How Lead Response Time Affects Sales
Just a few years ago, sales teams needed more time to react to emails. However, today in our fast-paced world the response from the salesforce is expected to be instant.
Failing to answer close to instant is costly. A survey conducted at MIT by Prof. James B. Oldroyder and InsideSales showed you can dramatically reduce your chances of success by waiting an hour to contact a lead.
The chance of touch, on the other hand, is 100 times higher if the lead is called within five minutes, compared to 30. Furthermore, if the lead was called within 5 minutes, the odds of qualifying a lead were 21 times higher.
A second study by Inside-Sales and Omniture analyzed and tracked lead responses and contributed to the creation of new policies by 700 businesses. Every company completed a request for information in order to begin the tracking process.
The findings of the survey were very eye-opening. Here are the main results:
- Just 4.6% of companies used a telephone and email approach
- Within 24 hours less than 5% of leads were called
- The total e-mail response time was 19 hours and 31 minutes.
- 36 hours, 57 minutes, the total response time on the phone
- 2 percent of sales teams of businesses have never answered
If nothing else, the survey shows that careful monitoring of sales response time is one of the most efficient ways to improve lead quality and conversion.
Why is lead response time so important?
Since the publishing of the findings in 2011 the results have been replicated therefore the conclusions are the same. A fast reaction to a lead is a necessity. Here is the motivation to track lead response time as a critical KPI of the business:
- Five minutes after a lead inquiry you are 100 times more likely to make contact to the lead, and it falls fast after that.
- You are 21 times more probable to qualify the lead in the first 5 minutes than 30 minutes later
- The pace of the initial response also significantly influences the conversion leading to the sale. For the first-minute answers, revenue ultimately increased by 391%.
- 78% of consumers purchase from the Company that answers their request first in terms of competitive advantage.
- Just 7% of sales teams in B2B have a five-minute or lower average lead response time.
- In fact, the average lead time is 42 hours and some data also indicates that it takes about half to five days to react.
Ways to improve response time
Therefore if lead response time is so important what are some ways to improve it?
In most companies, lead generation received a lot of attention and resources, which is naturally vital. However, the next step of actually contacting the leads as fast as possible is too often ignored to be tracked. We present below a few tactics that can bring focus on lead response time:
Prioritize answer time
Make it clear to all within the company that your pace to lead time is a priority. Display the numbers that correlate response time to income if your team needs to be convinced. Use a lead response time software to automate the process.
Assignment of tasks
Set a straightforward plan for who answers what and when. Have alerts in place and a clear process that can be monitored.
Set text notifications
You can automatically send also a text message with the lead details to the salesforce for immediate follow-up. Make sure that the text contains the phone number of the prospect so you can only press to call back.
Examination and optimization
Check the monthly average lead time individually and as a team. Determine the variables and tasks or operations that minimize the time. Compete and push everybody every month to reduce the average response time. What gets measured gets improved.