in your career, you’ve done the same thing. Now: Imagine how many times sales people on your team do the same thing. Ouch.

That does provoke tears.

Studies show that 43% of salespeople give up on the first call; by the third call, that rate climbs to 80%. If you fail to make contact on the phone the first time, call back immediately. Persistent pays off in a big way when you use our qualified leads the right way.

And you don’t have to just call them, you know. Dry your eyes and look at all the other options.

Expand Your Contact Horizons

The phone serves as a sales industry standard for success, but emailing, instant messaging, and texting cultivates success, too.

Honestly, it’s easy for a lead to miss a phone call.

While it pays to catch people off guard with early morning or evening calls, other methods of contact work wonders. For instance, it’s hard for anyone to ignore a text. Many people respond to them out of politeness. No one likes to appear rude. Use that to your advantage.

Business is like baseball: There’s no crying and timidity won’t win you any sales.

Contact and Meeting Rate Tracking

Tracking your closings maximizes results. But if you fail to also track contact and meeting rates, then you’re barely breathing.

Yeah, that’s what sales people want to be known for: barely breathing.

Keep up with the rates for

  • contact
  • scheduled meetings
  • completed meetings.

This method boosts business because points of contact receive analysis and refining. It permits review of how you booked a meeting. No leads get ignored when every step of the process undergoes scrutiny.

We prefer telling happy stories that end with huge profits that lead to everyone making more sales and even more money. It’s time to rewrite your tragic tale. Contact Intellibright today to earn your happily everafter.